Gov. Hochul had little to say this week about how to jump start the state’s long-stalled Atlantic Yards project after a key auction to develop part of the Brooklyn site was recently postponed — for the third time.
The delay puts the creation of hundreds of promised affordable apartments in jeopardy amid New York’s ongoing housing shortage.
“Any way that the influence of the state will result in the building of more housing, I’m all in,” Hochul said at a press conference Thursday, when asked about the status of Atlantic Yards.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News
Gov. Hochul had little to say this week about how to jump start the state’s long-stalled Atlantic Yards project after a key auction to develop part of the Brooklyn site was recently postponed — for the third time.
The multibillion-dollar plan, also known as Pacific Park, is a public-private partnership between developers and the state that has been in the works since 2003. It brought the Barclays Center and thousands of new homes to the Prospect Heights area, but many of the assurances made around housing and open space remain unfulfilled due to myriad complications.
A key auction to spin off the rights for six sites was rescheduled for the third time last month when no bidders came forward to potentially assume responsibility for the beleaguered project.
The challenge is that any developer that takes over would have to deal with the financial and logistical problems of building a platform across the LIRR tracks at Vanderbilt Yards before breaking ground on the housing, already a costly process.
An existing community agreement also means if they fail to build the remaining 876 units of affordable housing promised by mid-2025 — as seems inevitable — they’ll be saddled with hefty fines.
Rosier/News
The multibillion-dollar plan, also known as Pacific Park, is a public-private partnership between developers and the state that has been in the works since 2003. It brought the Barclays Center and thousands of new homes to the Prospect Heights area, but many of the assurances made around housing and open space remain unfulfilled due to myriad complications.
“The practical problem is that the project right now isn’t marketable … and it can’t become marketable until there’s some kind of renegotiation,” said Gib Veconi, chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council.
“It’s difficult right now to see how any other developer would be willing to take on the project with that deadline out there,” he said, adding that it would likely be up to Hochul to change the terms so that Atlantic Yards can move forward.
The original plan was to build a new home for the Brooklyn Nets, 16 new apartment and retail buildings and eight acres of open space across a 22-acre swath of Prospect Heights and surrounding neighborhoods, including on top of the “blighted” train tracks.
Over the 20 years-plus since Atlantic Yards was announced, the Barclays Center has proven a success, but only three of the eight acres of pledged open space have been developed and the rail yard remains uncovered.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Daily News
Over the 20 years-plus since Atlantic Yards was announced, the Barclays Center has proven a success, but only three of the eight acres of pledged open space have been developed and the rail yard remains uncovered.
Eight residential buildings have gone up, with just under half of the 6,430 apartments promised, including 1,374 of 2,250 affordable units.
Watchdogs and local stakeholders have been calling for accountability around Atlantic Yards. But they say the odds of the remaining housing and open space commitments being fully met are dwindling due to the project’s troubled history.
Last year the developer, Greenland USA, defaulted on $350 million in loans tied to six stalled sites, and the rights to build on them have been trapped in limbo ever since because no other group has stepped forward at auction.
“In a situation where both the governor and the mayor are very concerned about creating additional housing in New York City, this is a place where a lot of housing could be created right away if the governor was willing to take action,” Veconi said of Pacific Park.
Both Hochul and Mayor Adams have stressed the need to build more to alleviate the current housing crisis, and the Albany legislature passed a long-awaited housing deal last month.
Veconi sits on the board of directors of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AYCDC), which advises Empire State Development, the governor-controlled state economic development body that oversees the megaproject and would need to approve a new developer — if they’re ever presented with one.
“ESD remains committed to the successful completion of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “Building the remaining housing, including affordable units, remains a top priority and ESD will continue to keep the community’s best interests at the forefront as we push towards the completion of this project.”
At an AYCDC board meeting last month several directors expressed their frustration at the current impasse.
“All of this sounds very bleak and I’m hoping here’s another way to approach this,” said Ethel Tyus, who brought up the possibility of using eminent domain “to take over the project as a whole and move it forward rather than limping along, hoping for the best and not knowing where the hell we’re going.”
With Tim Balk
