New Development Team Promises Atlantic Yards Progress, But Housing Penalties Called 'Insufficient'

"Four months after the previous developer missed a deadline to deliver the remaining 876 affordable units in the long-stalled Atlantic Yards (aka Pacific Park) megaproject in Brooklyn, New York State endorsed a new development team, which agreed to pay limited penalties for the delayed apartments while a new plan-likely requesting valuable new bulk and public investment-for this key site percolates."

"The emergence of a joint venture, involving the funding entity Cirrus Workforce Housing and the development firm LCOR, marks a third master developer and a new milestone in a star-crossed project. It was announced in December 2003, approved in 2006, and-after delays from a recession and lawsuits prompted renegotiation-re-approved in 2009. While contentious from the start, the promised 2,250 below-market "affordable" units (of 6,430 total), were key to public support for Atlantic Yards; nearly 900 are yet to be constructed."

"Eight residential towers and the Barclays Center arena have been built on the 22-acre parcel stretching east from the intersection of Atlantic and Flatbush avenues. Eight development parcels remain, six of them (known as sites B5-B10) relying on a costly platform to be built over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) two-block Vanderbilt Yard, used to store and service Long Island Rail Road trains."

A newly endorsed joint venture between Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR becomes the third master developer for the long-delayed Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project. The new team agreed to pay $12 million in limited penalties after the previous developer missed a four-month-old deadline to deliver 876 remaining affordable units that were due May 31. The stalled project has produced eight residential towers and the Barclays Center, while eight parcels remain, six of which depend on an expensive platform over the MTA Vanderbilt Yard. Greenland USA previously lost control after defaulting on $286 million in EB-5 loans. A new plan likely will seek additional bulk and public investment.

Read at City Limits