Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

There's a telling passage at the end of a 7/18/12 New York Observer article, Chelsea Marketing: Expansion Fits With Beloved Building’s Past, But What About Chelsea’s Future? , about the controversial plans to build on top of the Chelsea Market building, to take advantage of the High Line: Architect Gregg Pasquarelli knows a thing or two about additions on top of Chelsea buildings. His SHoP Architects, better known for the Barclays Center and East River Esplanade, designed the Porter House across the street from the market. It happens to be one of the firm’s first successes, the dark metal box with the vertical lights running through it, perched atop the yellow-brick Old Homestead Steakhouse. Mr. Pasquarelli has called it home since it opened a decade ago, and he said he welcomes his new neighbor, even if it will block his view. “What’s wrong with congestion?” he asks. “I’m all for congestion, it’s the lifeblood of the city. The neighborhood can handle the density.” This is ...

A press release about BROOKLYN RECONSTRUCTED, a film series that includes Battle for Brooklyn, not coincidentally two days before the Barclays Center opens: Gentrification, eminent domain, public subsidies for luxury developments, political corruption, rising rents and neighborhood revitalization are underlying themes in most Brooklynites’ day-to-day lives. With that in mind, a new screening series, BROOKLYN RECONSTRUCTED, by Filmwax’s Adam Schartoff, taps into the borough’s zeitgeist, its wealth of local filmmakers and their recent output of documentaries that address these issues. Each film in the series, to be screened at The Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture at 53 Prospect Park West, will deal with the themes of gentrification & development in Brooklyn. Within those themes is a conversation about race & class in a city undergoing a startling transformation. In order to cultivate a rich conversation about the above issues, a discussion led by a panel of regional activis...

There was an odd article posted yesterday on Capital New York headlined A Chicago parking company prepares to take advantage of a 'bad situation' at Barclays Arena , since it focused on what is apparently an upstart competitor to the Barclays Center's planned parking partner, with no mention of the latter. After sketching the neighborhood demand for residential permit parking and the arena operators' emphasis on mass transit, the article states: Map from ParkWhiz , with arena at center Meanwhile, a Chicago-based company that allows drivers to find nearby parking lots online and book spaces ahead of time, is preparing to capitalize on the chaos. "We want to be here to help people make the best of a bad situation," said Justin Baker, the marketing manager of the company, ParkWhiz, which positions itself as the Expedia of the driving world and connects drivers with millions of parking spots via its website. ...In April, the site began marketing parking s...

Paul Lukas reports on UniWatch the the NBA likely will permit jersey ads beginning in 2013-14 , measuring at least two inches square, though there must be an e-mail vote in September. While uniform ads would not be required, deputy commissioner Adam Silver says, “My sense is that every team would do this in some form.” (Would Barclays, after buying arena naming rights, want a piece of the uniform--(and further criticism ?) Comments Lukas: I have to admit, I’m surprised — I thought they’d take an incremental step, like putting ads on practice jerseys or warm-ups. Why it's wrong What's wrong with it? Lukas writes: I’ve never once said I’m opposed to advertising; I’m just opposed to advertising where it doesn’t belong. This content you’re reading here is available for free. To help offset my costs, I sell advertising, which is what media enterprises have been doing to offset their costs for centuries. But NBA teams already have lots of revenue streams — ticket sales, TV right...

TV vehicles serving the Barclays Center arena will be parking in a residential neighborhood. Does that mean any adjustments in the fence, the restoration of street trees, and the monitoring of impacts? Unclear. Yesterday, the Department of Transportation held a hearing on a "revocable consent" for Forest City Ratner to run cable conduits from the Barclays Center arena under Sixth Avenue between Dean and Pacific streets to the parking lot at the northeast corner where six vans and a truck could park . This broadcast support area , which would complement space under the arena for TV trucks, was not mentioned in the 2006 environmental review or 2009 update, but, in December 2010, an outline of the plan emerged in a graphic (left). The lot was created by combining an existing empty lot with the space created by the demolition of two townhouses purchased by Forest City Ratner. The three adjacent houses on Dean Street, officially designated as part of the project footpr...

