Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

I call it "Atlantic Yards down the memory hole" when journalists/authors, public officials, or government entities misreport or forget details of (or promises regarding) a project that has faced many gyrations since its announcement in 2003. We shouldn't hold regular people to the same standard, but it's still a learning moment. That third picture is behind my old apartment complex, the Newswalk, which was formerly the printing plant for the NY Daily News. I think it was the only condo/apartment building inside the Atlantic Yards footprint that was spared. — Adam Zimmerman (@Adam_Zimmerman) May 16, 2022 (He later clarified that it was the fourth photo.) So why is this important? As I responded , most of that block, Block 1128, was omitted from the project footprint, rather than included and later spared. But it's not wrong to presume that the Atlantic Yards footprint would have been a rational shape, rather than one with an odd gap in the center: most of the...

From the New York Times Real Estate section today, On the Market , "a one-bedroom, one-bath, architect-renovated, 1,107-square-foot, loft-style apartment" at 535 Dean Street in the Newswalk building. Pros include large rooms and closets, a renovated kitchen, proximity to subways, and shopping. Cons: "The Atlantic Yards run behind the building, which will mean living with construction at some point. The unit does not have a washer-dryer, but there is a hookup in the foyer closet." Well, credit the Times with more candor than the typical real-estate agent. Still, the article repeats a common error : Atlantic Yards is (was) the name of a project, not a place. Just to be clear, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard, the largest component of the 22-acre site dubbed Atlantic Yards, and renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn, is across the street. And yes, there should be construction of three towers on the western block of the railyard, and thre...

So there's been noisy, disruptive night work at the Vanderbilt Yard for the past week or so, and it's keeping residents from the Newswalk condo and others nearest the the site from sleeping, I've been told. The work was disclosed  in the most recent Construction Update, and surely proceeds under permit. But it also proceeds from a typical Forest City Ratner strategy of incomplete candor. Consider my coverage of the 2/16/15 first meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, set up in part to monitor project impacts. Resident Wayne Bailey of Newswalk, which is adjacent to the Vanderbilt Yard, asked Forest City CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin if there would be nighttime work at the railyard. "Right now we're not planning on it," Gilmartin said, though she acknowledged "schedule creep" could provoke such work. "If there is a plan, we need to get out early and explain why." They didn't explain why, actually. The shortha...

Rampant honking. Idling on the sidewalk. Using the sidewalk for U-turns. Even a driver taking a leak on the sidewalk (at about 14:50 of the video). That was all part of the scene Tuesday, Dec. 11, outside the Newswalk parking garage at 700 Pacific Street, just east of the Barclays Center, host of the Nets-Knicks game. City officials, who acknowledge problems with the parking garage--potential overcrowding, and price inconsistency--apparently haven't stepped up enough. A bus in the TV lot Is the ESPN bus in the satellite uplink parking lot idling illegally, as the first video below suggests, or, more likely just using its generator--because the arena failed to hook it up--as noted on Atlantic Yards Watch? As further noted on AYW by Peter Krashes: The Community Liaison reached out to let me know he did not receive any messages last night. I left my message on his work phone. The number he would like me to use in the future is 347-834-3957. He also receives e...

Maybe it is getting a little personal. Not only have the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) and its real estate consultants low-balled Atlantic Yards uber-opponent Daniel Goldstein regarding the value of his Pacific Street condominium, the only alternative apartments it has shown him are either part of a lawsuit-plagued complex or very close to the Atlantic Yards construction zone. And while the ESDC's consultant provided a list of only five condos, a simple search of a real estate web site turns up dozens of potential purchases in Prospect Heights and adjacent neighborhoods. The alternative apartments are listed in an affidavit that's part of an ESDC package of legal papers aiming to convince state Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges to evict all condemnees from the Atlantic Yards footprint by May 17. A hearing will be held Wednesday at 9:30 10 a.m. before state Supreme Court Justice Abraham Gerges at Supreme Court in Brooklyn, 320 Jay Street. Standoff Goldstein,...

From the On the Market page of today's New York Times Real Estate section: DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN DUPLEX $1,200,000 BROOKLYN: 535 Dean Street (between Sixth and Carlton Avenues), #322 A two-bedroom two-bath duplex in a converted printing plant with a full-time doorman, a health club and free indoor parking. Stefan Hiller, Prudential Douglas Elliman (917) 539-0210; www.prudentialelliman.com Newswalk is in Prospect Heights, not Downtown Brooklyn, as the Times's most recent "Living in... Prospect Heights" coverage , on 12/18/05, confirmed. More errors It further adds, as "Cons": On the border of Prospect Heights but not in a residential neighborhoods, the nine-story building faces the site of the proposed Atlantic Yards project, which would involve extensive residential and commercial construction. Dean Street, home to the main entrance to Newswalk, is very much a residential neighborhood. See image by Tracy Collins . The hint about "extensive" constructi...