Mayoral Hopeful Lander: Housing Crisis Means Restarting "Stalled Privately Owned" (!?) Sites Like Atlantic Yards
Separately, he tells Prospect Heights group that his priority is the promised affordable units. He's the only candidate to mention the project, but still isn't up to speed.
City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander on March 6 issued what he called the "most in-depth" housing platform among candidates, aiming to build 500,000 homes in ten years. (See below for more.)
It’s the only mayoral platform1 to mention Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, so that deserves both credit and scrutiny. One candidate, Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, even filmed a video about his housing plan with the Vanderbilt Yard, the site of six future towers, in the background, but ignored Atlantic Yards.
Still, Lander, a Brooklyn-based urban planner and former Council Member with longstanding knowledge of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park, misreads the complex situation, omitting public leverage. That signals how the project has been forgotten by both the press and the political class.
A privately owned site?
Within his platform, Lander cites as a goal:
Identify stalled privately owned sites and work with developers to get shovels in the ground, in particular large sites that have been previously rezoned such as Atlantic Yards, Hallets [sic] Point and Astoria Cove.
(Emphases added)
Atlantic Yards is neither a privately owned nor rezoned site. However focused on supply--Lander touts the rezoning of Gowanus that he steered in Council--the issue can’t just be about “getting shovels in the ground” when the public sector has such a stake.
What about the penalties?
What, for example, does Lander think about the $2,000/month penalties pending for each of the 876 remaining affordable housing units due by May 31?
Those penalties were achieved in a 2014 settlement with the state after the coalition BrooklynSpeaks threatened a lawsuit, on fair housing grounds, regarding delays in delivering the promised below-market units.
Candidate Lander didn’t mention it in his platform, but in a Zoom discussion a week earlier, he told the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), a key member of BrooklynSpeaks, that he wanted the fines enforced.
However, as described below, he didn’t fully understand the situation.
What about the renegotiation?
What does Lander think about the likelihood that Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, will offer generous new terms to the development team taking over the six railyard development sites in foreclosure?
We don’t know. But Lander did tell The Real Deal, in its Dec. 10, 2023 article, Atlantic Yards at 20: Unfinished and facing foreclosure, “I think there is some anxiety about ESD conducting these negotiations in private and landing a deal with a developer without public input or transparency."
Fundamental issues
Atlantic Yards, despite Lander’s campaign summary, is not a privately owned site. It's a public-private partnership--or is that private-public partnership?--overseen by the gubernatorially controlled ESD, which must approve proposed changes to the plan.
Moreover, the ownership of development rights is complicated and unresolved. Does developer Greenland USA, which seemingly has lost six development sites in foreclosure, have any responsibility for those sites?
Or does the responsibility go to the “lender”—an entity created and controlled by the U.S. Immigration Fund (USIF), a regional center that recruited immigrant investors under the EB-5 investor visa program, which was offered the development rights as collateral for two loans mostly not repaid?
I’ve suggested that state legislators and the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) drill down.
Nor has the site been "previously rezoned." A City Council rezoning was bypassed in favor of a less accountable state process. ESD overrode city zoning to enable development at the scale original developer Forest City Ratner deemed desirable.
The project can't be built, apparently, at the approved scale, so any developer likely will seek public concessions, such as a new timeline, a suspension of pending penalties, and additional valuable bulk, as Greenland sought in 2023. A new developer also might seek direct subsidies from the city—a mayoral issue.
Looking more closely
Today, the project's stalled. Greenland, which took over from original developer Forest City, has lost the rights to six railyard sites (B5-B10) in foreclosure, after failing to repay $286 million of $349 million in loans under EB-5, which grants green cards for purportedly job-creating investments.
Greenland still controls the rights to build the B1 tower, once slated to loom over the arena, and a modest tower at Site 5, catercorner to the arena, the longtime home to the big-box stores P.C. Richard and the now-closed Modell’s. But it needs the ESD’s approval to move the bulk of the unbuilt B1 across Flatbush Avenue to Site 5, creating a giant, two-tower project.
ESD has already signed an Interim Lease indicating its support for those changes, but public hearings and a vote by the ESD board are required.
Meanwhile, the USIF must get a new “permitted developer,” with at least a decade of experience in large projects, for a joint venture to develop those sites. Last year, Hudson Yards developer Related Companies was reported to be joining, but pulled out.
Does Lander—or any candidate—think either Greenland or the USIF should be liable for the penalties due by the end of May? How should any renegotiation work? (I’ve suggested an inquiry as to what's gone wrong.)
A history with PHNDC
At the Feb. 26 annual meeting of the PHNDC, Chair Gib Veconi described the project’s current stalled state, as I reported.
Later, he recounted (video at 1:15:47) how, 21 years ago, the fledgling organization worked with Lander, then executive director of the Pratt Center for Community Development,2 on a community survey and recommendations regarding Atlantic Yards, released in October 2024.
