After structural issues caused steel columns to fail on a New York City high-rise, city officials evacuated buildings, closed roads and got to work assessing the danger.
Construction crews have made progress to fully stabilize the building, after immediate shoring efforts made it safer to do so, according to a Department of Buildings update shared with Construction Dive.
So, what happens next?
Legal experts told Construction Dive that the structural failure at 235 East 42nd St. is noteworthy, both for its scope and its visibility. Though safety and mitigation is the immediate concern, lawyers say preparations have likely begun for the legal dogfight ahead.
First steps in safety crisis
Construction lawyers lauded the city’s response to the dangers, saying the rapid evacuation of the affected building and surrounding area ensured there were no injuries or deaths.
“New York City is very well organized. Its life safety system for protecting people in these types of situations went smoothly. Everyone did their job, which is why we are where we are,” said Carol Sigmond, New York City-based partner at law firm Nossaman. “The infrastructure was there and it worked.”
After the initial action to evacuate, the next step was ensuring it was safe enough for reentry and shoring work, followed by investigating what caused the column failure in the first place, said Trent Cotney, Tampa, Florida-based partner at law firm Adams & Reese.
That’s the current state in Manhattan, according to the DOB update. The DOB has required the project owner, MetroLoft, to retain an independent third-party engineer to conduct an additional forensic evaluation.
Preparing for a ‘mess’
Cotney said if he was representing any of the stakeholders in this situation — be they developer, contractor or subcontractor — he would advise them to start collecting and documenting information immediately in anticipation of a flurry of claims.
“My advice would be, obviously lawyer up. I would get a forensic expert out there myself to investigate,” Cotney said. “Everybody that’s touched this job is going to lawyer up. It’s going to be a mess.”
Dan Rosenberg, principal at Much Shelist in Chicago, described it in much the same way.
“It’s definitely going to put a bunch of lawyers’ kids through college,” Rosenberg said.
Once the immediate dust has settled, the claims, finger-pointing and legal battles will start, Rosenberg said. From potential fines and citations to scope changes and payments, lawyers will be “guns out” soon, said Rosenberg.
Legal experts said the issue appeared to be structural- or design-related. The office-to-apartment conversion project added several floors above an existing structure, and for a yet-to-be-confirmed reason, that load was too much to bear.
Rosenberg said, whatever the cause, initial funds for fallout will likely be drawn from the structural engineers’ professional liability insurance.
But even that can have limits.
“There’s a really good chance the structural engineer’s professional liability insurance isn’t going to be enough,” Rosenberg said. “But you have to be thinking about the contracts and the insurance and the claims as you deal with the crisis so that you’re not exposed legally.”
To that end, investing in the analysis to ensure that the cause of the dangerous conditions is fully understood is paramount, Cotney said.
“This is a widow-maker,” he said, referring to the immense danger the structural failure posed. “This is one of those cataclysmic events that it’s worth shelling out tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands just for that peace of mind.”
Future of the project
Due to the apparent structural issues, the future of the project is hard to predict, experts said. MetroLoft Founder and Managing Principal Nathan Berman has said it will be reconstructed, according to Bloomberg.
“We are prepared to rebuild that portion of the building,” Berman said, according to the news outlet. “It will be reskinned, everything will be leveled, fixed in place, and it will be brand new.”
Berman said structural concerns impact 18,000 square feet of the entire 1.3 million square-foot project, or fewer than 30 apartments, Bloomberg reported.
But without a full independent investigation, it’s hard to know for sure if the build can proceed as planned without a major change in scope, according to Sigmond.
“I think the building department will require the building to come down below the failure,” said Sigmond. “The next step is what can they put back, how much the building can take.”
That presents questions for the future of the build, at least for this version of the office conversion.
“This project will be stalled for months,” Cotney said. “A lot of these die on the vine.”
Rosenberg offered more optimism about the project’s future once the claims have been sorted.
“Issues like this have happened on major construction projects before and the project has recovered,” Rosenberg said. Likely, a lender would step in if the progress stalled and take over the ultimate delivery of the project. “I would be somewhat surprised if the whole project just tanked.”