461 Dean: the lights are on, but is anyone home?

Last night, I snapped the photos below of 461 Dean Street, the modular rental tower flanking the Barclays Center, which developer Forest City Realty Trust, parent of Brooklyn-based Forest City Ratner, said was open for business. (It's the only Pacific Park residential building not owned by the Greenland Forest City Partners.)

The lights are on, but is anyone home? The evidence isn't definitive, but there are a couple of clues that suggest that many if not all of those apartments are not occupied yet.

First, as noted in the photo at right, shot from Flatbush Avenue near Dean Street, there are no shades or curtains in the apartments with lights on. If people were really living there, well, they'd look more lived-in.

Similarly, there are no shades or curtains in the lower-floor windows shown in the photo directly below, shot from Dean Street near the arena loading dock. Nor are there in the upper floors.

More importantly, those top floors--though its not easy to tell from the photo--are above floor 19, which is the top floor, among 32 residential floors, that has been approved for a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy.

As I wrote earlier, this month, as of 10/27/16, the developer had a 3% lease commitment at 461 Dean. Presumably that applied to the 50% market-rate units, and/or the retail, not the 50% below-market "affordable" units, for which there was a lottery.

As of mid-month, the building was officially opened for leasing, with the first tenants expected to move in by the end of the month.