A Tower on Billionaires’ Row Is Full of Cracks. Who’s to Blame?

With its striking white concrete facade amid a sea of glass skyscrapers, the supertall tower at 432 Park Avenue was designed to be the jewel of New York City’s Billionaires’ Row, the stretch of luxury condos in Manhattan that has attracted the world’s wealthiest home buyers.

But only a few years after the 102-floor apartment tower near 57th Street was completed, water began seeping through some ceilings, the elevators broke down repeatedly and owners complained that their living rooms creaked and swayed in the whipping Midtown wind.

Now, what initially seemed to be nuisances for a small group of ultrarich people appear to have masked much deeper problems.

The exterior of the building, which opened in 2015, is pockmarked and gouged, riddled with hundreds of cracks that suggest the slender structure is being overtaxed by wind and rain, according to independent engineering experts, construction reports and court filings. If the problems are not addressed, probably with a nine-figure renovation, the building could eventually become uninhabitable or endanger pedestrians below, the engineers said.

Inspectors have said the building is safe for the residents inside and for passers-by. Yet recent reports filed with the city have shown chunks of missing concrete on some of its highest floors, and new cracks are appearing in its load-bearing facade.

Amid a tangle of litigation involving the developers, engineers, residents and a small army of contractors, a likely explanation for some of the building’s issues is emerging: its lauded, all-white concrete facade, insisted on by its superstar team of architects and developers.

More than a decade after the city’s skyline was reshaped in a race to build the tallest trophy home, the tower at 432 Park could represent the limits of new skyscraper technology and the frothy condo market that encouraged it.

The New York Times reviewed thousands of pages of court documents, public records and private correspondence between the buildings’ residents and planners. They reveal that for years, several key members of the team of developers, engineers and architects behind 432 Park had expressed concerns about its white exterior, even before the concrete was poured.

Concrete typically gets its gray tint from iron oxides in cement; altering the components can affect its strength, color and performance. Builders of 432 Park were presented with a major challenge: how to come up with a concrete mixture that met their exacting aesthetic. Companies involved with the job called it one of the most difficult concrete projects ever executed.

Seeking what he once called an “absolutely pure” building, Harry Macklowe, a well-known New York developer, tore down the luxury Drake Hotel and commissioned Rafael Viñoly, the Uruguayan modernist, to design a perfectly rectilinear body for a tower on the site. They assembled engineers, construction firms and concrete specialists to carry out the vision.

The tower at 432 Park Avenue was set to become the tallest residential building in the world and one of the slimmest. Its “slenderness” ratio is 15 to one; by comparison the Empire State Building has a ratio of three to one because it has a much wider base.

Mr. Macklowe, who was responsible for avant-garde projects such as the glass cube Apple store on Fifth Avenue, wanted something that would distinguish it from nearby glassy towers topped by swoops and flourishes.

“It looks very simple,” Justin Peters, a project executive for Lendlease, the construction manager at 432 Park, told the trade publication Engineering News-Record. “It isn’t.”

The design was a marketing hit, with the building’s 125 units selling for over $2.5 billion, according to the real estate data analysis company Marketproof. Early buyers included Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez and the Saudi retail magnate Fawaz Alhokair.

But its success has been marred by infighting among its wealthy residents, who cannot agree on how to solve the building’s growing list of problems without hurting property values.

The condo board at 432 Park has filed two separate suits accusing the building’s team of developers of selling them defective units and of fraudulently covering up the issues.

This summer, Mr. Macklowe tried to sell his three units in the building. He had to drop his plan, because he had defaulted on the loans used to buy them.

A representative for Mr. Macklowe declined to comment. Mr. Viñoly died in 2023; a spokesman for the firm did not return repeated requests for comment. WSP, the firm that led the structural engineering of the tower, declined comment.

A Stressed Building

All concrete is vulnerable to some cracking, according to engineering experts interviewed by The New York Times, who emphasized the tower was built to code and designed to withstand high winds. None suggested there is any risk of a cataclysmic event, such as a collapse.

But there have been warning signs that the building may not be performing as intended. The heavy suspended weight system designed to reduce sway and keep residents from feeling seasick has undergone extensive repairs, according to private communications between the condo board and residents.

In all, the problems at 432 Park could cost over $100 million to remedy, according to engineering reports that the condo board commissioned and the independent engineers who reviewed the tower’s condition. And further cracking could present a danger to pedestrians below, the experts said.

“The building is being stressed beyond what was intended,” said Steve Bongiorno, a structural engineer in New York who was consulted on an early bid for the design of the building and has continued to closely track its issues.

Other recently built luxury high-rise condominiums have had problems too. But some of the issues at 432 Park, including the persistent cracks and counterweight problems, may trace back to its development team’s insistence on its distinctive white color.

