Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

I can't say I consider Stephen Witt's Kings County Politics web site a comprehensive or necessarily responsible source of news--consider this gem of a press release reposted verbatim as Maimonides Expert Gives Thanksgiving Digestion Tips You’ll be Thankful to Know . And any regular readers of this blog know that I've been tough on the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park coverage by the "notorious Stephen Witt." That said, let's credit his website for the unbylined 12/11/17  Reyna Leaving Deputy Borough President Post , which has Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams confirming that Deputy BP Diana Reyna, a former City Council Member, is leaving the office, with no comment from Reyna: While Reyna could not be reached for comment, political speculation has it she might have stepped down to join the Mayor Bill de Blasio Administration or distancing herself from Adams for a possible run for the borough presidency in four years. I think that it's far more ...

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning December 18, was circulated at 1:42 pm yesterday (lead time) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners. There's not a lot new compared to the previous update . Outside 38 Sixth Avenue, which recently opened to tenants, street paving work is expected to commence soon, subject to receipt of permits from the Department of Transportation. At the Vanderbilt Yard,  "Tieback installation at the eastern end of Block 1120 along Atlantic Avenue is expected to resume during this reporting period." Also, "Installation of temporary drill track [ def, ]will begin during this reporting period." Night and weekend work Weekend electrical utility installations are expected to continue during these two weeks (though they weren't mentioned specifically in the previous update). "PD3 water in Atlantic Avenue, between 6th ...

With all the publicity regarding controversial national legislation and rulemaking, we might lose sign of the fact that the EB-5 investor visa program--used three times to bring cheap loans to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park--has gotten a brief extension without reform. As the law firm Mintz Levin noted 12/8/17, the most recent continuing resolution passed by Congress to extend current spending levels for two weeks also extended EB-5 with the current minimum investment levels, $500,000 in a so-called Targeted Employment Area, or TEA. Such TEAs, which are defined as rural areas or areas with high unemployment, are routinely gerrymandered. The firm notes: It is unlikely that any reform and reauthorization measure would pass as a stand-alone bill, but if consensus is reached on their proposal it could be attached to the next longterm spending bill making action unlikely until sometime in early 2018, but certainly possible by year end depending on how negotiations proceed leading up to ...

In an exclusive 12/13/17, the Daily Beast published The Shady Bank Where This Russian NBA Owner Stashed Money , suggesting a whiff of scandal surrounding Mikhail Prokhorov, currently owner of the Brooklyn Nets (about to sell 49%) and the Barclays Center operating company: But a 2014 “confidential” report written by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC) found that the wealthy Russian, a so-called politically exposed person—finance parlance for government officials, candidates, and their relatives who are deemed to be at a higher risk of bribery or money laundering—kept 23 accounts at FBME Bank Ltd., formerly known as the Federal Bank of the Middle East. All 23 of the Prokhorov accounts had been set up by “front men,” according to the CBC report, and FBME was found not to have complied with Cyprus’ own anti-money-laundering law in accepting the deposits. The bank was shuttered in May of this year following a U.S. Treasury Department statement noting that it was used to facilitate a host o...

Brooklyn Council Member Mark Treyger has a good idea--to make housing lotteries more transparent--but, as I explain below, it needs a few tweaks to better understand the response to higher-income units. When affordable housing lotteries are conducted, residents often ask “affordable for who?” My new proposed bill aims to help answer that important question #transparency #accountability #affordableforwho https://t.co/eAYqbZdQFU — Mark Treyger (@MarkTreyger718) December 1, 2017 Treyger's bill  would require the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to report, regarding each housing lottery, the number of applications received and selected, plus the number selected and subsequently rejected and also the number placed on a waiting list, all disaggregated by household income: Extremely low income (up to 30% of AMI) Very low income (31% to 50% of AMI) Low income (51% to 80% of AMI) Moderate income (81% to 165% of AMI) This also would be disaggregated by...

