Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Last week I published  Making Sense of the 962 Pacific Street Rezoning Story , a couple of weeks after the New York Times published two online articles about the failed rezoning effort for that Crown Heights lot, but just before the Times published the package in print . So this post repurposes some of that long article. One lesson from some past spot rezonings, as I reported, is that the applicant, often spouting promises of community commitments, is not looking to (or even able to) build, and plans to sell the property once a lucrative rezoning as been achieved. “What we're trying to do… is work with all of you so that we can maintain control over our property, and that we could then bring in somebody, a developer, that echoes the same values we have and that the community has,” property owner Nadine Oelsner told Brooklyn Community Board 8. Would the Oelsners maintain a majority ownership in a joint venture? “We pray to God," she responded, "we can keep this property an...

There were a couple of interesting nuggets in  NY1 Online: Former President of Downtown Brooklyn Talks Future of Borough , posted 8/11/16, summarized as "Tucker Reed, the former president of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, discussed the redevelopment of downtown Brooklyn and the future of the borough with Errol Louis." Trickle-down affordability? At 4:22, Reed spins what the Pratt Institute in July 2008 called DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN’S DETOUR: THE UNANTICIPATED IMPACTS OF REZONING AND DEVELOPMENT ON RESIDENTS AND BUSINESSES . "All of this growth necessitates a conversation about, and a real commitment to, infrastructure. The original plan for Downtown Brooklyn was for office space, we ended up with residential," he said. "It's been very helpful for the borough, because it helps keep affordable--all that supply means that other parts of Brooklyn won't become unaffordable as new residents are given the option of living in Downtown Brooklyn. But you n...