The tower was a building where everything — its exterior, its height and its slenderness — “was pushed to a limit,” Jose Torero, head of the department of civil, environmental and geomatic engineering at University College London, said.

“A 10-year-old building should not be showing that level of deterioration,” said Mr. Torero, who has studied construction defects in skyscrapers across the world and reviewed materials related to 432 Park at The Times’s request. “Nobody can argue that that is not a failure.”

‘Hold the Pour’

On a misty December afternoon in 2012, more than a dozen luminaries from the world of architecture, engineering and development walked through a concrete yard in Gowanus, Brooklyn. It was four years before 432 Park would be completed, and its team was gathering to review the concrete mix that would soon form the tower’s signature facade.

Passing between roughly 20-foot-tall models of concrete columns were executives from two powerful Manhattan luxury developers, Macklowe Properties and CIM Group; members of top-flight engineering and construction teams; and senior staff from Rafael Viñoly Architects, the star design firm that envisioned the building’s boxy, white envelope.

Already, there were concerns.

“Cracks are apparent immediately,” an architect with the Viñoly firm said about the columns. “It is imperative that the concrete consultant review these conditions and advise.”

Concrete experts like to say they don’t work with concrete; they work for concrete.

Made up of a blend of cement, water, sand and gravel, concrete is notoriously finicky. Its performance and look depend on outside temperatures and humidity as it is mixed, poured and dried. Some additives can bolster its durability but may darken the color.

But 432 Park was supposed to be white. The group assembled in Gowanus was responsible for developing a concrete mix that was strong enough to support the weight of a nearly 1,400-foot tower and white enough to satisfy the aesthetic the design team desired.

Even before the team arrived at the Brooklyn yard, there were internal disagreements. Five months before, a lead architect had expressed worries about changes to concrete specifications that were put into place by the developers and construction contractors.

“They are going down a dangerous and slippery path that I believe will eventually lead to failure and lawsuits to come,” Jim Herr, then a director at Mr. Viñoly’s firm, wrote in a July 2012 email to other architects on the project. It and many other emails are now part of a lawsuit filed by the building’s condo board.

What the team saw on the visit over two December days validated those concerns.

Small cavities known as “bug holes” more than an inch across and large enough to allow water infiltration had emerged in the column mock-ups. Troubling cracks had developed in several spots.

Engineers sent around photos of the defects to others tied to the project in hopes of finding solutions, according to emails from the suit.

One recipient was Silvian Marcus, a structural engineer at WSP who had worked on the rippling facade of Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan, and was enlisted as part of the team for 432 Park.

Concerned with the cracks in the model columns, Mr. Marcus recommended adding flyash to the mix, a byproduct of coal combustion often used to make concrete more durable.

“They will not accept flyash (color is too dark),” replied Hezi Mena, an engineer who was then a senior associate at WSP, in a December 2012 email.

There were two options, Mr. Marcus replied: “Color or cracks.”

Construction at the Midtown site was set to start, and time was running out. The team, Mr. Marcus wrote, should not still have been experimenting.

“Hold the pour until they have a valid mix,” Mr. Marcus wrote to Mr. Mena and developers. “Otherwise we will have future problems very painful to be solved and substantial project delays.”

Two months later, construction at the site in Midtown was underway, according to memos that went out to developers, engineers, architects and construction managers.

But cracks, honeycomb-like patterns and small holes were emerging on the facade, spoiling the aesthetic and prompting concerns about moisture infiltration that could lead to further cracking and deterioration.

‘You Are Not Being at All Helpful’

Central Park Tower. One 57. Steinway Tower. 220 Central Park South. Those looming apartment buildings have redefined the New York skyline, towering over traditional office skyscrapers.

Mr. Macklowe was at the vanguard of the luxury condo craze in the 2010s, fueled mostly by overseas investors seeking trophy pieds-à-terre.

To attract this discerning clientele, Mr. Macklowe sought simplicity.

He enlisted the firm of Mr. Viñoly, both celebrated and criticized for his bold designs. (His crescent-shaped Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas had been nicknamed the “death ray” after complaints that its glassy surface magnified sun rays, singeing hair off poolside guests and melting plastic.)

For the tower at 432 Park, the two men collaborated on a grid-like facade that drew inspiration from the understated elegance of a trash can designed by the influential Austrian designer Josef Hoffmann.

But the design was proving difficult to execute, as the cracking continued.

The developers brought on a series of consultants who reached similar conclusions: The cracking was bound to get worse, and a lasting fix would be costly.

They called for painting the building with an elastomeric coating — a thick, rubbery membrane that would seal the cracks and protect the exterior from air and water seeping in.

But the coating would give the building a glossy sheen that clashed with the developers’ vision.

Instead, Mr. Macklowe suggested workers apply a clear-coat finish similar to the product used to patch the yacht he raced in European regattas.

