Used to work next to this tower, was always oddly empty. The only movement you ever saw were maids cleaning the occupied units. Many units were unoccupied concrete shells, 7 years after sales began and 5 years after construction completion.

It also raises the issue of new dev condos in NY in general - there are always problems and stakeholders are often busier trying to allocate blame than fix them.

The $100M repair bill sounds staggering, but put against a $2.5B sell through price for 125 units.. we are talking 4%.

The facade photos are scary for such a young building, this thing is not going to age well, clearly will be a public safety issue soon. This is what the city's otherwise overzealous facade inspection schedule is made for.

Sounds like the developers felt that being "true to" their 1400-foot-tall artistic vision trumped any mere engineering realities. And churned through engineers and consultants 'till they found ones were were willing to tell 'em what they wanted to hear.

> ...and new cracks are appearing in its load-bearing facade.

No bets on whether it'll survive the next https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Sandy_in_...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01KX_JXHH2M solid overview from the always informative b1m.

As 432 Park shows, unregulated development here in nyc does not increase the supply of homes for people to live in but rather the supply of abstract assets for wealthy people to launder and store wealth, for which there seems to be a nearly endless international demand.

Housing can either be an affordable resource for people to live in, or an asset that’s likely to appreciate faster than the rate of inflation. There are strong arguments for both. As New Yorkers we need to make our vote in November count and decide which is the priority.

Arvin Haddad has made a few videos about units in this building, including the penthouse, but here he reviews an average unit’s layout.

His channel is an interesting view into how badly designed a lot of very expensive real estate happens to be.

https://youtu.be/j8_DZQrfgRA?si=FcfIU3B6KFw3s31N

Housing construction quality is generally poor in the USA and Canada. xUSSR countries (Russia, Estonia, etc ) have harsher climate and yet concrete building there are fine.

> 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.

Even if someone guaranteed to me that this was the safest building in the world, my acrophobia would absolutely prevent me from living in a place that swayed in the wind like this.

Exposed concrete, in a building with challenging engineering around wind, in an environment with regular freezing temperatures. Sounds like it was bound to happen even with that ash.

The repair cost sounds cheap tbh.

San Francisco also has a well-known hi-rise disaster. You would think that after decades of the USA building skyscrapers that new construction would be a slam dunk.

Non-paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/nyregion/432-park-avenue-...

If this becomes unfit for habitation it will likely stay in the skyline indefinitely. 1 Seaport has had construction stalled since 2017 because of a 3 inch tilt off axis. The default in NYC is to let the concrete stand as a monument to failure. Perhaps it’s for the best. Every time New Yorkers raise their eyes to the sky they are reminded of state of local real estate.

Responsibility is attributed primarily to the building’s developers (namely CIM Group and Macklowe Properties) and the design/construction team. I'm curious about the concrete composition, would not substandard concrete cause this problem, or is it more the bedrock? I couldn't discern that clearly.

I don't know about anyone else, but simply looking at this building makes me nervous. I can't imagine how it could remain structurally sound in high wind conditions. Those open-air floors just don't seem like they'd be enough to offset the lack of aerodynamics.

For all those complaining about empty units, it's this a good thing? This small patch of real estate (it is a narrow skyscraper at 15:1 with a footprint square base with each side measuring 93.5 feet) is generating millions in property tax revenue without having to 'service' its residents, with no additional children to educate, no additional drivers on the streets, and no additional people in the parks.

Also recommend watching the B1M video on this that others have recommended.

What an eyesore that thing is!

Just put scaffolding around it, will fit much better into NYC :D

432 Park is such a tragedy. The full-floor units look beautiful but the building is so poorly engineered. A waste of money and air rights.

https://www.nytimes.com/video/realestate/luxury/100000010458... (short video version)

Wonder what the HOA fees are.

I recently saw one of those companies that build these sky scrapers going public.

I'm sure that'll be good for the long-term safety of those buildings.

/s

[flagged]