One Seaport Tower Still Not Cleared To Resume Construction After Worker Death
Fortis Property Group could be heading for a serious issue with its One Seaport tower at South Street Seaport.
The New York City Department of Buildings issued a stop work order on Sept. 21 when 36-year-old construction worker Juan Chonillo fell to his death. After the accident, the DOB found “numerous immediately hazardous conditions” at the site, The Real Deal reports. One Seaport has been delayed by 28 days so far; the average length of a stop work order following a death in New York is 25 days.
If the delay drags on further, it could imperil the condo project's occupancy. According to its deal with the New York State Attorney General, Fortis is required to begin closing on condo sales in January. If it fails to do so, it must update the budget for its project. If the updated budget is at least 25% more than the original, buyers under contract are allowed to back out. Sixty-six percent of the units are under contract at an average of $3.4M per unit, according to TRD.
Projected to top out at 57 stories, One Seaport has risen 29 floors so far. Italian firm Pizzarotti is managing construction for the site, its first of this size in the U.S. Israel-based Bank Leumi has provided a total of $119M in loans to finance the project.
