A 58-story skyscraper in Manhattan is reportedly leaning three inches to the north. The tower, which sits in lower Manhattan along the East River, is known as One Seaport or 161 Maiden Lane.
The contractor is suing the developer, saying the developer allowed the tower to be built on a shoddy foundation. But the developer, Fortis Property Group, says Pizzarotti filed the lawsuit to draw attention away from its inability to finish the project.
I went to go get a look at the 670-foot tower, which reached its full height in September 2018, to see if the tilt was visible to the naked eye.
This is a view of the tower's East Side, so according to the contractor, it should be leaning to the right, which is north.
next slide will load in 15 secondsSkip AdSkip AdTo get a better view, I headed over to a pier jutting out into the East River. A spokesperson for the developer told Business Insider that two engineering firms assessed the building and found no safety issue with the tilt. And in fact, the leaning is "a misalignment issue" that, the spokesperson said, can actually be fixed with a "slight redesign of the building's curtain wall, which is already being installed."
So, the tilt will apparently not be an issue for much longer. But this isn't the first time the unfinished One Seaport has been at the heart of a scandal.
In September 2017, a 36-year-old construction worker fell to his death and construction was delayed after the city's Department of Buildings found "numerous immediately hazardous conditions" on the site. The building's previous contractor pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
I thought a wider view from the East River ferry might make the three-inch tilt at One Seaport visible to my eye, but I still couldn't see it. I thought a wider view from the East River ferry might make the three-inch tilt at One Seaport visible to my eye, but I still couldn't see it. While the building does stand out from the ones surrounding it, it’s primarily because of its height — not because of the angle at which it stands.