Foreclosure Looms in the building where the NY crane fell

All work on the concrete hulk of what would have been a sleek 43-story tower at 303 East 51st Street ceased after the accident more than four months ago. City officials rejected the developer’s revised construction plans in June and revoked his building permit.

On July 25, the developer’s lender, Arbor Realty Funding L.L.C., began a foreclosure action in State Supreme Court in Manhattan against the developer, James P. Kennelly, for failure to repay $70.4 million in overdue project loans. Arbor is seeking to sell the property to satisfy the loans.

It could be sometime next year before the fate of the project is resolved. In the meantime, it casts a pall over the neighborhood and serves as a constant reminder of the Saturday afternoon that the 22-story tower crane crashed to the street, killing seven and forcing 17 nearby buildings and hundreds of residents to be evacuated. The unfinished building, which rises 18 stories above Second Avenue, is shrouded in orange safety netting and is illuminated at night.

The March 15 accident, the first of two major crane accidents in Manhattan this year, highlighted a rising tide of construction accidents amid the current building boom and embarrassed the Bloomberg administration. Since then, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and City Council members have called for new safety standards and stricter training and enforcement.