SEAPORT, Manhattan (PIX11) — New Yorkers are looking up at skyscrapers under construction more than ever after an old Pfizer building buckled and led to evacuations throughout Midtown, Manhattan on Tuesday.
In the historic Seaport district, a 600-foot leaning skyscraper where a construction worker fell to his death has sat unfinished for six years, and it could stay that way for a while longer.
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What was supposed to be a luxury residential tower, dubbed the Seaport Residences at 161 Maiden Lane, now exists as an unfinished project with no known future.
Development of the “first all-glass residential tower in the Seaport” began in 2014 by the Forits Property Group. It was expected to stand 670-feet tall with pools, a spa, a gym, lounge chairs, a children’s playroom and more.
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Despite its selling points, work on the building came to a halt in 2020 when the property owners did not renew their permit for the location, followed by the general contractor withdrawing a year later. The Department of Buildings has since issued a stop work order for the project.
In the years leading up to the building’s abandonment, the New York City District Council of Carpenters picketed outside the construction site, accusing the contractor, SSC High Rise Construction, of unsafe working conditions.
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In Sep. 2017, a construction worker fell more than two dozen floors to his death after his harness wasn’t clipped in. There was additionally no safety netting on the building at the time of the incident, PIX11 News previously reported.
What’s happened since the stop work order?
As of July 2026, the building still has six active violations from the DOB, including failure to correct a hazardous violation, inability to determine what percentage of work was completed and failure to have a tenant protection plan posted in front of the work site.
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In 2022, the FDNY scheduled a joint inspection due to the site being unguarded shortly before another complaint reported that unauthorized individuals gained access to the area. The complaint was later closed by the DOB, which ruled that the job site watchperson and hoist operator were on site and that no unsafe work conditions were found…