On a clear day, you can see forever — unless you’re trying to look out of the windows of the celebrated Frank Gehry building in Chelsea.
The curvy, twisted glass facade of media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC Building on West 18th Street and 11th Avenue is facing a sticky problem: The window sealant has become a dripping, opaque blob, according to a lawsuit.
“Nearly all of the windows have significant and visible defects,” the building’s owners claim in the suit against Permasteelisa North America, the company that installed the unique facade of the building designed by the acclaimed architect.
Permasteelisa, with headquarters in Windsor, Conn., got $18.2 million to do the work, which was completed in 2006 and included double-glazed window panes that were supposed to be “hermetically sealed,” the owners claim in the Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
Last year, the sealant began to fail, leaving a “melting appearance on the windows, as well as discoloration, silver bubbles and fog,” court papers say.
HTRF Ventures, the IAC subsidiary that filed the suit, claims that repairs will cost more than $500,000 and that Permasteelisa has ignored requests to fix the issue.
Permasteelisa did not return messages.