Multiple owners of condominiums in a luxury tower on Billionaires' Row in New York City have charged the developers with "deliberate and far-reaching fraud" after they concealed significant flaws, including "thousands" of severe fractures on the concrete exterior.
The condominium board at 432 Park Avenue filed a lawsuit against real estate company CIM Group and other developers, accusing them of failing to reveal the degree of damage that has caused floods and affected the value of their multimillion-dollar properties.
They further alleged the developers neglected to notify city inspectors and potential buyers of the flaws, many of which, they say, jeopardised the building's safety and structural integrity, according to The New York Times.
The lawsuit claimed that condo owners were asking for over $165 million in damages. The engineering and architecture firms involved in the project were named in the action, which was filed in the New York state court in late April.
The 432 Park Avenue is home to some of the city's priciest residences. When it debuted in 2015, the building was the tallest residential skyscraper in the world; it was the third-tallest by 2023. The skyscraper was estimated to be worth over $3 billion when it opened, per Newsweek.
In 2013, real estate developer Harry Macklowe, whose company McGraw Hudson Construction Corp is also involved in the lawsuit, called the tower "the building of the 21st century" and compared it to the Empire State Building.
The opulent skyscraper, rising 1,396 feet above Central Park, was once home to Chinese industrialist Ye Jianming and singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, who reportedly paid eight figures for apartments there.
Since 2017, the owners have complained about a number of construction-related issues, including over 20 water leaks.
The 432 Park Condominium's Board of Managers filed the complaint on April 4 against the property's developers, including WSP USA, CIM Group, McGraw-Hudson Construction, and SLCE Architects.
According to the lawsuit, the tower's exterior is "plagued with thousands of severe cracks, spalling, and other signs of deterioration." They added that the centre of the building had a 10-inch-deep fissure.
The white concrete facade that makes up the building's exterior is allegedly one of the "most alarming, expansive and costly construction defects."
According to the lawsuit, the damage has corroded portions of the steel in the tower's reinforced concrete columns in addition to generating floods.
The CIM Group and SLCE Architects, the project's architect of record, "vehemently" rejected the allegations, claiming to CNN that they are attempting to have the complaint thrown out. Engineering firm WSP chose not to respond.
Earlier, the condo board sued the developers in 2021 for poorly functioning lifts, inefficient energy use, and a garbage chute that makes a "bomb-like" sound when it is in use.
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