Weekly Digest: Cuomo Points to Atlantic Yards Boost. Maybe Adams, Too.
As the affordable housing deadline approaches, will Cirrus-plus-unions deal surface? Also, I argue: public campaign financing should trigger public support for journalism.
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.
The 876 unbuilt units of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park affordable housing face a May 31 deadline that won’t be met.
So Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, is supposed to impose penalties, $2,000/month for each unbuilt unit, on the current master developer, Greenland USA.
Or, possibly, to delay such penalties if a new deal to take over six stalled development sites emerges out of foreclosure.
As I wrote this week, Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo, the former Governor, seems to have embraced a plan involving Cirrus Real Estate Partners to develop those sites. News of Cirrus’s potential involvement emerged in late January. While no details have surfaced, by February, a host of labor unions had endorsed the proposal, suggesting it has juice.
How would the project timetable change? What would be the level of affordability? Would the state be asked to give away additional bulk—free land! What would be the local impact? Stay tuned.
The mayor, too?
While bruised incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who shouldn’t be counted out, hasn’t mentioned Atlantic Yards, he last year endorsed a general plan to work with Cirrus and construction unions on “workforce housing.”
Last week, announcing 395 Flatbush Avenue Extension, Brooklyn’s second-tallest tower (and across from the Brooklyn Paramount), Adams declared, “I'm here to support my developers and not fight with my developers.”
Well, not just support but actively intercede to add bulk and thus value. Reading the tea leaves, as I wrote, that points to Adams support for building over the Atlantic Center Mall; for building a giant two-tower project at Site 5, across from the Barclays Center; and, perhaps to a new deal, involving Cirrus, for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.
While Atlantic Yards is a state project, and changes require new state approvals, city commitments for extra subsidies, for example, could make some buildings more affordable and thus gain political support.
Election season
Like many people, I’m getting mailers from local political candidates, often paid for by public campaign financing, which, conceptually, is a good thing, helping equalize the field for candidates who raise money from small donors.
However, New York City’s diminished journalism landscape means that mainly the mayoral race gets covered. So numerous candidates escape scrutiny, with no profiles, interviews, or examination of their campaign spending.
The unequal playing field is exacerbated by public funding, so, despite my qualms about getting government involved in journalism, I argued—in a framework, not a blueprint—that some fraction of that spending should support journalism.
Tellingly, I couldn’t get the essay published as a freelance contribution. (I tried three publications.) Fortunately, a few veteran voices in local journalism, on social media, thought my self-published piece made valuable points.
From this newsletter
May 6: Would "Mayor" Cuomo Boost Potential Cirrus Deal for Atlantic Yards? Candidate backs construction union partnership with "mission-driven" (?) Cirrus Real Estate, which has wider union support for "workforce housing" in Pacific Park plan.
Note: despite claims that Cirrus is “mission-driven,” their website suggests doubts.
May 8: In New York, Public Campaign Finance Has a Blind Spot. If city and state taxpayers fund candidates’ public relations efforts, shouldn’t we pay for some journalism?
Note the comment from Semafor Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith, who helped form the volunteer New York Editorial Board to interview mayoral candidates after the New York Times abdicated its traditional. (I suggest we should have Every Borough Editorial Boards.)
From Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
May 7: Audit from Greenland USA's parent company says developer is "actively taking measures" to address risks from losing project collateral. That seems doubtful regarding the railyard sites, but maybe that referenced Site 5.
May 9: “Here to support my developers”: How Mayor Adams' giant 395 Flatbush Extension tower might signal a boost for the Atlantic Yards Site 5 plan and possible Cirrus deal.
May 10: A view that might not last... if the Atlantic Center mall overbuild ever happens.
If a tower can be built on the Verizon office building in Downtown Brooklyn, the plan for three towers over the Atlantic Center Mall might re-surface. So the view of the glass tower 18 Sixth Ave. (B4, aka Brooklyn Crossing) might not last.
Note to loyal readers: that photo was taken as part of my ongoing effort—more soon—to assess the architectural impact of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park so far.