Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

On Oct. 31, I wrote about how the coalition  BrooklynSpeaks , in its briefing to local elected officials regarding the future of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, urged that they ensure deeply affordable housing and have the Barclays Center operator fund quality-of-life monitors. Here's the link . Let's take a second look at the latter recommendation, which I thought worthy but asking too little. It's clear, from the events of Sunday, when quality-of-life violations were blatantly encouraged, that it couldn't be viable without a vastly changed political firmament. Pacific Street and Carlton Avenue, access  managed not by the NYPD but by the Shomrim safety patrol My coverage:  Unannounced Barclays Center event for Hasidic group draws elected officials. NYPD lets volunteers (!) cordon off streets. Scofflaw vehicles block sidewalks, paths.   In other words, the powers that be--city and state leaders--wanted the event to run at the convenience of attendees and arena operators...

This is the first of three articles about the Nov. 6, 2024 Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting, sponsored by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. The second concerned the dog run and open space. The third concerned a presentation by arena operator BSE Global. The first Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meeting since February 2023—it was previously held bi-monthly, at least while construction proceeded—last night was a low-key affair, lasting about an hour and attracting, as organizers later reported, about a dozen people, fewer than at previous such meetings. Maybe it was fatigue and resignation regarding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. Maybe it was that various organizations didn't announce the event. (It wasn’t in the Monday newsletters, for example, of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council or the North Flatbush Business Improvement District.) Surely it had something to do with people distracted after the electio...

Yes, I know the election results are dominating people's consciousness right now, but there is a Quality of Life Update Meeting behind held tonight at 6 pm, on Zoom, for residents around/of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project to voice concerns and also to hear various updates. This would be the first such meeting since February 2003.  The meetings slacked when vertical construction finished, and also, I suspect, because personnel had departed from Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. However, the reason for such meetings, with ESD having the ability to bring representatives from various agencies and companies to field questions, has not waned, as I wrote . Registration:  https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jfX9MgsFTsWiguTSctqB1w .  Questions and comments for the presenters can be submitted via email to  AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov  before the meeting. Questions and comments can also be submitted in the virtual...

OK, there will finally be a forum to hear community concerns about Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, and the Barclays Center.  As I wrote Oct. 5 ( link ), officials at Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, said they would soon schedule a  Quality of Life meeting , the first since February 2023. The meetings slacked when vertical construction finished, and also, I suspect, because ESD personnel had departed.  However, the reason for such meetings, with ESD having the ability to bring representatives from various agencies and companies to field questions, has not waned. "This meeting is a forum for the community to receive updates and engage Empire State Development, Barclays Center operators, and other project partners in the Atlantic Yards Project regarding issues affecting the quality of life for residents and businesses in close proximity to the project site," the notice stated. I'll publish an update before the meeting about some...

This is the fifth of five articles about the Sept. 26  meeting  of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The  first  concerned BSE Global's plans to use the closed Modell's store for a youth basketball program.  The  second  concerned the expected entry of Related Companies and the obligations for affordable housing.  The  third  concerned plans for a giant, two-tower project at Site 5.  The fourth concerned the plan to make the arena plaza permanent. Let me cover a few issues unmentioned in previous coverage. For many years, Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, held bi-monthly Quality of Life meetings to update neighbors on project changes and to answer questions from them. The last such meeting was in February 2023, more than 20 months ago. The meetings slacked when vertical construction finished, and also, I suspect, because ESD personnel had ...

Oversight of and transparency regarding Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park has continued to slack, as there's no sight of new construction. Yes, TF Cornerstone is finishing the buildings at, and open space around, the two-tower 595 Dean Street, and Chelsea Piers will open its fitness center and fieldhouse next month--and it's unclear how that will all work.  And the School Construction Authority is still working on the middle school at Sixth Avenue between Pacific and Dean streets, at the base of the completed 662 Pacific Street tower, aka Plank Road. Otherwise, there's nothing new pending. And, for months, we haven't heard anything from master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, which is dominated by Greenland USA.  We don't even know if Greenland USA has replaced its longtime Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park point man, Scott Solish, who left in February. We don't know if Greenland has any new estimate on its ability to start the crucial platform over the Vanderbilt ...

What's wrong with this picture, from the web page of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC)? Well, the so-called Quality of Life meetings, in which representatives of Empire State Development (ESD), the parent of the (purportedly) advisory AY CDC, and the developer answered some questions, were long held bi-monthly, until the delays shown after last September. ESD blamed " scheduling conflicts and staff availability, " according to the meeting notes from the 2/7/23 meeting. Or, perhaps, representatives of master developer Greenland Forest City Partners (GFCP), dominated by Greenland USA, had--and still have--little interest in answering questions about a project that seems to have stalled. A plan to start the crucial platform over the first of two railyard blocks--key to three of the six towers over the railyard--was announced last June but never came to fruition. Greenland USA's Atlantic Yards point man, Scott Solish, left in February, with--...

The official notes for the most Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meetings, typically held bi-monthly until the recent hiatus from September 2022 to February 2023, typically don't arrive for more than a month, sometimes longer, from meeting host Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. Why the delay? Unclear. (Legal review? Understaffing? Bureaucratic sloth?) The recently surfacing notes for the 2/7/23 meeting--at this  ESD link  and at bottom--come with a side of irony, given what we've learned since then. I pointed out at the time that it was curious that Scott Solish, the point man for Greenland USA, was conveniently absent, which meant the developer didn't have to answer hard questions about the stalled plans for the platform over the Vanderbilt Yard or their presumed effort to avoid $2,000/month fines for affordable units--as of now, 876 (or 877)--not delivered by May 2025. But the "scheduling conflict...