Over the next few weeks, developers argued with a rotating cast of consultants, some of whom they eventually fired.

One of the development team’s own engineers, Mr. Marcus, sided with consultants who had endorsed the more inelegant coating, even though it could “have appearance impact,” he wrote in an October 2013 email.

“You are not being at all helpful!” Bill Unger, a senior member of 432 Park’s development team, shot back in an email.

“Honestly, I prefer to disappoint today rather than installing something that even the manufacturer has doubts that will work,” Mr. Marcus replied.

Mr. Marcus did not return requests for comment. Mr. Unger in a recent interview said developers and engineers at the time “were trying to work out what was the best way to preserve the architecture and the concrete.”

Developers went forward with a plan to use a clear, penetrating sealant across the building and patch the worst cracks, rejecting the consultants’ idea of the rubbery coating.

Despite the efforts, two years later in October 2015, as construction was in the final stretch, the concrete facade was still a problem.

Charles L’Heureux, then a senior project manager with Lendlease, the project’s construction manager, expressed concerns in an October 2015 email about “voids” found in the concrete exterior that were so worrying that repairs had to “proceed immediately.”

The severity of the problems was “beyond concerning, it is deplorable and should be embarrassing to anyone associated with the project with even the slightest level of care for quality,” David Dods, then a top executive involved in the construction with Mr. Macklowe’s firm, wrote in the same email thread.

Less than four months later inspectors from New York City’s Department of Buildings scheduled an inspection and inquired about the cracks.

“There are no structural concerns, these are all hairline cracks which were expected to occur,” wrote Mr. L’Heureux, in a January 2016 email to a buildings supervisor. “So no surprises.”

‘Chunks of Concrete Will Fall’

The doors of 432 Park opened and welcomed celebrities, international executives and real estate movers and shakers, most of whom used secretive shell companies for their sales.

Mr. Macklowe bought three units for more than $47 million, including one for his wife, before the two split. (After their separation, Mr. Macklowe posted billboard-sized images of himself and his new partner on the exterior of the 432 Park complex.)

Apartments were outfitted with lofty ceilings and 10-foot-by-10-foot windows, some overlooking Central Park. Amenities included a 75-foot swimming pool, a billiard room and spa. The building even had its own private restaurant with an outdoor terrace and a menu designed by a celebrated chef.

Complaints started almost immediately.

Creaking noises kept some residents awake at night, and burst pipes caused millions of dollars in damage, according to private emails and court documents. The building’s problematic elevators in one case trapped the son of a condo board member for nearly 90 minutes. A lawyer for the board said an empty carriage plummeted 40 stories and crashed into a service floor beneath it.

An electrical mishap the week before Thanksgiving in 2019 knocked out power, leading residents to seek refuge at the Four Seasons Hotel. The swaying in one apartment was so bad that an engineering firm was hired to steady the unit.

Representatives for the developers have said the complaints were overblown, fueled by an engineering and legal industry that thrives off litigation between condo boards and developers. Many construction issues have been addressed, they said, and the condo board has failed to fulfill some of its upkeep and maintenance obligations on the facade. They have also argued that the court deadline has expired to file many of the claims the condo board is now making.

But some engineering experts see many of the inconveniences as symptoms of problems with the building’s design.

All tall buildings sway in the wind, but supertall skinny towers move more. At 432 Park, designers expected the building to sway several feet — enough for water to slosh in bathtubs and chandeliers to jingle.

Like other supertall towers, 432 Park relies on the counterweight system to address the forces of wind and reduce the feeling of swaying for residents. But unlike many other supertall towers that are tiered or taper toward the top, 432 Park is rectangular, making it less aerodynamic.

The developers believed that their boxy design would work, thanks to a series of open-air floors that allow wind to pass through.

But the rapid appearance of cracks, the emergence of new ones and past breakdowns in the counterweight system all point to the building facing unexpected stress from wind, said Scott Chen, a forensic engineer in Melbourne, Australia, who studied the building.

Cracks in the facade increase the risk of water seeping into the structure, which could cause the steel rebar to rust and expand, producing even more cracks.

This cycle of degradation affects what experts call the building’s stiffness, or its ability to respond to wind. More cracking could exacerbate existing problems with mechanical systems, they said, and make the building increasingly vulnerable.

If this cycle of stress continues, the consequences could be huge, according to engineering experts.

“Chunks of concrete will fall off, and windows will start loosening up,” said Mr. Bongiorno, the structural engineer, who echoed concerns of other independent engineers contacted by The Times. “You can’t take the elevators, mechanical systems start to fail, pipe joints start to break and you get water leaks all over the place.

“The building just becomes uninhabitable,” he said, noting that the tower has yet to experience sustained, hurricane force winds.

