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<\/p>\nA joint venture called the Brooklyn Ascending Land Company is proposing 9,000 apartments in total for the Prospect Heights site.<\/p>\n
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The phase of the Atlantic Yards redevelopment includes housing built over LIRR tracks, November 26, 2025. Photo by Alex Krales\/THE CITY<\/p>\n
by Samantha Maldonado <\/p>\n
This article was originally published<\/a> on December 2 at 8:03 p.m. EST by THE CITY<\/p>\n A long-stalled project to create thousands of new Brooklyn apartments near Barclays Center\u00a0could be getting new life.<\/p>\n Overseen by the Empire State Development agency, the 22-acre Atlantic Yards project \u2014 also known as Pacific Park \u2014 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n That could change, thanks to a new development team proposing to build even more apartments than first envisioned.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n The Atlantic Yards concept was first floated in 2003 by the developer Forest City Ratner. Controversial at the time and enabled by the state\u2019s seizure of private property<\/a>, 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\u2019s west side. The Barclays Center arena was a key piece, along with eight acres of public open space.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> in 2023. A foreclosure auction took place in early October.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t 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,\u201d Joseph McDonnell, managing partner at Cirrus, said during a Tuesday board meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just easier to build over dirt than it is over train tracks,\u201d said Anthony Tortora, co-chief investment officer of LCOR.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the goals is to do this a little more quickly,\u201d McDonnell added.<\/p>\n Under the original plan, Greenland had been obligated to build 2,250 affordable apartments \u2014 a slice of the total \u2014 by May 2025. But 876 remained incomplete.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 amounting to about $1.75 million monthly. ESD, however, chose not to enforce those penalties, citing threats<\/a> of a lawsuit from Greenland.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Any changes to Atlantic Yards must be reflected in the general project plan, a process overseen through the state that bypasses the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n The ESD is hosting public meetings through February to discuss the new proposals with locals and to collect feedback for the site\u2019s continued redevelopment. The team is asking community members about types of housing<\/a> \u2014 including the number of bedrooms in apartments and whether they should be for rent or purchase \u2014 as well as how they\u2019d want to see the open space shaped. That space could be used for playgrounds, ball courts, bike parking, or dog runs.<\/p>\n The development team floated building affordable housing for households making up to 130 percent of the area median income<\/a> \u2014 or $189,540 for a family of three \u2014 while the original plan had affordability levels geared toward people making much less: as low as $58,320 for a family of three.<\/p>\n Many community members in the early aughts feared the new developments would not include apartments at rates affordable to locals \u2014 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.<\/p>\n Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) said she wanted assurances that the affordable apartments would be built, and at lower income levels.<\/p>\n \u201cIt 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,\u201d Simon said Tuesday.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 as well as the apartment sizes and proposed height of the residential towers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have two issues: one is huge affordability and the other is what did we build in terms of unit sizes,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we\u2019re gonna build communities we\u2019ve got to stop building studios and one-bedroom apartments.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 Related Stories<\/p>\n Email tips@brownstoner.com<\/a> with further comments, questions or tips. 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Only half of the housing that was originally planned\u00a0for\u00a0Atlantic Yards has materialized over more than two\u00a0decades. Photo by Ben Fractenberg\/THE CITY<\/p>\n
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<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n