This is the first of three articles about the Feb. 7. 2023 Quality of Life meeting.  The  second  addressed plans for 595 Dean St. The third concerned  changes at the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). Last night's belatedly rescheduled Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting--which is supposed to be held bi-monthly but hadn't been held since September 2022--lasted barely half an hour, attracted only 25 people, and disclosed little new information. But what wasn't said, and who wasn't there, were in their own way telling, as was the suggestion that the looming penalty over unbuilt affordable housing might be optional rather than mandatory. Missing meetings What happened to the meeting scheduled for November 15, 2022, and then the (presumed) next meeting two months later in January? "Due to a scheduling conflict on the 15th, that meeting did not occur as tentatively scheduled," said meeting host Tobi Jaiyesimi, of Empire St...

There's an important clue in the agenda (below), just circulated this afternoon, for tomorrow's Quality of Life meeting. (My preview here .)  There will be presentations, likely by Tobi Jaiyesimi of Empire State Development (ESD), on both the ESD and the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation. There will be a presentation by a representative of the Barclays Center. And there will be a presentation by a representative of TF Cornerstone, surely about progress on 595 Dean (B12/B13), perhaps keyed to the launch of market-rate rentals and/or the affordable housing lottery. But there will be no representative of master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, dominated by  Greenland USA. That means Greenland will get to avoid the obvious questions: why haven't they started the platform, which was supposed to launch in mid-2022? if there's no plan to build 876 new affordable units to meet the 2025 affordable housing deadline, are they asking for an extensio...

Update 4:45 pm: here's the agenda , which suggests Greenland USA will be absent and thus will avoid the big questions. There's no agenda yet  posted/circulated  for belatedly-scheduled Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting that will be held at 6 pm tomorrow and provide some updates on the project: https://zoom.us/j/96256411661 Dial In: 646-558-8656 || Passcode: 962 5641 1661# Meeting ID: 962 5641 1661 Project-related questions and suggested agenda items may be sent to  atlanticyards@esd.ny.gov . Among other things, I'll ask why the previous meetings weren't held. Such meetings were steadily held bi-monthly through September 2022, but meetings in November 2022 and then January 2023 were not scheduled, with no explanation. No 2023 schedule was released at the end of 2022. They offer limited but sometimes useful transparency; the virtual nature of the meetings, since the pandemic, means that attendees can't tell who else is in the meeting, can't see o...

With no explanation for the failure to hold the expected bi-monthly Quality of Life meetings in November or January,  Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, yesterday announced that the next meeting would be held, virtually, on Tuesday, February 7, at 6 pm. There's nothing yet on the official Atlantic Yards page , but the information came in an email that provided the Zoom link and other access information: https://zoom.us/j/96256411661 Dial In: 646-558-8656 || Passcode: 962 5641 1661# Meeting ID: 962 5641 1661 Project-related questions and suggested agenda items may be sent to atlanticyards@esd.ny.gov .  Lottery launch? I suspect one topic, or announcement, may regard the launch of the lottery for the 240 "affordable" units at 595 Dean St. (B12/B13), scheduled to open in the spring, as well as a timetable for opening the building's market-rate units.   Note: I reported that, despite professed ignorance from mas...

From Sept. 20, 2022  ESD presentation What happened to the bi-monthly Quality of Life meetings, hosted by Empire State Development, the state authority overseeing/shepherding the project? Such meetings, at which representatives of the developer (or developers) typically appear, offer some limited accountability regarding project timetables, neighborhood impacts, and future plans. (The online format, in the pandemic era, limits the ability to ask follow-up questions or for attendees to communicate with each other.) After the 9/20/22 meeting , the 11/15/22 meeting was never held, and no 2023 timetable was ever circulated, though it was typical to circulate annual timetables by the beginning of the year. The January 2023 meeting would presumably be held next week. No date has been announced, nor agenda circulated. Here's  the page  where the next meeting should be listed. Neighbors surely have questions about the final construction and opening of 595 Dean, the affordable hou...

Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, has notably backed off from the project. For the first time (in my memory), ESD last month not only skipped a scheduled bi-monthly Quality of Life meeting but it issued no announcement, nor any plan to reschedule it. Was it carelessness, staff overload, or deliberate withdrawal from engagement? Unclear, but whatever the explanation, it means resistance to transparency. It's not that complicated a meeting to schedule, given that it typically relies on presentations by ESD staffer Tobi Jaiyesimi and Scott Solish of developer Greenland USA, (which dominates Greenland Forest City Partners), though sometimes Jaiyesimi has done it solo. Despite limited attendance and constrained transparency, the bi-monthly online meeting is still a forum to learn updates about the project, and for stakeholders to ask questions, even if answers aren't always candid.  (Note that there was some can...

From Sept. 20  ESD presentation So, what happened to the steadily scheduled bi-monthly Quality of Life meeting hosted by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park? Despite limited attendance and constrained transparency, it's still a forum to learn updates about the project, and for stakeholders to ask questions, even if the (online) meeting doesn't typically get candid answers. As I wrote 11/29/22, the meeting had, as of the Sept. 20  meeting, still been scheduled for Nov. 15. But we never got an announcement about the Nov. 15 meeting being scheduled, or even postponed. That's a first, in my memory, and suggests that the state authority was particularly distracted. I recently asked ESD about the next meeting and got a not-so-illuminating response: "Details for the next Quality of Life meeting are being worked on and information will be distributed to the community once available." Reasons for delay I...