With no Building 2, arena boiler stack has to move 200 feet lower than announced; ESD says "there are no air quality issues"

The delay in the first Atlantic Yards tower, Building 2, once expected to be constructed along with the Barclays Center arena, has some real-world consequences, notably the temporary relocation of a planned exhaust system for the arena boiler.

When the arena opens, the exhaust system will not be some 322 feet in the air, on the roof of B2, but instead 200 feet lower.

Empire State Development (ESD), the agency in charge of the Atlantic Yards project, says it's not a problem.

Plans in the Tech Memo

The ESD's June 2009 Technical Memorandum, produced to accompany the re-approval of the revised project, anticipated no delay in the construction of Building 2. It states on p. 5:

Heating systems for the arena block would be decentralized, with the arena and each of the surrounding buildings on the arena block having individual HVAC and microturbine/distributed power systems. The arena boiler exhaust would be vented through a single stack located on the roof of Building 2.

There was no further discussion of an alternative location if Building 2 does not open in time.

Nor was there mention of the issue in the December 2010 Technical Analysis, produced in response to a judge's order regarding the impact of delays on the second phase of the project, not the arena block.

ESD response

So I queried ESD about the location of the vent stack. The agency responded:

In the interim condition (before Building 2 is completed) the arena boiler stack is located in the southeast quadrant of the arena building (near Dean and Pacific). [Consultant] HDR has confirmed that the arena’s natural gas boiler meets the low NOx [nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide] requirement of 20ppm (MEC [Memorandum of Environmental Commitments] requirement). HDR has further determined that there are no air quality issues associated with this interim condition based on the low Nox natural gas and the height of the stack (122’ from ground level to top of stack). The stack will be relocated to Building 2 once it is constructed.