Has Bloomberg softened stance on wind-related skyscraper incidents?

The One57 crane and Mayor Bloomberg
The One57 crane and Mayor Bloomberg

Mayor Michael Bloomberg appears to have changed his mind about skyscraper damage resulting from wind-related incidents, the New York Observer reported. Last month’s infamous One57’s dangling crane reminded the Observer of when April 2004’s freakish wind storms dislodged constructions material from the then-unfinished Time Warner Center.

Back in 2004, Bloomberg ordered work to be stopped immediately at Time Warner Center and reportedly chastised the developer. As previously reported, after the One57 crane collapsed, Bloomberg defended the Extell project and its developer, Gary Barnett.

“The law says that you have to batten down all construction material every single day before you go home, and this is a site where we’ve given four summonses out,” Bloomberg said following the Times Warner Centermishap. “We are not going to have to walk down the streets and look up all the time at a building wondering whether something is going to come off it.”

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After the One57 crane incident, Bloomberg said, “It’s conceivable that nobody did anything wrong whatsoever and it wasn’t even a malfunction, it was just a strange gust of wind.”

Following the crane collapse, The Real Deal took a look at what was next for the Extell tower that has attracted billionaire buyers. [NYO]