Is 700 Atlantic (B5) really one of the "10 biggest new real estate projects in NYC in 2020"? Plans haven't been approved yet by DOB.

Yesterday, the Real Deal rounded up 10 biggest new real estate projects in NYC in 2020, which began:

Planning a new development project in New York City is not for the faint of heart, but some builders remained undeterred in 2020 — even in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as rising anti-development sentiment.

This year saw the defeat of the Industry City rezoning...

But some major projects moved forward without much incident.

And that included:

2. 700 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn

In May, Greenland USA filed plans for a 587,200-square-foot building that’s part of the larger Pacific Park megaproject. The 41-story residential building, which will be located just east of the Barclays Center, will have 682 apartments and a small amount of space on the ground floor set aside for retail. The architect of record is Dattner Architects. Pacific Park — once known as Atlantic Yards — was first proposed by Forest City’s Bruce Ratner in 2003, and has been slowly chugging along toward completion.

B5 hasn't started

However, that building, also known as B5, hasn't actually started. It would be the first tower to be built over the Vanderbilt Yard, just east of Sixth Avenue between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue, and would be built with--or, perhaps in part, after--the construction of the platform over that first block (of two) of the railyard.

And while a contractor for that platform apparently has been hired, developer Greenland USA--which owns nearly all of Greenland Forest City Partners--is still discussing plans with the Long Island Rail Road, and has not begun platform construction, though it had last year announced construction would begin this year.

I wrote 11/8/20, summarizing how plans filed in May were disapproved that month and revised plans were disapproved in October. This month, according to the Department of Buildings (DOB) page for the tower, but there's continued forward motion, but no approval.

As shown in the screenshot at right, the DOB offered a disapproval on 12/14/20, and the developer, according to the Virtual Job Folder, filed a document--the same, it seems, as the the one in October--with responses to--and paths forward regarding--various objections.

In other words, stay tuned.