What's going on at NYC's most 'cursed' construction sites
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New York City has come a long way since the dark days of 2020. But if we’re really “back,” as Mayor Eric Adams claims, why are there so many empty lots and unfinished building projects?
It’s depressing that large development sites sit empty, with no work being done, on Fifth Avenue, East and West 57th Street and all over the map in FiDi.
Other projects ground to a halt when new buildings were halfway done.
With no firm completion dates in sight, they stand as rude reminders that big-ticket real estate is a risky business even for the wealthiest and savviest professionals.
Whether hostage to feuds between partners, neglected by absentee foreign ownership, or in need of new funding thanks to improbable budgeting, here are some of NYC’s most “cursed” building sites.
The “leaning tower” of 1 Seaport
Hoping to cash in on a waterfront development boom, a 670-feet-tall condo tower at the corner of South Street and Maiden Lane on the East River was to have 80 super-luxury apartments to sell for up to $7 million each and offer yacht usage to tenants.
But the job hit the wall in late 2020. The breakdown resulted from entangled financing problems, lawsuits and structural defects that even Houdini couldn’t unravel.
The cursed saga of 1 Seaport has included a construction worker’s death from a fall in 2017, and the discovery that the half-finished tower leans three inches to one side.
For the latter, contractor Pizzarotti blamed developer Fortis Property Group for flaws in the foundation. Fortis said the building is structurally sound and blamed Pizzarotti for poor management.
They’re duking it out in court while the hovering hulk has been under the care of a court-appointed temporary receiver since May 2021.
(In a statement, Fortis said it “continues to work with all stakeholders to end legal matters so we can resume work on the building.”)
Meanwhile, Fortis is also battling with mezzanine lender Mack Real Estate, which accuses Fortis and primary lender Bank Leumi of fraud and tried to foreclose on the property — a step which a judge rejected.
The not-so glamorous Waldorf Astoria
The city’s iconic hotel closed under new Chinese ownership in 2017. It was supposed to reopen — with many fewer rooms as part of a multi-billion-dollar transformation to mostly condo apartments — in 2019. Then 2021. Then 2022.
Now, the fabled venue where Marilyn Monroe once lived and where Grace Kelly got engaged to Monaco’s Prince Rainier III might reopen in … late 2024, according to Hilton, which manages the hotel.
I reported recently that it might not be until 2025 at best. Things sound even worse since that story was published.
One former contractor revealed that, since the project’s American director quit in frustration last year, it’s a “rudderless ship” of discrepancies and “poor coordination” and might take until 2025 just to complete model apartments — much less units fit to be lived in.
The fault is not that of Hilton, which desperately wants its flagship to reopen, but the property’s owner — Dajia Insurance Group, which took over for Anbang Insurance after Anbang’s chairman was sentenced to prison in China for fraud in 2018.
Unless a miracle happens, the Art Deco icon of Park Avenue might be dark and scaffolded for a long time to come.
The long-delayed Studio Museum in Harlem
This long-awaited Studio Museum project in Harlem is not as stalled as it might look to the eye, but it is four years behind schedule
In 2015, the half-century-old art and cultural institution at 144 W. 125th St. tapped celebrated British architect David Adjaye to design an all-new structure of 82,000 square feet — with more than twice as much exhibition space as the outdated original.
The museum announced it would open in 2019 but the foundation was not poured until October 2021. Work was slowed by the pandemic and possibly by a temporary funding shortfall.
The development-and-architecture site YIMBY all but pronounced the museum site dead in December 2022, citing an apparent construction lull.
However, a source clarified that, while progress has been slow, it never stopped.
The insider said that the handsome new building should be fully enclosed by June, although he couldn’t yet cite an opening date.
The downtown doom of 125 Greenwich Street
After several would-be suitors played “No, you take it” with this site near the Hudson river, its 88-story, 912-foot tall luxury condo tower designed by Rafael Vinoly was almost finished in 2019.
A new development team that included controversial investor Michael Shvo wanted it to be the “432 Park Avenue of downtown” — referring to the uptown icon which Vinoly also designed.
Italian soccer superstar Marco Borriello signed a contract to buy a $7 million, 80th-floor pad.
But even as most of the exterior glass was in place by January 2019, Shvo dropped out following an art-fraud conviction.
With only $50 million worth of units sold — of a hoped-for $900 million sellout — work ground to a halt due to disputes among the partners, and lawsuits involving local and Chinese lenders.
The unfinished building stood for several years as an exercise in futility, just south of the World Trade Center.
But there’s hope at last.
Chief developer Fortress Investment Group, which converted debt on the property to an equity position, and original sponsor Bizzi & Partners landed a $313 million construction loan from Northwind Group in February to complete the job, and the construction cranes and elevators are running again at last.
The team hopes to re-launch sales in the fall. Stay tuned.
The heartbreak hotel at 255 W. 34th St.
This sad saga began in 2019 when Chetrit Group started to build a 33-story hotel on a bustling block near Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Designed to be cantilevered over low-rise buildings next door, it was was supposed to open in 2021 and be managed by IHG Hotels & Resorts, which runs two Manhattan Intercontinentals and the Crowne Plaza Times Square.
But the structure is at at least ten floors short of a roof and there’s no sign of work being done.
Chetrit’s lender, Maverick Real Estate Partners, seized control of the unfinished eyesore in January after Chetrit failed to pay off a $110 million loan or complete the project on time.
An estimated $106 million is needed to finish the job. Maverick did not respond to a request for comment.
The cursed 45 Broad — and other empty lots
The full-block, one-acre site at 250 Water Street, owned by Seaport operator the Howard Hughes Corporation, is slated for a mixed-use complex of apartments, offices and community spaces.
The $800 million project seemed to have all the approvals it needed — until local activists who feared losing their views persuaded a judge to put it on hold. The ruling is under appeal.
A few blocks southwest, at 45 Broad, developers Madison Equities and Gemdale Properties hesitated and hesitated again to put up a supertall rental apartment tower after they bought the site across the street from the New York Stock Exchange in 2015 — this, after several earlier schemes fell through, including for a Robert De Niro-backed Nobu hotel.
But Gemdale recently bought out Madison’s interest and might go ahead on its own. Its website shows a smaller, 52-story tower designed by Handel Architects with 302 rental apartments.
Farther uptown, the late developer Sheldon Solow bought land on First Avenue’s eastern side, just south of the United Nations, way back in 2000 with plans for high-rise office and apartment towers. He later sold off part of it but his successor company, the Soloviev Group led by his son Stefan Soloviev, still owns 6.7 acres on three blocks.
Stefan hopes to build a casino complex in partnership with gaming giant Mohegan and anchored by a giant ferris wheel. Don’t hold your breath: It’s one of a dozen-odd casino proposals for the Big Apple being considered by state regulators.
On the Upper East Side, Hunter College, a unit of the City University of New York, and Memorial Sloan-Kettering announced plans for two large, adjacent buildings along East 73d and 74th streets, between York Avenue and the FDR Drive.
Sloan-Kettering’s facility went up, but, in a snit fit, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo refused to fund Hunter’s $300 million project even after CUNY dug a foundation for it. (A CUNY spokesperson said this week, “CUNY is still in the process of determining appropriate next steps.”)
The Post reported last year that CUNY was spending $1 million a year to prevent the hole from flooding.
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