Remaining Six Sites of Pacific Park Project Slated for Auction
In 2014 Greenland Holdings Group finalized a joint venture agreement with Forest City Ratner to develop the estimated $4.9 billion multi-building mixed-use complex on the 22-acre site at Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards. Upon construction completion a total of 6,430 housing units were expected to be delivered, of which 35% would be designated for affordable housing, as well as a mix of office and retail space, a public school, and 8-acres of public green space. Initially envisioned in 2003 as Brooklyn Atlantic Yards, the project was rebranded in 2014 as Pacific Park Brooklyn following Greenland’s purchase of a 70% stake. The construction of Barclays Center launched the development upon securing approvals in 2006; and further construction activity has resulted in the delivery of seven buildings between 2017 and 2022, as well as approvals secured from the New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) for the construction of 700 Atlantic Avenue on the B5 site. Over the years, the estimated cost of the project has risen to $6 billion, and Greenland, which now controls a 95% stake in the project defaulted last fall on nearly $350 million in loans attached to the project’s second phase leaving the rights to develop the remaining six high-rise sites up for grabs. An auction now slated for April 30th has been postponed twice, and as of the final week of March, no developer has presented itself, leaving the project’s future uncertain. Challenges adding to the lack of interest among the developers is the need to deliver 876 affordable apartments by 2025 to avoid triggering millions of dollars in penalties per the 2014 agreement; a change in the environment for ground-up development anywhere; and the need to build a platform over the Vanderbilt Yard, which will be costly and could take years.
Source: https://therealdeal.com/new-york/2024/03/27/state-says-it-is-waiting-on-a-pacific-park-developer/
Source: https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/02/02/auction-atlantic-yards-endangers-hard-affordable-housing/