Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The immigrant investor law, known as EB-5 , has gotten a lot more popular in the past two years, because low-interest loans from immigrants more interested in green cards than returns are now available to clever investors, and the requirement of job creation can be finagled via paper calculations. From GlobeSt.com, 6/21/11, Shopping the EB-5 Supermarket : As access to traditional forms of capital continues to tighten, an often underlooked source of funding can help foreign investors establish themselves in the US while benefiting the American economy: the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program. Panelists discussed “The Art of the EB-5 Real Estate Transaction” at a conference hosted by Akerman Senterfitt in conjunction with the Urban Land Institute and the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate on Monday morning at the Cornell Club in Midtown Manhattan. ...When structuring an EB-5 project, Park asks two questions: Does it meet the legal requirements, and from an investment standpoint,...

Both Patch and the New York Times covered the meeting on rats last night (my coverage here ). Both articles show Forest City Ratner scrambling to address an issue for which they likely have significant but hardly full responsibility. In Patch The Patch article, Atlantic Yards Rat Meeting Elicits Lots of Horror Stories, Few Solutions , quotes an unnamed Forest City Ratner spokesman: I refuse to accept that they will not bait outside the construction area,” said James, who heads the City Council’s sanitation committee.... Approached today, Forest City Ratner [sic] said he would look into the community’s requests, but said that Ratner has had a rodent control plan in place for more than two years, “beginning long before construction started” and “will continue to revisit the program to assess the impact.” In the Times The Times article, currently a blog post but perhaps a later print article not in today's paper , is headlined In Brooklyn, the Rats Move Out Before the Nets...

In Huffington Post, New York Civic's Morgan Pehme explains how the city's campaign finance system, which guarantees candidates matching funds (unlike candidates for state offices), is in jeopardy. The headline is Pulling the Trigger: U.S. Supreme Court Threatens Campaign Finance Reform in NYC . I commented: Please note that the situation regarding Atlantic Yards was even less democratic than described: "In the case of a massive, multi-hund­red-millio­n-dollar project like Atlantic Yards... it becomes clear why a real estate mogul might want to drop a mere million dollars to win a Council seat, if that outlay virtually assured approval of a controvers­ial building or complex." With Atlantic Yards, the local City Council member, Letitia James, never got to vote, because the mayoral administra­tion agreed to have the approval process bypass the city's typical Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and instead be shepherded by the unelected Empire State Deve...

The Atlantic Yards governance bill passed the state Assembly today, according the the legislative information page , and was delivered to the Senate's Rules Committee, with almost no time left in the legislative session. The New York Times reported tonight that gay marriage was the last issue: Senate staffers said they expected the vote to take place Friday night, and the Senate galleries were packed with gay couples in support of the bill and religious opponents of it. The measure was to be the final act of the Legislature, which was barreling through a variety of votes on university tuition, rent stabilization, and property taxes before addressing same-sex marriage and adjourning, possibly after midnight.  Those who want to influence the Senate should be contacting Senate leaders .

A Crain's New York Business article headlined Strike threatens $10B in construction projects contains this curious sentence, as noted by No Land Grab's Eric McClure: Projects that could be halted include Forest City Ratner's Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which employs 1,000 construction workers. His comment: Either half of those "1,000 construction workers" must have invisibility cloaks, or Crain's needs to count again. My comment: what's the source of their information?

If anyone thought that complaints about rat problems in the area around Atlantic Yards were isolated carping, they could hear an avalanche of anecdote tonight at a contentious meeting that drew a diverse crowd of 60 people, many from beyond the orbit of the sponsor Dean Street Block Association. "We don't have a normal rat problem, we have a rat tsunami," observed Dean Street resident Karen-Ida Scott. Others described a car catching on fire from food debris dragged into an engine by rats, garbage cans torn up, kids unable to play in the Dean Street Playground, and rodents appearing, alarmingly, inside houses and on people lounging in backyards. "I now park in Park Slope," recounted John Martinez (at right, speaking), aiming to save his car's insulation from regular rat attacks. "If gets any further, I'll have to take a cab to my car." Others lodged complaints from as far away as Fort Greene. "I was shocked," commented Cou...

The Brooklyn Paper had a scoop today, Accident injures two and damages cars at Atlantic Yards : A drill accident at the eastern end of the biggest construction project in Brooklyn’s history sent egg-sized chunks of packed dirt and small stones raining down on unsuspecting pedestrians and commuters at the corner of Vanderbilt and Atlantic avenues on June 21 — leaving two injuries and more than seven damaged cars. Witnesses said they heard an explosion at around 10:30 am as a hydraulic drill malfunctioned, sending dirt and rocks flying into the air. ESDC comment Empire State Development Corporation spokeswoman Elizabeth Mitchell offered more detail: Yesterday morning a drill rig became clogged that was working inside the construction fence at Vanderbilt & Atlantic Avenues. When attempting to unclog the casing spoil jam, built up pressure caused debris to spew into the street. Eight vehicles incurred minor damage, mostly on their wind shield, roof, hood, and trunk. Three peo...

