There's More Than History at Stake for NYC's First Pre-Fab High-Rise

The Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn has gone through the usual tortured process of redevelopment in New York City, and the most recent excitement has been the opening of the $1 billion Barclays Center, home of the now Brooklyn (formerly New Jersey) Nets. But there’s another component of the massive project that is most worthy of attention for what it says about state-of-the-art housing construction: the world’s tallest modular building.

The groundbreaking for B2 Bklyn, a 32-story residential tower, is set for this morning, with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz on hand alongside the development team, led by Forest City Enterprises and Skanska. What makes it interesting is that the building is almost entirely pre-fabricated. The apartments will be manufactured about a mile away, driven to the site on flatbed trucks, and stacked on top of each other, not unlike how my son builds Legos.

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Skanska to build Atlantic Yards ‘modules’ for Ratner

Skanska USA and Forest City Ratner Companies (FCRC) today announced that B2, the first residential tower that is part of the Atlantic Yards Development in Brooklyn, will be built utilizing modular construction.

The groundbreaking on the 32-story building will be held on December 18 and the building is expected to open in 2014.

In addition, Skanska USA announced their partnership with FCRC to create a new company called FC + Skanska Modular, LLC (FCS Modular) that will build the modular components in a 100,000 square-foot space located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. They estimate that there will be 125 unionized workers employed at the fabrication facility beginning in late spring, 2012 when modular production is fully under way.

Gary LaBarbera, the President of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, announced as well that the workers would be organized into a newly formed Modular Division of the Building and Construction Trades Council.

While high-rise modular technology has been initially developed for use at Atlantic Yards, this new industry has the potential to create modular components for construction projects across New York City and worldwide, becoming the first major manufacturing expansion in New York City since manufacturing began its decline over a generation ago.

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Legoland comes to Brooklyn

Decision looms on plans for world's tallest prebuilt towers in downtown Brooklyn.

SOARING EXPECTATIONS: Forest City Ratner exec MaryAnne Gilmartin is hoping to strike a breakthrough deal with unions.

By Theresa Agovino

Architect Christopher Sharples knows what most people think of when they hear the term "modular construction."

"A bunch of shoeboxes sitting on top of one another," said the SHoP Architects principal.

Soon he hopes to shatter that negative stereotype in record-setting fashion. Mr. Sharples is part of a core group of 18 people brought together by Forest City Ratner to design a 32-story residential tower made up of 930 prebuilt modules containing portions of finished apartments—everything from bathrooms to kitchens—bolted to a steel frame.

It will not only be the world's tallest modular structure but likely the least uniform one as well, boasting four different façades. It will also take a prominent position next to the Barclays Center, in the developer's Atlantic Yards project in downtown Brooklyn. There it may ultimately be joined by 15 other modular apartment buildings, at least one soaring as high as 50 stories.

"We can show we can build modularly and be creative," said Mr. Sharples. "This type of project is why we are in business."

What remains to be seen, however, is whether it actually gets built. Forest City will construct a prototype module this month and then decide by Christmas on whether to build modular towers or conventional ones. The choice hinges largely on whether Forest City can ink a deal with unions that would require them to take significant pay cuts to help the developer achieve its goal of lowering construction costs by up to 25%. Saving that money is especially important because 50% of the 4,500 rental apartments planned for Atlantic Yards are designated to be affordable or low-income housing. Forest City hopes that its system eventually will become a model for other large-scale developers.

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