After default, Pacific Park needs new, inclusive blueprint, advocates say

December 12, 2023 Raanan Geberer

The Long Island Rail Road railyards between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue. For 20 years, people have been waiting for the yards to be “platformed,” with housing to be built above them.
Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle

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PROSPECT HEIGHTS —The Atlantic Yards controversy, which tore Downtown Brooklyn apart 15 or so years ago, was half-forgotten — until recently, when current developer Greenland USA, a Chinese company that gradually acquired the development from the now-defunct Forest City Ratner, defaulted on debt it borrowed to finance the project.

Now, six unbuilt sites over the MTA rail yards between Sixth Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue — which were supposed to be one of the centerpieces of the overall development site, now called Pacific Park — are slated to be auctioned off on Jan. 11, 2024.

Who’s to blame for this mess? Well, according to advocates of the BrooklynSpeaks coalition who held a Zoom news briefing on Monday, it’s none other than the Empire State Development Corp. They believe a new governing entity in the form of a local development corporation needs to be adopted.

Gib Veconi, chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Council, pointed out that this month is the 20th anniversary of the unveiling of the Atlantic Yards project. In a multi-building, public-private project of this type, he said, usually several developers are chosen through an RPF process.

But because the state designated the railyards to be a blighted area, the EDC was able to use the Urban Development Corporation Act to choose one developer, Forest City Ratner, bypassing local impact and without competitive bidding, Veconi said. By 2014, only Barclays Center and one residential building had been built.

In November of this year, Veconi added, Greenland’s lenders foreclosed on their loan. “It’s almost certain that the remaining portions of the Atlantic Park project will be done by multiple developers.”

If building over the railyards was so important, he asked, “Why did the EDC allow the developer to leave that part of the project until the end? And what will happen to the 877 affordable housing units that still have to be built?”

Next to speak was Michelle De La Uz, executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee. She said that Pacific Park has brought big demographic changes to the area. In 1990, she said, 59 percent of the people in the four community boards surrounding the area were African American; by 2035, that number is projected to be 15 percent.

Gib Veconi, chair of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Coalition. Eagle file photo by Lore Croghan

De La Uz also said that the affordable housing that has been built is “not affordable enough.” Of the1,373 affordable apartments that have been built, she continued, “the folks who live in those buildings earn substantially more than what was originally projected.” To date, she said, the project has helped middle-income residents much more than low-income residents.

Veconi proposed that the new local development corporation should include representatives appointed by the governor, state representatives and the City Council, to protect all the interests of stakeholders. “This is the most important thing for ESD can focus on now, so that the project can proceed,” he said.

Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon said, “Twenty years ago, the public was promised a ‘Garden of Eden’ above ‘blighted’ rail yards. ESD green-lit the risky project, took private property through eminent domain and now — during an historic housing crisis — the public is left without promised affordable housing and nothing above the rail yards. In the wake of the developer’s default, I have no confidence that damages owed for missed deadlines will ever be paid.

“By not holding developers accountable from the onset, ESD encouraged them to take large risks. This default is a direct result of ESD’s bungled stewardship,” she said.

By overriding local zoning, taking advantage of tax breaks and benefiting from taxpayer subsidies, every level of government has been involved in furthering the original, failed plan, De La Uz concluded.