There are two storylines to Atlantic Yards today, and never the twain shall cross: the excitement experienced by myopic sportswriters, and the dismay by arena neighbors, who focus more on their quality of life than the benefits to occasional arena visitors. ESPN New York's Rob Parker, in It's real -- and it'll be spectacular: Nets' future home is taking shape in Brooklyn; seeing will make you a believer , writes: And even though there's still another NBA season to be played before that happens, my eyes popped and my heart picked up a few beats when I finally laid my eyes on this place that has been talked about for years, almost in mythical terms. It's a reality. Better yet, it will be a showplace, the place that changes the game when it opens in September 2012. ...My thought immediately was, this place will be bananas, in a good way, on a game night. There are plenty of cool places to eat around there before a game. Best of all, this location allows fan...

So, it looks like the Islanders--who couldn't fit into the Barclays Center, which can't accommodate major league hockey --might get a new arena, according to this press release (embedded in full below): Uniondale, NY - Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano today announced an important step in creating a state-of-the-art sports-entertainment destination center at the Hub in Nassau County. Joined by New York Islanders owner Charles Wang, County Executive Mangano announced that the County has reached a lease agreement that retains Long Island’s only major professional sports team in Nassau County through 2045 should residents approve building a new arena at the site of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. According to an independent economic impact analysis conducted by Camoin Associates, a nationally recognized firm in public and private sector economic development, the agreement will generate $1.2 billion. This revenue will be used to pay off the $350 million in construct...

A photo essay on Atlantic Yards Watch, headlined Many failures to contain garbage in the vicinity of Atlantic Yards can be seen in photos , shows several potential sources of food for rodents inside and in the vicinity of the Atlantic Yards Project footprint. Those responsible include residents, visiting workers, Atlantic Yards site overseers, and city agencies. I reproduce the first few below, but let me add a conclusion: if construction workers and police officers park illegally, thus contributing to the problem, and if the police won't enforce those rules, someone needs to knock heads. That someone would seem to be the Empire State Development Corporation, which has overall responsibility for the project. The 6th Avenue entrance to the arena block construction site at Pacific Street, Sunday June 19th Pile of garbage under the 6th Avenue Bridge inside the Atlantic Yards Project footprint, Sunday June 19th Debris under a parked car on Dean Street between Fl...

From today's Wall Street Journal, The Nets Take Their Pitch to Brooklyn : The borough has yet to recover from the relocation of its beloved Dodgers and the demolition of Ebbets Field—Brooklyn Dodgers T-shirts and hats are still worn at Cyclones games. This suggests there is a historical precedent for a team with a loyal following. The problem is Brooklyn's diversity: from the hipsters in Williamsburg, to the strollers of Park Slope and the hip-hop mecca of Bedford-Stuvesant [sic], there are a lot of constituencies to please. The wearing of historical shirts and hats is evidence more of homage than of wound. But boosters of the team's move, including Nets Sports and Entertainment CEO Brett Yormark, like to make the connection. To repeat ... As I wrote in March 2009, Michael D’Antonio's revisionist biography of Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley, Forever Blue: The True Story of Walter O'Malley, Baseball's Most Controversial Owner,and the Dodgers of Broo...

I've highlighted a few parts of a 6/15/11 press release from Forest City Enterprises, otherwise reproduced verbatim: Forest City Announces 570,500 Square Feet of Leases in Downtown Brooklyn Properties CLEVELAND, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCEA and FCEB) today announced new or renewal leases for six tenants totaling 570,500 square feet of space at the company's MetroTech Center office campus in Brooklyn, New York. Three office tenants and two restaurants have committed to new or expansion leases at Two MetroTech Center, and Morgan Stanley has renewed for a substantial block of space at One Pierrepont Plaza. MetroTech Center is a commercial, academic, and high-technology office campus on a 10-block, 16acre site in Downtown Brooklyn. "The interest of these tenants and their commitment to our Brooklyn portfolio is confirmation of the strength of the New York office market and the quality of our MetroTech assets,...

From Atlantic Yards Watch, an update on the issue of rats . Note the new location, and that the meeting will start and end as scheduled: A meeting to address the rodent problem will take place June 23rd At Council Member Letitia James' initiative, a meeting addressing the rodent problem in the vicinity of the Atlantic Yards site is to take place this coming Thursday. Many residents believe construction at the Atlantic Yards site is the origin of the problem, through a combination of disrupted nests, neglected abatement and new food sources. Sources for food and water that sustain the rodents are also available in the nearby residential community, most particularly as a result of improperly contained garbage. The problem cannot be addressed unless the many contributing factors are addressed. Time: Thursday, June 23rd, 6 to 7 pm Place: 78th Precinct, 65 6th Avenue between Dean and Bergen Streets Soapbox Gallery, 636 Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbil...