It's big news on Long Island, at least, as the cover of yesterday's Newsday (right) suggests, but it should have ripples in Brooklyn, where the New York Islanders face an uneasy future (as I wrote ) at the Barclays Center. The two respondents (after one dropped out) to the Belmont Park RFP, a group including the Islanders and another including the New York City FC soccer team, made public presentations of their polished proposals on Sunday at a nearby high school. The renderings looked good, and the numbers impressive. For example, as Newsday's Stefanie Dazio and Jim Baumbach reported : The Islanders’ proposal includes an 18,000-seat, year-round arena that would host 150 events annually, as well as 435,000 square feet of space for retail, a hotel with 200 to 250 rooms, and a 10,000 square-foot “innovation center” that would be developed with input from residents. NYCFC, a professional soccer team partially owned by the Yankees, is calling for a 26,000-seat open-air...

It's not certain--no lease has been signed--but the major retail tenant at 535 Carlton, at the corner of Dean Street and Carlton Avenue, could be another branch of Mekelburg's . It opened in Clinton Hill  in 2014  as a "cozy," much-praised "Fine Foods & Craft Beer" store/cafe, and in May was announced as the anchor tenant for 325 Kent , the first building in the Domino Sugar complex in Williamsburg. That much larger outlet, at 4,000 square feet , should open in 2018, while the 535 Carlton location--also significantly larger than the Clinton Hill space--wouldn't open until 2019, at the earliest, according to statements made at a recent public meeting. Mekelburg's would occupy frontage along Carlton Avenue (left) and Dean Street (right), up to the parking garage No other retail tenants have surfaced for the four Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park buildings to open: 461 Dean, 550 Vanderbilt, and 38 Sixth. That may reflect lingering construction in...

I wrote in January how real estate developer Bruce Ratner joined celebrities urging Congress to "vigorously oppose” (then) President-elect Donald Trump’s “racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, anti-worker, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-environmental policies.” I credited Ratner for sticking his neck out, expressing sentiments that surely many others in his field share but are unwilling to admit publicly. However, I wrote, his firm (now Forest City New York) and parent Forest City Realty Trust must pursue value for shareholders. So, I wrote, if that means lobbying--with Republican Al D'Amato, a Trump ally--in Washington and making deals with the Republican administration, well, don't be surprised. Now, as the New York Times reported 12/5/17,  Tax Plan Crowns a Big Winner: Trump’s Industry : House and Senate Republicans, in their divergent bills, both offered steeply reduced rates to corporate giants, partnerships and family-owned firms across the board. But when it ca...

Park life pulling buyers to new south Brooklyn , declared Real Estate Weekly in an 12/8/17 article that could, perhaps, be appended to a piece about Sheepshead Bay. Nah, it's about 550 Vanderbilt: Downtown Brooklyn’s renaissance is well underway as new retail and residential continues to grow. In one pocket of the neighborhood, a sleek and modern condo building is leading the charge to draw in a new wave of residents. 550 Vanderbilt is the first building to open at Pacific Park Brooklyn, the 22-acre site that will ultimately have 16 buildings and 350,000 s/f of public park space once completed. So the "south Brooklyn" of the headline is the southern "pocket" (?) of Downtown Brooklyn, which is, of course, not Downtown Brooklyn but Prospect Heights. And, of course, it's not "public park space" but rather publicly accessible open space. Which is not close to ready. Amenities or price? From the article: The tower first launched sales in June...

From the Real Deal, 12/6/17. The Agency hires a new team to tackle sales at Greenland’s Metropolis : Nearly two months ago, a brokerage shakeup occurred at Greenland USA’s $1 billion Metropolis development in Downtown Los Angeles. New York-based Douglas Elliman lost the project for reasons that remain unclear. It didn’t take long for the Agency, a boutique brokerage co-founded by Mauricio Umansky and Billy Rose, to swoop in and snag the contract to sell the1,500-unit condo project, which is spread across three towers. After a few quiet months, the Agency has now revealed the development group that will tackle the 2.1 million-square-foot project at 889 Francisco Street. You don't change brokers--see the example of 550 Vanderbilt, developed by Greenland Forest City Partners--unless sales are not going as well as expected. While the Real Deal article didn't specify month-by-month numbers, it indicated reasons for concern: Industry observers have questioned whether there is ...

