Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Updated 4 pm : I got the following statement from Empire State Development (ESD), which asserts that my initial conclusion, based on a secondhand statement, was incorrect: ESD had not approached additional entities to step into the project, including Related. Greenland USA has and as of today remains to be the developer of the Atlantic Yards project pursuant to the project documents. For USIF to pursue foreclosure proceedings given Greenland’s EB-5 default, the project documents require ESD to approve an entity as a permitted developer. USIF had presented a JV including Related, Fortress, and themselves as a permitted developer, but opted not to proceed. As discussed at the April [March, actually] 2025 AYCDC meeting, we have communicated timelines and milestone expectations to relevant parties regarding advancing the project and the collection of liquidated damages. --- We don't know why Related Companies, the developer of Hudson Yards, pulled out of a contemplated joint venture to...

Yesterday had not one but two twists in the 14-month foreclosure saga around Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park. First, we learned that Related Companies, developer of Hudson Yards, was no longer pursuing a joint venture to develop most of the remaining share of the project: six tower sites (B5-B10) over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Vanderbilt Yard, which require an expensive platform before vertical construction. Unofficial rendering A partial replacement, Cirrus Real Estate Partners , was later announced yesterday by Nicholas Mastroianni II’s U.S. Immigration Fund, the investment packager that controls the $286 million loan from EB-5 investors that's in foreclosure.  Those tower sites were provided as collateral by Greenland USA, which since 2014 has been the project's lead developer, but at this point retains the rights to build only at Site 5, across from the arena, and the B1 tower once slated to be built over the arena. (Greenland seeks to build a two-to...

Update: My speculation was off. Related had pulled out ( link ). Is the deal with Related Companies, as part of a joint venture with the U.S. Immigration Fund and the Fortress Investment Group, to take over the six tower sites over the MTA's Vanderbilt Yard, already done? Well, that's one interpretation of Related's November/December 2024 lobbying report , which excludes mention of Atlantic Yards. (Another is that the report has a lapse.) As I reported in November, Related amped up engagement in September and October, indicating that it not only lobbied four executives at Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, it also lobbied New York City Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer.  Is Related asking the city for housing subsidies? As I wrote, it's hard to imagine Related would enter the project without having negotiated, at least partly, the scale of the project, the affordable housing obligation (and deadline...

This is the second of two articles on the Nov. 14  meeting  of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The first  concerned the emergence of a "permitted developer" for six tower sites and questions about enforcing the affordable housing deadline. A main topic of the meeting, vaguely billed as "Community Engagement," suggests that Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, is moving ahead with plans regarding the six towers (B5-B10) over the  Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s two-block Vanderbilt Yard. Remember, as I reported yesterday, a "permitted developer"--a joint venture involving Hudson Yards developer Related Companies and two financial partners--is about to take control over those development rights, below Atlantic Avenue between Sixth and Carlton avenues. Thus, ESD will seek public input to either 1) help shape the project's future (at the mar...

This is the first of two articles on the Nov. 14 meeting of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC). The second concerned "community engagement" regarding the future of the six tower sites over the Vanderbilt Yard platform. OK, my prediction was a little off. Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, was not quite ready to announce that a new joint venture involving Hudson Yards developer Related Companies has qualified as a “permitted developer,” thus stepping in, thanks to a foreclosure auction, to develop six development sites (B5-B10) over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard. But they’re pretty close. ESD’s Anna Pycior, Senior VP, Community Relations, said the state authority was “completing our review of their documents, and once the review is satisfactory… we would proceed with the new joint venture. We don't anticipate issues moving forward.” That could happen “...

Ok, the pattern is indeed curious. After years in which the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) never met its required quarterly meeting schedule, a new meeting scheduled for Nov. 14 would mean three meetings in little more than four months. (Here's my coverage of the Aug. 8 meeting and the Sept. 26 meeting .) What's going on? We won't know until the meeting starts, since the yet-to-be-issued Agenda is likely to be impossibly vague.  But it's a reasonable bet that something is happening with the project, likely involving the pending joint venture, including Hudson Yards developer Related Companies, to take over six tower sites over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Vanderbilt Yard. Would that mean that AY CDC parent Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, has negotiated the contours of a deal, perhaps involving supersizing the project, extending the deadline for ...

The bizarre saga continues.  I wrote Oct. 11, Related CEO's lawsuit claiming harassment by (aggrieved) EB-5 investors dropped--against all but one. Was there a settlement?   Well, that day, Jeff Blau discontinued the proceeding against the last of the seven original defendants charged with harassing him and his family outside of their home, angry that they have not been repaid the $500,000 they each invested. However, that apparently didn't stop other EB-5 investors crowding around his residence and sending email making demands, and continuing "loud, disruptive and threatening demonstrations." So, on Oct. 23, Blau filed an amended complaint , naming as defendants "John Does 1-100," without identifying any. (The complaint, in the caption, also names the original seven defendants, but the text does not mention them.) Here's the case file . Instead of saying the defendants had "orchestrated and conducted" acts "of harassment, intimidation an...

Less than three weeks ago a lawsuit surfaced, from the CEO of Related Companies, Jeff Blau against seven Chinese investors under the EB-5 investor visa program who he claimed were harassing him at home. My headline was  Some EB-5 investors furious about failure to get their $500K repaid now sued for harassing Related CEO. How ethical is Related's business practice? As I wrote, the lawsuit describes some indefensible behavior, disavowed by other investors, and, if corroborated, worthy of some sanction. Still, it--and an article based on it in the real-estate publication The Real Deal--downplayed the triggering issue, in which Related gained $500,000 each from more than 2,000 Chinese investors under  EB-5 starting in 2014 and apparently has paid little of the money back. That kind of business practice, though apparently legal thanks to a contractual structure that advantages a sophisticated party (Related) against some far less sophisticated people (the Chinese investors), is...

This is the second 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  third  concerned plans for a giant, two-tower project at Site 5.  The  fourth  concerned the plan to make the arena plaza permanent.  The  fifth  concerned plans for a Quality of Life meeting. Something's happening with the six development parcels (B5-B10) over the Vanderbilt Yard, with rights to build at least 3.5 million square feet of housing (and maybe more), but just not yet. At the meeting, representatives of Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, were cagey about some key details, saying all was premature.  What about the 876 affordable housing units due by May 2025, and the $2,000/month in liquidated damages...