Worker Seriously Hurt At Washington Heights Building Site: FDNY

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A construction worker was seriously injured Thursday while working underground at a Washington Heights building site, an FDNY spokesman said.

The worker, who was not identified, was doing work 30 to 40 feet underground at a site on Amsterdam Avenue between West 180th and 181st streets when he was hurt shortly before 1:30 p.m., fire officials said. The worker was unable to remove himself from the shaft that he was working in and had to be rescued by firefighters, an FDNY spokesman said.

A video of the rescue shows the man being pulled out of a shaft on a backboard. Firefighters use a crane-like device to lift the man to safety outside the Amsterdam Avenue construction site.

Watch video of the rescue below:

Medics rushed the man to Harlem Hospital with a serious but non-life-threatening injury, an FDNY spokesman said.

The Amsterdam Avenue work zone is the site of a planned 22-story hotel and office development called the Radio Tower & Hotel. Construction on the development broke ground in November 2018. Developers Youngwoo & Associates purchased the site — which used to contain a gas station — for $12 million in 2013, according to public records.

The Radio Tower & Hotel will rise 263 feet on Amsterdam Avenue and contain about 260 hotel rooms. The development is architecture firm MVRDV's first New York City project and features a multi-colored, stacked design. In addition to the hotel tower, the development will feature ground-floor retail space, private event space, offices and a rooftop restaurant and bar, designers said.