Weekly Digest: Does Construction on Terra Firma Vindicate Atlantic Yards?
Also: looking at a slow change near the Barclays Center, and an alert regarding a tenant lawsuit against 38 Sixth Avenue.
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 and elsewhere.
The reason for the original name Atlantic Yards was an allusion to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Vanderbilt Yard, about 8.5 acres of the 22-acre project site.
That left the impression, at least for those only casually aware, that the project would be built solely on publicly owned property, with no need for eminent domain or displacement.
Au contraire. It’s a lot easier to build on terra firma, so the completion of the two-tower 595 Dean project, at the center of the photo below, may not be as big a deal as a real-estate publication recently suggested.
Among other things, as I wrote, the affordable housing’s pricey, some residents of the West Tower are plagued by a noisy dog run, and the below-market units are not, as some claimed, all commensurate with the market-rate ones.
The cost of delay
More importantly, the project, once supposed to take ten years, likely will take 25-plus years. Pending are six towers planned for the railyard (B5-B10) as well as the giant two-tower project destined for Site 5, across from the arena block.
Those are likely to expanded, based on proposals discussed last year, as shown in the graphic below.
However, the public benefits were all claimed to be part of a ten-year buildout.
Also this week
I also checked in on two parcels very close to the arena block and found 1) that the Times Plaza open space revamp is still on hold and 2) a Pacific Street property, once billed as “Brooklyn Flagship,” is finally under transformation.
Meanwhile, the ambitions by BSE Global, the team and arena holding company owned by Joe Tsai (with an infusion of cash by 15% owner the Julia Koch family), to create a Brooklyn-based media juggernaut came into more “Complex” focus this week. (They’re drawing on that youth culture brand.)
A big case pending
Though I haven’t yet written about it other than on Twitter/X, a lawsuit filed against the operators of 38 Sixth Avenue (B3) by the 38 Sixth Avenue Tenants’ Association will be heard in court on Tuesday. Here’s a link to the case.
Meanwhile, the TA has been calling out the landlord on Twitter. First, the building’s front door hasn’t been locked.
Then this week, they locked the door, but without all residents—according to the TA—having key fobs to enter.
I’m aiming for a preview of the case tomorrow, in my Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report blog. I’m still waiting for a response from the landlord to my queries.
From this newsletter
Dec. 11: Is 595 Dean a "Successful Project"? To one real-estate journalist, all looks fine (and supplies fodder to dis Atlantic Yards opponents). But there's more reason for doubt.
For one thing, the affordable units are pretty pricey. Look at the column at far right for B12/B13.
From Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report
Dec. 9: If the 962 Pacific developer didn't win a rezoning, Totem--and maybe Ailanthus--show a connection and a track record. Keep watch on them regarding future projects in Brooklyn.
By the way, Ailanthus shares an office on Dean Street, opposite 595 Dean, with Terra CRG.
Dec. 10: In recent quarterly report, Barclays Center operating company discloses 18% drop in cash receipts. Ticket sales down, but still dwarf pre-Ticketmaster numbers.
Dec. 12: So, what happened to the promised Times Plaza open space? It's been on hold for seven years.
Dec. 13: Breathless "exclusive" from Business Insider on BSE Global's upcoming media project, sharing "zeitgeist of Brooklyn," cites influence of youth culture brand Complex.
Something ambitious is coming. So far, there are a lot of lists in BK Mag. From a job posting for the publication’s Deputy Editor:
BSE is developing a modern media company that champions the spirit and attitude of Brooklyn and amplifies it to the world. Rooted in digital storytelling across all channels and formats, we will cultivate a highly engaged global audience by reaffirming the connective threads that tie sports, music, fashion and sneakers, and food not just to Brooklyn geographically, but in how they’re embedded into its DNA.
Dec. 14: If not "Brooklyn Flagship," building on Pacific Street (retail for Walgreens?) across from arena block finally under transformation, 12 years after the arena opened.