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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

On Friday at 5:30, my free Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park tour, part of Jane's Walk

As part of the annual Jane's Walk in honor of urbanist Jane Jacobs, I'll be leading a free tour Friday at 5:30 pm: "Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Brooklyn/ Barclays Center: Explore Brooklyn's most contested real estate development."

For those who remember the high hopes, deep passions, and fierce pushback regarding "Jobs, Housing, and Hoops," this tour will serve as an update. For those new to Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park and Brooklyn, it will be an introduction.

Meeting at Ona, by Ursula von Rydingsvarg (source of photo)
The tour will take about two hours and go rain or shine. No registration is required.

We'll meet outside the Barclays Center under the oculus (opening to the sky), next to the giant statue that looks like a rock formation. We will end at the intersection of Vanderbilt Avenue and Dean Street.

From the description

You can't understand Atlantic Yards, (in 2014 renamed Pacific Park Brooklyn) and the Barclays Center arena (home to the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders) unless you explore the context for the 22-acre project. It begins at the edge of Downtown Brooklyn and extends through blocks in Prospect Heights (near Park Slope and Fort Greene) that were formerly residential and mixed-use, with industrial and commercial buildings.

The project is being built over and beyond an 8.5-acre railyard, including a sports/entertainment arena (home to the Brooklyn Nets and New York Islanders) and 15 or 16 towers, four of which are complete or nearing completion. Once slated to be finished by 2016, Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park may not be done until the 2030s. Among the questions:
  • Why did the project generate so much controversy, especially 2005-2009?
  • What's changed around it?
  • Who's benefited and who's been disappointed or suffered?
  • How has the business deal changed and who are the new players?
  • Why is it taking so long?
  • What did the area look like?
  • What will it look like?
  • What's still up for grabs?
  • What might be done differently in the future?

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