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[Busy Bee]

^ Atlantic Terminal/Center will see a massive redevelopment too. That's only a matter of time. A bit of a waste since it's not all that old and the MTA put all that $ into Atlantic Terminal, but it was bad when it was new but looks positively comical in scale and quality at this prime crossroads now.

[BK1985]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

^ Atlantic Terminal/Center will see a massive redevelopment too. That's only a matter of time. A bit of a waste since it's not all that old and the MTA put all that $ into Atlantic Terminal, but it was bad when it was new but looks positively comical in scale and quality at this prime crossroads now.

I think center is more likely to see any development action first since it’s so ugly. Terminal may survive for much longer since there it’s integrated with MTA services and bigger retail tenants not to mention decent office space above (I may be biased since I worked in the office portion)

[NYguy]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ayreport/status/1551896143268814848






https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2022/07/brooklyn-bears-garden-tells.html

July 26, 2022

The main public discussion about the future of Atlantic Yards, beyond the private talks and plans between the developers and governmental agencies, has come from the BrooklynSpeaks coalition, as in the Crossroads series of four online charettes last winter, as I described yesterday in my FAQ regarding the kerfuffle over the unbuilt Urban Room.

But BrooklynSpeaks, which in 2014 got the developer and state to agree to a 2025 deadline for affordable housing (while unable to address the level of affordability or achieve the new governance structure it had sought), does not necessarily reflect the full spectrum of local opinion.

That's important because plans for a giant new tower (or towers) at Site 5 (a development parcel catercorner to the Barclays Center), expected to be proposed by developer Greenland Forest City Partners, were not fully addressed at the Crossroads series.

While participants generally supported more deeply affordable housing, they didn't address the tradeoffs: should the developer get the bulk it seeks, even if that's 50% more than the already large 80 Flatbush project (which exceeded the bulk in the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning), as long as more affordable units are included?

In late April, Jon Crow, a representative of the Brooklyn Bear's Pacific Street Garden, sent a letter on behalf of garden members (bottom) to Michelle de La Uz of the Fifth Avenue Committee, who has played a key role in BrooklynSpeaks, making several requests, notably seeking limits on the scale of the proposed two-tower project.

The letter was shared with some elected officials and others active in the Crossroads effort. They could have input, if not definitive influence, when the proposal to shift the bulk goes through public hearings and, likely, approval by the gubernatorially controlled Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project.

Indeed, the 80 Flatbush site, like Site 5, both borders major streets/avenues, while also bordering a row-house block. Ultimately, that two-tower project, with the taller tower 840 feet, was approved with a Floor Area Ration (FAR) of 15.75, far bulkier than what was permitted in the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning, with the justification being affordable housing and new schools.

FAR is a common measure of bulk as a multiple of the underlying parcel. The Site 5 project, at least as presented in 2016, would have an FAR of 23.5, nearly double that of the Downtown Brooklyn rezoning, and about 50% more than 80 Flatbush.

What the letter doesn't mention is that organization de la Uz heads, the Fifth Avenue Committee, partnered with the developer on 80 Flatbush, both furthering its mission to develop affordable housing and, of course, ensure revenue and institutional viability. So the implication is that BrooklynSpeaks might push for a similar deal.

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/

The Daily Dirt: The mystery of Site 5
Plans for former office site up in the air





By Kathryn Brenzel
August 10, 2024

More than eight years ago, developers revealed plans to build office towers on the former sites of a Modell’s and P.C. Richard & Son — together known as Site 5.

In 2016, the development team — then a partnership of Forest City Ratner and Greenland USA — announced a plan to turn the sites into two office towers totaling more than 1 million square feet. Details about the towers were elusive.

As with the Pacific Park megadevelopment in general, these plans have not panned out. The sad former Modell’s sits vacant. P.C. Richard has not moved. The future of Site 5 is still kind of a mystery, at least to the public.

A Thursday meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, which I went to virtually, picked up the thread on Site 5, yet still didn’t clarify much. The group’s discussion of previous changes proposed for the site was vague. Norman Oder’s “Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park” blog provides some more detail, like the fact that Site 5 was potentially going to include 1 million square feet of residential space, using the development rights for another never-built tower, the “Miss Brooklyn” office site, which is now the plaza in front of Barclays.

