432 Park Condo Board Sues Developers, Claiming Shoddy Construction Work
Residents at one of the city’s best-known luxury supertalls are suing the developers for $125M, arguing “sponsor malfeasance” has left them dealing with a slew of problems including apartment floods and terrible noise.
The condo board at 432 Park Ave., developed by CIM Group and Macklowe Properties, filed the lawsuit in state Supreme Court this week, The New York Times reports. The residents are seeking damages to pay for 1,500 construction and design errors, and those damages may rise.
The suit details floods in apartments, noise from the building sway and loss of power caused by an electrical explosion. The complaint alleges these are some of the “worst examples” of sponsor malfeasance in the history of New York City luxury condominium development.
“It’s almost like peeling an onion,” Jonathan Adelsberg, a partner at Herrick Feinstein, said of the issues that may yet to be found. “This is a work in progress in ascertaining what’s wrong.”
The building at 432 Park Ave. is nearly 1,400 feet tall, has 125 units and 30K SF of amenities space that includes a private restaurant and a 75-foot swimming pool. It is home to some of the city’s priciest and famed residential sales. Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez bought an apartment there in 2018 for over $15M, and they sold it in 2019 for $17.5M. In 2016, a penthouse there sold for $87.7M, one of the most expensive condo sales for the year. In 2017, a Chinese buyer paid $91.2M for three units spanning a total of 12K SF.
But residents started speaking out this year about their gripes with the building.
“I was convinced it would be the best building in New York,” Sarina Abramovich, an early resident at the building, told the Times in February. “They’re still billing it as God’s gift to the world, and it’s not.”
