With construction now halted on the first residential tower
in the
Yards, the developer and the construction firm sue each other over who’s to
blame.
Ratner Cos. and the contractor for a modular residential tower at Atlantic
Yards, the complex-to-be recently rechristened
have filed lawsuits against one another Tuesday morning. The legal tussle comes after
work stopped at the building last week.
Last Tuesday,
a division of a multinational Swedish construction company, stopped work on B2,
the 363-apartment building being built through modular construction techniques
next to
Modular, the company jointly created by
and Skanska to build the modular units at a Brooklyn Navy facility, being
furloughed.
Skanska contends that it had to shut construction down after
commercial issues with its modular plans.
morning, accusing
contract by changing construction plans for the tower, according to a report
from Bloomberg.
“Forest City Ratner represented with great confidence
they had developed the high-rise modular solution … That turned out not to be
true,” said Richard Kennedy, co-chief operating officer at Skanska
“Now, rather than acknowledging their problems, they are slinging mud at
Skanska.”
But the same morning,
filed a suit of its own again the Swedish firm, accusing the company of
violating its contract and failing to deliver the modular units at the
agreed-upon time and budget.
“Our priority is to reopen our factory and put the
employees that Skanska wrongfully furloughed back to work so we can resume
construction on B2,” Forest City Ratner Chief Executive Mary Anne Gilmartin said
in a statement. “Skanska’s unilateral action has barred construction from
continuing, and this lawsuit is the first of many steps we intend to take to
get this building moving again.”
Earlier this year,
announced a partnership with Shanghai-based investment firm Greenland Holdings.
The partnership, known as Greenland Forest City Partners, is set to begin three
other buildings in the
involved in the B2 dispute.
