Is first tower over railyard (B5, 700 Atlantic Ave.) percolating? A permit for foundation work was filed in September.

The first tower over the Vanderbilt Yard is expected to be B5, 700 Atlantic Avenue, for which preliminary permits were filed in May 2020 and soon disapproved, part of a typical back-and-forth with the New York City Department of Buildings.

That 682-unit building could go part of the way to supplying affordable units required by a May 2025 deadline, and its construction start would indicate that the plan to build over the railyard is viable. 

It's unclear to me how much of the work on the tower can be accomplished while construction of the platform is ongoing, but surely some is possible, given the presence of terra firma jutting into the railyard and preliminary work already accomplished.

In October 2020, I reported on a revised filing by developer Greenland Forest City Partners. More recently, as shown in the screenshot below, the developer filed a permit for foundation work at the site. That too is pending. (Here's the DOB page.)

As I reported, the six-month look-ahead recently submitted by Greenland Forest City to Empire State Development indicates that the platform might start in the first half of the year. But it says nothing about starting B5.