Latest six-month look-ahead from developer still fuzzy about whether platform work will start, omits work on B5

Well, Greenland Forest City Partners (GFCP) still doesn't sound completely confident that work on the first phase of the platform, crucial to the construction of three towers, will start in the second half of this year.

That's according to the latest six-month look-ahead (bottom), covering the second half of 2022, that the master developer is supposed to file with Empire State Development (ESD), which oversees/shepherds the project.

Also, GFCP does not say that any specific work on the B5 tower--700 Atlantic Avenue, also bordered by Sixth Avenue and Pacific Street--would start in this half of the year, according to the document.

That said, the developer has said B5 wouldn't rise until next year, and it's not unlikely some of the work announced contributes to that parcel, even if the tower isn't mentioned.

That document, dated 6/9/22,  again says--as it did in three previous iterations--that "Platform construction may commence during the reporting period." The workforce would average 50 to 100 workers. 

Sixth Ave. & Pacific St., Aug. 5 

As noted in the latest Construction Updates, no work has actually begun, and the parking around the railyard block has not yet been restricted, though that has been predicted since a public meeting three months ago, on 5/9/22.

(I received the six-month look-ahead from ESD,  after a Freedom of Information Law request.)

Previous statement, one update

On May 9, as I reported, Scott Solish of Greenland USA (which owns nearly all of the joint venture) said the platform should start in June, pending Long Island Rail Road and Department of Buildings approvals.

At the time, that seemed a slight delay, given that the most recent Construction Update indicated it could start by that week.

But it hasn't started, and it's unclear whether the delay in approvals relates to bureaucratic sloth or inadequate paperwork from the developer.

The delays make it ever less likely that the developer will make even partial progress in starting and completing 877 (or 876) more units by the May 2025 deadline, after which it faces $2,000 a month fines--which it surely will aim to renegotiate--for each missing unit.

The only indication that GFCP is more serious is this sentence, absent from previous iterations: "The B6 and B7 sites (formerly the Bump Buildings) will be used by contractors for equipment and construction staging during this reporting period."

That refers to parcels jutting south from Atlantic Avenue into the the western block of the railyard, Block 1120, between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues. The eastern block would start years later, if at all.

What about B5?

Solish in May said B5 wouldn't go vertical until Spring 2023, and should take two years to build, thus within reasonable distance--perhaps thanks to after-hours work?--of the May 2025 deadline. 

The B5 tower could contribute 205 income-restricted units, by my estimate.

Likely some of the construction activity cited below applies to the B5 site, including foundation/excavation. So maybe it's semantics, but they could have specifically mentioned B5.

Projected work

The construction work cited in the six-month look-ahead would include:

• Fence installation
• Ramp access
• Foundation/excavation
• Parameter retaining wall extension
• Trailer office setup

The equipment will include excavators, back-hoes, front end loaders, dump trucks and other equipment as needed.