Just over the line: earlier-than-anticipated (thanks to OT?) completion of B4 means three towers at arena block should meet May 2022 bulk requirement

When I recently walked around the arena block, I again noticed that the required "Work in Progress" sign at the 18 Sixth Ave. tower, aka B4, still says "Anticipated Completion: April 2023."

That sign has been up for a while.

Delivery at that time, as I wrote in October 2019, would trigger penalties, given the requirement that the developer is required to "Substantially Complete" improvements on the Phase 1 Property--the arena block and Site 5--covering at least 1.5 million square feet within 12 years after the Project Effective Date, which was 5/12/10.

So that's a 5/12/22 deadline.

That said, an April 2023 deadline might have been extra cautious, or referring to final completion, since the developer had already told the New York Post's Steve Cuozzo that the $640 million tower would be finished sometime in 2022. 

Faster timeline

Not long after I first wrote about it, we got an update. In November 2019, Greenland USA's Scott Solish said, "I don’t know why that’s on the fence, but we expect people to start moving in in 2022. Definitely in the first half." Greenland Forest City Partners--dominated by Greenland USA--is developing the building with The Brodsky Organization.

More recently, at a meeting earlier this month, Solish said that people should be moving in by the second half of this year--an even more optimistic schedule.

Well, given that construction usually goes more slowly than anticipated, how have they managed to go faster?

Surely one factor must have been the regular use of After-Hours Variances and overtime work.

The requirements

38 Sixth has 341,959 square feet. 461 Dean has 346,161 square feet. 18 Sixth has 814,256 square feet. 

That adds up to 1,502,376 sf, just over the requirement in the Development Agreement to build 1.5 million square feet. 

Note that the Development Agreement says "Substantial Completion" is as defined in the City Funding Agreement, which states that it means a "Certificate of Occupancy" for the buildings. And Certificate of Occupancy means Temporary Certificate of Occupancy, not Final.