page_title: 111 West 57th Street
section_title: Parkside Construction indictment and further lawsuits
hierarchical_section_title: 111 West 57th Street / History / Parkside Construction indictment and further lawsuits
caption_attribution_description: English: Exterior shot of the Steinway Tower construction site on November 3, 2017.
context_page_description: 111 West 57th Street, also known as the Steinway Tower, is an 84-story, 1,428-foot supertall residential skyscraper developed by developers JDS Development Group and Property Markets Group in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Located along Billionaires' Row on 57th Street near Sixth Avenue, the development consists of the original landmarked Steinway Building designed in 1925 by Warren & Wetmore and a new tower by SHoP Architects.
  When completed, the tower will be one of the tallest buildings in the United States, as well as the thinnest skyscraper in the world with a width-to-height ratio of about 1:23 or 1:24. The north side of the tower rises directly up to the pinnacle of the building. On the south side of the tower, a series of setbacks appear as the tower rises, thinning out as the height of the building increases.
  Since beginning construction in early 2014, the development has faced significant challenges including union protests, multiple lawsuits from a former equity partner, a foreclosure, and the indictment of the project's general contractor for fraud, withholding wages, and using undocumented immigrant labor.
context_section_description: By November 2017, the tower had reached a height of roughly 500 feet (150 m), and initial glass facade installation had begun. In March 2018, the tower's height officially surpassed the halfway point at over 700 feet (210 m). In May 2018, Madison Realty Capital provided a $90 million preferred equity investment in the tower, allowing construction to continue.
  The same month, New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. indicted general contractor Parkside Construction for a variety of financial crimes. The indictment included charges of stealing $1.7 million from 520 workers on the project by purposely shorting their hours and failing to pay them overtime, hiding nearly $42 million in wages from state insurance officials to avoid paying workers’ compensation premiums, and using undocumented immigrants from Mexico and Ecuador. The company's owners, Francesco and Salvatore Pugliese, were arrested and charged with grand larceny, insurance fraud and scheme to defraud. The company's construction foreman, payroll manager, and an outside accountant were also charged in the scheme. Parkside had previously been sued in 2015 in a class action lawsuit by former workers on the site, who had alleged widespread wage theft.
  The month after, Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group sued the building's developers for $30 million, claiming that their contract to market the building's units had been unfairly terminated. The developers claimed that the brokerage had been replaced with Douglas Elliman after failing to sell 25% of the building's units by the middle of 2018 as required by their contract. However, Corcoran claimed that due to the numerous lawsuits, delays, and cost overruns, the developers had halted marketing and sales for the units which made it impossible for the brokerage to reach their sales hurdles. Corcoran also sued Douglas Elliman for tortious interference, claiming the company had hired away the building's sales director in violation of her non-compete clause.
  In August, the developers filed paperwork with the Attorney General of New York to raise prices at the project despite a slowing luxury market. Sales at the project officially relaunched the next month with prices ranging from $18 million to over $57 million.
  On January 21, 2019, a suspended scaffold attached to the building broke free from the exterior of the 55th floor and showered pieces of broken glass from cracked windows over nearby sidewalks due to high winds. The New York City Buildings Department initiated a partial stop work order, and issued the site a violation for failure to safeguard construction equipment. In April 2019, the building's concrete form officially topped-out, and exterior work of its pinnacle is expected to be completed by 2020.
  After the dismissal of their three previous lawsuits, AmBase again sued Spruce Capital, Maloney, and Stern in May 2019 in another attempt to regain control of the project. In addition to restating their previous allegations of collusion between Spruce, Maloney, and Stern, AmBase also sought additional damages for the developers' alleged breach of their fiduciary duties. Around the same time, the building's 7,175 square feet (666.6 m²) penthouse entered contract for "close to" its asking price of $58 million, making it one of the most expensive New York condo sales of 2019. In August 2019, the developers hired Newmark Group to find tenants for the building's 50,000 square feet (4,600 m²) of retail space on the building's first four floors and basement. One month later, JDS asked lenders for a $1.1 billion loan to replace AIG's $725 million in construction debt.
caption: Construction in November 2017, shortly after glass installation began
exif: {"Image Make": "Microsoft", "Image Model": "Lumia 735", "Image Orientation": "Rotated 90 CW", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Windows Phone", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "2256", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSLatitudeRef": "N", "GPS GPSLatitude": "[40, 45, 49083/1000]", "GPS GPSLongitudeRef": "W", "GPS GPSLongitude": "[73, 58, 41519/1000]", "GPS GPSAltitudeRef": "0", "GPS GPSAltitude": "307", "GPS GPSMeasureMode": "3", "GPS GPSDOP": "42", "GPS Tag 0xEA1C": "[]", "Image GPSInfo": "53908", "Image Padding": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "6743/100000", "EXIF FNumber": "19/10", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "160", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:11:03 17:48:06", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:11:03 17:48:06", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "778093/200000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "37/20", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "81/25", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "823", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "501", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1728", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "5/4", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "28", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "12"}