Weekly Digest: Chilling Winds, and a Busy Forecast for 2025
No, there really wasn't a "proper wind analysis." Yes, this year could be acceleration time for the project.
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.
This past week or so has featured cold weather and high winds in and around New York City, and the area around Atlantic Terminal and the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, long notorious for chilling winds, became very uncomfortable, especially around Sixth Avenue, just east of the Barclays Center.
After being alerted by a neighbor, I went and checked for myself, shooting video and finding it very uncomfortable. Later, I was told that the outdoor lounges at both B15 (662 Pacific St., Plank Road) and B3 (18 Sixth Ave., Brooklyn Crossing) were closed for safety reasons. Not that anyone would want to visit, right?
I was asked if a “proper wind analysis” was conducted for the project and the answer is: not quite. The report didn't try to pin down whether uncomfortable winds would be more likely in the winter, when they’d exacerbate wind chill.
Perhaps more importantly, whether it remains a "proper wind analysis" is even more dubious, since the project configuration has changed, and taller and bulkier proposed buildings--at both the six railyard sites and Site 5, catercorner to the arena--should exacerbate wind.
So that suggests that, as the project goes through proposed revisions and review, there needs to be a proper assessment of wind, including the effect of weather.
From this newsletter
Jan. 8: Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park in 2025: Acceleration Time? (Related Enters, Project Supersized?)
In my annual preview, I suggested it would be a significant year, with the likely entrance of a joint venture involving Related Companies to develop the six railyard sites, at a greater density than previously approved, and with a process of "community engagement" to process feedback and/or massage the approval, with perhaps new promises of affordable housing.
(Even before construction starts on a railyard platform—the first step after future approval—water main and sewer work on Dean Street might prove disruptive.)
That means revisions to project contracts and an effort to make the plaza permanent, which I’ve argued should trigger payments by arena operator BSE Global, which made a huge profit by selling a slice of the company (which also includes the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and more), to the Koch family.
That new funding should fuel the growth of the Brooklyn “ecosystem” of media and entertainment BSE plans. Expect lots of news from the dealmaking Brooklyn Nets, as they hope for a good draft position, and more buzz as the New York Liberty, aiming to defend their WNBA title.
Significant questions remain about the oversight of open space and the project’s overall accountability. As I wrote, there's always a surprise with this project, so read on for my speculation.
From Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
Jan. 7: A "proper wind analysis"? Brutally cold wind around Sixth Ave. raises questions about 2006 study, plus impact of (unstudied) larger proposed towers.
Jan. 9: Congestion pricing kerfuffle, authors write, makes it clear that public authorities are subordinate to politicians. Atlantic Yards watchers have known that for years.
From a legal affirmation from a lawyer representing neighborhood petitioners challenging the New York State public authority that oversees/shepherds the project: "I distinctly heard at least one Board member say to another that they were expected to ‘rubber stamp’ the Atlantic Yards resolutions.”
Jan. 10: No surprise: "You Belong Here/We Belong Here" neon signage ("art exhibition"? advertising?) outside Barclays Center extended another three years.
Jan. 11: In YIMBY's tallest 2024 roundup, six from Downtown Brooklyn. Atlantic Yards towers would make the list, at least if/when project is revised.