Bi-Weekly Digest: Can "Public Engagement Process Planning" Restore Legitimacy?
Much has been lost. Meanwhile, an "art" exhibit on Ticketmaster Plaza just happens to feature the Liberty, the Barclays Center's main tenant right now. Plus: a DJT irony.
This digest offers a way to keep up with my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog and my other coverage in this newsletter and elsewhere.
As I wrote last week, the announcement of a 3 pm meeting July 15 of the (purportedly) advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation indicates progress of some sort in finding a new “permitted developer” to take over the six railyard development sites (B5-B10) and maybe even the planned development at Site 5, catercorner to the arena.
That likely involves a joint venture led by Cirrus Real Estate Partners.
The agenda indicates: "public engagement process planning.” That may mean that Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, is seeking input to help make a tainted project more legitimate (via new promises?) and approve concessions that make it more financially viable.
Questions of legitimacy
Is that even possible, given that ESD has suspended the $2,000/month fines due since June 1 for each of the 876 unbuilt affordable units?
Is that even possible, given that, as I wrote, ESD in October 2021 made (but didn’t disclose) a deal to support a giant project at Site 5, catercorner to the arena, transferring bulk from the unbuilt B1 tower, once slated to loom over the arena?
This would reward developer Greenland USA, which somehow has been able to avoid paying damages for the unbuilt affordable housing, yet retains an asset (beyond the assets it is losing: rights to build six towers over the railyard).
Will ESD do anything to ensure transparency, for example, to explain what entities—Cirrus, Greenland, Fortress Investment Group, U.S. Immigration Fund?—own interests in the project, what percentages they own, and how they acquired them?
From this newsletter
July 2: Revisiting BrooklynSpeaks' 2022 Crossroads Session: A Huge Irony.
Participants at the charrette said the developer shouldn't get more slack without delivering on commitments. But New York State had *already* agreed on an expanded Site 5 plan.
This would not only reward Greenland, but also benefit BSE Global, which owns the arena operating company (and the Nets and Liberty) and would get the plaza made permanent, for free. (BSE Global, a clear financial winner in this project, should pay.)
July 6: Art, Promotion, or Both? The "Liberty Portraits" Are a BSE Global Power Move. Stirring and bewildering, the Ticketmaster Plaza exhibit claims to be public-spirited but most serves the brand.
From Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
July 1: Barclays Center releases July 2025 event calendar: 14 ticketed events, including eight New York Liberty games, three with plaza sound.
July 1: Is there an "art installation" (as Barclays Center claims) emerging at Ticketmaster Plaza, or is it New York Liberty marketing? As it turned out, kind of both.
July 3: So, was there a June 30 milestone, regarding the Cirrus joint venture, for the emerging Atlantic Yards plan? State officials won't say. They have been very closemouthed.
July 4: Goodbye, Get Your Guide: Brooklyn Nets, again claiming alignment on "values," sign yet another jersey patch partner, medical billing company All In Won.
No dollar figure was announced. It’s surely less than what WeBull paid when the Nets were on TV a lot.
July 5: A new Brooklyn Nets video: "Kenyon Martin Reflects on the 2000s Nets." Missing: his take on Atlantic Yards developer/team owner Bruce Ratner, who got rid of him. "Hell, yeah, there's hard feelings!" Martin once said.
July 7: City & State ranks Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, owners of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and the Barclays Center operating company #43 in the Brooklyn Power 100.
That’s too low. That ignores the Brooklyn "ecosystem" and recent power moves.
July 8: How a ethically dubious Emirati sheikh and the investment fund he chairs own, via Fortress, a slice of Atlantic Yards. It’s all about returns.
July 9: Something's brewing. (A new permitted developer?) State sets July 15 for meeting of advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation.
July 10: As new Trump Kings County Republican Club slams Atlantic Yards for "systemic failure," remember: it's bipartisan (& developer Trump worked the system, duh).
July 11: Agenda for Atlantic Yards meeting: "public engagement process planning." Also, developer Cirrus ramps up lobbying, including various city and state officials.