Rich people problems, NYC skyrise full of defects

432 Park Avenue, the narrow 1,396-foot-tall residential skyscraper on New York City's Billionaires' Row, was advertised as an architectural marvel when tenants first moved in nearly a decade ago.

Now those tenants say the luxury tower is beset by cracks, leaks, elevator malfunctions, and relentless noise.

Unit owners have filed two separate complaints against the building's developers. One, filed in 2021, says the building is plagued with structural issues and accuses the developers of not addressing them. The other, filed last month, accuses the developers of "massive fraud."

Renting a unit at 432 Park Avenue can cost $1 million a year. On Zillow, a two-bedroom unit is listed for sale for over $10 million, while a four-bedroom unit is listed for sale for $35 million.

According to StreetEasy, a New York City listings site owned by Zillow, owners of 432 Park's 104 condos have access to 30,000 square feet of amenities, including a residents-only restaurant, room service, a pool, a library with a wood-burning fireplace, a billiards room, a board room, and a screening room.

When it opened in 2015, 432 Park was the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere at 96 stories. Another Billionaires' Row building, Central Park Tower, eclipsed it in 2019.

"What was promised as one of the finest condominiums in the City was instead delivered riddled with over 1,500 identified construction and design defects to the common elements of the Building alone (leaving aside the numerous defects within individual units)," tenants said in the 2021 complaint.

They said the developers "refused to accept responsibility for the vast majority of its errors" and didn't properly address the defects.

The building's developers defended themselves in a 2021 court filing: "432 Park had such issues — no different from any other building.

The unit owners said those companies knew "since the outset of construction that the Building's white concrete façade's design was wholly defective and would never hold up."

The developers "conspired with the other Defendants to concoct and disseminate fraudulent misrepresentations through the condominium offering plan and the Department of Buildings to conceal these alarming defects from Unit Owners in order to secure massive profits and leave Plaintiffs holding the bag," unit owners said in the April complaint.

Compass realtors Alexandra Hedaya and Jason Haber, however, told Business Insider that they hadn't yet seen any impact on prices as a result of the lawsuits. They hold the listing for a 4,462-square-foot, five-bedroom on the 55th floor now listed for $29.5 million. The home first hit the market in 2022 for $33 million. The developer sold it to its current owner for 23.87 million in 2016, according to New York City property records.

Flooding and water infiltration
Tenants said they experienced "repeated" leakage and floods in the building's common areas, including two "substantial" leaks in 2018.

The leaks caused water to enter the elevator shaft, shutting down service for two of four residential elevators "for weeks," according to the 2021 complaint.

"Thirty-five units, as well as common areas, suffered water damage," the unit owners said. "An investigation revealed that the cause was poor plumbing installation, including loose bolts buried under insulation."

Noise and vibrations
Other issues tenants had with 432 Park Avenue's structure were noise and vibration, which they called one of the building's "most persistent and disruptive defects" in 2021.

"Apartments are plagued by creaking, banging, and clicking noises. Using the trash chute sounds 'like a bomb,'" unit owners said in the complaint. "The noise and vibration issues have been so severe that some Unit Owners have been forced to move out for lengthy periods, and in at least one case for over nineteen months — during a pandemic — while the issue is remediated."

Elevator malfunctions
Malfunctions with the building's elevators were also mentioned in the 2021 complaint.

Other issues
Residents said there were also visible cracks in the drywall on the walls and ceilings of the condos.

But that's not all: The 2021 complaint also cited "baseboard pulling and misaligned joints, malfunctioning sliding doors, grout joint openings and cracking at walls or floors in ceramic and/or stone tiling, excessive fog and window condensation, gaps and misalignment between wall and ceiling light fixtures, and repeated circuit breaker tripping."