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September 23, 2011
At the AY District Service Cabinet meeting: hints of negotiations over modular plan, the need for costly after-hours work to keep up, and a month-long "dentist's appointment" to endure noisy night work
Atlantic Yards Report
Yesterday's bi-monthly Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting, an interagency working group involving officials representing areas around the project site, covered a lot of ground.
What was hinted at--notably, Forest City Ratner's (FCR) plans for modular construction--may have been more important than what was established.
A summary of the high points of the meeting, held at Brooklyn Borough Hall:
- FCR is planning negotiations with labor officials over plans for modular construction
- The developer is pitching modular as good for the city because it could hasten more affordable housing, as well as cause less disruption at a construction site
- FCR is quick to assert the number of union jobs would be the same--though not to acknowledge that labor costs and salaries would drop
- Hurricane Irene caused delays at the project site, especially at the railyard
- After-hours work is needed to maintain the schedule
- Noisy overnight road work is required by the city, but will be over in a month, like a "dentist's appointment," in the words of one FCR executive
- Changes in the road network have mostly worked out, though congestion remains on Third Avenue and some on Fourth Avenue
- Council Member Letitia James proposed to split the cost with FCR for new trash cans for residences in Fort Greene concerned about rodents
- Illegal worker parking has mostly been stymied, though no one wants to talk about improper parking by police officers
- Forest City has provided sufficient off-street parking spaces, according to the state agency overseeing the project, Empire State Development (ESD)
- A technical memo regarding shrinking sidewalk space on the arena block has been produced by ESD but has not yet been made public
- James still would like to see a transportation working group to address Atlantic Yards issues
NoLandGrab: Most people would kill themselves at the prospect of 30 days of root canal.
Related coverage...
Brownstoner, Forest City Still Mulling Modular Design for Atlantic Yards
Atlantic Yards Report has a comprehensive rundown of the discussion at the latest Atlantic Yards District Service Cabinet meeting, where there was some talk about the first residential tower planned as part of the mega-project. Forest City Ratner employees who were present said a modular design is still being considered for the tower.
...It also sounds like Forest City may be backing down from the claim that it intends to start construction on the tower before the year is out. Marshall said the company hopes to make an announcement about the building before the year is out and have it in construction at the beginning of next year.
NLG: There's a shocker.
Curbed, Revenge of the Megaprojects
To appease already-and-always-inflamed community members, a Forest City Ratner exec "said it wasn’t clear that a modular build would necessarily result in fewer jobs" and that they had scheduled a meeting with a labor rep.
Posted by eric at September 23, 2011 5:27 PM