Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

There was nothing new beyond rhetoric at the very brief hearing segment yesterday devoted to tax-exempt bonds for 535 Carlton Avenue, the next building in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park to break ground. After all, a fact sheet (below) had already been distributed with details about the project, including the request for up to $73 million in tax-exempt bonds, which save the builder significant sums compared to conventional financing, and are part of the financing for affordable units. Forest City Ratner VP Melissa Burch, representing Greenland Forest City Partners, led off her brief statement but saying, "It is with great excitement for the future of affordable housing in New York that I present 535 Carlton Avenue at Pacific Park." It's curious that Forest City is flogging this tower--in which half the units would go to middle-income households who'd pay some $3,000 for a two-bedroom unit--as "the future of affordable housing." Also, Burch noted that, ...

Two Forest City Ratner executives made Bisnow's  New York Power Women 2014: Part 5 , published yesterday presaging a party for the top 50 women in Commercial Real Estate. MaryAnne Gilmartin, President & CEO, Forest City Ratner Twenty years after she joined Forest City Ratner, one year since she took over for Bruce Ratner, and six weeks after the company closed on a massive equity infusion from Greenland Group into Pacific Park Brooklyn (nee Atlantic Yards), MaryAnne is in the enviable and intimidating position of determining what her company can and should do next. It controls 16.7M SF across 42 buildings, but that's Bruce's legacy. The pace and development capacity MaryAnne deems feasible from here will define her own tenure at Forest City. MaryAnne came to NYC as an urban fellow and worked in economic development under mayors Koch and Dinkins, and Bruce recruited her after she helped bring Bear Stearns to his MetroTech Center. Her breakout came with Midtown's...