A problem that demands a solution....
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/19/nyregion/432-park-avenue-condo-tower.html
A Tower on Billionaires’ Row Is Full of Cracks. Who’s to Blame?
A superstar team of architects and developers insisted on an all-white concrete facade. It could explain some of the building’s problems.
By Dionne SearceyStefanos Chen and Urvashi Uberoy
Oct. 19, 2025
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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 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.
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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.
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.
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It has attracted keen interest from engineering experts across the globe — first for its daring design and now for its many problems.
“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.”
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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.
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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.”
“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.”
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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.
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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.
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