EB-5 is all over the news these days, in terms of record-breaking statistics, new opportunities to deploy immigrant investor funds, former elected officials cashing in, and some questionable deals.

The Association to Invest In the USA (IIUSA), the trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Investment Pilot Program, on 2/1/12 celebrated a new peak in investment immigration....

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Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, New cautions from China about EB-5 investments (taxes, investment risk)

Even as EB-5 business--and the ambition behind it--continues to grow, there's new caution in China about the benefits and costs of EB-5 investments, in which a $500,000 investment in a purported job-creating enterprise brings green cards for the immigrants and their families.

In a 1/10/11 article headlined Expats in US pay high price, China Daily reported some pitfalls, given that not only must residents pay taxes on worldwide income, there are new reporting requirements....

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One enterprising Barclays Center suiteholder (Roger Green?) is already offering up his Andrea Bocelli tickets on the secondary market...

$97 for parking? No thanks, we'll circle local blocks for a few minutes before creating our own "parking space."

Wiser opera fans might just choose to make a $1,250 contribution to Channel Thirteen, instead...

Featured Thank You Gift:

2 Tickets: Andrea Bocelli Dec. 5, 2012 at Barclays Center Brooklyn NY Gold Level Orchestra & Front side of Arena plus DVD: Andrea Bocelli Concerto, One Night in Central Park
EXCLUSIVE seats! New York Public Television is the only place to secure tickets to see the one and only Andrea Bocelli LIVE in concert on Wednesday, December 5th, 2012 in his only NYC area appearance. He will perform at the brand new Barclays Center, centrally located in Brooklyn! Barclays Center will be served by 9 different subway lines and the LIRR. It is 8 minutes from Wall Street, 18 minutes from Penn Station and 20 minutes from Times Square or Grand Central Station. The Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges and the Holland Tunnel are a quick drive away!

NoLandGrab: That stage configuration looks suspiciously like the proposed "hockey horseshoe."

A blog post about energy-saving technologies provides a reminder about the sordid history of The New York Times Building.

The site for the building was obtained by the Empire State Development Corporation through eminent domain in 2001. With a mandate to acquire and redevelop blighted properties in Times Square, ten existing buildings were condemned by the EDC and purchased, behind court order, from owners who in some cases did not want to sell. Once the 80,000 square-foot site was assembled, it was leased to the New York Times Company and Forest City Ratner for below market value at .6 million over 99 years.

And this will come as no surprise to those even slightly familiar with Bruce Ratner's m.o. ...

The building is promoted as a "Green" structure, though it is not LEED certified.

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When state Senator Eric Adams organized a surprising January 22 press conference on Atlantic Yards, I speculated that one motivation was his rumored run for Borough President in 2013.

Adams wouldn't confirm that he was running, but he did to Room 8 columnist Rock Hackshaws, who wrote 2/3/12:

I have had many credible sources tell me for quite some time now that Adams was going to seek the boro-prez position after Marty Markowitz is term-limited in 2013. In a phone conversation with Adams yesterday, he stated that right now he is first seeking re-election to his senate seat this year; then once he is successful, he will announce a run for the Brooklyn borough presidency sometime before Christmas 2012. He believes his chances of success are very high. I concur.

Well, Adams does have name recognition beyond his elective service, notably as a co-founder (according to his bio) of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care. Both his law enforcement background, as well as his willingness to question the police, gives Adams crossover credibility with some voters who might be less favorable toward a black candidate or an ex-cop.

As Hackshaw notes, Adams would be the borough's first black Borough President.

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Relying on a behind-the-paywall WWD article, New York Magazine reports:

Jay-Z's forthcoming commercial will be called "From Marcy to Madison Square," and show black-and-white footage that follows Jay-Z's rise from selling CDs out of the trunk of a car in Marcy Projects in Bedford-Stuyvesant to headlining concerts at Madison Square Garden. It'll reportedly air on MTV, BET, and TNT during NBA basketball games.

Um, I thought Jay-Z's rise relied less on selling CDs than other product.

