Metro

The world’s skinniest skyscraper might never get finished

The cost of building the world’s skinniest skyscraper has ballooned so enormously that the 111 W. 57th St. project is facing imminent foreclosure while it’s less than one-quarter complete.

The 82-story skyscraper has risen fewer than 20 stories and is $50 million over budget — “apparently attributable in part to egregious oversights like neglecting to budget for construction cranes,” according to a new lawsuit by a major investor.

Real estate investment corporation AmBase is suing the project sponsors Kevin Maloney and Michael Stern and lender Spruce Capital Partners to save its equity in the Steinway Tower overlooking Central Park.

“Over the past four years [AmBase] has invested over $70 million in the property. In two days, their investment may be wiped out,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit says.

AmBase blames the costs overruns on Maloney and Stern.

“Apparently they omitted some very significant items in their budget including cranes, which are very expensive in New York and can run into the millions of dollars,” said AmBase’s attorney Stephen Meister.

The construction budget was $855 million in June 2015, according to court papers.

The owners– Maloney, Stern and AmBase– defaulted on a $25 million mezzanine loan payment to Spruce Capital Partners on June 30.

On Wednesday a judge blocked Spruce from taking ownership of the project in a strict foreclosure procedure pending a mid-August hearing on the dispute.

Spruce could still put 111 W. 57th St. up for a foreclosure auction, which would potentially allow AmBase to recoup some of its investment, Meister said.

A lawyer for Stern called the suit “baseless.” Maloney and the lender did not immediately return calls.

The suit is another to hit Billionaire’s Row.

In late June a second luxury condo at neighboring 157 W. 57th St., known as One57, was slated to be sold in a foreclosure auction. ​

But Stephen Sladkus, a Manhattan real estate attorney who is not involved in the project, predicted that the 111 W. 57th St. dispute and surrounding unit foreclosures “should have little to no bearing on Billionaire Row values.”

“In all likelihood this dispute will resolve and the skinniest skyscraper, as contemplated, will eventually rise,” Sladkus said.

​Additional reporting by Jennifer Gould Keil