State officials see exposed railroad tracks between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn as a fresh start for a two-decade-old mega development.
A community group sees a broken promise, millions of dollars wrenched from the surrounding neighborhoods and a potential lawsuit.
Standing above the tracks on Carlton Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, elected officials and members of the advocacy group BrooklynSpeaks demanded that the state hold developers of Pacific Park (formerly called Atlantic Yards) responsible for missing a May 31 deadline to build 876 affordable housing units above the rail yard. The group indicated that they may bring a lawsuit to force the state’s hand.
The deadline dates back to a 2014 settlement. At the time, BrooklynSpeaks agreed to back off of a lawsuit it was preparing against the state related to a 2009 deal with then-developer Forest City Ratner to complete 2,250 affordable housing units by 2035. That deadline was too late, the group argued, and would lead to the displacement of residents who couldn’t wait decades for more affordable housing options to arrive in their communities. The delay would disproportionately affect Black residents of Community Districts 2, 6 and 8, the group alleged.
BrooklynSpeaks agreed not to bring the lawsuit after the state and Forest City pledged to finish the affordable housing by the end of May 2025. Failing to do so meant paying $2,000 per month per unbuilt unit, or $1.75 million per month.
But last week, Empire State Development delayed those fines and tied them to new deadlines: A new development team would need to be selected by August, and a new, achievable plan proposed by the end of the year. The agency has insisted it can still collect those fines, but they are no longer tied to the original deadlines.
It has been clear for some time that the current developer, Greenland USA, would not meet the May 31 deadline. The developer still needs to construct platforms over the rail yard to make way for six towers, which were expected to net more than 3,200 total residential units.
Greenland defaulted on loans from the U.S. Immigration Fund tied to the six development sites. Fortress Investment Group also owns a stake in the debt. The development rights for those six sites are expected to be transferred to a new development team, which could include Cirrus Real Estate and LCOR.
After the 2014 agreement, members of BrooklynSpeaks posed for a photo in roughly the same spot where they held Tuesday’s press conference. More than 10 years later, members instead held up signs with the number of affordable units left to build and an oversized, voided check for $1.7 million, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“If you’re a big developer and you want to stiff the little guy, come to New York City and the mayor, the state will have your back,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, who kept calling out the city, before someone corrected him. “Today, what we’re saying is: we’re standing up for the little guy, and we’re telling these big developers in the state of New York to do exactly what you said you were going to do.”
Michelle de la Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, a member of BrooklynSpeaks, acknowledged Tuesday that the group is considering bringing a lawsuit against the state over the fines, which would have gone to a fund for affordable housing development and preservation in Brooklyn Community Districts 2, 3, 6 and 8. She noted that local residents are given preference when applying for affordable housing in these districts.
“That preference is extremely valuable in a situation where there’s such demand for affordable housing,” she said. “But if you’ve been displaced from the neighborhood, you don’t get a preference anymore, right?”
A spokesperson for Empire State Development said the agency “shares the community’s frustration with the pace of construction of affordable housing at Atlantic Yards.”
“Let us be clear: the liquidated damages have not been waived and ESD retains the rights to collect them,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The state expects nothing less than progress to be made and milestones met once the lender has an approved qualified development team capable of moving this long overdue project forward.”
De la Uz said the group would make a decision on bringing a lawsuit soon. The group is also pushing for deeper affordability levels in the rebooted project.
Diana Foster, a resident who was going to be a plaintiff in BrooklynSpeak’s lawsuit, did not welcome the state’s announcement last week.
“I was pissed,” she said after the press conference. “These developers can owe over a million dollars a month and not pay it?”
“The agreement should be binding,” she added. “How can Empire [State] Development decide: well, we’re not going to collect that money? If I decide I don’t want to pay taxes, it’s okay?”
She noted that if not for assistance from Services for the UnderServed, she would not be able to afford to live in the area.
“I have housing. I’m okay,” she said. “But what about my peers? What about other people?”
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Atlantic Yards at 20: Unfinished and facing foreclosure
