Third time’s the charm? Pacific Park may get new developer

A new developer may soon take over development sites at Pacific Park, a $5 billion Brooklyn megaproject repeatedly derailed over its two-decade history.  

The lender on six sites in the project, formerly known as Atlantic Yards, has negotiated an agreement with a potential new developer to take over for Greenland USA. The new developer would have their work cut out for them: Platforms must be built over train tracks on the sites to make way for more than 3,200 residential units.

The Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Empire State Development, acknowledged in a Tuesday meeting that the state is expecting a proposal from the lender and possible developer. Officials and the lender did not disclose the identity of the would-be developer(s). 

Last year, Nick Mastroianni ’s U.S. Immigration Fund moved to foreclose on $350 million in loans tied to the six development sites. Empire State and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority must sign off on the replacement developer, and Mastroianni indicated that he hopes this happens within the next 45 to 60 days. 

Aside from the replacement developer, much remains uncertain about the future project, including whether the state will agree to sweeten the deal for the new developer, or soften the potential consequences of years’ worth of project delays. Whoever takes over for Greenland will be staring down a 2025 deadline to build nearly 900 more affordable apartments, or face millions of dollars in penalties.  

An auction for the development rights, which has been repeatedly postponed, is slated for July 23 but will almost certainly be rescheduled as the state sorts out the particulars of handing off the platform sites.

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The Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation Directors also called on ESD to require Greenland to come forward with a proposal to develop Site 5, home to a defunct Modell’s and still-operating PC Richard & Son, as a residential project. That site would not be part of the auction. A previous proposal for the site called for an office tower.   

Norman Oder’s Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report was first to report on Tuesday’s meeting. A representative for Greenland declined to comment. 

The vision for the 22-acre project was first announced in December 2003, but faced years of delays due to local opposition and lawsuits. The project’s developers faced their own headwinds, first with Forest City Ratner, which was acquired by Brookfield, and then Greenland, as it contended with the financial woes of its parent company in China.