No, modular construction start-up didn't build high-rise in a day. Assembly OSM has ties to Forest City's B2 modular tower, now seen as "hairy, crazy idea."

A Real Deal article yesterday dubiously headlined How this modular construction startup stacks a high-rise in one day, has in its URL the more accurate "Modular construction startup builds prototype in Brooklyn."

Still, the building of eight modules into a modest three-story building in Fort Greene was a promising pilot for the company Assembly OSM, which has several links to the ill-fated B2 modular tower (461 Dean Street) in Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park.

(Note: a passage regarding "significant problems" at B2 links to a blog called Construction Junkie, World’s Tallest Modular Building Opens in New York, But Not Without Challenges, which relies on an investigation I did for City Limits. Kind of petty not to link to the original.)

From the article:

Assembly calls its construction method “post-modular” because it is more akin to a car or aircraft assembly line than a traditional modular build-out, where the structure is put together on a single factory floor.

The proof will be in the pudding, since modular construction, as we've learned, is complicated. Assembly aims to save a year in constructing a 15-story tower in Harlem, the kind of promise made with B2.

Forest City connections

CEO Andrew Staniforth worked at B2 developer Forest City Ratner and the company was founded by architects Bill and Chris Sharples, principals at SHoP Architects, which designed B2. Chief engineer Brian Sweeney also worked at SHoP.

They've already raised $60 million and generated a lot of buzz, including coverage I've chronicled here and here.

Past enthusiasm

Also see a January 2022 article from the Commercial Observer, Andrew Staniforth and MaryAnne Gilmartin Plotting a Modular Empire with Assembly OSM, which focuses on the former Forest City CEO, founder and head of MAG Partners, a Staniforth mentor who serves as an adviser to Assembly.

“We don’t want to make people think about prisons and dormitories when we think modular,” Gilmartin said. “We want to go back to [architect, inventor and futurist] Buckminster Fuller, and recognize that when you have controlled environments, you can deliver unbelievable beauty."

Wait, that's the kind of thing they said about B2.

From the article:

Assembly buildings are delivered in about half the time and allow developers to reduce both interest and carrying costs, and hold less contingencies, all of which result in an overall less expensive building. Thanks to the cutting-edge technology utilized in their prefabrication, Assembly buildings are also higher quality and more sustainable, making it a win-win for both the developer and the end user.

Well, that will work if the manufacturing and technology work as hoped.

Another quote from Gilmartin:

“We started at Forest City with an idea, and it was a hairy, crazy idea that was a jumpstart on this whole idea of doing things better, faster and more progressively in the built environment,” Gilmartin said. “For me, it’s deeply gratifying to see that very early idea turned into something as sophisticated and as promising as what Assembly has put together today.”

While the Commercial Observer quipped "that’s pretty OSM," some may remember that Forest City had claimed it "cracked the code" with modular." Now it's simply a "hairy, crazy idea."