Alongside the Site 5 proposal, Greenland also proposed adding 1 million square feet to the six railyard sites, according to Oder’s blog. But apparently because that increased the scope of the project, the state has not moved forward with the Site 5 changes, per Empire State Development officials.

The board on Thursday asked ESD to give a presentation of that older Site 5 proposal and explain it in the broader context of the development.

It felt like everyone was dancing around the words “developer” or “developers” the whole time. As we’ve reported, Related Companies is in talks to take over the platform sites, but Site 5 is still controlled by Greenland, so it’s not part of that deal. The public portion of the meeting took on a quality of “we’re going to talk about how we can’t talk about the project,” though more was likely said at the executive session.

It is not clear if Greenland will remain the developer of Site 5, nor what the plans for the railyard will look like under a new developer.

[NYguy]

News from our favorite Atlantic Yards Nimby...


https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2024/08/with‐meeting‐set‐for‐first‐ever.htm

So, are changes at Site 5, with supersized density, a "done deal"? What community engagement is coming? Well, it also would involve railyard sites.


Norman Oder
August 11, 2024

The Executive Session concerned the future of the six parcels at the Vanderbilt Yard, likely to be lost by master developer Greenland USA via foreclosure to another developer, perhaps Related Companies.

In the public session of the meeting ,AY CDC Director Gib Veconi brought up plans for the project's other remaining parcel: Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena, currently occupied by the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's.

While that parcel was approved for a 250', 439,050 square foot tower in 2006, the developer in 2015-16 proposed a giant two-tower project, thanks to moving bulk from the unbuilt B1 tower (aka "Miss "Brooklyn") that would've loomed over the arena.

That would've effaced the Urban Room, a public atrium and arena entrance attached to the tower, and made the plaza permanent.

Then it sought more.

In the 2021 Site 5 Interim Lease, as detailed in Exhibit K below right, Greenland got Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, to support an even larger project, with the taller tower rising 910'.

Is this locked in?

The question is whether those changes are obligatory.

Exhibit K, observed Veconi, "has the effect of transferring density from the arena block to Site 5, reprogramming that density from commercial to residential, removing the Urban Room from the project, making the public plaza outside of Barclays Center permanent and creating a loading dock on Pacific Street," he observed.

Such things all require environmental review under state rules, "but these were all agreed without environmental review," he observed, suggesting that, despite that expected future public process, the developers "would probably" consider the promises binding.

He asked ESD if Exhibit K was binding. Could the lease be amended for less density or other commitments?

"That document," responded ESD's Joel Kolkmann, Senior Vice President, Real Estate," says that ESD would endeavor to move forward with a public approval process for that."

Why the stall?

"Now we obviously haven't done that and that is because, in part, what was presented to us by the developer was something more," he said, citing plans to supersize the platform sites.

That wasn't fully candid. As I reported, ESD sought proposals from Greenland for the platform sites rather than simply proceed with the easier-to-build Site 5.

In an email April 10, 2023, Arden Sokolow, Executive VP, Real Estate, noted that, because the Site 5 changes “will involve public hearings and may face opposition,” ESD sought “better visibility into timing of the Platform and your ability to meet” affordable housing obligations.

Now what?

Kolkmann, who like the other ESD executives joined the authority after that lease was signed, reiterated that the document obligates them to pursue approval for the changes cited.

"Without the outcome of that process having been predetermined," chimed in AY CDC Chair Daniel Kummer, serving up a fat pitch.

"Exactly, yeah," responded Kolkmann.

"It could be through a public approval process that those things change," Kolkmann observed.

Veconi said it's not typical. True, but there have been some reductions in the bulk and height of towers, after they had been increased. Developers often ask for more than they need, leaving room for a seeming compromise.

What's missing?

Veconi noted the failure to mention affordable housing, given the additional residential density sought, "but I assume that other requirements could be added."

Kolkmann said yes, noting that changes would emerge from a community engagement process. (Of course, the developer had already proposed more, albeit delayed, affordable housing.

AY CDC Director Ron Shiffman, a veteran advocacy planner and Pratt Institute academic, expressed concern that they were discussing Exhibit K, "when the vast majority of the public does not know what we're talking about." He proposed that ESD make a public presentation on it, noting he had significant concerns about the plan.

