Forest City Ratner believes modular construction will grow increasingly common in New York City high rise development and that’s one reason the firm has established a modular factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, GlobeSt.com reported. Speaking yesterday at a Real Estate Lenders Association conference, MaryAnne Gilmartin, an executive vice president at Forest City Ratner, said utilizing modular construction for the 34-story, 340,000-square-foot residential building set to rise in Atlantic Yards could cut the construction time of the project by one-third to just 12 months. Even as costs are reduced, the construction method won’t impact future tenants in the rental building, she said.
Those realities will compel more developers to deploy the technique. “The fact is that modular construction is coming,” Gilmartin said.
As a result, Forest City Ratner expects the modular factory it is developing at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to be rented out by competing development firms. For now, approximately 60 percent of the work on the forthcoming tower, which would be the tallest tower in the world constructed with the modular method, is expected to be accomplished in the factory. [GlobeSt]