Atlantic Yards to set modular record

Forest City Ratner is slated to set a record in modular construction, the New York Post reported. Not only will the company develop 15 buildings at Atlantic Yards using modular construction, but according to MaryAnne Gilmartin, the company’s executive vice president of commercial and residential development, the construction of B2, a 34-story pre-fab building, will shatter the current record of 24 stories.

This news comes in the wake of the company publicly considering using these pre-fab construction methods in the development of B2.

Gilmartin told the Post that Forest City Ratner has had a “breakthrough” in its modular development plans, saying that it has to do with how each module is “tied” to each other. “We have new intellectual property in our technique, and it is able to go high and maintain its light weight,” she told the Post.

A module generally ranges from 10 to 14 feet in width and 40 to 60 feet in length.

But a challenge of finding financing for B2 remains, though Gilmartin said she’s “confident” the company “will end up with a lender… that is… excited by the prospect.”

Due to the use of pre-fab construction, 60 percent of the work will be conducted in an off-site location, cutting six months from the general 18-month schedule and saving 20 percent of costs.

However, opponents say that the number of promised construction jobs at Atlantic Yards haven’t been brought. [Post]