Skanska Quits Brooklyn Prefabricated Apartment Project

Skanska USA quit as construction manager for Forest City Ratner Cos. prefabricated apartment tower development in Brooklyn, New York, after disputes between the two sides over the projects design and costs.

Skanska terminated its contract because of material breaches by Forest City Ratner, the Stockholm-based company said in an e-mailed statement. The Atlantic Yards project, called B2, has been stalled since late last month.

Today is an incredibly disappointing day, Richard Kennedy, co-chief operating officer of Skanska USA Building, said in the statement. While the B2 project certainly has its issues, we were hopeful that our client and partner would address them so we could move forward with building much-needed affordable housing in Brooklyn.

The 34-story, 363-unit apartment tower would be the worlds tallest modular building. Forest City Ratner executives have said that building pre-fabricated units of the tower off-site and then piecing them together, was a technology that would save time, money and reduce construction traffic.

The companies have traded lawsuits in New York State Supreme Court blaming the other for delays, design flaws and cost increases.

Forest City Ratner, in its own statement today, said Skanska blindsided us when it stopped construction, and has been unresponsive to its efforts to resolve their differences.

Skanska is making clear again that they have no intention of moving this project forward. MaryAnne Gilmartin, chief executive officer of New York-based Forest City Ratner, said in an e-mailed statement. We believe in modular and have worked tirelessly to get B2 back on track.

Forest City is the initial developer of the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, which includes the Barclays Center arena, home of the National Basketball Associations Brooklyn Nets since 2012. The 22-acre (9-hectare) development, which has been renamed Pacific Park, is to include 14 apartment buildings.

To contact the reporter on this story: David M. Levitt in New York at dlevitt@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net Andrew Dunn

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Skanska Quits Brooklyn Prefabricated Apartment Project