‘Concrete Hand Grenades’

The tower has been on the radar of the Department of Buildings for years.

New York requires the facades of about 17,000 buildings taller than six stories to be inspected every five years.

But rather than directly performing the inspections, the city requires the work to be done by third-party contractors hired by the buildings’ owners. It does not conduct inspections of every problematic building to confirm that repairs have been made on time, a spokesman said.

In 2022, a firm hired by 432 Park’s condo owners conducted an extensive inspection of the facade. Department officials reviewed the report, which found unsafe conditions, some deemed “immediately hazardous,” and included a range of defects across the facade that stretched as high as the 85th floor.

The buildings department issued violations for failing to install protections for pedestrians in October 2022 and then again two months later. Some repairs were completed, and the outside firm told the buildings department that other fixes should be completed by February 2025.

But in April, after some progress was made, a different firm hired by the building’s condo owners extended the repair timeline to June 2026, labeling the building in “fair condition.”

“Unsafe conditions no longer exist at this building,” read their report, noting that the most urgent repairs to the facade had been completed.

But the same report details the presence of new cracks, failing patch jobs and “missing chunks” of concrete on the exterior of the sixth, 49th and 54th floors. Loose concrete had to be removed from several areas on the facade, including from very high floors, the report said.

Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman for the buildings department, said it was not uncommon for “small amounts of loose materials” to be removed during inspections and noted that last year similar debris was removed during an inspection of the Empire State Building.

He said the buildings department has not observed any evidence of unsafe conditions. The last time an inspector from the agency’s facade unit was on site at the tower was February 2023, he said.

The tower, situated on a block that is home to a luxury auction house and a jeweler who sells $18 million watches, is surrounded mostly by lower-slung buildings, except for the area in front of the entrance on 56th Street and an adjacent outdoor patio for public use. The agency said it has no record of debris falling from the tower after construction was completed.

It is not uncommon for the city to mandate the installation of sidewalk sheds when there is a risk of falling debris. But city officials said they have no cause for such a move here.

“None of the parties associated with the building have approached D.O.B. with new information indicating structural stability or life safety concerns with the building,” Mr. Rudansky said.

“There’s no sidewalk shed that’s going to protect you from chunks of concrete popping off a 1,400-foot building,” he said.

Anthony Ingraffea, an expert in concrete fractures and a Cornell University engineering professor emeritus who reviewed photos from the inspections of 432 Park, described some of the defects as cosmetic for now, but said others have potential to peel off the building and become “concrete hand grenades.”

“I would not sign off as a licensed engineer in the State of New York that this building will last forever,” Mr. Ingraffea said. “I would sign a document that says the Empire State Building will last. This building, I doubt it.”

A Long Shadow

The residents at 432 Park are divided on the remedy to the building’s problems, according to court documents and emails obtained by the Times.

Recent estimates for repairs would involve filling cracks, reinforcing columns, adding a new cladding system to prevent water damage and the application of an elastomeric coating — the same fix the developers initially resisted.

The facade project would cost more than $160 million over three years, and would not include the cost of repairing other defects, according to a report from consultants hired by the condo board. Condo boards in New York are typically unable to get insurance policies to cover the cost of construction defects.

In a Sept. 12 letter to residents, CIM said the estimate “lacks any basis in reality.”

The developer has accused the board of failing to reapply a protective sealant to the exterior of the building. But that fix would not solve the building’s problems, said Terrence Oved, a lawyer representing the building’s condo board in two suits involving the tower.

He said residents are committed to ensuring their home is a “world-class residential property.”

The ultraluxury market has significantly cooled since the peak of the condo boom in the last decade, and the stigma of defects could further harm residents’ resale potential.

Residents have been engaged in a wide-ranging blame game about the cause of various woes in the building, including surging common charges, accusations of sabotage to infrastructure by building staff and just what caused the water damage to a $135,000 rug belonging to Jacqueline Finkelstein-LeBow, a real estate investor and member of the condo board. Was it a defect in the building or the radiant-heat flooring she had installed in her 64th-floor apartment?

The building’s manager declined to comment.

Ching Wong, an investor in Hong Kong real estate and a former media executive, said he was so mesmerized by the elegant design of 432 Park Avenue that in 2019 he bought a three-bedroom for $15 million.

But now, he said, his bathroom door doesn’t close properly, the air conditioning in his guest bedroom is broken and the pool is frequently closed.

Mr. Wong questions the condo board’s spending on a lawsuit that is focused on the building’s white concrete exterior, when his more pressing concern is what he believes to be mismanagement, including the tripling of his monthly common charges.

He is not convinced that the worst of the problems are over.

“The taller the building,” he said, “the longer the shadow.”

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section

MB

, Page

1

of the New York edition

with the headline:

Cracks in a Facade of Luxury. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe