Greenland USA cites work "in anticipation of platform commencement." Will continued after-hours work help developer meet affordable housing deadline?
This is the first of two articles on the 3/8/22 Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting. The second article will concern the Barclays Center.
Last night’s Quality of Life meeting lasted barely 30 minutes and attracted fewer than 15 attendees outside of presenters, but offered hints—if not full confirmation—that a major phase in the project is coming: the first block of a two-block platform.
Scott Solish, the EVP for development for Greenland USA, which owns nearly all of Greenland Forest City Partners, noted that there have been workers and equipment in the area of the B6 tower, jutting south of Atlantic Avenue between Sixth and Carlton avenues.
“That was some preliminary boring work that we were doing in anticipation of platform commencement,” he said, signaling expected work on the deck that will help support three towers: B5, B6, B7.
Asked by one resident if current construction work could start later, Solish said the regular shift is typically 7 am to 3 pm, and that sometimes they have “extended hours based upon current conditions.”
That means regular starts at 5 am or 6 am, as I’ve noted.
Tobi Jaiyesimi, the Atlantic Yards Project Director for Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, then carried the developer’s water.
Parking eliminated
Asked about the elimination of diagonal combat parking on Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton, Solish said that construction fences for the platform would indeed eliminate that free parking, which is dear to some car-owning locals.
He said ample notice would be provided.
AY CDC meeting coming
Jaiyesimi said that the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, which I’ve described as mostly toothless, is expected to meet this month. Directors are being polled to set a date. (The AY CDC is supposed to meet quarterly but had not met for nine months before its most recent meeting, last December.)
Those AY CDC meetings have sometimes been set up to brief directors before a new announcement regarding the project, so a platform announcement is not out of the question.
Tower updates
Solish, gave an update on progress of extant towers.
The construction elevator on the Atlantic Avenue side of the 18 Sixth Ave. tower (B4, aka Brooklyn Crossing) has been removed, allowing installation of the windows on many of the units that had been blocked by that elevator.
The 51-story building has TCOs (Temporary Certificates of Occupancy) up to the 27th floor—more than halfway up.
The sidewalk shed and construction fence on Sixth Avenue between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue “will hopefully start being disassembled next week, pending approval from the Department of Buildings,” he said, opening the sidewalk to pedestrian.
The construction fence on Atlantic Avenue extending from the Barclays Center perimeter up to Sixth Avenue will remain up for the next several weeks.
TF Cornerstone's Stein said that the B12/B13 towers (615 Dean St., 595 Dean St.) are making progress, with initial Certificate of Occupancy in the spring of 2023. Window installation continues, with expectation of completion by July.
Various utility work continues on Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues. Altice’s installation should be complete by the end of this week, but they still don’t have a date for Con Edison’s promised work.
New transparency
Ironically enough, what Jaiyesimi called “horrible technical difficulties” before the meeting meant that the host was unable—as all past meetings since they went virtual—to prevent attendees from seeing each other’s questions and comments in the chat, and responding to them.
It was not disrespectful but rather helpful, to my mind, but Jaiyesimi said, in response to my question, that it was not a new policy.
Last night’s Quality of Life meeting lasted barely 30 minutes and attracted fewer than 15 attendees outside of presenters, but offered hints—if not full confirmation—that a major phase in the project is coming: the first block of a two-block platform.
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| B6 site |
“That was some preliminary boring work that we were doing in anticipation of platform commencement,” he said, signaling expected work on the deck that will help support three towers: B5, B6, B7.
(The second block, crucial to completing three more towers and the lion's share of open space, would be more complicated, because there's no terra firma to assist construction south of Atlantic between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues.)
At least two towers would be crucial to completing the required 876 additional affordable housing units by May 2025, and there’s still a chance the developer could get foundations in the ground by 6/15/22 to take advantage of the existing—and generous—421-a tax break.
Solish said he had no additional information regarding start dates or the schedule for the platform or the towers, but noted that they have been in design for the B5 project. A permit for foundation work is pending.
At least two towers would be crucial to completing the required 876 additional affordable housing units by May 2025, and there’s still a chance the developer could get foundations in the ground by 6/15/22 to take advantage of the existing—and generous—421-a tax break.
Solish said he had no additional information regarding start dates or the schedule for the platform or the towers, but noted that they have been in design for the B5 project. A permit for foundation work is pending.
After-hours work
To avoid $2,000/month fines for each missing affordable unit, the developers would either have to get an extension or renegotiate the deadline, which might be floated--I speculate--if there's a promise related to additional affordable units at Site 5, the parcel catercorner to the arena.
(There was no discussion last night about pending plans for Site 5, but the developer aims to move bulk associated with the unbuilt B1 tower, once slated to loom over the arena, across Flatbush Avenue to create a giant project. That requires a new public approval by New York State.)
Meeting the deadline likely would require significant after-hours work, which is already disruptive.
Asked by one resident if current construction work could start later, Solish said the regular shift is typically 7 am to 3 pm, and that sometimes they have “extended hours based upon current conditions.”
That means regular starts at 5 am or 6 am, as I’ve noted.
Tobi Jaiyesimi, the Atlantic Yards Project Director for Empire State Development, the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project, then carried the developer’s water.
In response to the neighbor's question about if “there's no way to request that they don't start at 6 am,” Jaiyesimi said, “I think Scott's response was the construction hours and permits are regulated by the Department of Buildings.”
Sure, but that’s a business decision by the developers. "This is just to help us maintain our schedule and to ensure that we're going to be able to deliver the project in the spring of '23," Amir Stein of TF Cornerstone said at a meeting last May.
However, the justification to the Department of Buildings--which seems to grant such variances quite readily—is typically "public safety.”
Sure, but that’s a business decision by the developers. "This is just to help us maintain our schedule and to ensure that we're going to be able to deliver the project in the spring of '23," Amir Stein of TF Cornerstone said at a meeting last May.
However, the justification to the Department of Buildings--which seems to grant such variances quite readily—is typically "public safety.”
To push back on that would require support from local elected officials.
Parking eliminated
Asked about the elimination of diagonal combat parking on Pacific Street between Sixth and Carlton, Solish said that construction fences for the platform would indeed eliminate that free parking, which is dear to some car-owning locals.
He said ample notice would be provided.
AY CDC meeting coming
Jaiyesimi said that the advisory Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation, which I’ve described as mostly toothless, is expected to meet this month. Directors are being polled to set a date. (The AY CDC is supposed to meet quarterly but had not met for nine months before its most recent meeting, last December.)
Those AY CDC meetings have sometimes been set up to brief directors before a new announcement regarding the project, so a platform announcement is not out of the question.
Tower updates
Solish, gave an update on progress of extant towers.
The construction elevator on the Atlantic Avenue side of the 18 Sixth Ave. tower (B4, aka Brooklyn Crossing) has been removed, allowing installation of the windows on many of the units that had been blocked by that elevator.
The 51-story building has TCOs (Temporary Certificates of Occupancy) up to the 27th floor—more than halfway up.
The sidewalk shed and construction fence on Sixth Avenue between Pacific Street and Atlantic Avenue “will hopefully start being disassembled next week, pending approval from the Department of Buildings,” he said, opening the sidewalk to pedestrian.
The construction fence on Atlantic Avenue extending from the Barclays Center perimeter up to Sixth Avenue will remain up for the next several weeks.
TF Cornerstone's Stein said that the B12/B13 towers (615 Dean St., 595 Dean St.) are making progress, with initial Certificate of Occupancy in the spring of 2023. Window installation continues, with expectation of completion by July.
Various utility work continues on Dean Street between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues. Altice’s installation should be complete by the end of this week, but they still don’t have a date for Con Edison’s promised work.
New transparency
Ironically enough, what Jaiyesimi called “horrible technical difficulties” before the meeting meant that the host was unable—as all past meetings since they went virtual—to prevent attendees from seeing each other’s questions and comments in the chat, and responding to them.
It was not disrespectful but rather helpful, to my mind, but Jaiyesimi said, in response to my question, that it was not a new policy.
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