Among the principles: major development projects in Prospect Heights, especially those using public subsidies, should follow the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, not the state process that was chosen, and that eminent domain should be rejected.3
“So Brad is actually a very integral part of my early introduction into civics,” Veconi said, thanking him and noting, “We're not done with Atlantic Yards yet.”
Lander assented, adding, “We've continued to work with you guys on making sure the promises to the community that were made initially, and then especially in the lawsuit the PHNDC and the Fifth Avenue Committee [FAC], where I used to work, won in court….”
He then segued to his campaign, but the implication was that the promises should be upheld. Note that process was a settlement; the case never went to court. (Michelle de la Uz, executive director of FAC, is, along with Veconi, a key leader of BrooklynSpeaks.)
Lander’s past positions
Lander, as Atlantic Yards faced debate in the years after its 2003 announcement, expressed both criticism and ambivalence, then in 2007 helped blow the whistle on the “carve out” for the project in the state’s revision of 421-a tax break.
In 2009, he ramped up into opposition. He declared, “We should go back to the drawing board to develop the rail yards – with a genuinely public and participatory planning process that begins from public goals, at a scale and density that are suited to the infrastructure, and that proceeds through the city’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure.”
In 2014, upon the BrooklynSpeaks settlement, Council Member Lander said, in a state press release, “It’s great to see affordable housing, more units for families, and public accountability all meaningfully accelerated at Atlantic Yards.” Later that year, he joined Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Council Member Laurie Cumbo in a statement supporting Forest City when modular construction was halted by its partner Skanska.
The project did not fulfill the announced goals. After an initial buildout of two “100% affordable” towers and a condo building, the next four towers would have below-market units skewed to middle-income households, as shown below. The AY CDC, aimed to foster accountability, has fallen far short.
Still, everyone loves a winner. Last October, hailing the New York Liberty’s WNBA championship, Lander stated, “Once upon a time, I was not excited about the idea of an arena at Atlantic Yards. Not too proud to admit I was wrong!”
Asking about Atlantic Yards
Later in the Feb. 26 meeting, attendee Jeremy K. asked (video at 1:21:16) about the deadlocked Atlantic Yards. So what does Lander think about “how to move that project forward”?
“I confess that I haven't read the most recent filing,” responded Lander. That implied, incorrectly, that there’s been a filing either in court or in a state procedure.
“I guess what I'll say is what you guys won in court”—outside court—”in terms of getting the affordable housing built is like the first North Star,” he continued. “Any developer, Related or otherwise, who comes in, that's what they owe.”
However, any developer would likely aim to renegotiate the terms. (It’s not clear Lander knew Related had backed out, which was news broken by The Real Deal and followed up by only a few press outlets.)
“In terms of figuring out how to get the deck built at an affordable price... a price consistent with meeting the obligations to housing affordability,” Lander continued. “If it has to be rebid—I mean if someone could come in and show how they're going to do it and deliver on the commitments they made, great.”
Again, it’s doubtful any developer thinks the current deal can work, as Veconi observed earlier in the meeting. Both the city and state might be asked for new subsidies and concessions.
So, it’s not likely the price for Vanderbilt Yards development rights, which are owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and being paid for, would be rebid.
Rather, the project’s overall terms—including deadline, penalties, and buildable square footage—likely would be renegotiated with ESD and the MTA.
In fact, rather than have a rebid, it’s likely a developer will ask for additional free square footage, as Greenland USA sought in 2023. (An alternative, as veteran Pratt planner and AY CDC Director Ron Shiffman has suggested, might be a state takeover with a new funding mechanism.)
Site 5, the arena, and more
“Obviously Site 5 is an important part of the conversation,” Lander said, skating over a huge plan, already encouraged by ESD, to create a huge, two-tower project, “but, to me, it's the commitments that you guys won in court. I mean the whole reason the thing was done in the beginning was to deliver that affordable housing.”
Well, sort of. The promises were “Jobs, Housing, and Hoops,” including the removal of blight, and the promises have fallen way short.
“You know,” Lander continued, “I confessed when the [WNBA’s New York] Liberty won [the title] this year that it finally helped me see the value of the Barclays arena itself. I was happy to be there and see the Liberty win.”
I responded at the time that Lander had forgotten his call for the arena to pay taxes on a tax-exempt site.
“But the value of the project is for the affordable housing and neighborhood benefits that it was supposed to deliver,” Lander continued, “and which you guys had to go into court [again: not quite] to get mandated. And I'll make sure that that's part of what I'm fighting for.”
It’s a low bar, but Lander deserves credit for at least acknowledging Atlantic Yards. But he could revise and clarify his misleading campaign promise about “stalled privately owned sites” and help foster dialogue about the project’s complex challenges. After all, the next Mayor will have to grapple with it too.
