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An unfinished 670-foot skyscraper at 161 Maiden Lane in Manhattan’s Financial District—also known as One Seaport or Seaport Residences—has received renewed attention following recent reports of structural problems at the former Pfizer headquarters building.
One Seaport, dubbed the “Leaning Tower of Lower Manhattan,” has remained unfinished as work on it appeared to have been paused since 2019 amid reports that the structure was leaning.
Construction began in 2015, and a dispute later emerged after surveys reportedly showed the building leaning about three inches to the north. Court filings included surveys indicating that the tower was “encroaching on a neighboring property line due to the leaning of the structure,” and that the issue ultimately contributed to litigation between the project’s contractor and the developer, Fortis Property.
Concerns about the tower have circulated among local observers. In 2024, images shared on Reddit claimed the building appeared to be leaning westward and was “actually touching the building next door.”
Previous safety concerns have also surrounded the project. In 2017, a construction worker fell more than two dozen floors to his death after his harness was not clipped in and there was no safety netting on the building, according to New York’s PIX11 News.
As of July 2026, the property reportedly still had six active New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) violations, including failure to correct a hazardous violation and issues relating to documenting completed work and posting a tenant protection plan, according to PIX11 News.
A spokesperson for the DOB told Newsweek that the tower remains under a Stop Work Order issued by the DOB that has been in place since 2021 after the general contractor formally withdrew from the project. The spokesperson said the property’s permit has also not been renewed since it last expired in 2020.
The DOB spokesperson said it has “not observed any evidence that the tower construction site at 161 Maiden Lane is structurally unstable and posing an immediate hazard to the public.”
The spokesperson added: “We have not received any recent notifications of unsafe structural conditions related to 161 Maiden Lane.”
According to the spokesperson, the DOB conducts periodic inspections of One Seaport to check that the owners are “complying with all applicable safety regulations.” The inspectors have visited the site multiple times this year, and found it closed, with “no unsafe conditions,” the spokesperson said.
What Engineers Say About the Risk
Despite public concern over the building’s lean, engineers told Newsweek that a leaning building is not automatically a dangerous one.
Industrial engineer Jacob Ferguson told Newsweek: “Based on what has been disclosed publicly, I don’t believe it is prudent to declare 161 Maiden Lane an imminent threat simply because it leans by a certain amount.”
He explained that a lean by itself does not necessarily indicate danger and that engineers need current inspection and monitoring data to understand a structure’s condition.
Ferguson said the key questions to ask are whether the building is still moving, whether foundation settlement is continuing, and whether structural loads are still being carried as designed. The answers to these questions, he said, come from long-term measurements rather than appearances.
He added that if the structure and foundation have stabilized, a measurable lean could remain for many years. Ferguson noted: “What I would find worrying is evidence that the lean continues to increase, that new movement is occurring, or that structural monitoring indicates the building is behaving differently than before.”
Structural engineer Greg Batista echoed that assessment. Batista told Newsweek that a measurable lean does not automatically mean a building is unsafe, noting that “some structures are engineered with intentional tolerances and can remain stable for years, even with visible movement.”
Batista also noted that the crucial issue is whether the lean is continuing to progress or has stabilized. “What matters is whether the lean is progressive—still increasing—or has stabilized, and what’s driving it: foundation settlement, soil conditions, or a structural deficiency in the frame itself,” Batista explained.
He added: “A stabilized lean, even a visually dramatic one, can be far less urgent than a smaller lean that’s actively progressing.”
Engineers increasingly rely on Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) systems that use sensors to track minute movements over time. Without access to monitoring data and structural reports, Batista said it is impossible to responsibly predict a timeline for future developments.
“But the fact that the building [One Seaport] is being actively studied is exactly the right response to a structural anomaly of this kind,” Batista noted.
Newsweek has contacted Fortis Property for comment via email.
Other Leaning (but Stable) Buildings
New York’s leaning building joins a small club of famous off-kilter landmarks around the world.
In London, the Elizabeth Tower—better known as Big Ben—leans about 18 inches from vertical at its highest point, a shift linked to ground movement and decades of nearby construction. Engineers say the lean is minor and poses no immediate risk, with estimates suggesting the tower would remain safe for thousands of years.
Italy’s iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa is far more dramatic, with the top displaced by more than 13 feet from vertical after centuries of foundation settlement. However, major stabilization work completed in the early 2000s reduced the tilt and secured the medieval structure, which is no longer considered at risk of collapse.
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