Forest City Delays Pacific Park Brooklyn Over Real Estate Market Woes

Forest City Realty Trust suffered a net loss of $430.9 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016, mainly because of the Pacific Park mega-project.

The loss includes "an impairment of non-depreciable real estate of $307.6 million, primarily related to Pacific Park Brooklyn," FCR reports. (This is the Atlantic Yards project near Atlantic Terminal Mall.)

The company decided to revise the overall project schedule to "delay future vertical development."

Forest City blamed negative market conditions and timing. These include "the impact of increased apartment supply, uncertainty surrounding 421A tax abatement and continued escalation in construction and trade costs," the company said.

Three properties at Pacific Park Brooklyn that are part of the company's partnership with Greenland USA are still under construction:

• 535 Carlton, a 298-unit, all-affordable apartment community, is expected to begin phased opening in the fourth quarter of 2016.
  
• 550 Vanderbilt, a 278-unit condominium property, is expected to begin phased opening in the first quarter of 2017.
  
• 38 Sixth Avenue, a 303-unit, all-affordable apartment community with 6,000 feet of street-level retail, is expected to begin phased opening in the second quarter of 2017

Additional insight at Atlantic Yards /Pacific Park Report.

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The Sad Brooklyn Nets, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- Brooklyn Nets finally unveil Sunset Park practice facility. [Brooklyn Eagle]

" The Brooklyn Nets are currently one of the saddest organizations in all of professional sports..." [Fox Sports]
- They're smashing angels in Williamsburg again. [NY Daily News]
- A Brooklyn man punched a tourist in the face, seriously injuring him, after he refused to buy Statue of Liberty tickets. [abc7]

- Brooklyn guy assaulting whites in honor of Malcolm X gets a history lesson. [NY Daily News]

- This guy attempted to snatch a 14-year-old girl in South Brooklyn. [NYPD]

- Brooklyn Heights Association Annual Meeting features Brooklyn DA Ken Thompson. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Brush up on your survival skills at Brooklyn Bridge Park on Saturday. [BHB]


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Bernie PLays B-Ball Like a True Brooklynite; Judge Mulls Pierhouse Case; and More Brooklyn Briefs

New York Daily News calls voters "mindless zombies" over Trump win
https://t.co/N6hTTZVv8t #NHPrimary pic.twitter.com/Df5dcEste0

— The Hill (@thehill) February 10, 2016

Now here's a newspaper front page for ya.

- Brooklyn Judge mulling Pierhouse penthouse arguments. At issue is 20-foot wedge of $6 million penthouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Tuesday at high tide, the polluted waters of the Gowanus were level with the base of Lightstone Group's residential building. [PMFA]

- Brooklyn Nets TV ratings continue to drop. [Nets Daily]

-  Lunar New Year symbols and customs explained. [Sheepshead Bites]

- Tax accountant sets up shop in a Brooklyn bar. [Fox5]

- Coney Island boardwalk landmark fight gains momentum, pols push to save the wood. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Caught on video: Crook robs liquor store on Fulton Street after crawling in through ceiling. [abc]

- How to shop at Costco without a membership (or a car). [Brokelyn]

And finally: Q: How is Bernie making every shot? A: "He's from Brooklyn."

"Is this a joke? How is he making every one?"
"He's from Brooklyn" #FeelTheBern @BernieSanders pic.twitter.com/uLHojOfqaQ

— akhi DOOM (@eatinghalalfood) February 10, 2016

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Voice: Barclays Center an 'Epic Train Wreck'?

Photo by MK Metz

 Neil Demause for the Village Voice says the Brooklyn real estate debacle known as Barclays Center is a money-loser that hasn't brought any new businesses or housing to the area that wouldn't have come there anyway. (Demaus credits Atlantic Yards Report blogger Norman Oder with digging out the financials.) Ratner recently sold his last bit of Barclays to Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.

