Long-Stalled Atlantic Yards Project Could Be Revived in New Plan

by Samantha Maldonado

This article was originally published on December 2 at 8:03 p.m. EST by THE CITY

A long-stalled project to create thousands of new Brooklyn apartments near Barclays Center could be getting new life.

Overseen by the Empire State Development agency, the 22-acre Atlantic Yards project — also known as Pacific Park — was projected to create more than 6,400 apartments in central Brooklyn. But more than two decades after it was proposed, only about half of the promised housing has materialized. 

That could change, thanks to a new development team proposing to build even more apartments than first envisioned.

The Brooklyn Ascending Land Co., a joint venture led by LCOR and Cirrus Real Estate Partners, wants 9,000 apartments in all for the Prospect Heights site. The buildings would be taller than originally anticipated to enable the creation of more public open space, according to the developers.

The Atlantic Yards concept was first floated in 2003 by the developer Forest City Ratner. Controversial at the time and enabled by the state’s seizure of private property, the plan called for more than 6,400 apartments, including 2,250 affordable units, across 15 buildings. Some of those buildings were to be constructed over the railyard on a platform, similar to the rise of the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s west side. The Barclays Center arena was a key piece, along with eight acres of public open space.

Brooklyn Ascending took over from Shanghai-based developer Greenland USA, which had spearheaded the project in 2018 but defaulted on nearly $350 million of loans in 2023. A foreclosure auction took place in early October. 

“We don’t have the ability to make Atlantic Yards perfect, but what we have done is spend quite a bit of time thinking about how we can collectively do a few things together,” Joseph McDonnell, managing partner at Cirrus, said during a Tuesday board meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation.

The new team has development rights for the blocks between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street, over the railroad tracks, as well as the public plaza in front of the Barclays Center. The team also can build on a parcel on the west side of Flatbush Avenue across from Barclays that is home to a basketball training center and a P.C. Richard & Sons store. 

For the parcel on the west side of Flatbush, the developers proposed two residential towers that would be taller and include more apartments than initially planned. But the proposed buildings in some areas over the railyard would be smaller, opening up more areas for open space.

“It’s just easier to build over dirt than it is over train tracks,” said Anthony Tortora, co-chief investment officer of LCOR.

“One of the goals is to do this a little more quickly,” McDonnell added.

Under the original plan, Greenland had been obligated to build 2,250 affordable apartments — a slice of the total — by May 2025. But 876 remained incomplete. 

As part of an agreement struck in 2014, Greenland had to pay $2,000 in fines per month for each apartment not built by the deadline — amounting to about $1.75 million monthly. ESD, however, chose not to enforce those penalties, citing threats of a lawsuit from Greenland.

Under the October agreement, the new development team will pay $12 million to an affordable housing fund to support new apartments in nearby neighborhoods. The developers have already paid $4.5 million into the fund, according to ESD.

Any changes to Atlantic Yards must be reflected in the general project plan, a process overseen through the state that bypasses the city’s land-use reviews. The developers and ESD are slated to come to an agreement by the summer, and it would take approximately two additional two years to update the general project plan.

The ESD is hosting public meetings through February to discuss the new proposals with locals and to collect feedback for the site’s continued redevelopment. The team is asking community members about types of housing — including the number of bedrooms in apartments and whether they should be for rent or purchase — as well as how they’d want to see the open space shaped. That space could be used for playgrounds, ball courts, bike parking, or dog runs.

The development team floated building affordable housing for households making up to 130 percent of the area median income — or $189,540 for a family of three — while the original plan had affordability levels geared toward people making much less: as low as $58,320 for a family of three.

Many community members in the early aughts feared the new developments would not include apartments at rates affordable to locals — and that Black residents would be displaced. The level of affordability of the apartments remains a key concern to residents and elected officials, many of whom remained skeptical of the state and the development team.

Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) said she wanted assurances that the affordable apartments would be built, and at lower income levels.

“It was very clear to us there were not sufficient truly affordable units in the first place and now you seem to be looking at even less affordable units,” Simon said Tuesday.

Ismene Speliotis, executive director of the nonprofit affordable housing developer MHANY Management, criticized the levels of affordability in the original plan and what the new developers proposed — as well as the apartment sizes and proposed height of the residential towers.

“We have two issues: one is huge affordability and the other is what did we build in terms of unit sizes,” she said. “If we’re gonna build communities we’ve got to stop building studios and one-bedroom apartments.”

The slow-moving Atlantic Yards redevelopment project, along with developer promises broken along the way, took on a symbol of a cautionary tale beyond central Brooklyn. 
Residents in other neighborhoods pointed to Atlantic Yards and its unrealized affordable housing promises when faced with housing proposals in their own communities, including recently along the Brooklyn waterfront for the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal.

Related Stories

• Local Coalition Decries Lack of Results on Atlantic Yards Ahead of Foreclosure Auction
• Brooklyn Pols Threaten Pacific Park Developer With $10 Million Fine Over ‘Broken’ Promise
• Two Buildings in Pacific Park Development Quickly Rising Next to Barclays Center

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