Developers behind the latest effort to build thousands of new apartments above and along Brooklyn’s Atlantic Yards train tracks say they plan to break ground by 2028 – a quarter century after city and state officials first greenlit the long-stalled development.
The project will cost an estimated $5 billion, with New York state chipping in roughly $700 million to build a pair of platforms over the Vanderbilt Yard train tracks between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street, state officials said.
The Monday proposal marks the latest chapter for a project that has emerged as a symbol of broken promises and unrealistic housing proposals. The incomplete megadevelopment was first announced in 2003.
In the ensuing years, developers built 3,200 units on the blocks surrounding the train yard and the centerpiece arena, Barclays Center, including on lots seized through eminent domain.
But a procession of firms has so far failed to deliver nearly 900 affordable apartments promised as part of the development, despite a legally binding agreement to do so by May 2025 or face millions of dollars in monthly fines.
The state’s economic development authority, Empire State Development, waived those penalties on the eve of the deadline, citing the risk of a lawsuit, as it lined up a new development team to take over the project.
At a public meeting Monday, that new team, made up of the real estate firms Cirrus Workforce Housing and LCOR, unveiled a formal proposal for the site in a slideshow presentation.
Their plan would feature about 5,600 new condos and apartments across six highrises, including a nearly 800-foot-tall skyscraper connected to an adjoining 570-foot tower at the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Pacific Street.
At least 1,242 of the apartments, or roughly 21%, would be priced for low- and middle-income renters, according to the presentation given to members of a community group that monitors the project's progress.
A slideshow presentation on Monday showed the new scope of the Atlantic Yards project.
Cirrus CEO Joseph McDonnell told the group that his team could begin work on at least some of the new affordable housing units as early as 2028, which would mean tenants could move in three years after that.
“ That is people living in these buildings in 2031,” McDonnell said. “So fairly ambitious goals, but we actually stand in a place where we can do that given the work that has been done to date.”
McDonnell said a previous developer, Greenland Holdings, had invested $1 billion to build a foundation for a future platform and obtained permits that could speed construction.
He also acknowledged the years of broken promises and delays, but said the new proposal is “intellectually honest about the constraints of the site” and its funding needs.
“With Atlantic Yards, it's something that's evolved and it's fairly controversial,” he said. “I think some people are actually borderline emotional about it, for good reason.”
The project is expected to cost about $5 billion, with union pension funds financing the bulk of the construction through loans to the developer. McDonnell has previously said his team could complete the entire project by the late 2030s.
Empire State Development spokesperson Emily Mijatovic said the state will likely chip in about $700 million, including $175 million earmarked for the project in the state’s latest budget.
The development team had requested at least $300 million to help fund construction of a long-stalled platform above the active train yard.
The delays have ignited outcry among many longtime residents and local leaders who helped craft affordable housing agreements for the project.
Atlantic Yards skirted community oversight procedures in favor of a state-shepherded process typically called a General Project Plan, casting a dark cloud on similar projects decades later.
But the new proposal also marks a fresh start for one of three large-scale development projects over rail yards that have been proposed in New York City, including an extension of the Hudson Yards project on Manhattan’s West Side and a plan pursued by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, with President Trump’s blessing, to deck over the sprawling Sunnyside Yards tracks in Western Queens.
Daniel Kummer, board chair of the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, the group that monitors project progress, said he was happy to finally have a new plan in place.
“This is a day we’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Kummer said. “People may have issues with it, but I hope there’s a shared feeling in this room that we’re glad we’re on this next phase.”
Clarification: The headline of this story was changed to indicate that New York Empire State Development, the state's economic authority, has not yet secured all $700 million in funding for Atlantic Yards.