The board passed a motion requesting such a presentation on Exhibit K at the next AY CDC meeting, in September.

Kummer said he recommended that everyone read it. "I think it's publicly available now"—well, for those who read my work--"but maybe could be made formally publicly available," citing the development lease, which includes Exhibit K.

[Busy Bee]

They should make it an even 10,000.

Also, never noticed how Barclays looks like a waffle maker.

[NYguy]

There’s been an increase in not only this tower, but the others as well. The NIMBYs aren’t happy about it.

[Crawford]

Wow, this is fantastic news. Love the upgraded plan.

Very nice to see additional housing and greater density/height planned.

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Wow, this is fantastic news. Love the upgraded plan.

Very nice to see additional housing and greater density/height planned.

I haven't been keeping up with this closely enough, because things have been slow, and there's a lot going on elsewhere. But Atlantic Yards Report does a good job keeping up with the different scenarios in development (though from the NIMBY point of view), and produced these graphics...









https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2024/08/at-first-ever-executive-session.html

August 09, 2024

It's likely that, in yesterday's meeting, the six members present of the AY CDC board learned of a new proposal to supersize the towers at the six railyard development sites (B5-B10), surely involving a new developer, reported to be Related Companies.

But we can't be sure, because, for the first time in the AY CDC's existence, it went into Executive Session, free from scrutiny via the press present (um, me) and those watching the public meeting, which was broadcast and taped.

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2024/08...-usif-to-develop-brooklyns-pacific-park/

Related, Fortress, USIF to develop Pacific Park as joint venture


AUG 27, 2024
Erik Engquist

The plan for Pacific Park, although not the megaproject itself, is finally coming into focus.

The Related Companies, Fortress Investment Group and the U.S. Immigration Fund will develop the rest of the Brooklyn project as a joint venture after Fortress and USIF foreclose on Greenland USA, which owes them $300 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Nick Mastroianni, USIF’s president, shared that update eight weeks after The Real Deal reported that Related was in talks to take over the development.

But construction, which stopped late last year, will resume no earlier than late next year, the Journal wrote, citing an unnamed source.

Related will have to construct decks over Vanderbilt Yard, an active rail yard, at the site to build residential towers with 3,200 units. A retail component is also planned.

[NYguy]

https://normanoder.substack.com/p/weekly-digest-related-deal-still

Weekly Digest: Related Deal Still Murky; Momentum for Site 5 & Permanent Plaza


Norman Oder
Oct 06, 2024

How exactly did Greenland, the current master developer for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, gain New York State encouragement to build a massive two-tower project at Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena block?

As I wrote, the approval path for what might be the bulkiest--and second-tallest--building in Brooklyn sounded rather bureaucratic. Site 5 is bounded by Atlantic, Flatbush, and Fourth avenues, and Pacific Street, and currently home to the big-box store P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell’s.

What’s confounding is that ESD officials, presenting the plan the state authority in 2021 agreed to support (without telling the public), fudged things in the slide below.

For example, the slide omits height, while the official document, Exhibit K, states that the taller tower could be 910' and the shorter tower 450'.

While the slide states "allow hotel use," it doesn't mention that the hotel could be huge, up to 550 rooms.

By eliminating the Urban Room atrium and the B1 flagship tower, the state would thus "preserve" the plaza, today sponsored by Ticketmaster.

That use of "preserve" suggests that ESD would be conserving something civically valuable rather than also making "permanent"--the official language-- a space that's key to arena operations and revenues.

As I wrote, the plaza’s enormously valuable to the arena operator, owned by Joe Tsai (and the Koch family), likely more than the planned, but unbuilt, Urban Room atrium. But the operator pays the state only $10 to lease the arena site, including the plaza, with payments in lieu of taxes to pay off construction debt.

Let’s see if that gets discussed at the next AY CDC meeting, likely in November.

With giant project proposed for Site 5, across from arena, are changes locked in? Seems so, despite denials. Unmentioned: unprecedented density.

The arena company benefits from the temporary plaza, likely more than with the unbuilt Urban Room. NY State seems ready to make it permanent, with no reciprocity.

