The Downside to Life in a Supertall Tower: Leaks, Creaks, Breaks

[Demovictory9]

The Downside to Life in a Supertall Tower: Leaks, Creaks, Breaks
432 Park, one of the wealthiest addresses in the world, faces some significant design problems, and other luxury high-rises may share its fate.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/03/realestate/luxury-high-rise-432-park.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage



Less than a decade after a spate of record-breaking condo towers reached new heights in New York, the first reports of defects and complaints are beginning to emerge, raising concerns that some of the construction methods and materials used have not lived up to the engineering breakthroughs that only recently enabled 1,000-foot-high trophy apartments. Engineers privy to some of the disputes say many of the same issues are occurring quietly in other new towers.

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“I was convinced it would be the best building in New York,” said Sarina Abramovich, one of the earliest residents of 432 Park. “They’re still billing it as God’s gift to the world, and it’s not.”

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Many of the mechanical issues cited at 432 Park are occurring at other supertall residential towers, according to several engineers who have worked on the buildings.

All buildings sway in the wind, but at exceptional heights, those forces are stronger. A management email explained that “a high-wind condition” stopped an elevator and caused a resident to be “entrapped” on the evening of Oct. 31, 2019 for 1 hour and 25 minutes. Wind sway can cause the cables in the elevator shaft to slap around and lead to slowdowns or shutdowns, according to an engineer who asked not to be named, because he has worked on other towers in New York with similar issues.

One of the most common complaints in supertall buildings is noise, said Luke Leung, a director at the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. He has heard metal partitions between walls groan as buildings sway, and the ghostly whistle of rushing air in doorways and elevator shafts.

Residents at 432 Park complained of creaking, banging and clicking noises in their apartments, and a trash chute “that sounds like a bomb” when garbage is tossed, according to notes from a 2019 owners’ meeting.

[Me.]

1. Thank You Mike Bloomberg

[Stallion]

2. No Thank You

[Demovictory9]

5. i know... who wants to live up this high?

[Blue_true]

12. Certainly not me. If I can't jump and stay alive, I don't want to be there. nt

[frazzled]

3. I smiled very broadly reading this this morning

Finally, the ultra wealthy are experiencing the kinds of problems that renters of slumlord apartments have faced for generations. Can we call that unity?

[Blue_true]

4. Only way I end up in a place like that is my corpse got taken there.

I lived on a fourth floor as a college freshman, was damned terrifying. There is absolutely no way I get in one of those elevators that move up the outside of buildings. I got “brave” during some downtime on a business trip to NYC and went up to the observation floor of the Empire State Building, I came close to leaving deposits that would have taken weeks to clean up. Never again.

[Demovictory9]

6. I worked in a high rise.. 24th floor I think. Wouldn't want to live up the high

[Blue_true]

9. The only way that I even go to a 24th floor again is heavily tranquilizer.

I saw a picture once of two kids looking down through some glass floor at a sky tower in Chicago. When I saw the tops of buildings well below in the photo, I almost hurled. There is no way in hell that I go out on that glass thing at the Grand Canyon.

My Achilles heel is heights, if I sense that I am way up, my skin starts to crawl and I have to struggle not to panic. As long as I can’t see or feel it, I am ok.

[Stallion]

7. Was it an "Affair to Remember"?

[Blue_true]

10. No. But I almost left something the cleaning people would always remember

cleaning up.

Fortunately I stayed calm and crawled along a wall until I got to a door to get the hell off that floor, I think that it was the 82th floor or something like that. To this day, I don’t know why I thought going up there was a good idea.

[edhopper]

8. Saw this when it went up

a giant middle finger from the rich to NY. Architecturally uninspired, looks like it was built out of Legos.

And mostly bought by foreign investors (money launderers) who don't live their.

[AntiFascist]

11. At least they will be above sea level when the ice caps melt...

[Blue Owl]

13. Kinda makes me sad that Jarvanka has been shunned from NYC

and they aren't living up on that creaky, groaning top floor penthouse...