They’ll be working on the railroad.

Forest City Ratner this week designated Philadelphia-based design and construction firm McKissack & McKissack as construction manager for phase one of its proposed Atlantic Yards mega-development: moving the Vanderbilt Avenue rail yards to a temporary location before building a new, state-of-the-art facility off site.

Billed as the oldest minority-owned professional design and construction firm in the country, it won the $182-million project after submitting its bid in February.

Work at the MTA rail yard, a three-block parcel jutting east from the junction of Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, is expected to move forward before other elements of the still-to-be approved Atlantic Yards project. No start date for construction has been set.

McKissack & McKissack will advise Forest City on contracting needs but Forest City will do the hiring itself.

Forest City has not yet selected a design or development firm for any other element of the project, including a basketball arena.

The announcement came during an Oct. 25 gathering at the House of the Lord Church in Boerum Hill organized by the Community Benefits Agreement Coalition and attended by Rev. Herbert Daughtry, who heads the coalition, Assemblyman Roger Green, and Forest City Ratner executives.

Absent from the event was Brooklyn United for Innovative Local Development (BUILD), whose vice president, Marie Louis, first announced McKissack & McKissack’s participation in the project at a May 2005 meeting on the steps of Borough Hall.

After publicly denying being on the developer’s payroll, Louis has conceded receiving a salary of $100,000. BUILD’s non-profit tax filings report a $5-million donation from Forest City.

In May, BUILD posted on its Web site employment opportunities with McKissack & McKissack as project managers, assistant project managers, superintendents and estimators.

Under a non-binding so-called community benefits agreement signed by Forest City, five percent of pre-construction dollars are slated to go to minority-owned firms and three percent to women-owned firms.

©2005 Community Newspaper Group