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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

Amid a sunny video on modular 461 Dean, a casual aside points to one big hiccup

There's something very intriguing in this sunny video promoting Pacific Park, produced in April by real estate agent Donald Brennan, interviewing Forest City Ratner executive Adam Greene about the 461 Dean Street modular tower.

At about 7:21 of the video, Green tells Brennan about the production process: "The entire building is 363 apartments. 930 modules were trucked here and then set in place. And then the work inside was to put the floor down and make those connections disappear."

But the whole point of modular construction was to deliver units with the floors installed.

As I wrote in September 2014, regarding the unresolved dispute between Forest City and former partner Skanska, the wood flooring supplier, Armstrong Flooring, told Roger Krulak--a Forest City employee placed at the factory--that factory installation would void the warranty, according to Skanska.

Forest City said it was a Skanska/FCS responsibility. Skanska called it a design error, referencing a Krulak email citing "a specification problem.” Forest City then said the email was taken out of context.

How many buildings?

Oh, and when Brennan asks Greene, standing with him looking at a model of the project, what's going on, Greene responds, "Lots going on. We're fortunate to be working on such a big development site... So what's under way right now is six apartment buildings... They're in varying stages of construction."

Um, two of them--B12 (615 Dean) and B15 (664 Pacific)--are just dirt, with the barest of footings (if at all) to qualify for the old 421-a tax break.

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