Related, Fortress, USIF to develop Pacific Park as joint venture

The plan for Pacific Park, although not the megaproject itself, is finally coming into focus.

The Related Companies, Fortress Investment Group and the U.S. Immigration Fund will develop the rest of the Brooklyn project as a joint venture after Fortress and USIF foreclose on Greenland USA, which owes them $300 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Nick Mastroianni, USIF’s president, shared that update eight weeks after The Real Deal reported that Related was in talks to take over the development.

But construction, which stopped late last year, will resume no earlier than late next year, the Journal wrote, citing an unnamed source.

That was further confirmation of something that has been clear for a while: The May 2025 deadline for building the remaining 876 affordable apartments will not be met. Less clear is whether the prescribed fines for failing to meet the deadline — $2,000 per unit, per month — will be levied.

But penalties next year against the new developer, which in theory could exceed $12 million, are unlikely. The Hochul administration’s Empire State Development, which oversees the site, is more interested in seeing the project completed and cannot expect to hold Related accountable for Greenland’s failure.

Some of Pacific Park — notably Barclays Center and 3,000 apartments — was built after Forest City Ratner won approval for the project, then called Atlantic Yards, from the Pataki administration in 2006.

But the original plan to finish it by 2016 proved wildly optimistic, as the project was delayed by public opposition, litigation, the Great Recession, Forest City Ratner’s retreat and new owner Greenland’s implosion. The new estimated completion date is 2035.

Related will have to construct decks over Vanderbilt Yard, an active rail yard, at the site to build residential towers with 3,200 units. A retail component is also planned.

The Brodsky Organization and TF Cornerstone previously picked up development sites from the original Atlantic Yards footprint. Greenland’s withdrawal was part of a broader collapse of Chinese real estate investments in the United States. Greenland defaulted on its Pacific Park debt last year.

— Erik Engquist

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