Fancy NYC tower for super rich troubled by creaks, leaks and flaws

It was the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere when completed. It's one of the most expensive addresses in the world. But inside, it's reportedly a living hell.

432 Park is one of several major developments around 57th Street in Midtown Manhattan where skinny towers have sprouted up on what has been dubbed "Billionaires' Row". Now some residents of the super-exclusive condominium that overlooks Central Park are complaining about construction flaws and surging fees.

The building that cost $3.2 billion is beset by problems, they told The New York Times, which recently profiled their complaints: millions of dollars of water damage from plumbing and mechanical issues, frequent elevator malfunctions, noise, and walls that creak.

Most of the problems may be connected to the building's main selling point — its massive height of nearly 1,400 feet, as well as its pencil-like thinness, described by some as anorexic. It has 104 apartments, a 75-foot swimming pool, a screening room, spa, conference room, billiards room, wine cellars and a restaurant just for owners on the 12th floor.

Structural engineers generally consider skyscrapers with a minimum 1:10 or 1:12 ratio of the width of the building's base to its height to be "slender". 432 Park is 15 times as tall as its width of 93 feet. Slender and tall buildings are more prone to have problems, especially swaying in windy weather, often causing vertical elevators to stop. In 2019, strong winds led to an elevator stopping at 432 Park, trapping a resident for more than an hour.

While the building is designed to move with the wind, that swaying also leads to loud noises. Residents complained to the Times that eerie creaking and groaning noises often resonate in their apartments, as well as sounds "like a bomb" when the trash is tossed down a garbage chute.

Among the Park's biggest issues, say residents, is its plumbing, which has caused frequent flooding and extensive water damage. In November 2018, the building sustained two major leaks, one of which propelled water into elevator shafts, shutting them down for weeks.

The plumbing issues prompted one potential resident to back out of a $46.25 million deal after the building experienced a "catastrophic waterflood'', according to the Times.

Both leaks occurred on five-story floors containing only mechanical equipment that are spaced every 14 floors from the top. They are left open to allow wind to blow through to reduce the tower's wind load. But the floors have been criticized for being excessively tall. Their height, however, allowed the developers to build higher than would have been permitted by the city's zoning regulations because their size doesn't count against the building's allowable size.

One of the tower's developers defended the building, saying in a statement that it "is a successfully designed, constructed and virtually sold-out project", and that they are "working collaboratively" with the condo board. The construction manager said in a statement that they "have been in contact" with the developers, "regarding some comments from tenants, which we are currently evaluating".

Beyond the structural issues, there are financial ones, said residents.

Eduard Slinin, a recently elected member of the building's condo board, wrote a letter to neighbors in 2020 reporting that the building's insurance costs had increased 300 percent in two years. The insurance surge was partly because of a sprinkler discharge and two "water-related incidents" in 2018 that cost the building about $9.7 million in covered losses, according to a letter from the residential board of managers obtained by the Times.

And then there is the matter of the building's private restaurant run by a Michelin-starred chef. When 432 Park opened in 2015, condo owners were required to spend $1,200 a year at the restaurant. Now that tab has been raised to $15,000 a year. The restaurant has cut back on its hours of operation because of the pandemic and eliminated free breakfast.

"I was convinced it would be the best building in New York," Sarina Abramovich, one of the earliest residents of 432 Park, who with her husband bought an apartment for nearly $17 million in 2016, told the Times. "They're still billing it as God's gift to the world, and it's not."