Falling ice forces street closures near Columbus Circle
Multiple blocks near Columbus Circle were off-limits to pedestrians and drivers for the second day in a row after reports of ice falling from an under-construction supertall skyscraper.
West 58th Street between 7th Avenue and Broadway, Broadway between West 57th Street and Columbus Circle and 7th Avenue from West 59th Street to West 57th Street were all closed to traffic Thursday afternoon, the Department of Emergency Management said.
The closures came the day after falling ice from the same building — the 150-story Central Park Tower at 217 West 57th Street — left a pedestrian with a head injury on Wednesday.
No injuries were reported on Thursday, though a worker next door at 180 West 58th Street said that on Wednesday night pieces of ice crashed through his building atrium’s double-pane glass ceiling and dented the roof of a car parked outside.
“The glass came crashing down in front of me,” he told The Post. “I was shocked. I was thankful that I wasn’t where it fell.”
“People on the street were afraid… standing under the scaffolding. Nobody wanted to cross the street,” he said.
A police spokesperson said Thursday’s closures were initiated “out of an abundance of caution” as small pieces of ice continued to fall from the tower.
Workers at the construction site told The Post that the north side of the tower doesn’t get sunlight, preventing ice from melting.
“The sun doesn’t shine on that side so the snow doesn’t melt. The wind is blowing it all over,” said one worker who requested anonymity.
On Wednesday, the Department of Buildings also ordered an indefinite stop to construction on the tower, which will be the world’s largest residential building when it opens next year.
The site has been the subject of 31 DOB complaints this year, including one in March for falling ice.
“NOT SURE WHAT EXACTLY IS FALLING FROM THE FROM THE EAST SIDE OF THE BUILDING,” the March 11 complaint reads. “SUSPECTS IT MAY BE ICE.”
One passerby named Rose, who declined to give her last name, saw Wednesday’s falling icicles.
“I saw chunks of ice — not tiny — big chunks of ice falling off the building,” she told The Post. “They smashed into pieces.”
Central Park Tower developer Extell did not immediately return a request for comment.
Additional reporting by Ruth Weissmann