New Yorkers Are Asking If 432 Park Avenue Is Safe After Cracks Discovered on Luxury Building
The building is known as a home for the wealthy.
Published Oct. 22 2025, 4:09 p.m. ET
New Yorkers are wondering if the luxury building located at 432 Park Avenue is safe after reports claim that it is full of cracks, per The New York Times. The address is located on what's known as Billionaires’ Row in Manhattan, and the 1,400-foot-high building was once known as "architectural purity incarnate," according to The New York Post.
The condos were built for the wealthy, and Jennifer Lopez and her ex-fiancé, baseball star Alex Rodriguez, reportedly bought a $15 million condo in the building back in 2018. So, is the building safe?
Is 432 Park Avenue safe?
According to engineers, the building is no longer safe. Steve Bongiorno, who is a structural engineer, told The New York Times that the building at 432 Park Avenue has cracks and eventually, chunks of concrete will be falling off the luxury building.
"Chunks of concrete will fall off, and windows will start loosening up," he warned. The developers reportedly chose aesthetics over safety, and the result is a cracked and decaying building.
"You can’t take the elevators, mechanical systems start to fail, pipe joints start to break, and you get water leaks all over the place. The building just becomes uninhabitable," he added.
Engineers say that the building can be repaired for a hefty price — approximately $160 million.
Is 432 Park Avenue empty?
No, residents still live in the building, and real estate brokers are reportedly dismissing the advice of engineers and claim the problems have been fixed.
“It’s old news. Everything works," claimed a source. "I can promise you there’s no sloshing in the tub! There were noise problems, but they were fixed. There is no creaking anymore. I’d be shocked if people are moving out. If someone gave me an apartment there, I’d move in."
Residents in the building have complained of the walls creaking as well as leaking ceilings. They also reported swaying floors and malfunctioning elevators after moving into 432 Park Avenue.
The building was built in 2015, according to The U.S. Sun. It holds 125 ultra-luxury condos that feature panoramic views of Central Park, which cost anywhere from $10.5 million for a two-bedroom condo to $55 million for a six-bedroom penthouse.
The building's structure was a point of concern before it was even built, as engineers and architects advised the developers to rethink the design of the rectangular building. An internal email from Jim Herr, a director at Rafael Viñoly Architects back in 2012 revealed the warning.
"They are going down a dangerous and slippery path that I believe will eventually lead to failure and lawsuits to come," he wrote.
Despite the warnings, one of the developers, CIM Group, called the warnings "baseless," and Department of Buildings inspectors claimed that the building had "no unsafe conditions," so it passed safety checks. However, engineers aren't so sure.
Jose Torero is the head of Civil Engineering at University College in London, and he said the building is "a failure."
"A 10-year-old building should not be showing that level of deterioration."