Two days after Forest City announces "preliminary approval" for work on first tower, Department of Buildings indicates that's so

I wrote on July 3 how developer Forest City Ratner plans to start work on July 9 on pile and foundation work for the first Atlantic Yards tower.

But it's unclear what "preliminary approval" for such work from the Department of Buildings meant, as no permit had been issued.

The "preliminary approval" was related by Empire State Development, in the bi-weekly Construction Update prepared by Forest City and released July 3 (but dated July 2), and the ESD's Arana Hankin elaborated not so completely:

“FCRC have been talking with DOB about this work, but a permit still has not been issued. Some of the foundation work must be completed before the arena opens because of the close proximity of B2 to the arena. Other work on B2 will commence before the end of the year.”

I tried on July 3 to find out from the Department of Buildings what "preliminary approval" means. I tried again yesterday, without success.

A July 5 update

But the DOB's web site now indicates approval for such work, which either means 1) the DOB is slow in updating its web site (and getting back to press), 2) Forest City got a promise before it was actually approved and/or paperwork filed, or 3) both.


Evidence leans toward the second explanation, because all the documents were filed yesterday: