What it is really like to live in a NYC skyscraper

New York's skyline is an iconic compendium of skyscrapers. Many of them, on the island of Manhattan, are the homes of wealthy people. However, quite a few of these spectacular homes hide a wide array of problems that will make you second-guess living in one of them.

Believe it or not, these immense luxury apartments with privileged views have huge disadvantages. Did you know that half of them are empty?

Skyscrapers move a lot in the wind. You can feel it when you live on a high floor - "the walls sound like they're going to crack!" some inhabitants say. The towers also require constant repairs, because in more than one case the construction was not done efficiently. And in the end, even when you're rich, expenses of many thousands a month are no fun for anyone.

This is the case revealed by The New York Times. The paper published documents and testimonies demonstrating that one of the most luxurious skyscrapers in the city, on 432 Park Avenue, is a disaster as a place to live in. Or at least, that's what tenants say.

(Image: Epistola8, Wikimedia)

This skyscraper that The New York Times exposed was designed by Uruguayan architect Rafael Viñoly and completed in 2015. Three years of hard work to erect the building and demolish the 1926 hotel that once stood there.

(Image: Epistola8, Wikimedia)

New York is merciless with its past and builds on it. The 432 Park Avenue building offers luxury housing priced between 15 and 80 million dollars (the latter for the penthouse, owned by a sheikh).

Jennifer Lopez and her former partner, Alex Rodriguez, bought a flat of approximately 4,000 square feet at 432 Park Avenue in 2017. They sold it in 2018. The couple was spared a host of misadventures that some of the building's homeowners later showed to The New York Times.

One example of the problems J-Lo and Rodriguez may have encountered at some point, is that the skyscraper's elevators often break down. That's because of its design, height and flexibility: it is a tower that sways a lot.

Another problem at 432 Park Avenue (and many other New York high-rises) is the force of the rain in a city with a climate that swings between extremes: unbearable heat in summer, snow and rain in winter. Leaks and flooding have caused extra expenses for tenants.

Sarina Abramovich, a tenant at 432 Park Avenue who spoke to The New York Times, claims to have spent $500,000 to fix successive water leaks. Incidentally, such problems with leaks and burst pipes also lead to water supply cuts.

Another drawback of living in a luxury high-rise like 432 Park Avenue are its secondary costs: they have skyrocketed in recent years. According to Edward Slinin, another resident who spoke to The New York Times, homeowner's insurance increased by 300% in the last two years. This is partly caused by the amount of repairs that had to be made in the building.

In addition, anyone who owns a home at 432 Park Avenue is entitled (and obligated!) to use the Michelin-starred restaurant service of the complex. The cost of that service has gone up from $1,200 to $15,000 a year, and breakfast has been eliminated from the package.

Living in Manhattan is madness. Woody Allen recounts in his memoir 'Apropos of Nothing' that, for much of his life, the pursuit of living in the epicentre of New York was a battle against flats that were leaking, cold, plumbing was broken.... However, he concedes, the views were so extraordinary.

In the book 'Pretend It's a City,' Fran Lebowitz also jokes constantly about housing prices in New York. "I need to win the lottery urgently to pay for my house," she says at one point.

In fact, according to recurring media reports, about half of New York's skyscrapers are empty. It is becoming increasingly difficult to rent or sell offices and housing that are exorbitantly priced and, in the end, fall short of perfection from an engineering or architectural point of view.

In any case, a group of 432 Park Avenue tenants have organised to complain to the developer. And they are not the only rich people who feel a bit ripped off by their housing in New York.

It is still the city that everyone wants to go to. New York can withstand any catastrophe, even a pandemic.

The city was in a worse state in the 1980s - with bankruptcy, violence in the streets, rats, falling buildings - and it survived. So we will just have to get used to the inconvenience of skyscrapers.