Owners at 432 Park Ave. have opened up a new front in their long-running battle with developers Harry Macklowe and CIM Group over alleged construction defects at the Billionaires Row condo tower.
The building’s condo board alleges that Macklowe and CIM knew about widespread cracking on No. 432’s gridlike concrete facade and hid it from buyers and city inspectors as part of a “deliberate and far-reaching fraud,” according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan state Supreme Court.
The 46-page complaint argues that rather than listen to advice from architects and engineers, the developers allegedly ignored their warnings and plowed ahead with the 1,396-foot high-rise with the aim of “avoiding delays and maximizing profits,” the suit claims.
Because of the cracks, which have supposedly led to flooding and corrosion at the high-rise at East 57th Street, the board is seeking $165 million in actual damages, plus punitive damages and compensation for money reportedly lost from depressed real estate values.
The developers have not yet filed a legal response. And spokesperson for Macklowe did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
But a spokeswoman for CIM said her company denies the accusations and would move to have the complaint dismissed.
Previously the team has called all accusations of shoddy construction work at 432 Park, which residents say has also led to eerie whistling noises during gusting winds, “exaggerated.”
And specifically in regards to the concrete cracks, which apparently number in the thousands, Macklowe has described them as not unusual and possibly expected with that type of building material, filings show.
The cracks at the high-rise, reportedly the third-tallest residential tower in the world, were spelled out in the first suit filed by the board against Macklowe and CIM in 2021. That case continues to wind its way through court.
What’s new is the allegation that the developers knew about the concrete’s deficiencies during the design and construction process from 2011 to 2015 and not only did not properly fix the problems but concealed their existence.
The board says the new information only came to light at the end of last year after lawyers were able to pore through 7 million pages of documents and conduct 100 days of depositions.
The plaintiffs originally wanted to incorporate the discovered details into the existing suit. But Justice Melissa Crane, who is presiding over the original case, ruled this month that allowing the new evidence at this late date wouldn’t be fair to the defendants, prompting the board to file a separate challenge.
Perhaps the most damning accusations in the new complaint involves Macklowe’s alleged reaction to reports of the cracks.
Though his engineers argued that the cracks should be corrected by brushing something known as elastomeric coating—a sort of thick and opaque paint—across the facade’s 330,000 square feet of concrete, according to court documents, Macklowe supposedly didn’t want to ruin the surface’s unique white and raw look.
Instead, Macklowe allegedly said that the 30-inch-thick facade should be treated with a clear silicone finish akin to the one he used to protect his own yacht, according to the suit.
He also apparently tweaked the condo’s offering plan on several occasions to avoid responsibility for the flaws, according to the board.
The 96-story 432 Park, which began construction in 2013 and opened in 2015, reaped $2.9 billion from the sale of 142 apartments plus commercial units, based on the most recent version of its offering plan.
Attorney Andrew Urgenson of the firm Oved & Oved, who filed the suit on behalf of the condo’s board, did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
This story has been updated with a response from CIM.