Demause says, "As for Brooklyn residents, we now have a terrible basketball team to watch, and a pretty decent hockey team, and a garish arena and some growing housing towers on a site that otherwise would probably have something similar anyway, given that pretty much every possible site in Brooklyn now has a ginormous apartment building going up on it..."

He ends, "It’s probably too simplistic to say of the Brooklyn arena that everybody ended up a loser, but we certainly haven't seen any slam-dunk winners yet. So for now, man, is this turning out to be an epic train wreck, or what?"

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Gunplay, Commotion Across the Street from Brooklyn's Barclays Center Early Sunday Morning

Map data copyright Google

From the Scanner:

Cops were dispatched at 12:40 a.m. Sunday morning to Tony Roma's Restaurant at 673 Atlantic Ave., catty-corner from Barclays Center in Brooklyn, to investigate a complaint about a male with a firearm.

According to the dispatcher, the gunman had been inside the restaurant but then left the scene.

Dispatch said that the restaurant manager was currently holding the gun, and someone might be bleeding. (This has not yet been confirmed.) The perp fled East along Atlantic Ave. in a white sedan.

The gunman was described as black, wearing a dark hoodie and dark jeans.

Shortly after this assignment, another call came in reporting a "big commotion," a "dangerous condition" and a crowd at that location.

The 78th Precinct transferred this to the 88th Precinct, according to dispatch.


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Brooklyn Board Rejects de Blasio's Housing, Zoning Proposals; the Cat King of Columbia St.; and More Brooklyn Briefs

Brooklyn Borough Board Rejects Mayor’s Affordabilty and Zoning Proposals: Brooklyn officials and politicians met… https://t.co/2msZKqAWvv

— Brooklyn News (@brooklyn_news) December 2, 2015

- Brooklyn Borough Board rejects the mayor's affordable housing and zoning proposals. [Brownstoner]

- Report: Bruce Ratner is selling Barclays Center and Nets stakes to Mikhail Prokhorov. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Former 2013 mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis is offering an $1,000 reward for the safe return of Arthur the subway cat. [DNAinfo]

- The Cat King of Columbia Street is getting crazier. [Gothamist]

- Brooklyn activist slams NYC’s hoverboard ban as a tax on the poor. [Daily News]

- Video shows cops running down a Brooklyn man with their squad car as he tries to take photo of their license plate. [Daily News]

- An insanely colorful bird who normally winters in Central America is currently hanging out in Prospect Park, freaking out bird-watchers. [wnyc]

- Brooklyn subway riders attack MTA worker over out-of-order MetroCard machine. [Patch]


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Goats in Red Hook; DUMBO Group Slams P.S. 8 Plan, and More Brooklyn Briefs

Cop fired and missed at a suspect that fled on foot on Ave. B and E 92nd St. #Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/0vh6iEjC42

— Andy Mai (@MaiAndy) December 2, 2015

Officers fire at suspect in East Flatbush Tuesday night. [cbs]

- Red Hook’s working waterfront, home to boats … and goats. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- After school tension in Downtown Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Ink]

- Greenland nixes future pre-fab buildings at Brooklyn site; Forest City warns of layoffs at modular plant. [Atlantic Yards Report]

- Brooklyn residents will have an opportunity to speak directly with Comptroller Scott Stringer at a town hall on Thursday, Dec. 3. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- The popular Brooklyn pizza joint Franny's will add a 3 percent surcharge to all of its checks in order to, according to the menu, cover affordable care costs. [Grubstream]

- DUMBO neighborhood group slams P.S. 8, P.S. 307 rezoning plan. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- "The people who support Trump don't support him because they want the country to get better ... They want someone to represent their inner thug, their inner asshole." [WYDNKBYANM]

- Video: Investigators reveal a computer glitch brought down AirAsia flight off the coast of Indonesia. [abc]


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Ratner's 'Site 5' To Be Brooklyn's Time Warner Center?