[NYguy]

https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2024/11/at-belated-online-meeting-about-project.html

....He started with an updated project map, showing the buildings that have been completed and the sites remaining for development.

Note that the map showed outlines for both B1, the unbuilt tower once slated for what’s now the arena plaza, and Site 5, catercorner to the arena, longtime home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell’s. B1, of course, won't be built.

That map did not hint at the longtime plan, first floated by developer Greenland USA in 2015-16, to move the unbuilt bulk from B1 across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5, creating a giant two-tower project. (At that point, original developer Forest City was part of a joint venture.)

Nor the ESD officials mention the Interim Lease ESD signed with Greenland in October 2021, committing to an even larger two-tower project, with one rising 910 feet and the other 450 feet. That requires a public process to approve the shift in bulk, which surely would be connected to new deadlines for the project’s affordable housing, given that it's impossible to build 876 more units due by 2025.

State meeting to be held next week...


https://esd.ny.gov/esd-media-center/board-meetings/atlanticyardsdirectorsmeeting-111424

Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation Directors Meeting

Shirley A. Chisholm State Office Building, 55 Hanson Place – 3rd Floor Conference Room, Brooklyn, New York 11217
Thursday, November 14, 2024 3:00pm

The meeting is open to the public.

[NYguy]

Should be some status updates at the meeting tomorrow. Meanwhile, some info from the last meeting...

[Gantz]

I hope the new plan with the height increases goes through. Amazing news.
That area can easily absorb the density as well.

[chris08876]

City of Yes!

[NYguy]

https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2024/11/as-site-5-interim-lease-made-public.html

As Site 5 Interim Lease made public, timing questions, coordinated spin, & confirmation of future P.C. Richard store in retail space at planned giant development


November 21, 2024

...the document confirms that the lease with the state proceeded on the same day developer Greenland USA had entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement with P.C. Richard's parent company, gaining the right to purchase the property. (That has not proceeded yet.)

Greenland also agreed "to design and construct a retail condominium unit within the new building" at Site 5, thus confirming original developer Forest City Ratner's promise to the appliance and electronics retailer.

https://esd.ny.gov/sites/default/files/media/document/Interim-Lease-Site-5-EXECUTED.pdf



https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2024/11/so-would-brodsky-organization-or-tf.html

Greenland has proposed--well, it was essentially approved in 2021 by ESD--to move the bulk from the unbuilt flagship tower (B1), once slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5, longtime home of the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's.

That would enable two towers, one 910 feet and the other 450 feet, far larger than the 250-foot tower approved in 2006 and both taller and bulkier than the 785-foot and 383-foot towers floated in 2015-16.

Greenland is “working on bringing in a development partner” for Site 5, a state official said at a meeting earlier this month of the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC).

In other words, Greenland has the buildable square footage--well, not completely, not until ESD approves the transfer, which requires public hearings and could take a year--but not the capacity to build.

So a more active developer likely would do the lion's share. Could that be Brodsky or TF Cornerstone? Don't rule it out.

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/01/31/related-companies-backs-out-of-pacific-park/

Related backs out of Pacific Park project in Prospect Heights
Lender working to secure another developer for Atlantic Yards site


Jan 31, 2025
By Kathryn Brenzel

Three months from now, 876 affordable apartments are due in Brooklyn. The trouble is, they don’t have a developer.

Related Companies is no longer planning to take over the rest of Pacific Park, the long-stalled development in Prospect Heights formerly known as Atlantic Yards. The lender, Nick Mastroianni’s U.S. Immigration Fund, told state officials that it is restructuring its plan and will need to begin the process of getting another developer approved, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Related’s departure further prolongs the long-stalled project, which was unveiled more than 20 years ago.

Any developer that takes over the sites must first receive approval from Empire State Development. “The state is eager for this project to move forward and has been strongly encouraging the parties involved to demonstrate progress,” a spokesperson for ESD said. “ESD has a process to vet and approve a permitted developer, which will be followed when a new developer is presented to us.”

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/01/31/cirrus-and-usif-to-partner-at-pacific-park/

Related is out, Cirrus is in: New co-developer pitched for Pacific Park
USIF wants Cirrus to partner on Brooklyn mega-development


By Kathryn Brenzel
Jan 31, 2025

Pacific Park may soon get some new blood.

