Lawsuits claim toxic mold has invaded Park Avenue tower

NEW YORK (AP) 1/6/03 – A Park Avenue condominium where apartments sell for $10 million has been named in two lawsuits alleging mold contamination has taken over the building due to poor construction. The lawsuits against 515 Park Ave., a 43-story tower completed in 1999 and owned by Zeckendorf Realty, were filed by the building’s board and separately by commercial real-estate investor Richard Kramer, the New York Post reported Monday. Kramer, who lives in the East 60th Street high-rise, charged in his Dec. 31 lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court that a “killer fungus” made his 3-year-old daughter and wife seriously ill. He also charged that the family’s antiques collection was “cracking or otherwise rapidly deteriorating because of no climate controls,” the paper said.

In its lawsuit, which also named several construction and architectural firms that built the tower, the board claimed the building had inadequate insulation on walls and pipes, the Post reported. The Post said a memo from the board to residents said the board had tested seven apartments and found contamination in all, with mold levels in two so high that the owners had to move out immediately. One of the owners reportedly was Kramer. Zeckendorf Realty, reached for comment Monday, declined comment. Other tenants include Sen. Jon Corzine, Broadway impresario James Nederlander and EMI chairman Alain Levy, the Post said. Molds are types of fungi, some of which can be fatal to small children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. A similar lawsuit, involving a building in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, was filed in September 2001 by a woman who said her daughter was killed by poisonous mold growing inside her apartment.