Courtesy Pacific Park

According to Bisnow, Forest City Ratner's EVP Kathryn Welch says FCR is getting ready to break ground on its "Site 5" project in Downtown Brooklyn. Site 5 is currently the home of Modell's and P.C. Richard.

The plans call for 1.6M square feet of office and retail space.

Welch said the goal will be "to bring in high-end retail like Brooklyn's never seen—something like the Time Warner Center."

Atlantic Yards Report speculates:
"If that report is correct--and we don't know that it is--that would shift the entire square footage once planned for B1 to Site 5, making an enormous--and to my eyeball, unrealistic--building. (The City Point project in Downtown Brooklyn near Junior's is 1.9 million square feet.)"

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Why Brooklyn's Pacific Park Won't Actually Be a Park

Pacific Park, Brooklyn

Atlantic Yards Report had created an excellent in-depth analysis of why ballyhooed Pacific Park, the privately managed open space being planned for Atlantic Yards' Pacific Heights 14-tower mega-development, won't actually be a "park," despite the rhetoric of developer Greenland Forest City Partners.

The whole article is worth reading through, but here are a few points:

* The promised central promenade won't appear for years, and the open space won't be done until 2025

* Strip away the buildings, and the space resembles a spine with some squiggly vertebrae

* The green will abut construction sites for the next decade

* The "main lawn" is tiny, little more than one-third an acre

* The amount of open space is well below the city average for the population around it.

* The street trees pictured do not resemble the actual plan. Many won't actually be there at all.

Read more at:
"Just like a normal accessible park"? Misleading rhetoric and incomplete information behind the (inadequate) Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park open space [Atlantic Yards Report]


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Brooklyn's Van Gogh Look-Alike; Forever 21 to Fulton Street; No Charges for Borough Hall Shooter; and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The retired correction officer who shot and killed a man at Brooklyn's Borough Hall subway station will not face charges, reports 7online.

- Police officer dies in a motorcycle crash in Brooklyn -- struck by an NYPD School Safety Agent, reports Yeshiva World.

- The Atlantic Yards Report digs into which pols and parties are getting donations from mega-developer Bruce Ratner.

- Brooklyn man who bears uncanny resemblance to Van Gogh sparks internet commotion, says PIX11.

- Forever 21 is returning to Downtown Brooklyn, taking a spot on Fulton Street, says the Wall Street Journal.

- Curbed reveals everything you might ever want to know about what will soon be Brooklyn's tallest residential tower.

- Joseph Lentol, in an opinion piece in the Brooklyn Eagle, pushes de Blasio to give the people the park they were promised -- Bushwick Inlet Park.

- The Brooklyn native who invented DSL, bringing high-speed Internet service to millions of households, has died, the NY Times reports.

- Food festival Smorgasburg is coming to Coney Island this summer, says Bensonhurst Bean.

- Look out Wall Street: there's a new white-collar cop in Brooklyn. Bloomberg/Chicago Tribune

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Four Indicted for Kidnapping 13-Year-Olds; Brooklyn Is Totally Unaffordable; and More Briefs

- Four people have been named in a 32-count indictment in connection with the 2014 kidnapping of two 13-year-old girls in Brooklyn. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Groups from oppressive countries and authoritarian regimes are among the candidates looking to acquire the Brooklyn Nets from a Russian oligarch.  [Sports Illustrated]

- Emotions ran high at a town hall meeting on illegal home conversions, a growing crisis in Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Bay Ridge. [Bensonhurst Bean]

- This map shows you how unaffordable it is to live in NYC. Brooklyn is the worst, of course. [Curbed]

- Pacific Park/Atlantic Yards’ first condo building, 550 Vanderbilt Avenue, will launch sales this summer. Prices will start roughly in the range of $550,000 and go all the way up to around $5,500,000. [Brownstoner]

- Boerum Hill resident Ethan Hawke’s movie “Maggie’s Plan” will be shooting on Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights tomorrow and Wednesday, screwing up parking as usual. [BHB]

 - Friggin' inspirational Brooklyn guy. [WYDNKBYANM]

