Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Images from meeting presentation This is the first of two articles on the 5/11/21 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting. The online meeting via Zoom last night was brief, less than 30 minutes, and drew a maximum of 21 people, according to organizers, though as per typical, attendees could not see questions and chat posted by others. There was no big news, or even answers to some of the big questions posed before the meeting, such as plans for the two-block platform over the Vanderbilt Yards, crucial to the construction of two sets of three towers. Scott Solish of master developer Greenland USA shared a slide showing the arena block, with the facade of the B4 tower, 18 Sixth Avenue, fully installed. Work on the interior of the building continues, with an opening expected in the fourth quarter of this year. He had no information on the planned affordable housing--30% of the next four buildings--despite previous evidence that it would be geared to middle-income households....

The bi-monthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life Meeting will be held tonight at 6 pm, online. The Zoom link is  here . Dial In: 646-558-8656. Passcode: 93061478837# Meeting ID: 930 6147 8837, During the meeting, attendees will be able to submit questions and comments to presenters via the virtual platform’s chat feature or via email to AtlanticYards@esd.ny.gov . However, attendees won't be able to see chat from others or follow up on their questions. The agenda The typically anodyne agenda is at right, indicating presenting entities but not topics.  Presumably we'll get an update on construction progress, as well as responses to--if not complete answers about--some perennial issues: the timing of the opening of the B4 (18 Sixth) and B15 (662 Pacific) towers; plans for the affordability there; and plans for the platform, which is required in two phases before three towers each can be built over the Vanderbilt Yard. Just before the meeting, the develope...

Yesterday, I wrote an article for Bklyner,  CB8 Land Use Committee Votes Against Developer’s Revised Proposal For Tower At Atlantic & Vanderbilt . The lead: The developers of 840 Atlantic Avenue , a proposed 18-story residential tower at the southeast corner of Vanderbilt Avenue, have for months sought Community Board 8 (CB8)’s support for upzoning a site occupied mainly by a drive-through McDonald’s and limited to low-rise manufacturing zoning. After getting previous pushback, they came to CB8’s Land Use Committee May 6 with a surprise compromise: to cut the bulk of their building by about 7%, with an unspecified reduction in the previously estimated 316 rental apartments. That didn’t fly, as the committee voted 14-2, with one abstention, to withhold support unless the proposed building was reduced to conform to the board’s previously proposed M-CROWN rezoning. For the rest of the article, go to Bklyner . 

Well, all that after-hours construction work apparently paid off. The B15 tower, aka 662 Pacific Street, has been re-launched as "Plank Road,"  with, curiously enough, no mention of the larger Pacific Park (aka Atlantic Yards) project. Leasing starts in July. The news was first reported by Patch , which also published the rendering at right. Perhaps the failure to mention the larger project is because this tower, east of Sixth Avenue between Dean and Pacific Streets, is pretty far from the expected location of the lion's share of the open space, which could take until 2035 to finish. Or because the developer, The Brodsky Organization, has leased the site from master developer Greenland Forest City Partners, has no allegiance to the larger project. But it can emphasize proximity. Mouse over "what's close to you" and get: Half a block to Barclays Center, 1500 feet to the subway, 4 minutes to your favorite coffee shop, 7 blocks to a picnic in the park, and acr...

Though the builders the B12/B13 towers on Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues had pursued  without success an  after-hours variance  to start weekday work at 6 am, they today got such a variance, starting tomorrow . The stated work includes mobilizing and warming up equipment like cranes and generators, concrete placement, and erection of superstructure elements like formwork, shoring, and rebar. That doesn't sound like quiet work.

