A developer behind the Midtown office conversion project that suffered structural damage on Tuesday played down the problems in an interview, saying there was never a danger of a building collapse and that he expected the project to be delayed for only a few weeks.
“This incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap,” Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, said on Tuesday evening. “It happens unfortunately far too often on construction sites: falling cranes, people — God forbid — falling off buildings, windows falling out.”
MetroLoft is converting the offices in the 37-story building along with David Werner Real Estate.
Mr. Berman said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower on East 42nd Street bent under the weight of expansion of the building. He said it was likely those columns had not been properly reinforced, or had not been reinforced — questions that would be answered during the investigation.
The rest of the columns in the building and the floor “picked up the weight,” he said. The floors above then sagged by up to four inches, according to measurements Mr. Berman said he received from his team. He said there was never any risk of collapse.
“I don’t know that a four-inch sag is a collapse,” he said.
He said the engineering and design of the project, which were approved by the city, were “perfect.”
“This is well engineered, well thought through and well executed, with the exception of those two columns that could not take the load,” he said.
Asked about Mr. Berman’s claims, a spokesman for the Buildings Department said the building was still being stabilized and an investigation was continuing.
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