New York Law Blog

The site of a major construction accident this past March in Manhattan has been officially foreclosed on after the city revoked the site’s building permits. The project at 303 East 51st Street had a major crane collapse which killed seven people and forced the evacuation of many neighbors in the area. After review by city officials, it was discovered that the developer never had the proper building permits in the first place, and was rejected for a renewal on them.

All work on the concrete hulk of what would have been a sleek 43-story tower at 303 East 51st Street ceased after the accident more than four months ago. City officials rejected the developer’s revised construction plans in June and revoked his building permit.

On July 25, the developer’s lender, Arbor Realty Funding L.L.C., began a foreclosure action in State Supreme Court in Manhattan against the developer, James P. Kennelly, for failure to repay $70.4 million in overdue project loans. Arbor is seeking to sell the property to satisfy the loans.

It could be sometime next year before the fate of the project is resolved. In the meantime, it casts a pall over the neighborhood and serves as a constant reminder of the Saturday afternoon that the 22-story tower crane crashed to the street, killing seven and forcing 17 nearby buildings and hundreds of residents to be evacuated. The unfinished building, which rises 18 stories above Second Avenue, is shrouded in orange safety netting and is illuminated at night.

What will become of the building? As of now, it is up to the courts to decide. And could the accident have been prevented in the first place with a better look at the building permits the developer obtained?

But in February, when the tower was already up to the eighth floor, the Buildings Department began reviewing the local zoning and the project’s building permits, not because of community complaints, but because one of the developer’s prospective lenders asked for a letter reaffirming city approvals.

In an interview earlier this year, Phyllis Arnold, the Buildings Department’s deputy commissioner for legal affairs, said officials determined that the site permitted a 33-story tower atop a broad base, not the sheer tower the developer had designed.

The department also found that the building was too close to an adjoining four-story building and that its balconies jutted over other properties.

The two sides were working out a compromise when the accident occurred. It is now the subject of a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney’s office, as well as separate inquiries by the Buildings Department and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 5:05 pm and is filed under Accidents, Construction, Court System, TGL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.