Elected officials call on Governor for deeply affordable housing, other unmet commitments from new plan

Additional details of proposed changes to the Atlantic Yards project emerged in March, including a request by developers Cirrus and LCOR for $350 million in new public subsidy for platform construction. Under the original agreement approved in 2009, it was understood that the project would be responsible for self-financing the the platforms. The developers also stated that the first phase of construction would include only a maximum of 500 low- and very low-income apartments, less than half of the 1,031 such apartments remaining to be provided under the terms of a 2005 affordable housing MOU.

In response, on March 30 six elected officials who represent districts overlapping the project area wrote to Governor Kathy Hochul expressing concern with what has been proposed so far. State Senator Jabari Brisport, Assembly Members Jo Anne Simon and Phara Souffrant Forrest, Brooklyn Borough President Antonion Reynoso, and City Council Members Crystal Hudson and Shahana Hanif asked the Governor ensure the following conditions are met with respect to affordable housing:

"The State must ensure the project provides the missing 1,031 affordable apartments for extremely low- to low-income New Yorkers committed under the 2005 affordable housing MOU from the existing approved project density, before factoring in affordable apartments to be committed in exchange for additional density that Cirrus and LCOR are seeking.

"At least thirty-five percent (35%) of additional housing from any increase in density that Cirrus and LCOR are seeking must be offered to households earning an average of 60% of AMI with at least 10% of the units offered at 40% of AMI or below. This affordability is consistent with New York City’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing (MIH) program which was adopted as part of neighborhood rezonings in Gowanus and along Atlantic Avenue recently approved under the City’s ULURP process. The additional affordable housing at these AMI levels should be delivered in the early phase and completed at least in proportion to market rate and workforce housing, not held until the end of the modified plan.

"New York State should contribute $143 million to New York City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund by January 2027 to build or preserve affordable housing in Brooklyn Community Boards 2, 3, 6 or 8. ESD entered into a settlement with BrooklynSpeaks in June 2014 regarding the timely delivery of the affordable housing at Atlantic Yards by May 2025 in exchange for BrooklynSpeaks not bringing a fair housing legal claim against the State. ESD unilaterally decided to not collect the liquidated damages outlined in ESD’s contract with the developer for their failure to produce the remaining 876 units of affordable housing at Atlantic Yards by May 2025. It is estimated that those damages, which were to go to NYC to support affordable housing, would reach $143 million given the project’s delays.

"Current residents of Brooklyn community districts 2, 3, 6, and 8 as well as persons displaced after 2006 must receive community preference in all lotteries for affordable housing at Atlantic Yards."

The officials also requested the design of Site 5 be modified to reduce impacts on residents of Pacific Street; that the first phase of the new construction include indoor public space to replace the promised Urban Room; that project open space be designed through a participatory process and that the space be administered by a non-profit institution independent of developers and landlords; and that a special enforcement district be created to address quality of life issues longstanding among local residents from both construction activity and arena operations.

Finally, officials also requested the project be overseen "by a newly created local development corporation whose board has decision-making authority on all project modifications, and enforcement power for all public commitments with meaningful representation by local elected officials and the surrounding community."