Hi-Rise Crane Snaps In Manhattan

A crane has apparently snapped on the under-construction One57 building, which when completed at 90 stories will be the western hemisphere's tallest residential skyscraper.

Sometime this afternoon, the boom of a crane atop One57 snapped back and now hangs precariously from the cab of the crane. So far nothing has fallen from the structure. “Can’t talk now but we don’t know anything yet,” Gary Barnett, developer of One57, just told The Observer in a brief phone interview. “We’re doing everything we can, and hopefully no one is going to get hurt.” The emergency responders are on the scene, evacuating nearby buildings. Carnegie Tower and the Metropolitan Tower, luxury condos directly across 57th Street, are of considerable concern. The city’s NotifyNYC Twitter service has directed all occupants of buildings on West 57th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue to “immediately move to the lower floors of your building” and has also advised “citizens should avoid the area.”

The penthouse at One57 recently sold for $90M, the highest price ever paid for a New York City home.