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So, while some were waiting around for Atlantic Yards, Brooklyn continued to change:

• Franklin Avenue in Crown Heights becomes "the next subway stop on Brooklyn’s gentrification express"
• While the Brooklyn House of Detention was being renovated, six high-rise apartment buildings were built nearby, and a boutique hotel is across the street
• After eleven years, Park Slope music club Southpaw will close and the space, like others on Fifth Avenue, will become a business serving kids

Bonus: Southpaw co-owner Mikey Palms told the Brooklyn Paper how he got the Fifth Avenue building:

“A crackhead and a prostitute were living above the venue and the owner told me, ‘If you can get ’em out, you can have the space,’” he said.

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As you watch the Super Bowl Feb. 5, spare a thought for the taxpayers in the host city of Indianapolis. The stadium in which the game will be played has been financed largely at their expense and, like so many sports venues built with public money, the cost just keeps growing.

Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts play eight regular season games per year, has every amenity: a retractable roof, state-of-the-art turf, seven locker rooms, 137 luxury suites, 1,000 flat-screen televisions. And well it should: It cost $720 million to build.

Of this, the Colts paid only $100 million. To cover the rest, local officials raised taxes on hotels, restaurants and rental cars, and issued bonds that soon led to ballooning financing costs.

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Although the economic rationale for publicly financing stadiums is poor, an important fact remains: People really, really like sports. And they will often be willing to pay a high price to keep their favorite teams or lure new ones. Sports are part of what makes a city a city -- what would Boston be without the Red Sox, or Chicago without the Bears?

But this calculus is an ethereal one. What price could a city government place on its citizens’ love for their sports teams?

The answer is that public funding for new sports stadiums should be up to voters to decide. Cities should make sure the public has access to independent evaluations of the costs and benefits of building a stadium -- not just the inflated “economic-impact studies” done at the behest of team owners and publicized in the media. It should also be made clear exactly what other subsidies the sports teams will be getting: from cheap loans to cheap rent to cheap land.

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Related coverage...

Atlantic Yards Report, Bloomberg (well, his media company) calls for public vote on funding for sports facilities

Now the Brooklyn arena, as well as the two new baseball stadiums, have relatively less direct subsidy than many other deals.

But they didn't need it. They get indirect subsidies, access to sponsors in the nation's biggest media market, and other revenue opportunities.

The city government--hello, Mr. Bloomberg--produced and embraced cost-benefit analyses for the arena that differed significantly from that produced by the NYC Independent Budget Office.

And there was never a vote.

Well, the stock market sure liked Forest City Enterprises' decision to divest itself of the land business and, along the way, shifting its corporate structure to have a majority of independent, non-family directors.

The stock jumped 13% yesterday, to $14.91. Last year the stock nudged over $19, while in the last five years it had risen to $70 and dipped below $4.

And Forest City ultimately should be better position to pursue projects in core markets like New York, including Atlantic Yards. (Then again, maybe they'll just keep trying to raise funds from immigrant investors.)

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No story about public financing of sports facilities would be complete without a mention of the poster child of wasteful public spending: Atlantic Yards.

But the most controverial arena has been Forest City Ratner's Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. Conceived in the early 2000s, the project received $511 million tax free bonds in 2009, but had to clear lawsuits challenging the use of eminent domain to seize private property. A design by Frank Gehry was later dropped in favor of SHoP to cut costs, and prefabricated steel is being used on residential towers for more savings. The arena is set to open later this year.

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NoLandGrab: Let's see: Government subsidies and use of eminent domain and all we get is a money-losing arena? I do believe we've been ripped off.

Despite earlier skepticism and the lack of any new developments since being mentioned two days ago, this author has written a new article covering this story.

The confirmed preseason NHL game next season at the Barclays Center is part of a larger initiative to get the Islanders and owner Charles Wang to consider permanent relocation to Brooklyn, WFAN.com has learned.

The Islanders will host the Devils on Oct. 2, a fact that I first reported two weeks ago and was made official on Thursday.

According to sources, including one within the NHL and another with knowledge of the Barclays Center, the venue is making an “aggressive sales pitch.” In addition, the league source said “the chances of the New York Islanders to Brooklyn are actually pretty good.” The preseason game, sources said, is being viewed as a chance for Wang to get a sense of what life would be like in Brooklyn.

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Forest City Ratner maintains its perfect record of not making good on an promises!

By the state's measure, developer Forest City Ratner has a much lower M/WBE (Minority and Women's Business Enterprises) utilization figure than previously reported, which suggests it's doing less than previously assumed in reaching out to businesses that truly need a boost.

On January 31, I reported that, according to statistics released by Empire State Development (ESD), the state agency overseeing Atlantic Yards, the MBE awards total $91 million (about 16.3% of total purchases), while the WBE awards total $35.1 million (about 6.3% of total purchases).

Thus the combined M/WBE participation is apparently 22.6%, about three-quarters of the way toward the goal of 30% (20% MBE plus 10% WBE), as reflected in the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA).

Revising the numbers

Well, that was true, but I've since learned that the statistics, while released by ESD, were not only prepared by Forest City Ratner--there was no indication on the document--they do not represent the ESD's own analysis of M/WBE figures.

Arana Hankin, Director, Atlantic Yards Project for ESD, explained:

ESD and the Atlantic Yards Project have a certified MWBE utilization contract goal of 20%. Firms must use “best efforts” to meet that goal. If they have not met the goal they must show that they have used their best efforts to retain MWBE firms through outreach and solicitation. ESD has calculated that Forest City has awarded 15.4% to MWBE certified firms to date. ESD does not count the MWBE firms that are not certified. If non-certified firms were included the percentage would increase.

Why wouldn't they be certified? I speculate that either 1) they are/were too fledgling to bother or 2) are too large and prosperous to qualify under the state's newly narrowed rules aimed to exclude M/WBE firms that are very large or led by businesspeople who are so wealthy as to be clearly not disadvantaged.

Whatever the reason, the discrepancy again points out the need for Forest City to not merely self-report but to hire the Independent Compliance Monitor required by the CBA.

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NoLandGrab: It's official! CBA now stands for Completely Bulls**t Artifice.

CBS New York
by B.D. Gallof

More cold water for the Brooklyn Islanders fantasy.

Despite the inevitable media buzz and the glimmer of hope this will create for a downtrodden fan base, the realities of Brooklyn being any more than a diversion and attempt to pick up some interest from other areas, like Queens and Suffolk, while sending a message to Nassau, aren’t many.

The ultimate goal with these smokescreens is to get someone to ante up some options for the team as its lease with Nassau County winds down. The idea of Brooklyn two or three years ago might have had more promise. Back then, the media and blogosphere would innocently parrot notions. Now, anyone parroting them is instead feeding into the Islanders’ own PR aims and hype.

Brooklyn is wrought with issues.

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OK, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is running for mayor. And he presides over a borough that, unlike Brooklyn, doesn't have an identity independent of the city at large nor, arguably, needs one.

But it's still worth noting how Stringer's State of the Borough Address, unlike Markowitz's version, focused on policy.
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By the way, here's the word count per speech:

• Stringer: 4,190
• Markowitz: 11,246

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NoLandGrab: Y'know what they say — if you have nothing to say, talk for 95 minutes.

Park Slope Patch
by Amy Sara Clark

Month by month, the Barclays Center has grown.

Now covered with fabric, the looming frame of the Brooklyn Nets's future home is beginning to look more like the building it will eventually become.

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NoLandGrab: Ironically, the entire project has been swathed in fabrications since the get-go.

Photo: Amy Sara Clark/Patch

Forest City Enterprises (FCE), parent of Brooklyn developer Forest City Ratner, is making some changes.

It has decided to sell its land band business to focus on "core rental products - apartments, office and retail properties" in core markets (including New York), and also to divest itself from properties in non-core markets.

Also, long controlled by some interlocking families, namely the Ratners, FCE is shifting its board to a majority of independent directors, rather than family members.

That may be an effort to enhance credibility in the marketplace, but even independent directors are not necessarily corporate watchdogs, as history has proven again and again. FCE public board meetings, at least according to webcasts, show a clubby, go-along atmosphere.

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Related content...

FCE Press Release, Forest City Announces Governance Actions