From left: renderings of the exterior and interior of B2

Union representatives and contractors accused the city’s Department of Buildings of bending the rules on modular housing for Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards megaproject at a city council hearing Tuesday, according to the watchdog blog Atlantic Yards Report. The DOB allowed the developer to prefabricate housing off-site without the supervision of licensed plumbers, electricians, and steamfitters, the union representatives said, in a clear violation of city regulations. Some said that the developer actively sought the relaxed permissions…. [more]

From left: Barclays Center and Robert Sanna

Some bolts that fasten the Barclays Center’s steel panels to the structure have proved weak, and have had to be replaced, the New York Times reported. Engineers have found that about 8 percent of the 23,351 weaker bolts total — some 1,768 bolts — need replacement. [more]

From left: renderings of the exterior and interior of B2

It was the first notable groundbreaking in New York City without any ceremonial shovels or decorative hardhats. Developer Forest City Ratner today laid the first chassis, a steel box that will form a sort of foundation, in the ground for the Atlantic Yards’ first residential building, which will be the world’s tallest modular tower. [more]

Bruce Ratner and Councilwoman Letitia James

Forest City Ratner should pay subway fares for Barclays Center patrons, as promised, as well as ferry service from New Jersey to Fulton Ferry, a new Brooklyn transportation report argues. City Councilwoman Letitia James, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and three local civic groups released the “Brooklyn gateway transportation vision,” arguing for congestion pricing, residential parking permits and more bike lanes, specifically around the stadium, Capital New York reported. [more]

Barclays Center

At least seven separate construction companies that helped build the Barclays Center have previously been caught for bribery, fraud and other wrongdoings, DNAinfo reported. The subcontractors are now on New York City’s caution list, which provides warnings about past problems with contract bidders.

A total of four were on the caution list while they worked on Barclays, but private developers are not required to consult the list before making hires for a project. [more]

Rendering of the B2 modular tower at Atlantic Yards (source: SHoP Architects)

The 17 tenants who accepted a relocation deal to leave their homes on the site of what is now the Barclays Center may soon be moving back home. But seven years later, some of those displaced residents are still fuming, the New York Daily News reported.

Under the unique deal, Forest City promised tenants living within the blueprint of the new Nets stadium affordable units in the B2, the new 32-story residential complex in Atlantic Yards, when completed in the summer of 2014. In the interim, tenants got nearby apartments at the same rent, in return for moving. [more]

Rendering of the B2 modular tower at Atlantic Yards (source: SHoP Architects)

The first residential component at Atlantic Yards, a 32-story tower known as B2, will contain 930 prefabricated units and a mix of studios, one-bedrooms and two-bedrooms, developer Forest City Ratner said today.

The company had announced in October that the 15 residential towers at the project would be built using pre-fabricated, modular construction. But details revealed today show a unit breakdown of 150 studios, 165 one-bedrooms and 48 two-bedrooms, with 20 percent of the two-bedroom units offered as affordable housing. The groundbreaking is scheduled for Dec. 18. When completed in 2014, B2 will be the tallest modular building in the world. [more]

Barclays Center

Eight years in, many opponents of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project — and there have been a great deal of vocal opponents — are ceding victory to the developer and going quiet, the New York Times reported.

The $4.9 billion project is far from finished, and the promises of new jobs and affordable housing are still unfulfilled, and yet many community advocates have grown fatigued. [more]

Bruce Ratner and Barclays Center

Developer Forest City Ratner is arguing in court that the city overvalued Barclays Center by more than $600 million, DNA Info reported. Late last month, the developer’s subsidiary, Brooklyn Events Center, went to Brooklyn state court to fight the city’s $741 million property tax appraisal of the music venue and home to the Nets basketball team.

Bruce Ratner is arguing that the venue is worth only $111 million. However, his motive for fighting the appraisal remains uncertain, since the developer has arranged with the city not to pay property taxes and the project was partially publicly funded. [more]

Atlantic Yards

The six towers designated to cover up the Atlantic Yards railyard will not be constructed until seven other buildings are built, according to the Atlantic Yards Report. This revelation marks a change in the development schedule.

An infographic on the Atlantic Yards Report site explains that four towers originally slated to rise between Sixth and Carlton avenues — the site of the railyard —would be developed before seven others set for between Carlton and Vanderbilt avenues. [more]