Terrifying report on super-tall NYC condo building [View all]

[Coventina]

432 Park Is Cracking Up

Poor 432 Park. The New York Times published another long report over the weekend on the troubled Billionaires’ Row supertall and its many, many issues, this time focusing on the possibly long-term implications of its badly cracking façade that could, in the words of one expert in the article, result in “concrete hand grenades” launching from 1,400 feet. And why? Because, per court documents, engineering experts interviewed by the paper, and construction reports, the developers wanted the 102-story tower to be white.

Developer Harry Macklowe said he wanted an “absolutely pure building” in 432 Park and tapped the Uruguayan modernist architect Rafael Viñoly to help execute that vision. On top of being one of the tallest and slimmest buildings in the world, the perfectly rectilinear tower would also be a stark, clean white. But that signature aesthetic, which apparently helped sell out the building’s 125 units for more than $2.5 billion — A-Rod and Jennifer Lopez were among the early buyers — now appears to be the source of some major problems, per the Times. To achieve the color developers wanted would mean “going down a dangerous and slippery path that I believe will eventually lead to failure and lawsuits to come,” one director at Viñoly’s firm wrote in a July 2012 email to other architects on the project. How prescient.

It turns out that the same additives that give cement its darkened color are also good for durability. During a visit that December by architects, engineers, and developers to a Brooklyn concrete yard, they found the cement mix used in the mock columns riddled with cracks and “bug holes” more than an inch wide. A structural engineer working on the project suggested adding a by-product of coal combustion called fly ash to address the cracks. He was then told that the developers would not accept that fix because it would make the coloring of the façade too dark. The structural engineer replied that the choice was “color or cracks.” Later, when cracks emerged after construction started and the cement had been poured, consultants who recommended covering the façade with a rubbery coating to seal the cracks were similarly dismissed. (The extremely slim, rectangular design of the tower apparently isn’t helping things, either. 432 Park is facing real stress from wind, one engineer who has studied the building told the Times.)

In 2021, the condo board filed a lawsuit against Macklowe and another developer, CIM Group, alleging more than 1,500 defects, including “life safety” issues, while a second suit, filed in April of this year, alleged that the building’s developers had been warned about the cracking and had tried to hide the structural issues from city inspectors and would-be buyers. But it’s not just residents who seem worried. A second engineer who had consulted on an early bid for the building’s design noted to the Times that the continued cracking could lead to bigger issues, including falling chunks of concrete, unusable elevators, and, ultimately, an “uninhabitable” building. (The developers’ representatives have called the complaints exaggerated, adding that many of the construction issues have been addressed and that developers believe the condo board hasn’t done its part when it comes to maintaining the façade.)

https://www.curbed.com/article/432-park-avenue-condo-facade-cracks.html

***************************************************************************

You couldn't pay me to live in one of those things.

The story just gets scarier from there. The building is not only a danger to its residents, but to the public in general.