The developer behind 432 Park Avenue on New York’s Billionaire’s Row has hit back at a lawsuit alleging design defects. As reported by The Guardian, LA-based CIM Group calls the claims within the lawsuit “vastly exaggerated” in their response filed this week to the New York state supreme court.
As we reported in September, the lawsuit is being brought on behalf of the tower's condo board. The $125 million suit seeks damages for around 1500 alleged design and construction defects, causing multiple floods, faulty elevators, a string of electrical explosions, and an “intolerable” noise caused by the building’s sway.
Speaking to The New York Times at the time of the filing, a lawyer representing the condo board compared the uncovering of defects as “peeling an onion,” hinting that more may be discovered in the future. “This is a work in progress in ascertaining what’s wrong,” he noted.
In their response filed this week, lawyers representing the developer said that “like any other skyscraper, 432 Park’s sophisticated symphony of systems needed to be fine-tuned when residents began to move into the building.” The response also alleges that the condo board “repeatedly and unlawfully prevented sponsor from accessing the building and finishing the job, all while manufacturing an ever-increasing list of demands,” the developer added in Wednesday’s court filing.”
Commenting on the motives behind the lawsuit, the developer’s lawyers called the lawsuit “ill-advised” and “an effort to wrest unwarranted payments.” On the integrity of 432 Park Avenue, the lawyer described the supertall tower as “without a doubt safe.”
The Rafael Viñoly-designed building is no stranger to media attention. In 2015, the tower temporarily became the tallest residential building in the world while still under construction. Two years later, 432 Park Avenue is only the third-tallest residential building on Billionaire’s Row, behind the Central Park Tower and 111 West 57th Street.
In 2018, the tower became the highest-selling building in the history of New York City when sales passed $2 billion, having first hit the market in 2013.
The building has also not been without previous controversy. In 2015, construction work on the tower was halted after a pipe fell from the 81st floor. One year later, architect Rafael Viñoly admitted that the building “has a couple of screw-ups.”
6 Comments
432 may need to be repurposed. Because of its movement and flexibility it might better serve as—
Many years ago I worked on a construction bid for a Vinoly-designed house in East Hampton.
To call the design half-baked would be charitable.
later he did figure out how to fully bake them, with the walkie talkie building in london.
Wasn't Vinoly's office also sued for its work on the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia? They were requested to hire a local executive architect with experience working on performing arts centers but refused to, claiming they could do the entire project themselves from SD to CD. Turned out they couldn't and their lack of experience led to delays.
https://www.archpaper.com/2006...
Yep - https://archinect.com/news/tag/1895718/kimmel-lawsuit
but he has licensed architects working for him, right? so what's the problem? HSW is a relative term.
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