More from his platform
Lander's overall platform:
Build More Units, With a Focus on Affordable Ones
Protect Renters
OWN: Pathways for homeownership for working-class New Yorkers
Fix NYC’s Housing Agencies
Notably, he seeks a huge increase in construction to address a supply crisis, with an array of tactics, including:
Declare a temporary emergency for housing to expedite growth by streamlining and expediting ULURP and convening a new Citizens Assembly on affordability...
Increase housing density on key sites ripe for development – including 4 of the City’s 12 municipal golf courses and other city- and state-owned land.
Make it easier to build the housing New Yorkers need by enabling co-living and co-housing models, simplifying zoning through form-based zoning, expanding safe basements and accessory dwelling units, launching Home Share NYC, reviving the original City of Yes proposal, and investing City capital to develop new affordable housing through NYCHA and the NYCHA Preservation Trust.
Advance specific opportunities for neighborhood and transit-oriented growth and rezonings in Long Island City, and along the proposed Interborough Express in Brooklyn and Queens.
Develop long-term comprehensive and regional plans by working with communities and City Council to develop a long-term, citywide, comprehensive plan within two years of declaring the emergency...
About the BMT
Regarding the other big development I recently wrote about, Lander observed, "Development at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal could yield between 7,000 - 9,000 new units of housing."
He's a little behind the project's changes. Now it could be 12,924 units.
Public Sector Housing Development
Following other cities' "public sector-led housing development models," Lander proposes that the city "City should leverage NYCHA alongside the New York City Public Housing Preservation Trust, a fully public government agency that partners with NYCHA to renovate public housing." needed.
From the document:
Given the current scale of the affordable housing crisis and the uncertainty stemming from the federal government, the City must invest directly in housing solutions. Specifically, it must build mixed-income developments that offer low-income affordable housing options for NYCHA residents, additional affordable housing for other New Yorkers, and increase the overall housing supply. Just as Montgomery County employs its public housing authority to develop new social housing, the City can utilize NYCHA and the Preservation Trust as a public developer.
The Trust is empowered to acquire underdeveloped sites or vacant private land and convert it into mixed-income affordable housing that serves both NYCHA residents and other New Yorkers. In partnership with NYCHA, the Trust would reserve a portion of this newly developed housing for current NYCHA residents, enabling families to right-size and move into brand new, permanently and deeply affordable housing. These projects could be tailored to various affordability levels and designed for either rental or affordable homeownership, depending on community needs. Moreover, integrating new buildings into broader neighborhood rehabilitation plans would simplify repairs at existing NYCHA developments, should community residents want to pursue such initiatives.
Golf course development
Lander’s plan includes "new neighborhoods on 4 of the city’s 12 municipal golf courses," adding 50,000 homes.
If you go to the last page of the plan, the four that are listed as transit accessible are Moshulu and Van Cortland in the Bronx, Dyker Beach in Brooklyn, and Forest Park in Queens. One argument: interest in golf has declined.
The IBX
Lander also proposes development along an emerging rail line:
Develop a Plan for Transit-Oriented Development along the Interborough Express (IBX) ensuring a balanced approach that leverages development opportunities, while building a shared community vision that protects tenants.
The new zeitgeist
In a March 6 article, Brad Lander Would Declare Housing Emergency if Elected N.Y.C. Mayor, the New York Times reported:
Annemarie Gray, the executive director of Open New York, a pro-development nonprofit, said, “The fact that nearly every mayoral candidate is prioritizing the need for more housing shows just how much the conversation has shifted.”
She added, “There’s now broad agreement that the only way to bring down costs for New Yorkers is to build a lot more homes — and fast.”
Here are the candidates: Eric Adams, Andrew Cuomo, Brad Lander, Adrienne Adams, Jessica Ramos, Zellnor Myrie, Zohran Mamdani, Scott Stringer, Michael Blake, Jim Walden, Whitney Tilson, Curtis Sliwa.
It was then called the Pratt Institute Center for Community and Environmental Development, or PICCED.
The Pratt Center later, in May 2005, issued Slam Dunk or Airball? A Preliminary Planning Analysis of the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards Project, observing that the process was not accountable; there was insufficient information on traffic impacts and public subsidies; there could be significant benefits of “affordable housing, some good jobs and a facility to host a wider array of events;” and that “agreements surrounding community benefits must be dramatically extended to address critical issues of public schools, public safety, job quality and career ladders, and neighborhood quality-of-life.”
This is a great article, thank you.
I’m remembering the days of 5th Avenue committee (1990’s) when they plastered the area along 5th avenue from Flatbush to 16thstreet with bogus large posters declaring an eviction free zone. As a small owner of a 3 family house I resented this antagonist approach that immediately heighten tensions between LL and tenants. And it appeared to be all a show for Lander political ambition. He never showed up at our local meetings a block from his office on 5th Ave to help us get a grip on the pay phone abundances that were used by crack dealers. We succeeded without him.