The Atlantic Yards redevelopment phase includes homes built on the LIRR tracks, November 26, 2025. Photo by Alex Krales/THE CITY
This article was originally published on December 2 at 8:03 PM EST by THE CITY
A long-stalled project to create thousands of new apartments in Brooklyn near Barclays Center could be revived.
Overseen by the Empire State Development Agency, the 22-acre Atlantic Yards project — also known as Pacific Park — is expected to create more than 6,400 apartments in downtown Brooklyn. But more than 20 years after it was proposed, only about half of the promised housing has been built.
That could change, thanks to a new development team proposing to build even more apartments than initially planned.
The Brooklyn Ascending Land Co., a joint venture led by LCOR and Cirrus Real Estate Partners, wants a total of 9,000 apartments for the Prospect Heights site. According to the developers, the buildings would be larger than originally expected to create more public open space.
The Atlantic Yards concept was first launched in 2003 by developer Forest City Ratner. Controversial at the time and made possible by the state seizure of private propertyThe plan called for more than 6,400 apartments, including 2,250 affordable units, across 15 buildings. Some of those buildings would be built on a platform above the railyard, similar to the rise of the Hudson Yards development on Manhattan’s west side. The Barclays Center arena was a key feature, along with eight hectares of public open space.
Brooklyn Ascending took over from Shanghai-based developer Greenland USA, which had spearheaded the project in 2018, but defaulted on nearly $350 million in loans in 2023. A foreclosure auction took place in early October.
“We don’t have the ability to make Atlantic Yards perfect, but what we have done is spent quite a bit of time thinking about how we can collectively do a number of things together,” Joseph McDonnell, managing partner at Cirrus, said Tuesday during a board meeting of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation.
The new team has development rights to the blocks between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street, over the rail lines, as well as the public plaza in front of the Barclays Center. The team could also build on a parcel on the west side of Flatbush Avenue across from Barclays, which is home to a basketball training center and a PC Richard & Sons store.
For the parcel on Flatbush’s west side, developers proposed two residential towers that would be taller and include more apartments than originally planned. But the proposed buildings in some areas above the railway site would be smaller, creating more open space.
“It’s just easier to build over dirt than over train tracks,” said Anthony Tortora, co-chief investment officer of LCOR.
“One of the goals is to do this a little faster,” McDonnell added.
Under the original plan, Greenland was required to build 2,250 affordable apartments by May 2025 – part of the total. But 876 remained incomplete.
As part of an agreement struck in 2014, Greenland was required to pay $2,000 in fines per month for each apartment not built within the deadline – which amounts to approximately $1.75 million per month. However, ESD has chosen not to enforce these penalties, citing threats of a lawsuit from Greenland.
Under the October agreement, the new development team will pay $12 million into an affordable housing fund to support new apartments in nearby neighborhoods. According to ESD, the developers have already paid $4.5 million into the fund.
Any changes to Atlantic Yards must be reflected in the overall project plan, a state-supervised process that ignores the city’s land use reviews. The developers and ESD are expected to reach an agreement by the summer, and it would take about two more years to update the overall project plan.
The ESD is holding public meetings through February to discuss the new proposals with local people and gather feedback for the ongoing redevelopment of the site. The team is asking community members about it types of housing – including the number of bedrooms in apartments and whether they should be for rent or for sale – and how they want to see the open space shape. That space can be used for playgrounds, ball courts, bicycle sheds or dog runs.
The development team set out to build affordable housing for households that make up 130 percent of the total housing stock the average income of the area – or $189,540 for a family of three – while the original plan had an affordability level that aimed for people to earn much less: just $58,320 for a family of three.
Many community members initially feared that the new developments would not include apartments at rates affordable to locals — and that Black residents would be displaced. The level of affordability of the apartments remains a major concern for residents and elected officials, many of whom remained skeptical of the state and the development team.
Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) said she wanted guarantees that the affordable apartments would be built, and at a lower income level.
“It was very clear to us that there weren’t enough truly affordable units in the first place and now it looks like you’re looking at even fewer affordable units,” Simon said Tuesday.
Ismene Speliotis, executive director of the nonprofit affordable housing developer MHANY Management, criticized affordability in the original plan and what the new developers proposed — as well as the apartment sizes and proposed height of the residential towers.
“We have two problems: one is the sheer affordability and the other is what we have built in terms of unit sizes,” she said. “If we want to build communities, we have to stop building studios and one-bedroom apartments.”
The slow-moving Atlantic Yards redevelopment project, along with developers’ promises broken along the way, became a symbol of a cautionary tale outside of downtown Brooklyn.
Residents in other neighborhoods pointed to Atlantic Yards and its unrealized promises of affordable housing when confronted with housing proposals in their own communities, including most recently along Brooklyn’s waterfront for the neighborhood’s redevelopment. Brooklyn Marine Terminal.
Related stories
Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner further X And Instagramand like us further Facebook.
#longstalled #Atlantic #Yards #project #revived