The U.S. Immigration Fund announced on Friday that it plans to partner with Cirrus Real Estate to co-develop the remaining sites at the Brooklyn mega-development.

The news comes after Related Companies backed out of the project. A representative for the partnership indicated that other co-development partners, in addition to Cirrus, are still being finalized. If approved, Cirrus would serve in both a funding and co-developer capacity.

A lot has to happen before Cirrus and any other co-developers are officially added to the project. USIF still needs to foreclose on the property to transfer development rights over from Greenland USA, which is losing the project after defaulting on nearly $350 million in loans.

The state also has to sign off on any new developers and has not yet received a proposal from USIF and Fortress Investment Group. (Greenland borrowed funds from USIF, which raised capital for the project through the cash-for-visas EB-5 program. Fortress owns a stake in the debt.)

n a press release, Cirrus and USIF indicated that their plan calls for “greater affordability than originally proposed,” but didn’t provide any details. A spokesperson for the partnership said the affordability levels and unit count will depend on negotiations with the state.

“This project is about delivering real results — affordable and workforce housing built with union labor to support New York’s working families,” USIF’s Nick Mastroianni II said in a statement.

[NYguy]

https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2025/08/06/cirrus-lcor-seek-to-develop-pacific-park/

Cirrus, LCOR go after Site 5 as part of Pacific Park takeover bid
Empire State Development misses first of new deadlines





By Kathryn Brenzel
August 6, 2025

Cirrus Real Estate and LCOR want to take over the remaining railyard development sites at Pacific Park, as well as a separate property known as Site 5.

During a meeting on Wednesday, Empire State Development confirmed the developers submitted an application to be designated as a “permitted” developer of six railyard sites in the long-stalled Brooklyn megadevelopment. The development rights were supposed to be transferred to a new team, approved by ESD, by Aug. 1, with millions of dollars of late fees on the line. Now, the deadline has once again been extended.

Cirrus and LCOR are also applying to take over Site 5, home to a former Modell’s and a P.C. Richard & Son near the Barclays Center. Greenland, which currently controls Site 5, would also remain part of that joint venture. Previous plans for the site included two office towers, and Greenland has also proposed housing on the site. The Modell’s space is currently being used for a youth basketball training facility.

Pacific Park was supposed to be done by now. Thanks to a 2014 agreement with the city, Greenland was on the hook to finish the project’s 2,250 affordable apartments by the end of May 2025. Failing to do so meant the developer would need to pay millions of dollars in fines.

With 876 affordable units yet to be built and no platform over the train tracks to accommodate the development, Greenland did not meet the deadline. In May, the state announced that it would not fine Greenland. Instead, ESD set new deadlines

As part of the new deadlines, ESD pledged to approve the new development team for the railyard site by Aug. 1, but officials said Wednesday that the team’s application for Site 5 extended the amount of time the agency needs for its review. Officials now say they are hoping to approve the development team by the end of September.

According to the new parameters set by the state, the development team must have a “feasible” project framework and new timeline for taking the project through public review.

The Real Deal previously reported that Cirrus and LCOR were preparing to take over the site. ESD needs to sign off on the replacement developers for the platform sites, as well as Site 5.

[NYguy]

New team for the rest of the development sites, but site 5 is still on track for a 2 tower development...


https://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2025/10/with-cirruslcor-team-finally-in-place.html


October 08, 2025

What about Greenland?

Keep in mind that Greenland, which should be liable for the full payment, is not walking away from the project.

Rather, as a junior partner, Greenland aims to monetize both the B1 parcel, the tower once slated to loom over the arena, and Site 5, the parcel across Flatbush Avenue, long home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell's, temporarily home to BSE Global's new Brooklyn Basketball Training Center.

That would create a giant two-tower project at Site 5 that ESD has already blessed, though a new plan still would require a public approval process and vote by the gubernatorially controlled ESD board.

(Greenland won't have a role in the B5-B10 sites, while the U.S. Immigration Fund and Fortress Investment group, which are junior partners on those sites, won't have a role in B1/Site 5.)