Pacific Park Developer Misses $10M Deadline On Barclays Corridor: Pols

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — Developers of the controversial Pacific Park development have missed a costly $10 million deadline to build a much-needed public space near the Barclays Center — and the state has yet to make them pay up, according to advocates.

Elected officials and advocates gathered in Brooklyn on Thursday demanded the state enforce a penalty on Greenland Forest City Partners, who promised in a legally-binding agreement that a corridor between the Barclays Center and the subway known as "Urban Room" would be part of the massive state-sponsored project.

The connector was meant to be completed by a May 2022 deadline or face a $10 million penalty from state agency Empire State Development, but so far developers haven't even submitted construction plans, according to advocates and the agreement.

The blown deadline has stoked long-held fears whether the project will deliver on its promises, namely more than hundreds of affordable apartments to the Park Slope, Prospect Heights and Fort Greene area.

"If ESD can’t enforce its own Master Development agreement in the face of utter failure, how can the public count on them to enforce the delivery of over 877 units of affordable housing?" said Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, who called the project a "field of schemes."

When asked whether the $10 million Urban Room penalty will be collected, Empire State Development would only say that they plan to work with Greenland "and the community to expand access to public space and advance the next phases of this critical project."

"While the existing plaza in front of the Barclays Center has become an indispensable public space and serves as an important public benefit, ESD acknowledges the importance of ensuring that this developer honors the commitments it promised to the community," a spokesperson said in a statement Thursday.

The Urban Room — meant to create a "large, glass-enclosed public space" to connect arena attendees to the subway system — is, for some, more of a symbol for the state of a project given that the Barclays Center plaza that has stood in its place has become its own useful gathering place.

The plaza has been used for events, rallies and protests, particularly amid the Black Lives Matter movement and during the pandemic.

“While the community has come to understand that the existing plaza is essential for arena operations in handling their patrons, ESD has not been effective in ensuring that GFCP and past developers deliver on the project agreements” said Regina Cahill, chair of the North Flatbush Business Improvement District.

Greenland acknowledged this when asked to weigh in on the concerns at the rally, saying "We have heard loud and clear from locals, visitors and public officials that Brooklyn's public square is a far better civic space for Brooklyn residents, transit riders, and visitors to Barclays Center than the enclosed atrium originally planned for this site."

They said they hope the development planned for the site can be reimagined elsewhere in the project.

But advocates worry that not collecting penalties for the Urban Room will set a dangerous precedent should developers they fail to deliver on affordable housing. Pacific Park, once known as Atlantic Yards, is meant to create 2,250 affordable apartments by 2025 or face a $2,000 monthly fine for each unbuilt unit.

Coalition BrooklynSpeaks, who have monitored the project since 2006, most recently demanded a new plan for Pacific Park given that developers have so far built less than half of the 2,250 affordable apartments.

The 877 affordable spots left to build are made worse by the fact that housing created so far by Pacific Park has "skewed sharply to higher income tenants." The only slate of apartments that were fully occupied at the end of 2021 were those at the highest income bracket, according to BrooklynSpeaks.