The state Legislature was supposed to end its session yesterday, but the term was extended so the Democratic-controlled Assembly, Republican-controlled Senate, and (Democratic) Gov. Andrew Cuomo could negotiate some major issues, notably a tax cap, rent regulation, and gay marriage. The New York Times this afternoon reports on one major sticking point: But the Senate majority leader, Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican, said his caucus had not yet decided whether to bring to a vote the most contentious issue facing the Legislature: A bill introduced by Mr. Cuomo and approved by the Democratic-controlled Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage in New York. Thirty-one state senators have endorsed the marriage measure, one vote short of the number needed to pass in the 62-member senate. Movement in Assembly Meanwhile, the bill to reform Atlantic Yards governance --to authorize the Empire State Development Corporation to create an ongoing subsidiary to oversee the project, as with ne...

I've already written about some key differences between the pioneering Staples Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) in Los Angeles and the Atlantic Yards CBA, the first in New York. Notably, the coalition of 29 groups, the Figueroa Corridor Coalition for Economic Justice (FCCEJ) , based their negotiating position on responses to flaws in the environmental review, while the Atlantic Yards CBA was signed before the environmental review began. And, as noted by Bettina Damiani of Good Jobs New York in her 5/26/05 testimony to the New York City Council, testimony that was ignored by the media at the time: Perhaps the most striking is that elsewhere CBAs are negotiated by one broad coalition of groups that would otherwise oppose a project, a coalition that includes labor and community organizations representing a variety of interests.... In the BAY case, several groups, all of which have publicly supported the project already, have each engaged in what seem to be separate negoti...

The Brooklyn Paper comes a little late to the media event June 17 that was the tree-planting sponsored by the Nets and the Barclays Center, but there's a story today headlined Nets start planting roots in Brooklyn (we mean that literally) . Last week, as I pointed out , the newspaper neglected to cover three Atlantic Yards-related meetings, though today's story does mention the lingering anger (which the newspaper first wrote about last month) over planned traffic changes. By the way, the article is dated Sunday, June 19; a Google News search indicates it was posted around midnight last night.

An ambulance was spotted this morning at the Atlantic Yards site at about 8:40. "There was a slight injury," reported Empire State Development Corporation spokesman Warner Johnston in response to my query. "A backhoe operator (substitute for today) for subcontractor to Transit Connection contractor bumped his head on window shield while going over rocky ground. Apparently cut his forehead and there was bleeding –ambulance called. Individual was able to walk to ambulance under own power." (Photo by Raul Rothblatt) In April, the arena site was chosen by the city Department of Buildings (DOB) to illustrate the importance of Construction Safety Week not because it's been the site of major problems but rather as a site where there's been good communication between workers/managers and the DOB.

Last week, we learned that Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, who avoided a potential 2009 mayoral run thanks to the extension of term limits, is considering a 2013 mayoral race, after the implosion of Anthony Weiner's political career. I pointed out that Markowitz would face not merely ridicule but scorn for his Atlantic Yards support, given his blatant lie to potential immigrant investors: "Brooklyn is 1000 percent, 1000 percent behind Atlantic Yards." The Post's criticism Markowitz surely has a record to run on--he will credit his leadership for the "renaissance" of Brooklyn (debatable), but can claim innovations (some with dubiously gained private funds) like the Brooklyn Book Festival, Dine In Brooklyn, as well as a capital budget geared to big projects like his ( now-stalled ) Asser Levy Park bandshell. The New York Post, in a 6/18/11 editorial headlined When beeps fly , slammed the aspirations of not only Markowitz but Manhattan Borough P...

Mark W. Everson's New York Times op-ed today, Lawyers and Accountants Once Put Integrity First , suggests: It will take decades to fully untangle the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, but as our economy fitfully heals, it would be prudent to ask whether lawyers and accountants offer the same protection against corporate misconduct that they once did. Three or four decades ago, investors and regulators could rely on these professionals to provide a check on corporate risk-taking. But over time, attorneys and auditors came to see their practices not as independent firms that strengthen the integrity of capitalism, but as businesses measured chiefly by the earnings of their partners. ...Lawyers and accountants who were once the proud pillars of our financial system have become the happy architects of its circumvention. Nowhere is this more the case than in the world of tax law. Companies (and wealthy individuals) pay handsomely for tax professionals not ...

In New York Magazine's Daily Intel, Chris Smith (author of a fundamental 2006 article on Atlantic Yards), writes Chris Smith on the Atlantic Yards Documentary Battle for Brooklyn : Early in the new documentary Battle for Brooklyn , Senator Chuck Schumer appears at a rally in support of the proposed Atlantic Yards stadium and housing development. “What really enervates me about this project,” Schumer says, “are the jobs.” Sure, it’s an innocent slip of the tongue: Schumer meant to say “energizes” or “excites” or something equally booster-y. Yet he inadvertently cut to the core of this eight-years-and-counting urban outrage: “Enervate” means lacking in energy or vitality, and the promises of developer Bruce Ratner — that he was bringing world-class architecture, affordable housing, and, most important of all in his sales pitch, tens of thousands of jobs to the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues — are turning out to be expensive fictions. First, I don't give Schu...