Falling Façade Debris Hits Woman Outside Times Square Hotel: FDNY

MIDTOWN, NY — Debris falling from a Times Square hotel hit a woman Sunday, two years after the building's façade inspection resulted in over 30 recommendations for repairs, according to officials and city records.

A woman was hurt when a four-inch piece of the Hotel Mela's cornice on the 14th floor plummeted to the ground and struck her at about 1 p.m. on Sunday, according to officials.

An FDNY spokesperson said she was brought to a nearby hospital with minor injuries.

Buildings officials issued the owners of 120 West 44th St., O & O Properties Group, a summons for failing to maintain their building's façade.

The summons carries a maximum penalty of $6,250.

Initially the city ordered a partial vacate order for the first floor restaurant, Gatsby's Landing, but removed the order after verifying the owners had installed a sidewalk shed to protect New Yorkers from any other potential façade failures.

A request for comment from the building's listed representative was not returned.

According to the building's last Local Law 11 façade inspection in 2021, engineers pointed out 33 parts of the façade that were deemed Safe With A Repair And Maintenance Program, or SWARMP.

What that means is that while the observed conditions were safe for now, the issues should be repaired in a recommended timeline.

Some of those highlighted problem areas included chipped and cracked bricks, missing mortar and other issues resulting from the regular wear and tear of a masonry and terra cotta building.

The inspection report was given a status as SWARMP, meaning not "safe" or "unsafe," the other two status options according to Buildings records.

For the Hotel Mela, the engineer recommended that the SWARMP repairs should have been completed on July 1, about a month before Sunday's injury.

According to Buildings Department spokesperson Andrew Rudansky, the date is simply a recommendation fro the engineer hired to perform the Local Law 11 inspection and that typically property owners with a SWARMP status will perform repairs and then perform an updated inspection to show that the façade is safe.

No permits for façade work or repairs have been filed at the hotel's address since 2017, according to Buildings Department records.