Weekly Digest #17: Another Slow Week
But at least the Triangle Building has some new advertising signage.
This 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.
It’s been another relatively quiet week, with the state Legislature’s successor to the 421-a tax break still unresolved.
I haven’t yet written about Council Member Crystal Hudson’s new development framework (as announced on NY 1), said to guide future land-use decisions, but stay tuned.
I’m still drilling down into the affordable housing totals for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park—expect more in a few days.
That prompted me to revisit what I call the “Zoning Lot” Hustle—the surprising combination, for bureaucratic purposes, of the “100% affordable” rental building 535 Carlton and the condo building 550 Vanderbilt, saving condo buyers a bundle while delivering a few more moderate-income below-market units.
From: Learning from Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park (Substack)
April 11: Flashback: the "Zoning Lot" Hustle. (Note: I’ve updated and corrected a few things from the original article.)
You can’t detail the 1,374 below-market “affordable” units in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park by simply looking at the initial advertisements for the city housing lottery.
Though I used to do that, it’s misleading, because the configurations advertised—the varying-sized apartments in five affordable “bands”—are not necessarily accurate.
That’s because, in 2017, eleven rental apartments got cheaper. That saved condo buyers down the block millions. It’s one of the least-covered and -remembered aspects of this project, and also one of the most audacious.
From: Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
April 12: Does the new Rihanna advertising signage at the long-dormant Triangle Building, across from the Barclays Center, mean Savage X Fenty, the retail store reportedly set to arrive after a 2022 announcement, will finally arrive?
Not necessarily. There are no building permits.
April 13: Was Empire State Development informed about the upcoming foreclosure auction of six Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park sites? Well, not in a document. So nothing was released in response to my Freedom of Information Law request.
April 13: Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation set to meet again next Thursday, presumably to approve budget. No agenda yet. But maybe there will be more to discuss.