Atlantic Yards Tower Launches, No Ground Broken

NEW YORK CITY-“Today, we will add a new twist to an old ritual,” MaryAnne Gilmartin, EVP of development at Forest City Ratner Cos., told the audience in opening remarks at Tuesday’s ceremony marking the launch of construction on B2, the first residential tower at the company’s Atlantic Yards mixed-use development. Although this ostensibly was a groundbreaking, Gilmartin said, “you will see no shovels.” Instead, she introduced a prefabricated chassis, one of 930 prefab pieces that will comprise the 32-story B2 at 461 Dean St., the world’s tallest modular tower.

Just under 50% of B2′s 363 rental apartments will be affordable to low-, moderate- and middle-income households, while the other 182 will be market-rate. The finish on the affordable units, which will be evenly distributed throughout B2, will be identical to that of their higher-rent counterparts, said Bruce Ratner, chairman and CEO of FCRC. “You will not know an affordable unit from a market-rate one,” he said at Tuesday’s ceremony.