Prospect Heights' Next Park Comes Last in the Pacific Park Plan

The next phase of Pacific Park has a construction order, and the order works against Prospect Heights. Under the memorandum of understanding that Empire State Development signed with the Cirrus Real Estate Partners and LCOR team on July 28, 2026, the earliest work goes to Site 5 at Flatbush and Fourth Avenue and to the railyard platform between Sixth and Carlton avenues. The new park that sits closest to the neighborhood's brownstone blocks, on the railyard between Carlton and Vanderbilt, sits on the block that depends most on future financing.

If you are comparing Prospect Heights with Park Slope or Fort Greene and looking at Dean Street, Pacific Street, or the blocks near Carlton and Vanderbilt, this order affects the next fifteen years more than any median price does. The memorandum is nonbinding, and it still has to clear environmental review and a plan amendment before anything is final. The schedule it proposes is the best public picture of what happens across the street, and when.

Three blocks, three different clocks

Phase II covers three pieces of ground, and each runs on a different timeline. The railyard parcels lie between Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street, running east from Sixth Avenue to Vanderbilt Avenue. Site 5 is the full block bounded by Atlantic, Flatbush, Fourth Avenue and Pacific Street.

Block 1121 is the piece that matters most for Prospect Heights. The plan drops Building 8 and puts publicly accessible open space on that parcel, reached from Carlton Avenue and Atlantic Avenue. That open space would continue south across the closed bed of Pacific Street and join the open space already built on Block 1129. Across the whole proposal, the state's Draft Scope of Work lists up to about 5.6 acres of publicly accessible open space.

According to The Real Deal's summary of the MOU, the solid-ground sites go first so housing and income-restricted units arrive sooner while the harder platform work over the track layout is sorted out. That makes sense as an engineering choice. It also means the heaviest work happens toward Flatbush and between Sixth and Carlton first, and the green space comes at the end of the line.

Why the park's timing is the least certain

The memorandum doesn't give the B8 open space a calendar deadline. It requires the open space to be finished before Building 9 receives its first certificate of occupancy, which ties the park's timing to the Block 1121 towers. Those towers depend on money that isn't committed yet. The railyard platform carries a $350 million budget. The state has appropriated $175 million of it, and ESD is seeking the other $175 million. The Block 1121 buildings carry two possible deadlines: the end of 2040 if a funding agreement for that parcel is signed, or the end of 2042 whether or not the money arrives.

The penalties for missing those dates are small next to a project of this size. The Real Deal reports that the developers can get a one-year extension by contributing $500,000 and a second year for $1 million, and ESD can grant more at its discretion. The same article notes that in 2025 the state waived collection of $5.25 million in fines tied to missed affordable housing deadlines under the project's previous developer.

The Draft Scope of Work assumes construction starts in 2028 and the project is finished and operating in 2040. The memorandum allows the Block 1121 buildings to run until the end of 2042 if their funding is never secured. The difference between those two scenarios falls almost entirely on the block east of Carlton.

Neighborhood advocates made this point at the state's September 24 scoping hearing. In his account of the hearing, Norman Oder wrote that the MOU shows Block 1121 to be "the most contingent part of the remaining buildout." He reported that Danae Oratowski, an officer of the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council, testified:

"So this creates a real risk that Site 5 and Block 1120 could end up being completed and occupied, while Block 1121 and some or all of its open space remains unfinished for years."

She asked the state to study a scenario where Block 1121 is delayed and to consider whether the B8 open space could be built earlier, or separately from Buildings 9 and 10. Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon also asked ESD to secure the Block 1121 open space and to study building that block earlier. BrooklynSpeaks asked for an analysis of the whole project, a scenario with Block 1121 delayed, and accountability for construction monitoring.

What a north-edge buyer is actually signing up for

The practical takeaway is about timing. A buyer on the northern blocks of Prospect Heights should expect the sequence in the MOU, with construction starting around 2028 and towers going up from Flatbush toward Carlton through the mid-2030s. The new park is tied to the last block in that sequence, and that block depends on funding that has not been committed.

