(Bi-)Weekly Digest: a 2024 Retrospective, a Shocker Around Barclays, and More
Yes, the arena operator's a big Atlantic Yards winner. Why get the plaza for free, especially when they disregard neighbors? Also, many 2024 loose ends to wrap up.
This digest offers a way to keep up with my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog, as well as my other coverage in this newsletter and elsewhere.
In the last weeks of December, I started working on my annual end-of-year retrospective, and published a preliminary version, focusing on highlights, on Dec. 19, In 2024, No New Construction, But a Big Year for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.
That article cited new plans to expand towers at six railyard sites and Site 5 across from the Barclays Center, the emergence of new developer Related Companies (though not yet a formal role), and the New York Liberty’s WNBA win.
Also: the new investment from the Koch family, its fortune tied to right-wing advocacy in, boosting BSE Global, the holding company (Nets, Liberty, arena company) owned by Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, and helping fuel their new Brooklyn “ecosystem” of media and events.
I published a more comprehensive (!) roundup Jan. 2 in my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog. Please take a look.
In working on that retrospective, I recognized that multiple issues needed follow-up, including the Pacific Park Conservancy, the Chick-fil-A “chaos” on Flatbush Avenue, New York State’s EB-5 monitoring, and more. They’re cited below.
I was also reminded of how the project’s original developer, “blasé Bruce Ratner,”told interviewer Brian Lehrer that the unfinished Atlantic Yards, with its deficit in promised affordable housing, was “not the end of the world.” That admission was glaring, but garnered little attention beyond my coverage.
The big winners
One 2024 theme: the big winners of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project so far are the billionaires who’ve owned the Brooklyn Nets and the arena operating company. (No, they don’t own the Barclays Center itself. I had to write an unplanned newsletter about that on Dec. 29.)
So consider the news that Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees the project, has already blessed (though not formally approved) a plan to transfer the bulk of the unbuilt flagship tower (B1, aka “Miss Brooklyn”), once slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5, longtime home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell’s.
That would enable a giant, two-tower project far larger than the building approved in 2006 or even the two-tower plan floated in 2015-16. It would add LED signage, on top of the two major signage opportunities at the arena: the oculus and the LED “wall” over the arena doors, the latter added under Tsai.
Should the plaza come free?
And, crucially, it would make the arena plaza, now known as Ticketmaster Plaza (the fourth sponsor in 12 years!) permanent. I think Tsai should pay. (Maybe the owner of the B1 development rights should pay, too.)
Transferring the bulk offers enormous logistical benefits to both parties, as construction of a new building would interfere with arena operations, while the latter would complicate construction.
Why should the public pay for a business decision made by original developer Forest City Ratner?
Moreover, the plaza enables significant operational benefits to the arena company: a canvas for advertising, a platform for promotion (is the “You Belong Here/We Belong Here” signage art or advertising?), a naming rights opportunity, and, crucially, a place for venue visitors to gather.
It’s more advantageous than the (planned) enclosed Urban Room, the atrium attached to B1, that was supposed to do triple duty as entrance to the arena, the office tower above, and the subway hub below.
Private benefit
If the plaza’s a partial public benefit, it’s dwarfed by the private benefit—and the private focus, since the arena’s a privately operated venue that uses its surroundings as needed. Consider: as I reported, on Dec. 22, an unannounced Barclays Center event for the Satmar Hasidic sect created a huge mess.
The New York Police Department, surely directed by a mayor interested in keeping a key constituent group happy, first towed (locally) cars parked on Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton avenues, then let volunteer Shomrim safety patrols (!) cordon off that street, as well as Dean Street between Flatbush and Sixth avenues, for private access and parking.
I initially called it "one of the more egregious takeovers of public space in Barclays Center history." Actually, I should have said “most egregious.”
Inside, various (male) elected officials, rather than uphold the public interest, were currying favor. Yes, as the advocacy group BrooklynSpeaks has argued, a quality-of-life enforcement unit around the Barclays Center is needed, and could be part of future project negotiations, funded by the arena. But there has to be the political will.
It’s disturbing that the Barclays Center, which circulates a monthly calendar (from “Barclays Center Cares”!) to inform neighbors of events, does not share private events like the Hasidic one, though previous managers did so. The policy is unreasonable; the point is to alert neighbors to potential disturbance. However, without political pressure, they won’t bend.
From this newsletter
Dec. 29: Do Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai Own the Barclays Center? No. The common, erroneous shorthand, lately in the New York Times, obscures the governmental largesse that has helped fuel huge financial gains.
From Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
Dec. 23: Unannounced Barclays Center event for Hasidic group draws elected officials. NYPD lets volunteers (!) cordon off streets. Scofflaw vehicles block sidewalks, paths.
Dec. 24: Yes, a quality-of-life enforcement unit around the Barclays Center is needed, per BrooklynSpeaks. But how could it work, when the political powers don't care?
Dec. 25: So that lawsuit over a late Madonna concert at Barclays is gone.
Dec. 26: Sportico says 43% boost in Brooklyn Nets' worth affirms "value of owning an arena." It's also the billionaire Koch family pursuing a scarce commodity enabled by public largesse.
Dec. 26: So those middle-income "affordable" units at the two-tower 595 Dean project were open to only a tiny fraction of New York City renter households, and a nice bargain to some eligible.
Dec. 27: Transparency fail: why, in a June 2024 discussion about the future of Site 5, did Empire State Development officials not disclose changes they'd already backed in 2021? It’s bizarre to watch the video.
Dec. 28: Did the belated documentation disclosed by Empire State Development for the EB-5 loans confirm money was spent on Permitted Uses? Not quite. In other words, New York State was not watching closely enough to help fend off the foreclosure of six railyard parcels.
Dec. 30: OK, this time New York City really means to start combined sewer installation and water main replacement on Dean Street between Sixth and Vanderbilt avenues.
Dec. 31: Has the Chick-fil-A chaos on Flatbush Avenue been tamed? Seems like progress, with alternative location on Atlantic at Clinton.
Jan. 1: In most recent IRS filing, Pacific Park Conservancy shows cash on hand, new spending on maintenance, but key vacancies (local reps) on board. So there’s money for a dog run revamp?
Jan. 2: Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park 2024 retrospective: new developer Related on tap; plans surface to supersize project + expand Site 5; Tsai sells valuable BSE Global stake to Kochs, pursues new Brooklyn "ecosystem.” (It’s long.)
Jan. 3: Dean Street sewer and water main work now said to start on/about Jan. 6. It could be a mess. Shouldn’t there still be a public meeting about it?
Jan. 4: New Nike store coming to Atlantic Center mall, across from Barclays Center. Maybe competition with/different market than team store?
This is disturbing news! Why is it ok to be giving prime Realestate for free to a private entity yet again? They’re not going anywhere so this plaza will be worth every penny to lease!