Published reports indicate that next week Forest City Ratner will ship and begin stacking modular units next to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn to create the first Atlantic Yards residential tower, a 32-story building dubbed B2.
The 363-unit tower is set to become the tallest modular building in the world when construction wraps up, estimated by December 2014. But that’s just the beginning, with 14 residential, modular buildings slated to ultimately rise atop the old Long Island Rail Road yard site.
The individual modules are being assembled at the Brooklyn Navy Yard facility. That includes electrical wiring and plumbing, hardwood floors, appliances, and even hallways and stairwells, Brownstoner, which got a sneak peak at the finishing touches, first reported.
Forest City Ratner announced in August that it was seeking a majority investment partner to shell out up to $800 million to help push the project along.
Subsequent reports indicated that the firm struck a deal, through a non-binding agreement, with Shanghai’s Greenland Group Co., which would shoulder 70 percent of the project’s costs as co-developer.
The success of the B2 building could serve as a catalyst for the growth of modular construction among high-rise and commercial buildings, a market that has exploded elsewhere in the world but failed to gain significant steam in the U.S.
