Weekly Digest #10: More Evidence EB-5 Spending Was Not for "Permitted Uses."
Also, the foreclosure auction for developer Greenland USA's rights to six tower sites was postponed again.
This weekly digest offers a way for people to keep up with my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog, as well as my other coverage in this newsletter.
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the glaring evidence that most of the money in “Atlantic Yards II,” the $249 million in EB-5 investor visa funding raised in 2014, was spent on towers that New York State did not consider Permitted Uses.
Last week, I published a follow-up showing similar evidence regarding “Atlantic Yards III,” $100 million in EB-5 funding from 2015.
While Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, wanted the money to fund future towers (among other things), the EB-5 middleman, or “regional center,” told investors and the public that the money was being used for previously approved, already (largely) funded towers.
For example, the “Atlantic Yards III” website of the U.S. Immigration Fund, that regional center, focuses on the ineligible 535 Carlton (B14) tower, as shown in the screenshot above.
So the money in significant part didn’t advance the residential project. Some chunk was used for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s revamped Vanderbilt Yard, which did qualify as a Permitted Use.
Nonetheless, the regional center promoted the towers—far more glamorous—and developer Greenland USA certified that the spending was appropriate.
Foreclosure auction postponed
Meanwhile, we learned, belatedly, that the foreclosure auction of Greenland’s interest in six development sites over the Vanderbilt Yard was postponed a second time, to April 30.
Surely various proposals and negotiations are circulating. Why would anyone bid without knowing how and whether ESD would enforce, for example, the May 2025 deadline for affordable housing, which comes with liquidated damages of $2,000/month for each missing unit. (There are 876, or 877, to go.)
From: Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park (Substack)
Feb. 13: No Surprise: "Atlantic Yards III" Also Involved Construction of Ineligible Tower(s).
The slide below, from an update to investors, focuses on B14 (535 Carlton), which was already in process.
From: Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
Feb. 12: Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park foreclosure auction postponed a second time, to April 30.
Feb. 14: Council Member Ossé's viral YIMBY video generates praise, but the Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan debate is over affordability, not whether to increase supply. That’s a given.
The image below, from NY 1, is bizarre, since it suggests only a tiny parcel for development.
Feb. 15: Darcy Stacom, Queen of the Skyscrapers and broker of Atlantic Yards to Greenland USA, leaves CBRE.
Feb. 16: No, modular construction start-up didn't build high-rise in a day, but rather a three-story house. Assembly OSM has ties to Forest City's B2 modular tower, now seen as "hairy, crazy idea."
Feb. 17: "For Brooklyn, By Brooklyn." The floundering Brooklyn Nets' latest ticket promotion has no stars for fallback. So it’s all about the borough, as in 2012.
Note, because tomorrow is a holiday, my next standalone article in this newsletter will be published on Tuesday.