The plan is also bigger than the one buyers may have heard about years ago. Across both phases, the proposal goes from 6,430 apartments to about 8,800 and from about 8 million to 9.6 million gross square feet. The tallest platform building on Block 1120 would reach about 684 feet, and Site 5 could go up to 799 feet, compared with 250 feet under the earlier plan. At the hearing, Robert Puca of PHNDC asked for a funded on-site monitoring group to track quality-of-life violations in real time. Oder quoted him describing a neighborhood that "will be affected by this project for the next 30 to 40 years."

The same sequence also affects what you would compete with as a seller later on. In The Real Deal's example of the program without a hotel, the six Phase II buildings hold about 5,600 homes. Some 4,600 would be rentals, 1,242 of them affordable, and about 1,000 would be condos. Those condos are 2030s inventory. Today's resale co-op or condo buyer near Carlton Avenue won't compete with them at purchase, but may when it is time to sell.

The supply that is already here

The nearer supply along Atlantic is rental and already built. Eight80 BK at 880 Atlantic Avenue, a 19-story, 258-apartment building from EMP Capital Group between Vanderbilt and Washington avenues, was already under way under an earlier spot rezoning, Brownstoner reported in April 2026. EMP's Prosper Brooklyn at 1042 Atlantic adds 237 units and also predates the rezoning, per Brownstoner.

Farther east, the city's Atlantic Avenue Mixed-Use Plan, adopted May 28, 2025, covers about 13 blocks between Vanderbilt and Nostrand avenues. City Planning estimates about 4,000 homes from the plan. Council Member Crystal Hudson's office cites a larger total. In April 2026, The Real Deal reported that Avery Hall Investments, the Brodsky Organization and Monadnock Construction had bought 962 Pacific Street and 863 Dean Street for a mixed-use project, with no unit count announced. The 863 Dean lot alone sold for $16 million and allows up to 82,500 buildable square feet.

Third-quarter numbers show buyers favoring existing homes. Boroughwide Q3 2026 Brooklyn reporting showed new-development closings down 41% from a year earlier, while resale condo closings rose 17% and co-op closings rose 6%. Active inventory was up 21%. In a Q3 2026 submarket that combines Prospect Heights with Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Vinegar Hill, co-ops averaged $275,218 per room, up 6% year over year. The condo average was flat at $1,413 per square foot. Those figures are pooled, and the current quarter is preliminary. They don't isolate Prospect Heights, and they don't measure what the railyard plan will do to prices block by block.

The review calendar from here

ESD's September 14 presentation to the Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation sets out the sequence.

1. October 26, 2026, 5 p.m.: Written comments on the Draft Scope of Work close, per the scoping notice.
2. November 2026: ESD holds an in-person, interactive open-space workshop, roughly 6 to 8 p.m. The exact date has not been announced.
3. Q1 2027: The Final Scope and the Draft SSEIS are released, followed by a public hearing and comment period.
4. Q3 2027: The Final SSEIS is issued.
5. Q4 2027: ESD adopts its SEQRA findings and takes action on the amended General Project Plan.

The November workshop is the first session devoted to the open space, so it is the next public look at how firm the Block 1121 commitment is.

FAQ

Is the Phase II plan final? No. The memorandum is nonbinding. Binding documents depend on the environmental review and the amendment to the Modified General Project Plan.

What is on Site 5 now? The former P.C. Richard and Modell's site was being used temporarily as the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, Norman Oder reported in late August.

Is the building at 18 Sixth Avenue part of Phase II? No. Brooklyn Crossing on the B4 parcel is already built.

How did the scoping hearing go? Oder counted about 88 attendees and 15 public commenters at the September 24 virtual hearing. Most of the commenters were critical of the proposal.

If you're weighing a home on the northern blocks of Prospect Heights, the railyard schedule should be part of your due diligence. The Scott / Robles Team can go through the Phase II sequence block by block, compare it with what's for sale near Carlton and Vanderbilt, and help you decide how much the timeline should count in your offer. Contact Us.