Middle-school across from arena block now due to open Sept. 2024 (not 2025), thanks to interior work on evenings & weekends. Will SCA/DOE talk to neighbors?

Yes, the New York City School Construction Authority (SCA) is aiming for a September 2024 opening--not 2025-- of the middle school at 491 Dean Street/662 Pacific Street (aka B15, or Plank Road), though September 2025 remains on official documents.

And they've had after-hours variances for work on the interior fit-out starting in February, on weekdays from 6 pm to midnight, and then steadily since April, until 8 pm or 11 pm, as indicated in the screenshots at bottom.

In other words, the lights on in the building at night are on for a reason: they're working late.

What this means to the operation of the future 806-seat I.S. 653, across the street from the back of the arena block (and, most directly, the residential tower 38 Sixth Avenue), is unclear.

But the Department of Education has already floated the move of M.S. 915, in Downtown Brooklyn, which had 258 students, according to the most recent records.

What is clear is that new school, once due in 2018 and steadily delayed, is finally moving faster than predicted. That's a reversal.

Work weekends and evenings

Plank Road residents were recently told by their building management that the SCA is on track to open the school in the fall and have "received an After-Hours Variance, which allows them to work on weekends and evenings." 

The SCA aims for its contractors "to only schedule quiet projects during these work periods, though some light drilling may be necessary," residents were told. 

"They will not begin drilling or other noise-producing work until after 8 am on Saturdays or after 9 am on Sundays." This past weekend the Saturday variance was from 8 am to midnight and the Sunday variance was from 8 am to 8 pm.

A resident told me the work this past weekend was not disruptive and consisted significantly of trash loading.

Weekend work actually started a while ago, as the records below suggest, but the resident told me it's the first time they'd been notified and any previous weekend work wasn't disruptive. Previous alerts to neighbors were for work on weekdays from 7 am to 4 pm, with alerts when scheduled work is "louder than normal."

Pending questions

Many have expected that I.S. 653 would have an arts/culture/STEM focus. Advocates dubbed it M.S. One Brooklyn. That's not out of the question, but would imply two (or more) schools on the same campus.

Note: the SCA has periodically made presentations at the once-bimonthly Atlantic Yards Quality of Life meetings, but those meetings have been suspended as construction otherwise on the project has stalled.

Residents have also been told that the Department of Education, which will operate the school, would make a presentation before it opens, given questions about inflow/egress of students and staff, staff parking, and vehicle drop-offs.

Such presentations should be scheduled in the first half of 2024.

More on the school

According to the website--perhaps out of date?--of the architecture firm Davis Brody Bond, the school would have 29 classrooms for 812 students. (The SCA says 806 students.):

Pacific Park is a self-sufficient, NYC School Construction Authority Capacity Project housed in a high-rise residential building immediately south [actually:, east] of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Originally envisioned as an elementary school, Pacific Park has evolved into an intermediate school with a projected student enrollment of 812 students. Davis Brody Bond’s open, flexible design incorporates 28 classrooms, each with a 28-student capacity. These flexible spaces are augmented by specialty classrooms for Reading, Speech, Chemistry, Music, and Art. This instructional program is supported by a regulation-size gymnasium and a multi-purpose gymnatorium with proscenium stage, along with a full-service kitchen, servery and 275-seat cafeteria. Outdoor play areas, located on the 1st and 4th floors, provide opportunities for outdoor learning and activities

The project is being delivered via a fast-track procurement process with Pacific Park’s Central Plant. Associated primary MEP [mechanical, electrical, and plumbing] systems are being designed and installed in tandem with the base building build out in order to mitigate long lead times, facilitating equipment installation and the necessity of employing industrial site hoists during the interior fit-out. The installation of large equipment, prior to the completion of core and shell, allows the building envelope to be fully completed by the base building contractor. Advanced coordination of shared systems also minimizes the impact that the fit-out scope of work will have on the residential portion of the building. The interior fit-out is to commence once the residential building has received a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy. Tentative move-in for the teachers, students, and school administrators is projected for September 2022.

So September 2022 was way overambitious. 

The variances