There was something dismaying, but not so surprising, about the public hearing yesterday held by the New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC) regarding up to $92 million in tax-exempt bonds for the first Atlantic Yards tower, a 32-story, 363-unit building at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Dean Street, adjoining the Barclays Center arena. It wasn’t simply that no board members were present for the hearing in Lower Manhattan, just three agency lawyers, plus an intern, observed by fewer than three dozen people, some of whom warned the agency about going forward, while others said, however flawed, it was a good start. It was that no official presentation went beyond the contents of a developer-created handout (bottom) provided a day earlier, describing 150 studios (41%), 165 1-BR (46%) and 48 2-BR (13%), 50% of them subsidized, over five income bands. Then again, the project does not have a transparent history.
 We know developer Forest City Ratner seeks ne...

The latest Site Observation Report , issued yesterday by Merritt & Harris, the consultant that reports to the arena bond trustee, Empire State Development Corporation, and Forest City Ratner, declares "the Arena is slightly ahead of schedule, while the Transit Connection is currently 4 months behind its original schedule." Of course, as the charts indicate, the arena is "slightly ahead of schedule" because they tweaked the schedule earlier this year. The report, while issued yesterday is dated 7/9/12 and based on a 5/23/12 visit and documents dated 6/22/12. Manpower The report states, "According to the General Contractor and the Manpower Log, 550 persons have been on the job for the Arena and 48 persons for the Transit Connection this month." That's an increase from 490 and 48 in the previous report and is "attributed to the roofing, carpentry, and finish trades." On 6/28/12, Patch quoted Forest City Ratner as having 1,079 e...

In June 2010, new (New Jersey) Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov made a hubristic boast : ""We're going to turn Knicks fans into Nets fans." As of last April, when Knicks fans invaded the Prudential Center in Newark, the Daily News reported , Mikhail Prokhorov once said he’d turn Knicks fans into Nets fans. It’s safe to say none of the thousands were swayed Wednesday night in Newark. Now the struggling Nets — 22-41 after the 104-95 defeat — are clearly facing an uphill battle for New York fan support ahead of their move to Brooklyn. Now, thanks to Prokorov's (over)spending to assemble a strong if not championship-ready roster, and the New York Knicks' drawn-out and debatable decision to let potential star point guard Jeremy Lin (costly, but with huge upside, and not out of line with previous overspending) go to the (over)spending Houston Rockets, Knick fans are defecting. Credit the moves by Prokhorov and his team, coupled with Knicks owner James Dolan...

The New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYC HDC) has passed along some cursory information regarding plans for the first Atlantic Yards residential tower, aka B2, the 32-story, 363-unit subject of a public hearing tomorrow at 1 pm. There's no information on the agency web site. I was told I would have to file a Freedom of Information Law request for underlying documents, which will not be available for perusal tomorrow. However, the agency did send a two-page fact sheet, which bears significant similarity to two previous fact sheets (below) prepared by consultants for Forest City Ratner, but don't necessarily provide useful information to those who may wish to comment publicly tomorrow. The agency may provide up to $92 million in bonds, part of a financing plan that includes Low Income Housing Tax Credits, HDC Second Mortgage & Developer Equity. But it's not clear what the mix would be. Here are the highlights: There's no mention if the building ...

There's not much dramatic in the latest two-week Atlantic Yards Construction Alert, dated 7/16/12 (and embedded below) and released yesterday by Empire State Development after preparation by Forest City Ratner. According to the document, there's progress on numerous fronts, including testing of an escalator in the new subway entrance, erection of steel for the Carlton Avenue Bridge, and access to the Flatbush Avenue sidewalk. Then again, as stated in recent documents, "overall schedule maintenance" (aka finishing the arena in September for a Sept. 28 opening, and getting the Carlton Avenue Bridge done by then) requires two and even three shifts, and weekend work, such as for pile drilling at the site for the first tower. Note that "trenches for the power and broadcast cable are being installed [at the broadcast lot at dean street and Sixth Avenue] and will be encased in concrete," though Department of Transportation approval has not yet been granted an...