Outside 461 Dean, a "temporary" boiler has occupied the street for months. What went wrong and when will it be fixed? Owner has no comments.

So, what's up with that temporary emergency boiler that has been stationed outside 461 Dean Street (aka B2) for many months? 

I asked this question at the bi-monthly Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Quality of Life meeting in July, and couldn't get an answer from Greenland USA's Scott Solish, the representative of master developer Greenland Forest City Partners.

Solish said he didn't know and that the owner/operator should be contacted directly.

After all, it's not their building, having been built--remember, it's the only modular tower--by original developer Forest City Ratner and then sold in 2018 to the Iowa-based Principal Global Investors. Now 461 Dean has so little to do with "Pacific Park"--after all, it's far from the future open space--that the owners don't bother to mention it.

I first queried the contact person on the building website, a leasing agent, then the corporate media office for Principal Global Investors. 

I asked when the temporary boiler was installed, how long the repairs are expected to take, and what went wrong.

"We do not have a comment to share," I was told.

Reasonable questions

Maybe if I represented a "bigger" news outlet they'd feel more pressure to answer, but these are not "gotcha" questions.

They're more along the line of "can you please offer some context for this curious situation" questions.

After all, a trailer-truck is kind of noticeable, and it takes up a significant segment of the curbside area. And the building, which opened in 2016, seems rather new to have a failing boiler.

Meanwhile, we have the Department of Buildings filing below, which indicates that the work permit for the temporary mobile boiler--"due to the fact that the existing boiler is no longer operational"--was granted in March, and expires in December. Stay tuned for a possible renewal.