432 Park Avenue was once the tallest residential building in the world and a symbol of the luxury condominium boom of the past decade. Residents’ complaints expose conflicts inside one of the city’s most secretive and luxurious towers. karsten moran for the new york times
At nearly 1,400 feet, 432 Park Avenue was once the tallest residential building in the world and the peak of New York’s luxury condominium boom five years ago – a wave driven largely by foreign buyers seeking discretion and high returns.
Now, six years later, the residents of this high-end building are at odds with the developer and are divided within themselves, suggesting that even price tags that can easily run into the millions of dollars are no guarantee that Life will be problem-free. According to accounts from owners, engineers and documents obtained by The New York Times, the claims include millions of dollars in leak damage from plumbing and mechanical failures; frequent elevator breakdowns; and walls that creak like slave paddle boats – all of which may be related to the building’s main selling point: its soaring height.
New York has seen a string of record-breaking condominium towers reaching new heights, yet less than a decade later, the first reports of defects and complaints began to emerge, raising concerns that the methods and materials used in their construction were insufficient to support the engineering breakthroughs that made these status-conscious 1,000-foot condominiums possible. Engineers with knowledge of some of these disputes say many of the same problems are quietly occurring in other new buildings.
The tower at 432 Park Avenue, far left, became the tallest residential building in the world in 2015. It has been surpassed by a new building in New York’s Billionaire’s Row in midtown Manhattan, but it remains one of the world’s most expensive apartment buildings… KARSTEN MORAN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
The dispute over New York’s so-called “Billionaire’s Row,” a row of super-tall buildings near Central Park that redefines the city’s skyline, has also highlighted a little-known scene at 432 Park Avenue, where the identities of nearly all buyers are concealed by shell companies.
The slender building, which critics have likened to a raised middle finger because of its controversial height, is now largely sold out, with an estimated value of $3.1 billion. in 2016, the 96th-floor penthouse was sold to a company representing Saudi retail giant Fawaz Alhokair for nearly $88 million. in 2018, Jennifer Lopez ( Jennifer Lopez) and Alex Rodriguez bought a 4,000-square-foot apartment there for $15.3 million and sold it about a year later.
The building at 432 Park Avenue attracts some of the world’s richest and most powerful people, almost all of whom buy property through shell companies to conceal their identities. Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez bought an apartment in the building in 2018, but it sold quickly.FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES
Now, an exchange of correspondence between the residents – one of the world’s wealthiest and most influential groups – reveals the stinging arguments about how to fix the problem without the value of the house taking a heavy hit.
“I was convinced it was going to be the best building in New York,” says Sarina Abramovich, one of the earliest residents of 432 Park Avenue. “They see it to this day as God’s gift to the world, and that’s not the case.”
CIM Group, one of the developers, said in a statement that the building “is a successfully designed, built and nearly sold-out project” and that they are “working with” the condominium board, which until January was taken over by elected residents It was run by the developer. (Developers typically control condominium boards during the first few years of a building’s occupancy.) “As with all new construction, there’s maintenance and finishing work in the meantime,” they said. Another developer, Macklowe Properties, declined to comment.
Construction management firm Lendlease said in a statement that they “have been in contact with the developer” and that “there are a number of comments from occupants that we are currently evaluating.”
The building has had multiple walk-through issues, including two leaks in November 2018, which Len Czarnecki, the building’s general manager, acknowledged in an email to residents. The first leak occurred on Nov. 22 when a flange on a high-pressure upspout on the 60th floor “burst,” a raised end part that connects to the pipe. Four days later, a “water main failure” on the 74th floor caused water to enter the elevator shaft, shutting down two of the four residential elevators for several weeks.
Both incidents occurred on the equipment floors, which were criticized for being located too high – a design feature that allows developers to build above the maximum allowable height because the equipment floors do not count toward the building’s allowable dimensions.
When reached by phone, Chananeci said he was “not at liberty to comment.
Abramovich said that after the first incident, water flowed into her apartment a few floors away from the leak, causing about $500,000 in damage.
Luke Leung, director of SOM Architects, said one of the most common complaints in supertall buildings is noise. He hears metal partitions creaking between walls as the building sways and the ghostly whistle of wind blowing into doorways and elevator shafts.
Residents at 432 Park Avenue complained of creaks, knocks and clicks in their apartments, as well as garbage that “sounded like bombs” when thrown down the trash chute, according to minutes from the 2019 homeowners’ meeting.
The problems in the building have resulted in significant new expenses. Emails from the management office cited an increase of nearly 40 percent in annual general expenses for 2019 due to rising costs such as insurance and maintenance fees.
Condo resident Eduard Slinin, who was elected to the MC board late last year, reported in a letter sent to neighbors in 2020 that the building’s insurance costs had increased 300 percent in two years. A letter sent by the board said the spike in premiums was due in part to a trigger in the fire sprinkler system and two other “water-related incidents” in 2018 that left the building with an estimated $9.7 million in covered losses.
Some residents also protested price increases for the building’s private dining room, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Shaun Hergatt. The building required homeowners to spend $1,200 a year at the restaurant when it opened in late 2015; that jumped to $15,000 by 2021, despite limited hours of operation due to the pandemic. Breakfast is no longer free.
Residents split into small groups, many of whom live elsewhere for most of the year. In a letter to residents, Slinen, who is president of Corporate Transportation Group, wrote that he was working with 40 “interested owners” of 103 apartment units (not including employee apartments) to try to control the building’s maintenance costs and potentially dangerous conditions.
The owners commissioned SBI Consulting, an engineering firm, to study mechanical and structural issues. Preliminary findings showed that 73 percent of the observed mechanical, electrical and sanitary components did not conform to the developer’s drawings, and nearly a quarter had “actual life safety issues,” Slinen wrote.
SBI did not return an email or phone call requesting comment. In a subsequent phone call, Slinen said there was no need to be overly concerned about the SBI’s findings, calling the equipment problems “minor.
Residents are divided over how to resolve the building’s problems. In a letter to residents, Jacqueline Finkelstein-Lebow, head of the real estate investment firm JSF Capital and a recently awarded board member, said some residents are trying to “get a lawyer” to sue the developer, which is unwise. This is unwise. She also denied that there might be a conflict of interest in her campaign for the board of directors. Her husband is Bennett Lebow, chairman of the Vector Group, the holding company for Douglas Elliman Real Estate, the sales brokerage for 432 Park Ave. a sales brokerage firm. Howard Lorber, Douglas Elliman’s executive chairman, is also one of the building’s residents.
Finkelstein-Lerber did not respond to a request for comment.
Abramovich said the tension in the building has been going on for years.
“Everyone here hates each other,” she said. For the most part, however, residents want to keep the fights out of the public eye.
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