Last Friday I speculated , based on the fact that annual naming rights to the new suburban USB Arena and other venues significantly exceed the $10 million paid for the Barclays Center, the Brooklyn arena naming deal might get reopened, leading to a renaming (and of the transit hub, too). Well, yesterday, in an article with the original URL indicating "Barclays Center expected to get new name," the New York Post reported "Brooklyn Nets seeking new uniform sponsor amid Joe Tsai’s push." The lead of the article stated, "The Brooklyn Nets are riding their newfound fame to a slew of lucrative sponsorship deals that could culminate in the renaming of the Barclays Center, The Post has learned."  And while the Post could not a comment from either the Nets nor sponsor Barclays, after the article was published, Joe Tsai, owner of the team and the arena operating company, tweeted , "BSE Global has a great relationship with Barclays. Neither side is looking to ...

Updated 5/10/21, 7:15 pm: Yes, they got the variance . As I wrote 5/1/21, the builders the B12/B13 towers on Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues had pursued, so far unsuccessfully, an  after-hours variance  to start weekday work, beginning last Monday at 6 am, rather than the standard 7 am start. Neighbors have already reported being disturbed at 7 am, so a 6 am start, even if it involves different tasks, can be even more disturbing. Well, the construction company (which works for developer TF Cornerstone) reapplied, to start  Tuesday morning 5/11/21 and continue for at least ten days, with the purported reason "Public Safety," rather than, say, the desire to complete the building faster. The stated work includes mobilizing and warming up equipment like cranes and generators, concrete placement, and erection of superstructure elements like formwork, shoring, and rebar. That doesn't sound like quiet work. As of now the status of the permit request is pendi...

OK, never mind. While I reported 4/29/21 that the Barclays Center was still selling seemingly a full house for a scheduled July 21 Justin Bieber show--the first event that would rely on ticket sales, rather than TV revenues, as with basketball--that was continginent on a future full reopening of venues. It's unclear whether that full reopening would happen in New York State, or in all the other states where Bieber's tour is planned, and they need all states to cooperate. So, not so surprisingly, Bieber's tour was postponed yesterday until 2022, with the Barclays Center performance April 1 . At least the arena now has New York Liberty games on its summer schedule .

Even before the Brooklyn Nets' narrow loss --their fourth straight--Thursday night to the Dallas Mavericks, even while Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were on the court, Sports Illustrated Robin Lunberg wrote 5/5/21  James Harden Is Most Necessary Net: Unchecked . His point: only if the injured Harden comes back for the playoffs (and he expects to be back ) can the Nets win a title. In other words, this third star, who engineered a trade to the Nets mid-season, is crucial: When the trade for Harden went down, it felt like it may have been a luxury, but it turns out acquiring him was a necessity. Brooklyn is 27-7 with Harden in the lineup, which includes many games without KD and several without Kyrie. Meanwhile, they are under .500 in contests where the original Brooklyn duo shares the floor sans The Beard. Lunberg argues that Harden is a more complete player, given his role as a facilitator and even on defense, than the spectacular scorers in Durant and Irving. Meanwhile, the N...

As the Commercial Observer reported 4/20/21,  New York City’s Building Emissions Law Awaits Next Mayor’s Muscle , a law passed in 2019 will eventually have some consequences: Under the rule, Mayor de Blasio’s administration has targeted buildings of at least 25,000 square feet with carbon caps beginning in 2024. Building owners will have to pay $268 for each metric ton their site’s carbon footprint exceeds the limit each year. The key to lowering emissions will be how quickly owners can electrify their buildings to provide heat and hot water. That could involve changing steam radiators over time to electric heat pumps that plug into a grid. That seemingly relates mainly to older buildings, as architect and political candidate Lou Céspedes recently wrote , and tweeted, suggesting it could lead to a stall in repairs and then renovation-caused evictions.  At 550 Vanderbilt, a low rating But, as Barbara Rogers responded, the 550 Vanderbilt condo has a notably low energy efficiency...

