Groundbreaking? Or Just Feeling a Little On-Edge?

In a ceremony that struck us as being a bit tenuous for the start of a 900-unit residential complex, The Edge apparently broke ground this week on the Williamsburg waterfront. At least that's what we concluded after reading a Curbed piece we'd missed last week. The March 27th item, "The Edge Is Very, Very Alive in Williamsburg" revealed that the project had finally been issued a building permit, and proclaimed that "earth moving equipment should be reporting for duty in the near future".

Still, when the backhoe showed up, two things struck us as strange:

1. The Process:

a. Backhoe from Intercoastal Foundations & Shoring shows up at the North 7th and Kent Avenue lot, with an operator and a second worker.

b. Worker guy picks a seemingly random spot in the lot, and tells the backhoe guy to dig a hole there.

c. Backhoe guy digs a 12-foot-deep hole while worker guy cranes over to see what's down there.

d. Worker guy makes a phone call to someone, presumably describing what's down in the hole, while backhoe guy waits.

e. Worker guy instructs backhoe guy to fill the hole back in, which he does, sort of.

f. Repeat three times, then leave.

2. We've Seen This Before:

This happened before - about a month ago, before there was any permit. Then the backhoe went away. We restrained ourselves, having already misreported the project start about half a dozen times.

That said, maybe the developer, having read Gowanus Lounge's extensive coverage of the Roebling Oil Field Follies, is worried about what's under his property...

Or maybe he's looking for artifacts from Raynor's Regatta Pavilion, and the Pleasure Railway...