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Cutbacks at the Brooklyn House of Detention; Stop Work Order at Pierhouse, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- The Department of Correction is paring back the number of inmates housed in the Brooklyn House of Detention in Atlantic Avenue to cut costs. [Daily News]

- Everything you need to know about DOB's stop work order on Pierhouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- My Little Pony convention coming to Downtown Brooklyn. [DNAinfo]

- The Brooklyn Nets are a mess. [Fan Sided]

- WTF? Domino’s launches bondage-themed 'Fifty Shades of Grey' ad. [Daily News]


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Al Qaeda in Brooklyn Court, Airbnb Gets Blasted, and More Brooklyn Briefs

- An al Qaeda operative appears before a judge in Brooklyn. Among other charges, he plotted to attack the LIRR. [The Daily Beast]

- City Council blasts Airbnb executives in contentious hearing. [NY Daily News]

- Renderings: The Cobble Hill Association has gotten copies of the modified plan for the intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Henry Street (where the Shell gas station now stands). [CHA]

- Brooklyn and Barclays are a logistical and ethical minefield for the Democratic Convention, says Norman Order. [NYT]

- Forbes: Brooklyn Nets valued at $1.5 billion, 6th most expensive NBA team. [NetsDaily]

- More than 130,000 pages of declassified documents relating to Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) from the U.S. Air Force have been published online by man who spent 20 years filing Freedom of Info Act requests. [abc7]

- "The unemployment rate among recent IT graduates at the moment is actually twice that of theater majors." [WSJ]

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'Brooklyn Strand,' Atlantic Yards, Parole Center and More Brooklyn Briefs

Con Ed's new power outage map shows exact locations.

 Shown above: Con Edison has upgraded its power outage map to show exact locations of outages, how many customers are affected at each location, and approximate time of repair. Late Sunday night into Monday morning, more than a thousand Queens residents lost power -- many are shown on this map.

- Upcoming CB2 meeting to discuss ‘Brooklyn Strand’ idea to unify parks, plazas from Borough Hall to Brooklyn Bridge Park. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Forest City Ratner seems ready to buy out former partner Skanska from its share of the shuttered module-building factory at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. [Atlantic Yards Report]

- Gowanus United, a group fighting the state’s proposed mega parole center on 2nd Avenue, is holding a rally on Wednesday afternoon. [South Brooklyn Post]

- BP Adams is encouraging students ages sixteen and over to attend a meeting in Bed-Stuy to learn about how they can join a community board in the coming year. [Gotham Gazette]

- The City Council will consider on Wednesday requiring costumed characters soliciting money to be licensed. [City Council]

- Out of public eye, Andrew Cuomo plans his vengeance. [Perdido Street School]

- More than half of calls to U.S. poison control centers about energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster are for children younger than 6. [NY Daily News]


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Democratic National Convention to Get Brooklyn Brand?

The blue carpet was rolled out at Barclays. Photo by MK Metz

 A full-court press was made by city officials at Barclay's Center on Monday to impress members of the Democratic National Committee with everything Brooklyn.

The "DNC 2016 NYC" logo was all over Prospect Heights. Brooklyn artisional food was served to committee members. The DNC visited Brooklyn Bridge Park with Mayor Bill (wonder if it looked as glorious to them as it does to us?) and then took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, where a fireboat squirted red, white and blue jets into the air.

The message was that Brooklyn is hip, progressive and labor friendly, just like the Democratic Party.

The hotel issue is a non-issue, several of the pols said.  Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said he got from Manhattan to Brooklyn in 14 minutes (but it took a dedicated travel lane, something everyday residents don't have).

More about Monday's DNC event at the Brooklyn Eagle.

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Brooklyn Nets Lost Over $140 Milion Last Year

Image: Landry Heaton

The Brooklyn Nets are leading the league with "the most massive financial losses of any team in the NBA," says the Financial Juneteenth blog.