"Projects change, markets change," in the infamously laconic November 2005 phrasing of then-Forest City Ratner executive Jim Stuckey. So--I speculate--surely the operators of the Brooklyn arena, who inherited a naming rights agreement that had been renegotiated to $200 million over 20 years are wondering if they can open it up. (The initial deal was  $300 million,  which was hyped to "nearly" $400 million, a figure that persisted in the press.) After all, $10 million a year until June 30, 2033 is, relatively speaking, chump change when a jersey patch goes for $8 million-plus , when the Chase Center in San Francisco (home of the Golden State Warriors), went for an "estimated" $15 million a year , and when the new USB Arena at Belmont Park was named for (reportedly) at least $15 million a year. Sports Business Journal 7/22/20  cited  "sources" in claiming the UBS deal, with the New York Islanders as anchor tenant, was worth $350 million--at leas...

There's something quite telling about the image at right, taken last month. It shows three layers of commercial signage--not one, as originally indicated--associated with the arena and transit entrance. (And it leaves out the advertising inside the transit entrance.) It's a reminder that the an arena named for a sponsor, and a plaza named for a sponsor, are above all organisms for delivering revenue. Before the oculus Let's recap. The bright digital signage in the oculus--though at times on the fritz overnight , interfering with neighbors' sleep--is, relatively speaking, modest compared to what was once--shockingly--proposed, when the arena was supposed to be wrapped in four tours, notably the flagship "Miss Brooklyn" looming from the intersection of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues. Massive illuminated signage on the Urban Room, 150-feet high and 75-feet wide, could have made the Atlantic-Flatbush intersection a mini-Times Square. "Ad-nauseum!" procla...

The value of NBA teams is increasing thanks to new sponsorships like jersey patches and an expected huge deal for TV rights. Another frontier: sports betting.  As Chris Sheridan wrote 4/18/21 in Basketball News, New Jersey border towns surpass Las Vegas as sports gambling hotspot , towns very close to New York City have sucked in New York gamblers way too itchy for the recently legalized--and enabled maybe by February --New York State mobile sports betting.  And then this quote from former player, TV analyst, and known gambler Charles Barkley: “I was talking to an [NBA] owner who told me in three-to-five years, we will not even need the TV money. That’s how big this thing is going to be." (h/t commenter Bobbo , aka NetsDaily's Bob Windrem, aka NetIncome.) Now that may be hype, and we don't actually know the volume of betting, as Sheridan pointed out, but sports gambling stocks are booming and others are hungry for stock exchange listings .  Indeed, the latter article no...

Unsurprisingly, it takes incentives to get relatively more expensive apartments rented these days, and that includes Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park buildings. I last wrote about this in January . At 535 Carlton Avenue , a "100% affordable" building with half the units geared to upper middle-income households--incomes up to 165% of Area Median Income, and rents set at 160% of AMI--the listed rent for a two-bedroom unit is $3,223, but renters get three months or 2.5 months free, or a $2,417 or $2,552 net effective rent. There are eight one-bedroom units, listed at $2,680, but three months free means a net effective rent of $2,010. There are three studios, listed at $2,137, but three months free brings the net effective rent is $1,603. At the similarly "100% affordable"  38 Sixth Avenue , there are three two-bedroom units, listed at $3,206, with 2.5 months free and a $2,538 net effective rent. There are six one-bedroom units, listed at $2.663, with three months free and a...

Reinvent Albany 4/29/21 published  Subsidy Sheet: What the Heck Will It Take to Get NY to Publish Its Database of Deals? , noting: Every single year, New York State government spends $4.4 billion in business subsidies, incentives, and tax breaks (our local governments spend an additional $5.5 billion). But after decades of spending – and six years since the Buffalo Billion bid-rigging scandal of 2015 , taxpayers still cannot see how much they are paying to individual businesses to create jobs or whether jobs are even being created. A Database of Deals is a fundamental transparency reform that would list all of the taxpayer subsidies received by a corporation, including the type of subsidy, jobs created or retained, and the cost per job to taxpayers. NYC, Florida, Maryland, and Indiana all have one. But efforts to make it a reality in New York State have been much tougher than expected. Their posting offers a litany of delay, from--guess who?--Empire State Development (ESD), the st...

