Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Yes, the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) is aiming for a September 2024 opening--not 2025-- of the middle school at 491 Dean Street/662 Pacific Street (aka B15, or Plank Road), though September 2025 remains on official documents. And they've had after-hours variances for work on the interior fit-out starting in February, on weekdays from 6 pm to midnight, and then steadily since April, until 8 pm or 11 pm, as indicated in the screenshots at bottom. In other words, the lights on in the building at night are on for a reason: they're working late. What this means to the operation of the future 806-seat I.S. 653, across the street from the back of the arena block (and, most directly, the residential tower 38 Sixth Avenue), is unclear. But the Department of Education has already floated the move of M.S. 915, in Downtown Brooklyn, which had 258 students, according to the most recent records. What is clear is that new school, once due in 2018  and steadily delayed,...

Photos by Norman Oder, Oct. 12 As shown in the photos, shot two days ago, some work is ongoing at Sixth Avenue between Dean and Pacific streets, site of the middle-school (I.S. 653, with  806 students) scheduled to open in fall 2025 in the base of the B15 tower (662 Pacific St., aka Plank Road). Part of Sixth Avenue is cut off to accommodate a construction trailer and, perhaps, deliveries, truncating an already narrow street, though, as shown in the photo below left taken through the paper-covered windows, not much has started. That 2025 date is at least seven years behind the once-anticipated schedule and the question--as one neighbor asked me--is why it's taken so long.  My response, as elaborated below, is that the only solution may be for local elected officials--notably Council Member Crystal Hudson, state Senator Jabari Brisport, and Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon and Phara Souffrant Forrest--to get the responsible parties to show up in public, and answer questions. No an...

At a Furman Center policy breakfast Oct. 3, Bernell Grier, executive director of the nonprofit housing group IMPACCT Brooklyn, made a few observations about "affordable housing" that, if hardly new, deserve recognition, since they reflect on an eternally controversial issue, including the housing planned for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. When she speaks to community members, Grier said, the first question is "affordable for who." She recalled a conversation with lobbyist Jacqui Williams who said she called it not "affordable housing" but "income-targeted housing." Indeed, I and others have tried to use that term, as well as "income-linked housing" as synonyms for "affordable housing," especially when it's aimed at middle-income households who are financially better-off than most Brooklynites. So the issue, Grier said, is "the right housing being developed for the households that need it." Leasing at 60% of AMI A...

From Real Estate Weekly, 5/23/22, The Brodsky Organization Announces Full Lease Up of Plank Road at Pacific Park , surely a press release regarding 662 Pacific Street (aka B15): The Brodsky Organization today announced that Plank Road , one of the latest residential developments within Pacific Park in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, is 100 percent leased. Offering well-located rentals, a full suite of amenities and incredible views — coupled with peak market demand — the 27-story, 312-unit luxury rental building has fully leased its market-rate apartments. This is a special milestone as Brodsky completed Plank Road during the pandemic and finished leasing just seven months after receiving its first temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO). So that means 218 units have been leased. Note: we haven't heard about how many, if any, tenants of the 94 middle-income "affordable" units have moved in.  Applications for those income-linked units were due by 1/18/22, three months after ...

Developers Announce 50-Percent Lease Of Plank Road At 662 Pacific Street In Prospect Heights, Brooklyn , New York YIMBY told us 2/5/22, conveying a press release from The Brodsky Organization. If the 312-unit tower is truly 50% leased, with 156 leases, that's significant, because the lottery for the 94 affordable units available through the city's Housing Connect portal closed only 1/18/22, likely too short a time for those leases. So that would mean that 156 out of 218 market-rate units were leased, or nearly 72%. Or if "50% leased" refers only to the market-rate units, that would mean 109 leases.  (I queried a rep for the developer, but didn't hear back.) A look at  StreetEasy  (which is not definitive) on the day of the YIMBY publication, showed 75 previous rental listings and 13 active rentals.  Amenities, or pricing? “We’re pleased to see Plank Road reach this key milestone,” said Alexander Brodsky of The Brodsky Organization, according to the press release. ...

"Affordable housing" is supposed to be below-market, income-targeted, income-linked (pick your synonym), but one lesson from 2021 is that middle-income "affordable" units--such as at Plank Road (B15, 662 Pacific St.) are being rented at a discount from the allowable rents set by the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The rationale, as we were told by Empire State Development--the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park" is this: "130% of AMI is the allowable rent, and the rents have been set, in coordination with HPD, to reflect current market conditions and the needs in the area." Stay tuned for similar rents , likely, at Brooklyn Crossing (B4, 18 Sixth Ave.), which has opened to market-rate tenants, though the affordable housing lottery hasn't launched. A contrast in Williamsburg But "market conditions" and "needs in the area" are apparently different in Williamsb...

