The condominium board at 432 Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan — once the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere — first sued the building's developers in 2021.
In that lawsuit, the board said that mismanagement at the 96-story, 125-unit skyscraper was "one of the worst examples" of developer malfeasance "in the history of New York City."
Its suit said that the building was riddled with more than 1,500 "construction and design defects," such as repeated elevator breakdowns, leaks, floods, and obtrusive noise and vibrations caused by the developer's "failure to properly design" the building to account for its height.
It said the developer's response to those flaws had been "equally atrocious."
The developers told Business Insider in a statement that the condo-board's lawsuit "has always been misguided, creating a false narrative and inaccurately disparaging the building," adding that "the complaint is full of falsehoods and hyperbole."
"The Board's effort to extract monies to which it is not entitled continues to drive substantial litigation costs for all parties, and further harms the 432 Park Unit Owners by perpetuating a false narrative about the building that can only destroy value," the developers said.
The battle has intensified in the three years since the initial lawsuit, with more than 4 million pages of documents filed in court, the Journal reported.
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Now, a number of owners in the building are looking to sell — even if it means taking a loss, the outlet says.
Eighteen units in 432 Park, totaling 14% of the building's units, were listed for sale as of mid-May, the Journal's analysis found, citing data from StreetEasy.
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As of Thursday, 16 units were listed for sale on StreetEasy, 13 of which were listed for less than they had been in previous years, according to their StreetEasy price history. The price of one of the units had been reduced by nearly 18% in the past year, StreetEasy data shows.
The building's six-bedroom, seven-bathroom, 8,255-square-foot penthouse apartment was on sale for $169 million in 2022; now, it's listed for $105 million, a 38% reduction.
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Since the legal dispute became public in 2021, 11 sales have closed in the building. Those units sold for about 3.7% less, on average, than what the sellers originally paid, and, for those listed publicly, at a 27.4% discount from the highest asking price, the Journal reported.
Lawyers for the building's board did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