The area around the Barclays Center has definitely become more weighted to food and beverage places--restaurants, bars, food emporia--since the arena started rising. And it does now have some national and local chains: on Flatbush Avenue, Shake Shack and Chick-Fil-A , renting from the major landlord, the Pintchik family, who have aimed--at least in properties not quite as close to the arena, to be more local and eclectic. Recently, Bisnow reported, in  Brooklyn's Retail Market Is Eyeing A Quick, More Inclusive Recovery , that the Pintchiks have turned down even higher-profile, and more commercial, tenants: The focus on the careful selection of retailers and brands is on the mind of Michael Pintchik, who owns around 65 mixed-use properties, mainly around the Barclays Center area....  “Many of them are contiguous, so we sort of have the unique ability to guide the look and feel of our little neighborhood,” he said. ..."We've had both Popeyes and McDonald's after us left...

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning May 3 was circulated yesterday at 11:44 am (lead time) by Empire State Development (ESD) after preparation by Greenland Forest City Partners.  There's only one contrast with the  previous Update  regarding expected work: at the B12/B13 site on the southeast block of the project, between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues, "Relocation of Pacific Street site fence to northern side of Pacific Street shall commence." That seems to outline an extension of the work area, with trucks then going inside the fence rather than being outside it.  Something more significant was not mentioned in the Update, however. As described below, and shown in the screenshot, the Update does not mention a potentially significant impact on neighbors: an effort, so far unsuccessful, to start weekday work at 6 am at the B12/B13 sites, which are designated 615 Dean St. and 595 Dean St. Those construc...

That latest quarterly statement of cash receipts for the Barclays Center operating company shows an increase in ticket sales over the previous quarter--a sign events have resumed--but a distinct drop in the amount from suite and sponsor installments, to $1.2 million from $6.6 million. That's the first quarter of calendar year 2021, but the third quarter of the fiscal year, which ends in June. As I  wrote  in February, the arena logged nearly $6.6 million in suite and sponsor installments in the previous quarter. (See screenshot further below.) This may refer to discounts and/or the commitment, announced in the previous annual report (as I wrote last October), to provide "make goods"--credits for under-delivery--"totaling $11,043,996 to its partnering sponsors and suite license-holders."  That value was partly recorded in deferred revenue, reflecting the value received but not yet delivered, but another part was "not reflected in the financial statements....

NYC Plans for Full Reopening on July 1, Mayor Says: ‘We Are Ready' , NBC reported this morning: "Our plan is to fully reopen New York City on July 1," the mayor said on "Morning Joe. "We are ready for stores to open, for businesses to open, offices, theaters, full strength." De Blasio is expected to elaborate further on the plan later in the day. It's not clear if additional COVID requirements -- like proof of vaccinations -- would apply to his plan to bring restaurants, gyms, shops, hair salons and arenas back at full capacity. Nor is it clear whether and how this will harmonize with state rules that, for example, currently limit arena capacity to 10%, going up to 25% as of May 19.  But on the whole, it's good news for operators of the Barclays Center, which is seemingly selling most of the available seating for a Justin Bieber show July 20 . "It's a statewide management system," @NYGovCuomo says when asked about @NYCMayor callin...

NBA is next up for a big rights increase, and $75 billion is the price , CNBC's Jabari Young wrote 3/22/21: After the National Football League celebrated its history-making 11-year contract worth more than $100 billion , attention shifted to the NBA’s deal, which runs through the 2024-25 season. Early thinking within league circles suggests the NBA will seek a $75 billion rights package, up from its current $24 billion deal, which pays $2.6 billion per year. That's on top of "a $1.5 billion streaming deal with Chinese-based company  Tencent Holdings ." Note that "The NBA declined to comment due to privacy concerns about the financials of its media deals."  I'm not sure that's "privacy concerns" so much as "our policy of commenting publicly when it serves our interests." More money for the league means more valuable franchises and more revenue sharing. It's all going up. (Note to readers: don't worry, this is all adding up...