The team has lost $144 million "and it’s hard to tell how they can ever become profitable," FJ writes.

Good thing they're not something useless like a hospital!


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Barclays Center Getting a Green Roof, and Problematic Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Green roof at Barclays Center. Courtesy Shop

 - Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) and Shanghai-based Greenland Group Co. (Greenland) announced that they will install a green roof on Barclays Center, as seen above. MaryAnne Gilmartin, FCRC President and CEO, explained that in addition to providing a more appealing roof for people visiting the arena, it will also enhance the space for those who will be living in the residential buildings surrounding Barclays Center. (B2, the first residential building, is currently under construction) [Barclays]

More Barclays News:

- Miley Cyrus, at her “Bangerz” show at the Barclays Center on Saturday night was "so insistently gross — grabbing her crotch constantly, spread-eagling on the hood of a car, and twerking with a steatopygic midget "— she seems determined "to avoid seeming remotely sexy." [New Yorker]

- The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame dinner and show scheduled for Thursday at Barclays Center is a "disaster in the making." Cat Stevens' visa is up in the air. No one from  Brian Epstein’s family has been invited, and Andrew Loog Oldham says thanks but no thanks. [Showbiz411]


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Miley Cyrus Brooklyn Bangerz Tickets Range from $86 to $6,000

Photo: Rhys Asplundh, flickr

Miley Cyrus is back in Brooklyn at Barclays Center for her Bangerz tour on April 5, 2014.

Good tickets don't come cheap. For those interested, we just scouted prices and found some (comparatively less expensive) at TicketHurry.com

They range from behind-stage seats for $86 - $95; to middle-distance seating for roughly $200; left and right of stage for $500; and floor tickets from $724 - $5018.

Prices for similar seats are more (up to $6,000) at other ticket sites we checked, but you may be able to do better. 

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Squadron Not Joining de Blasio Administration? Brooklyn Flea to Flee Park; aand More Brooklyn Briefs

Gas lamp, Brooklyn Heights. MK Metz

- Senator Daniel Squadron says he's going to run for re-election -- not head off to the de Blasio administration. [Crain's]

- Cops say security for Bill de Blasio home in Park Slope would be no problem. [NY Daily News]

- The Brooklyn Flea is abandoning its East River State Park locale amid complaints from locals. [TRD]

- BP Markowitz declares Brooklyn to be the “lesbian capital” of the Northeast. [NY Post]

- Will Green-Wood Cemetery turns part of landmarked greenhouse into visitors center? [Brooklyn Eagle]

- State Ed Commissioner King meets an audience in Crown Heights that likes the  new Common Core learning standards. [NY1]

- Forrest City Ratner lowers value of Atlantic Yards by $250,000 - $350,000. [AYR]

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Brooklyn Hasidic Hate Crime; Did Ratner Lie to Investors? And More Brooklyn Briefs

 - Watchdog says Forest City Ratner misled foreign investors about Atlantic Yards investment. [TRD]

- Police are investigating after a fashion design student was allegedly assaulted by a gang of up to 20 Hasidic men in Brooklyn, leaving him with a broken eye socket and a torn retina. [NBC NY]

- Is Whole Food's Gowanus store really that green? [PMFA]

- The Brooklyn Greenway Initiative updated its plan with a storm-surge-blocking seawall. [Brooklyn Paper]

- NYPD kills the Police Blotter. [Brokelyn]

- Three weeks left to register for property tax break. [Sheepshead Bites]

- City doesn’t need to return child to birth mother’s care, Brooklyn judge rules. [Brooklyn Eagle]

- Gov. Cuomo "has no interest whatsoever in running for president.” [Politico]

- Hospitals start spinning like crazy as DOH starts listing prices. [Crain's]

- Pathetic TSA seizes tiny toy gun from stuffed monkey. Hahahahahahah! Sigh. [Gizmodo]

- Tiny baby squirrel saved, now rides on back of giant dog. Awwwww!. [Viral Nova]

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