"Affordable"--it's a " relative thing ," right? While those most in need of low-cost housing tend not to see their incomes rise much, the Area Median Income (AMI), the regional formula that serves as a base for calculating affordable rent and income levels, tends to rise steadily, since it includes prosperous suburban counties. The Atlantic Yards project as of 2005 relied on a regional area median income (AMI) of $62,800 (for a family of four), well above that in Brooklyn. That was memorialized in the 2005 Atlantic Yards Affordable Housing Memorandum of Understanding  (MOU), signed by developer Forest City Ratner and the housing advocacy group ACORN. The number has risen steadily. In 2021, astoundingly, 100% of AMI for a four-person household is  $119,300 . That's a 90% increase over 2005. That means that "low-income," as a fraction of AMI, has risen commensurately.  And that means that "affordable" can mean two-bedroom apartments rentin...

This is the second of three posts about the Nov. 16, 2021 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting. The first concerned the school, and project updates. The third concerned Barclays Center issues. We got two nuggets of news regarding affordable housing at the meeting.  B4: middle-income, like B15 First, just as with B15 (662 Pacific St., aka Plank Road), the upcoming Housing Connect lottery for the income-linked "affordable" units at the B4 (18 Sixth Ave., aka Brooklyn Crossing) tower will be aimed at middle-income households, with a maximum income of 130% of Area Median Income (AMI). That means a lot of people earning six figures.  (Remember, I reported on solid evidence that the apartments would be aimed at those at 130% of AMI, but the developer refused to confirm it.) That building should open to market-rate tenants by the end of December or early January, so--if the pattern with B15 persists--the lottery might start by then, with move-ins for the affordable...

In an issue brief last week, Brutal Bureaucracy (also embedded below), the Citizens Housing and Planning Council concluded that it takes way too long to get people into affordable housing. From the report's Key Findings: On average it takes 371 days to fill all the units in a NYC housing lottery, despite units being available and ready for occupancy. Project variables such as building size, AMI level, or number of applications received are not correlated with prolonged rent-up times. One in three housing lotteries did not begin until months after a building was already ready for occupancy, resulting in units sitting empty despite being ready to house New Yorkers. The Mayor's Management Report does not measure the time it takes to rent up the affordable housing units that HPD finances and builds. Indeed, 662 Pacific St. (Plank Road, or B15) qualifies as among those one in three buildings. It got its first Temporary Certificate of Occupancy (TCO) on Oct. 14, including residenti...

Plank Road (662 Pacific St., aka B15) has not only opened to market-rate tenants, it has finally hit the city's Housing Connect portal, with the affordable housing lottery ending on Jan. 18, 2022. Given time for processing, that suggests move-ins won't start for a few months after that. That's a significant delay. The 94 units all have a maximum income of 130% of Area Median Income (AMI), or middle-income, as I've long suspected (and had been established for the catercorner 18 Sixth Ave., B2, or Brooklyn Crossing). In what may be a recognition of the market, they have lower rents than required--much lower for studios ($1,547), and somewhat lower for one-bedrooms ($2,273) and two-bedrooms ($3,219). Still, none of those would serve those who most fervently hoped for affordable housing in the project. The units have washers and dryers, and the building has amenities--all for a fee including "Gymnasium/ State of the art Gym, Children's playroom, Recreation Room/...

More than five weeks ago, on 9/30/21, I wrote how 662 Pacific Street (B15), aka  Plank Road , was offering one month free rent on a 16-month lease, after previously offering one month free rent on a 14-month lease. Well, the building ( official website ) is now seems open, and they're offering even better rent deals: two months free on a 16-month lease, including some of the units I previously highlighted. (Update: A resident confirmed that, yes, several units are occupied.) The lobby of Plank Road aka 662 Pacific at #AtlanticYards is now open. pic.twitter.com/vh54n2M54O — Raul Rothblatt (@rauldougou) November 9, 2021 Competition, and questions The offerings are slowly coming online but will be competing with the catercorner 18 Sixth Ave. (B4), aka Brooklyn Crossing , developed by The Brodsky Organization (which is behind Plank Road) and Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park master developer Greenland Forest City Partners. Note that B15's 30% affordable (aka income-linked) units h...

So, as we wait for the affordable housing lottery--almost surely for middle-income units--to surface for 662 Pacific St., aka Plank Road, aka B15, I checked to see the rental status for market-rate units--and they're on discount, somewhat. Interestingly enough, StreetEasy lists nine past rentals, all currently unavailable, and seven current listings. I'm not certain whether the unavailable listings have been rented, or taken off the market for a bit.  Some of the past listings were offering one month free rent on a 14-month lease. The current listings are offering one month free rent on a 16-month lease--and in some cases prices have already come down.. That not surprising, given that it takes carrots to get people into a new, amenitized building where only some floors are available for occupancy and construction continues --and continues nearby.  Worth watching is whether a larger number of units--especially when facing competition from the catercorner 18 Sixth Avenue--come ...