Karsten Moran / The New York Times
The Supertall Tower located at 432 Park Avenue, is one of the most expensive properties in the world. It is being sued by its own board for $125 million in damages. These damages are listed as but not limited to: multiple flooding incidences, faulty elevators, intolerable noise that is caused by the sway of the building, and the second electrical explosion to happen in three years that knocked out the power for all residents in the building.
In 2015, this new building was a statement to quality apartments, attracting some of the wealthiest owners. Many of the owners are part time residents or investors who hid their identity from the public using their own shell companies. One of the apartments sold for $88 million to the Saudi retail magnate Fawaz Alhokair. Jennifer Lopez also owned an apartment here in 2018 for $15.3 million. However, the residents of this building have a high turnover rate because the building does not live up to the luxury that is promised by the pricing of the apartments.
In some cases, the defects that were found and complained about by residents posed a life safety risk making the building undesirable. For instance, there have been several reporting’s of residents getting stuck in stalled elevator cars for hours which could be attributed to the large amount of sway in the building.
Many of these claims have already been made about the building in a suit filed in February. The $125 million will go towards repairing over 1,500 design and construction defects. Most of these defects were found in common elements of the building and were identified by an engineering firm hired by the board of condos. The board of condos claims there may be more to come with resident lawsuits and punitive damage.