From the latest (non-) Construction Update: document again repeats from late May, with no new information (but still that hint about the platform).

The latest Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Construction Update (bottom), covering the two weeks beginning yesterday, Monday, July 24, has not been circulated by email, as it should have been by Empire State Development (ESD), the state authority that oversees/shepherds the project.

But I did notice it yesterday, after it should've been circulated, at ESD's Atlantic Yards page. (The document has traditionally been prepared by the master developer, long Greenland Forest City Partners, but operating as Pacific Park Development LLC.)

Reason for confusion

Perplexingly, after two two-week periods (June 12, June 26) in which ESD claimed that there were no new construction activities for the coming two weeks and thus didn't circulate a document, it has twice essentially issued a duplicate of the May 29 document, again with no new activities.

As with two weeks ago, while it states that there are no construction activities for the platform, long planned to be built over the first railyard block, it again adds phrasing that was previously part of the Updates when the platform work was teased, starting in May 2022, including:

The MTA B45 bus stop at Atlantic and 6 Av. will be temporarily suspended during the platform construction period. The following active bus stop is at Carlton and Atlantic Avenues.
Protocols and facilities have been established to ensure an orderly, safe workplace by following LIRR requirements and permits Monday through Friday from 7:00 am until approximately 3:30 pm.

That hints that the work might actually be starting, though no announcement has been made. Pacific Park Development LLC, dominated by Greenland USA, recently told ESD that work on the platform was likely to start in the second half of 2023, but no official announcement has emerged. 

If the work starts, that would be big news.

I had earlier written that, given the general slack in oversight, I'd treat the confusing Construction Update as another instance of slopppiness in communication. I still lean toward that, though the situation is in flux.

On the southeast block, work

The new document does not indicate new work at the B12/B13 site, 595 Dean Street, two towers already opened by developer TF Cornerstone.

While in the previous two-week periods there was nothing to report, the new document again states that Mechanical, Plumbing, Fire Protection and Electrical punch list work is ongoing, as is LEED Commissioning and start-up of (unspecified) equipment. Punch list work for apartments continues. 

Outside, in the open space, site improvements and landscaping subcontractor work on-going. Planting work is on-going.

In other words, this ongoing work could've been mentioned. 

After-hours work? 

Regarding after-hours work at the B12/B13 site, the document says there's a variance for work to start at 6 am on weekdays. No such variances for that time have been listed since mid-February.

It also says "Saturday work from 9 AM – 5 PM will continue." No variance has been listed since 4/1/23, though previous variances were from 9 am to 5:30 pm, a small but not insignificant persistent inaccuracy.

No one proofreads this stuff. Which is reason to not take the document as gospel.

Work on the school

As I previously wrote, some work is ongoing, notably the construction of a middle school at the B15 site, 662 Pacific Street (and with the address 491 Dean Street), by the School Construction Authority. But because it's not a developer responsibility, it's not part of that two-week documentation.

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