The crane at One57

The city now has a plan to retrieve the dangling crane at One57, the Wall Street Journal reported. Work is expected to begin tomorrow — and will take an estimated 36 hours, according to the New York Observer’s Twitter feed.

To get the machinery down, a worker will reportedly rotate the whole crane using a hand crank, which will turn the boom toward the building, according to the Journal. Cables will then secure the boom to steel arms that have been installed near the top of the tower. Then a derrick will be installed to lower the damaged machinery down to street level. [more]

Mayor Bloomberg and the collapsed crane at One57

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today that he expects individuals could return to their homes and offices near One57 this weekend. The block of West 57th Street was cleared following the collapse of a crane at the luxury tower on Monday, and city and private engineers are working to fully secure and, eventually, dismantle the suspended crane.

If the weather cooperates, the city expects to tie down the crane this weekend, “dramatically” reducing the size of the area that has been evacuated, Mayor Bloomberg said. However, it could take weeks to build another crane, and the mayor warned that some “sporadic closings” could take place as crews take down pieces of the One57 crane, he said. [more]

From left: Gary Barnett, a rendering of One57 and the collapsed crane at One57

[Updated 1:21pm, with comment from Extell] Among the many depictions of Hurricane Sandy, the image of the One57 crane, bent backwards like a wilted stalk, is among the most indelible. In the aftermath of the collapse, construction engineers and city officials are working to fully secure the crane. Meanwhile, questions about what caused the incident and what it will mean for the high-profile Extell project and its developer, Gary Barnett, are largely unanswered.

At press time, the crane continued to dangle 74 stories above West 57th Street, which had been evacuated between Sixth and Seventh avenues. Steam, electricity and gas in the surrounding area were shut off, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday. [more]

HFZ's Ziel Feldman and 303 East 51st Street

Construction is once again an issue at the Turtle Bay site where a crane collapsed and killed seven people in 2008. According to the New York Post, Ziel Feldman’s HFZ Capital Group, which is developing the site in conjunction with CIM Group, is seeking a way to remove the balconies already built on the 18-story shell at 303 East 51st Street. [more]

From left: Crane owner James Lomma and the Azure at 333 East 91st Street

[Updated at 1:42 p.m. with comments and details from the courtroom] In a move that caught many by surprise, the owner of a crane that collapsed at an Upper East Side condominium in 2008 killing two people was acquitted of all the charges against him today, including manslaughter.

James Lomma was found not guilty of six counts by Judge Daniel Coviser in a packed courtroom in Lower Manhattan, bringing an end to a high-profile and emotionally fraught two-month criminal trial. [more]

James Lomma

The case against he owner of the crane that collapsed in 2008 is winding down, the Associated Press reported, as the final prosecutor summations were delivered today. Prosecuters accuse owner James Lomma of being a cold-hearted businessman who greedily commissioned a spotty, cost-saving repair of a crucial component of the crane and hid it from inspectors. [more]

The site of the crane collapse

Construction on the 7 train extension resumed yesterday afternoon, according to city officials, DNAinfo reported, for the first time since a crane collapse at the West 34th Street and 11th Avenue work site last week killed one construction worker and injured three others. A cable snapped, the second such incident in the last three months, on a crane which was owned and operated by Yonkers Contracting Company, prompting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to suspend work at the site. [more]

From left: the site of the crane collapse, DOB Commissioner Robert LiMandri and Mayor Michael Bloomberg

Last week’s crane accident on the Far West Side, which killed one construction worker, has sparked a debate over the control of crane operators — who will hire them and how they will be vetted, the New York Post reported. The union slammed Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying he is defending the pocket books of “his super-rich developer friends,” by allowing new New York City Department of Buildings regulations that would allow additional crane operators to work in the city, in a statement. [more]

Azure crane collapse

In testimony today in the manslaughter trial of James Lomma, owner of the crane that collapsed in May 2008 during construction of the Azure, deceased construction worker Donald Leo Jr.’s father took the stand, the New York Daily News reported.

Leo held back tears as he recounted his trip uptown to see his son after he was told about the accident, at 333 East 91st Street, at First Avenue, which killed two people. [more]

303 East 51st Street

The documents detailing the wrongful death settlements in the 2008 East 51st Street crane collapse that harmed 31 people have been ordered unsealed by a Manhattan judge, the New York Law Journal reported. The defendants appealed the decision yesterday, The Real Deal has learned.

Justice Carol Edmead said that there was no justification for withholding the settlement amounts from the public now that all seven Labor Law wrongful death cases have been settled. Edmead had temporarily sealed the documents after one of the trials so that previous judgments wouldn’t impact the ones pending. [more]