So, this casual, and not so wise, remark by Mayor Bill de Blasio certainly caused a firestorm: Did he mean that the team wasn't winning? or did he mean that the affordable housing was behind schedule and not so affordable? — Norman Oder (@AYReport) December 6, 2017 Good question but he never expanded. My sense is he was taking a cheap shot at the team playing poorly the past few years. However, he went out of his way to make comment and I've personally never heard him rip the Nets in any way. Nothing about housing-or lack of it-mentioned. — Rich Calder (@Rich_Calder) December 6, 2017 This led to an article follow-ups from the Nets and the mayor's spokesman, captured in a New York Post article . Hello, @NYCMayor . From one Brooklynite to another, you should know that we always have each other’s backs. Like all of NYC, we're always grinding to get better. If you want to see some real grit, our doors are always open. — Brooklyn Nets 🇲🇽 (@BrooklynNets) Dece...

From the Real Deal yesterday, To the future! Experts talk tech, and how to lure companies to NYC At Pacific Park, Forest City put modular construction to the test, an experiment that came with a few construction mishaps and litigation with the project’s contractor, Skanska. Forest City eventually sold the modular company it launched for the project. “When you are the first to try something big, there are roadblocks,” [executive Kate] Bickell said. “In terms of the technology, in terms of solving high-rise modular construction… I think we’ve cracked the code in that space.” "Cracked the code," of course, was Bruce Ratner's phrase. So far it's meant significant losses, and a building that had such problems that units were gutted. Here's  what I wrote  in February 2017 about the revisionism, including the continued claim of savings. From the article: She added that as a public real estate investment trust, Forest City has decided that owning the business was n...

It's important and overdue that we're having national/local conversations and investigations regarding sexual harassment in political and media circles (while remembering that some less publicized workplaces leave workers even more vulnerable). That said, I echo those who note there's a difference along the continuum between boorishness and sexual abuse/rape, which should--adjusted by the timing, frequency, and workplace-related consequences of the actions--result in different sanctions. And I can't help but think that public statements, especially by elected officials, are made not merely on principle, nor solely in recognition that our standards have shifted, but also because of political calculation. The reason: the wall of silence after Atlantic Yards- and Barclays Center-related sex harassment episodes that surfaced just two years ago, with a credible, sympathetic witness: a young black woman who'd lived near the project site all her life. Issue ...

Shadowing the uncertain future of the New York Islanders in Brooklyn (see my article in The Bridge ) is an uncomfortable fact: the Islanders aren't earning the profits they want, nor is that profit justifying the seemingly large price paid for the team in 2014 by new owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin. That surely influences the team's effort to build a new hockey-centric arena at Belmont Park, but, as I suggest, it also raises a risk, since the net revenues from operating the arena also have to pay off construction. Forbes yesterday issued its annual (2017) assessment of National Hockey League team values, with the team (Mike Ozanian, Kurt Badenhausen, Christina Settimi) observing that team values rose "15% over last year to an average of $594 million, the biggest increase in three years," thanks to deals with a streaming service and generally higher revenue and profits, plus a boost in the Canadian dollar. The New York Rangers are worth $1.5 billion, up 20%,...

