Home » News » A 58-story skyscraper in New York is crooked and there is an argument over who is to blame

A 58-story skyscraper in New York is crooked and there is an argument over who is to blame

Alexis Gonzalez T/Shutterstock

New York City is known for its breathtaking variety of skyscrapers. From winding and arching building complexes to those that look like stacked gifts everything is included.

Soon the city will be able to add a crooked building to its collection. The only difference: it wasn’t on purpose this time.

The 58-story building, known as 1 Seaport or 161 Maiden, is set to be the first skyscraper with apartments downtown. Even before its completion, the new building is causing trouble because the building is now leaning almost eight centimeters to the side.

The Leaning Tower of New York becomes a bone of contention

On March 22, the Swiss construction company Pizzarotti filed a lawsuit against the responsible US construction company Fortis Property Group. Due to the special nature of the soil, geotechnical experts recommended that piles be placed in the ground before the foundation stone was laid. Pizzarotti accuses the construction company of having decided against this measure for reasons of cost. Both parties have now mutually terminated their contract.

161 Maiden Lane
photo-caption">161 Maiden Lane
Hugo Cadavez/Flickr

A Fortis spokesman asserts that two renowned engineering firms did not discover any open safety issues during a visit. He adds that Pizzarotti’s lawsuit is only intended to distract from his own inability to complete the project: “Pizzarotti is now in a panic and has filed a silly lawsuit to avoid additional damage.” In addition, the Swiss would owe Fortis millions of euros, which came about through failures and delays.

Fortis nevertheless assures that it is only a matter of a slight misalignment, which can be compensated for with “a slight redesign of the facade that has already been implemented.”

With its unintentional tilt, 1 Seaport is not the first of its kind. The Millennium Tower in San Francisco has tilted almost 36 centimeters north since it opened in 2009. In San Francisco, nearby construction is believed to have pumped too much water out of the ground, changing the nature of the ground and causing the building to sink slightly into the earth.

Before Pizzarotti filed the lawsuit, there was already another scandal surrounding the construction of the building. In late 2017, a worker fell from the building and was killed in an accident after being instructed by his supervisor to open his seat belts. The previous construction company SSC High Rise Inc. pleaded guilty to the negligent homicide last June.

Despite these negative events, Fortis has hired a new contractor and plans to complete the skyscraper later this year.

The future will show whether the imbalance can be compensated for or whether a crooked building will rise up in Manhattan’s cityscape.

This text was translated from English by Georgina Souchon.

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