Developer of Jean Nouvel-designed New York City condo complex sued

The 100 Eleventh Avenue luxury apartment complex certainly is dazzling. French architect Jean Nouvel designed the building and its curved curtain wall consisting of colorless glass panes of varying sizes.

Living there isn’t quite worth the million-dollar price tags.

Loren Ridinger, a resident and founder of Motive cosmetics, is suing the building’s developers, Cape Advisors, as the Telegraph reports. Wind blows and water seeps through the gaps between panes of glass, and drafts have even caused heating pipes to freeze and burst, according to court papers.

“Much to the surprise and bitter disappointment of the condominium’s unit owners, the building’s ambitious design was poorly executed and subject to cost-cutting measures which left the lauded glass curtain wall with fatal construction defects,” Ridinger’s lawyer, Steven Sladkus, said in the suit.

In the past, residents have complained about cracking concrete, leaks, and curtain wall issues.

One-bedroom apartments are marketed for $1.4 million, and the penthouse is on the market for $20 million. A 430-sf apartment in the building is priced at nearly $1 million.

Photo: Steve Silverman/Creative Commons.

Across the country, multifamily rents have skyrocketed. Year-over-year rents are up by double digits in nine of the top 30 markets, while national YoY rent growth is up 6.3%. Emerging from the pandemic, a perfect storm of migration, enhanced government stimulus and a hot housing market, among other factors, has enabled this extremely strong growth.