After a Kodiak crane collapsed last Friday on the Upper East Side, killing two construction workers, use of a Kodiak crane on the W New York Downtown Hotel and Residences project at 123 Washington St. was halted Saturday by the Department of Buildings. Six other Kodiak cranes currently being used on other projects around the city were also shut down by D.O.B. stop-work orders.
A green light to reactivate the Lower Manhattan crane will only come when it is inspected and a thorough review of maintenance records is complete, said Kate Lindquist, a D.O.B. spokesperson. Lindquist also said that, although there is a citywide halt on Kodiak cranes, there is no reason to believe that these tower cranes, as a whole, are unsafe.
Tishman Construction Corporation, the company charged with the W project’s construction, is “taking all the necessary steps to accommodate the special testing and inspection of the Kodiak crane,” Richard Kielar, spokesman for Tishman, said in a press release. He added that “D.O.B. will determine when work can proceed.”
This marks the second stop-work order resulting from a crane collapse that has affected the Washington St. site in the past three months, said Justin Saunders, another Tishman spokesperson. The stop-work order “has slowed down that portion of the project,” Saunders said in reference to crane-specific work. Construction, however, will continue uninterrupted on other portions of the project, he noted.
On land purchased by the Moinian Group, 123 Washington St. will stand 57 stories tall. A mixed-use building, it will include a residential portion as well as a W Hotel. The project’s completion is scheduled for 2009.
— James S. Woodman
