New York State decided not to collect millions in fines from Greenland USA for blowing past affordable housing deadlines at the long-delayed Atlantic Yards redevelopment after the developer threatened to sue if the state tried.
The Chinese firm was supposed to deliver nearly 900 affordable units by the end of May under a 2014 settlement, or face $1.75 million in monthly penalties — $2,000 per incomplete unit. But 11 years later, Greenland hasn’t even broken ground on the railyard platform where many of those apartments were planned, Gothamist reported.
Instead, Empire State Development officials told a local task force earlier this month that the fines — earmarked for a city affordable housing trust fund — won’t accrue and won’t be collected. The fund could have topped $5.25 million by now.
Greenland, which defaulted on a $350 million investor loan in 2023, has cited “unavoidable delays,” including lack of subsidies and slow MTA approvals, as reasons for missing deadlines. ESD says it disputes those claims but acknowledged the company’s warning that any attempt to collect penalties would trigger litigation and stall the project further.
First pitched in 2003, Atlantic Yards — rebranded Pacific Park — was supposed to deliver 2,250 affordable apartments alongside market-rate housing, offices and the Barclays Center. To date, 1,374 affordable units have been built and the railyard platform remains a vacant promise.
The state expects to approve a transfer of development rights next month to a joint venture involving Cirrus Real Estate Partners, LCOR and Greenland. The revised plan folds in nearby retail parcels, including a shuttered Modell’s and a P.C. Richard & Son; Greenland will retain partial control despite failing to meet its obligations.
The no-fines move has enraged some community leaders, who say the state is bailing out a developer that seized land through eminent domain and then failed to deliver.
Assemblymember Jo Ann Simon called Greenland’s lawsuit threat “outrageous,” adding, “If you consider defaulting on your debt as an unavoidable delay, that’s an argument, but it’s a stretch to hang it on ESD.”
Others, including former city housing official and consultant Jordan Barowitz, said the threat is an unsurprising developer tactic and that piling on fines could make a financially shaky project even less likely to get built.
