Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

Photos: Norman Oder See below for an update and correction. It came up at the very end of the Aug. 6 Atlantic Yards Community Development Corporation (AY CDC) meeting. (My coverage of the other discussions is here .) Almost offhandedly, Chair Daniel Kummer asked about the installation of the Liberty Portraits--an exhibit of photos of New York Liberty players, with text, that's billed as art but which I see equally as promotion --on the Barclays Center's Ticketmaster Plaza. He called it a "public plaza." I think it blurs private and public, as it significantly serves BSE Global, which constricts it to accommodate arena crowds.   "Was there some sort of approval that they sought for that or did they submit a plan for that?" Kummer asked. "What's the process there? Do they do they have free rein to just put up something like that?... I'm not commenting on whether it's good or bad." Attorney Matthew Acocella of Empire State Development. th...

As 550 Vanderbilt , the project's first condo building, prepares to welcome residents (owners and, presumably, tenants), it's worth taking a look at the  Department of Buildings' page , which links to TCOs (Temporary Certificates of Occupancy, not yet granted) and pending fines, plus the Partial Stop Work order below. The DOB's  home page for this building refers in red to a Partial SWO. Click through and it explains that a model apartment on the second floor doesn't have a permit, so all use of the model (as a residence) should stop without that permit.    Work cannot continue at this part of the building until the model apartment is returned to what was is shown in the DOB-approved plans and a certificate of correction is filed, according to the DOB. The status says RES , which means it was acted upon by DOB. The Partial SWO is still in effect until they obtain a permit. Meanwhile, the developer has unveiled a model apartment (presumably this one), ...

As we wait for  the (delayed) lottery for affordable housing at the B2 modular tower (aka 461 Dean Street) to open, it's worth noting that building has unresolved construction violations--one said to be "immediately hazardous"--leading to $12,000-plus in unpaid fines. My query about the violations to developer Forest City Ratner--this building is theirs, not part of the Greenland Forest City Partners joint venture for the rest of the Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park project (excepting the Barclays Center)--did not get a response. That said, the "immediately hazardous" violation may no longer be hazardous. It regarded a standpipe  which supplies water for firefighters in a high-rise building, said to be unready at the 16th floor. More recently an inspection did find a standpipe functional at the 28th floor. Still, both violations require a re-inspection by the Department of Buildings (DOB) to certify compliance. I queried Marisa Senigo, spokeswoman for the Of...

Today at a session that begins at 2 pm, a state appeals court will hear an effort to overturn a judge’s December 2013 decision upholding the New York City Department of Buildings’ (DOB) conclusion that modular construction could proceed in a factory using cross-trained workers without the presence of licensed plumbers and fire suppression contractors. While the case was brought in response to Forest City Ratner’s B2 modular tower, should the courts rule in favor of the appellants, two industry groups representing plumbers and mechanical contractors, it could have significant ripple effects regarding the growing modular industry in New York. At issue is whether the modules built in the Navy Yards for the tower qualify as "buildings" under the law. They clearly are not standalone structures--and at least two modules are needed for an apartment--but as nearly-finished apartments they also differ from the pre-fabricated materials or equipment which otherwise can be built of...

The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) bent the rules and compromised safety for developer Forest City Ratner's ambitious, innovative modular construction plan, allowing offsite prefabrication for the first Atlantic Yards tower to proceed without licensed plumbing and fire suppression work, according to a lawsuit filed yesterday. The lawsuit, filed by two professional groups--the Plumbing Foundation and the Mechanical Contractors Association--against the DOB and its commissioner Robert LiMandri takes off from a City Council hearing last January, where Committee Chair Erik Martin Dilan suggested that the DOB's posture suggested "clear non-compliance" with the city's building code. The lawsuit builds on such charges, pointing to a draft DOB document that would have required such licensed specialists at the modular factory, where some 60% of the first Atlantic Yards tower, the 32-story B2--the world's tallest modular tower--is being built. That dr...