I have an article in The Bridge, a new Brooklyn business publication, headlined  The Uneasy Future of Islanders Hockey in Brooklyn , with the deck, "With disappointing crowds and an awkward fit, the team wants to depart for a new arena. Will Barclays, its bottom line suffering, make a new deal with them?" The answer is we don't know, but it's getting down to decision time for both the Barclays-Islanders deal as well as the Islanders' bid for a new arena at Belmont. One key piece of new information is this: The arena company’s recent fiscal-year 2017 financial results, not previously reported in the media, showed net revenues $18 million below estimates in a prospectus shown just last year to arena bond buyers. While the financial report didn’t name a particular cause, ratings agency Moody’s separately blamed lowered revenues and cash flow “caused by the attendance and related ticket sales decline” at Islanders games, plus the arena’s obligation to guarantee p...

Yesterday, a few days (and two events) late, the Barclays Center announced in December 2017 event calendar to arena neighbors. It includes a total of 20 ticketed events, including eight Islanders games, six Nets games, two Globetrotters games, one concert, one comedy show, and two film-plus-concert Nightmare Before Christmas events. Note that the arena is still not announcing nonticketed events, as it long did, which thus fails to alert the public of events that may be disruptive . For example, tonight's nonticketed event is Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award show , which may not have a huge audience but will attract television trucks. The December 2016 calendar In December 2016, there were 18 events, including eight Islanders games, six Nets games, one concert, two days of college basketball, and the WWE Live holiday tour. (I'm not counting the minor-league basketball game.)

Four-and-a-half months after announcing to The Real Deal, with a shift in brokers to stimulate sales, that the condo building 550 Vanderbilt would not lower prices, developer Greenland Forest City Partners has changed course. The developer has lowered prices on at least five units, with the cuts exceeding 10% in two cases, according to StreetEasy listings and previously filed documents. That July announcement, as I  reported  10/23/17, was coupled with an undisclosed maneuver that would lower taxes significantly on some units by coupling the condo building with a down-the-block affordable building as part of a "zoning lot." That lowers the cost of ownership significantly, but apparently it wasn't enough. So the July pledge by Forest City New York CEO MaryAnne Gilmartin--prices wouldn't be cut, she told The Real Deal, because 550 Vanderbilt wasn’t your “standard fare development project"--has apparently reached an expiration date. The price cuts Announc...

From The Real Deal, 12/1/17,  Is retail turning a corner? : Cushman [& Wakefield], for one, was tapped by Ronald Dickerman of Madison International Realty this year to handle leasing at the 2.1 million-square-foot, 12-property retail portfolio the company will own outright by the end of this year. That’s when it’s slated to close a deal to buy partner Forest City New York out of its 51 percent stake. This includes the Atlantic Terminal and Atlantic Center malls. From the article: Dickerman said that unlike with many prime Manhattan locations, there’s still plenty of financial upside at the Brooklyn mall[sic]. “This is not $2,000-per-square-foot rents going to $5,000 per square foot. This is $30-$50 going to $100 per square foot. The narrative is very different here,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity to twist this project into the current century.” That suggests that some of the downmarket leaseholders might be replaced by retailers with somewhat higher price points a...

[Update: not sure what happened to the original tweet I was replying to, which contained the quote in the headline.] As hinted in my analysis of the #affordablehousing lottery for #535Carlton @pacificparkbk , with respondents seeking middle-income units https://t.co/TJTmZGowv3 and the similar stats for #38Sixth https://t.co/ogsCxgvsGk #AtlanticYards pic.twitter.com/Wh2xO3c47G — Norman Oder (@AYReport) December 1, 2017

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning December 4, was circulated at 5:43 pm yesterday by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners, which would seem to be sufficient lead time. Actually, though, it contained information regarding work that night that should have been--but wasn't--in the previous alert , information about the work planned this weekend and next at the western end of the Vanderbilt Yard, part of a new West Portal entrance for the Long Island Rail Road to Atlantic Terminal: Weekend Installation of New Track Slip Switches will be completed by LIRR during this period. Work will start Friday evening and be continuous to Monday Morning on the weekends of 12/1/17 and 12/8/17. LIRR will stage for this work in the west end of the yard. Work will occur inside LIRR Tunnel. So the work will be continuous, but the update didn't say anything about noise. Otherwise, ...