Construction Issues
Once in a while there’s a story in the media that encompasses several – if not all – of the construction issues The Hahn Legal Group APC helps clients with. What’s great about those stories is that they illustrate – in real life and real time – the complexities of construction law.
This is one of those stories.
Six years ago, construction was finished at what was at the time the tallest residential building in the world – 432 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. One hundred and three condos, eighty-five floors, 1,397 feet high.
The condos cost tens of millions. The building bills itself as ‘the greatest building in the world’s greatest city.’ Owners were treated to a host of perks including a private restaurant with a Michelin-star chef.
The residences had problems from day one. The first complaints were about noise. Creaking, banging, groans, clicking, and the “whistle of rushing air in doorways and elevator shafts.” Residents of some floors reported that “a trash chute sounds like a bomb when garbage is tossed.”
In 2018 the problems escalated. Serious water leaks led to floods across numerous floors and residences. The water entered the elevator shafts on several occasions taking half the residential elevators out of service for weeks. At least once a sprinkler discharged for no discernable reason.
Who’s to blame so far? It would seem – at first – to be the subcontractors who installed the plumbing and built the interiors of the residences.
But there’s more – as there almost always is with construction projects.
Before 432 Park went up, New York City had restrictions on building height. The developers got around those restrictions by placing taller than usual mechanical floors in the structure. New York does not count mechanical floors against a building’s allowable height.
The developers wanted the tallest building in New York and found the zoning loophole that allowed them to do it. Those extra tall mechanical floors, however, are open and serve to let winds cut through the building to cut down on sway.
The building is ultra-thin, though, and with its height it is subjected to stronger winds than usual. It appears that 432 Park’s open floors aren’t sufficient to cut down the effects of high winds.
High winds have already stopped an elevator and trapped a resident for ninety minutes. High winds also cause elevator cables to ‘slap around’ creating some of the noises complained of.
At least some of the problems with the building are caused by engineering and design defects. Many residents wanted to hold the architect and engineering firm responsible. That is until they hired an independent engineering consulting firm to audit the building. It found that “73 percent of mechanical, electrical and plumbing components observed failed to conform with the developers’ drawings.”
The architect and developers may have miscalculated the effect of winds on a residential building that was going to be the world’s tallest. That may have led to many of the issues the building now faces.
Conversely, if the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing subcontractors conformed to the developers’ drawings maybe they would have withstood the stresses caused by the building’s height.
Who is responsible? Whose insurance should pay what? What about the future? The water damage to residences has been repaired but the causes haven’t been addressed.
While we’ll never be involved in a case involving the tallest residential high rise in the world, The Hahn Legal Group APC guides clients through these issues every day – as only experienced construction attorneys can.
