Why launch a newsletter?
After 20 years, it's time to take stock of Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.
This newsletter will supplement and complement my long-running blog, Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report, offering periodic articles that address basic questions, offer deeper analysis, or explore ongoing dilemmas.
The newsletter format will, I hope, provide an easier connection with people— project neighbors, curious New Yorkers, urbanists, students, academics—who want to keep tabs on the project. I welcome queries and observations.
Why now? It’s been exactly 20 years since Atlantic Yards was announced—see screenshot below!—and nine years since it was renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn. Proponents, starting in 2003, professed a ten-year timeline, but that was never realistic.
What’s been completed?
Yes, they did “bring basketball to Brooklyn,” when the Barclays Center finally opened in September 2012 and the New Jersey Nets became the Brooklyn Nets. But the arena looked far different—as I’ll explain—than what Frank Gehry designed.
The project’s ten-year timeline was maintained, unwisely, by original developer Forest City Ratner and the Empire State Development Corporation, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project. (It’s now called Empire State Development, or ESD.)
Crucially, state contracts completed in 2010 gave the project a 2035 deadline. A renegotiation in 2014 required that the 2,250 units of affordable housing be delivered by May 2025. But there are 876 (or 877) more to go, and that deadline won’t be met.
Eight towers of the 16 approved—and about half the approved apartments—have been built, but the biggest lift awaits: an expensive, two-block platform (or deck) over the below-grade Vanderbilt Yard, which would support six towers and allow for the completion of the project’s open space. (That means adding five acres to the relatively modest three acres that have been completed, on the southeast block.)
A turning point awaits
Those towers—and the project at large—are in question, as a lender has foreclosed on the development sites as a collateral, with an auction scheduled for January 11.
But it’s not simply a private transaction to build as-of-right on available land. It’s unclear, as of now, whether and what conditions Empire State Development has placed on the sale regarding the obligations to build the platform and the affordable housing. We should learn more over the coming weeks.
A little history
I’ve been writing a near-daily watchdog blog since September 2005 (!), initially TimesRatnerReport, now Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report. The name Atlantic Yards (technically: Brooklyn Atlantic Yards, though no one ever used it) was unveiled in December 2003 by Brooklyn developer Forest City Ratner, an arm of the nationally-traded Forest City Enterprises.
(Forest City Ratner later became Forest City New York, and the parent company later became Forest City Realty Trust. It was in 2018 absorbed by Brookfield Properties.)
The project was renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn in 2014 by the project’s new majority owner, Greenland USA, an arm of Shanghai-based Greenland Holdings Corp., which is owned significantly by the government of Shanghai. It bought 70% of the project going forward, excepting the arena company and one tower.
Why the name change? I argued that it was to distance the project from its controversial history. Many people still use Atlantic Yards; those who choose the new name generally truncate it to Pacific Park.
Greenland Forest City Partners built three towers as a 70/30 joint venture until Forest City unilaterally stalled the project, and then exited with a fractional 5% stake. Greenland then leased one development site to The Brodsky Organization and built another tower as a joint venture with Brodsky. It also leased two sites to T.F. Cornerstone.
Now Greenland, once said to have deep pockets, is in financial trouble, while other factors—the cost of borrowing, the absence of the 421-a tax break, rising construction costs—also have hampered the project. Even before the foreclosure surfaced, some sort of renegotiation was likely.
What to expect here
I’ve pulled back from my previous daily posting on Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report. My schedule there will be driven by emerging news, even brief items. So, if the project developer announces a new building or the state authority overseeing the project renegotiates a deadline, I expect to cover it closely, and frequently.
In the blog, I take a broad view of issues raised by Atlantic Yards, for example covering development issues nearby, city policies on affordable housing, and incremental updates. Some articles reflect deep reporting; others are shorter “notebook”-style posts.
Here, I’ll aim for one newsletter a week, at minimum, plus (I hope) a weekly or bi-weekly digest post to summarize the blog. Some newsletters will address basic but enduring questions about Atlantic Yards: How does [X] compare to what was promised? What happened to [X]? How much did [X] cost? (Your suggestions are welcome.)
Others will be more substantial articles that, in a more robust journalism era, might have been published elsewhere. I will publish here, rather than in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report, so the articles can stand out more. I am open to republication elsewhere.
Business model
The Substack business model is to take a cut from paid subscriptions and for writers to paywall some articles to drive subscriptions. I plan to keep this newsletter free and not institute a paywall.
(Yes, I’m aware that “plan” is weasel language, the kind that developers use, but this is an experiment.)
For now, I have not enabled voluntary payments. If I do so, the funds will first go toward ancillary expenses, such as additional compensation for graphic designer Ben Keel, who’s created numerous iterations of the valuable graphics above. Some very interesting work from Ben is on the horizon.
Who am I?
I’ve been a journalist for more than 40 years, for newspapers and magazines, winning national awards and a fellowship to Yale Law School. (More here.) I’ve lived in Brooklyn for more than 30 years.
After attending public meetings regarding Atlantic Yards in 2004, I have since 2005 paid close journalistic attention to the project, breaking several important stories (such as about the affordable housing lottery or the modular construction debacle). I’ve contributed reportage and commentary to publications ranging from City Limits to the New York Times, along with my blog.
For several years, I’ve been working on a book about Atlantic Yards. That’s prompted me to try to think more longitudinally about the project, which should be reflected in this newsletter. (Yes, I may offer some excerpts from the manuscript.)
In “Learning from Atlantic Yards,” I will answer certain questions, but I’m still learning myself. I consider myself a “watchdog” and skeptic regarding the project, but aim for my critiques and analysis to be evidence-based.
I also have a tour guide business specializing in Brooklyn, which has helped me think about the borough’s development and history. Yes, I lead a tour about Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park and the Barclays Center, which some classes in law, urban planning, architecture, and local history have found useful. I also can provide an in-class or online lecture about the project.