New York City Office Security Under Fresh Scrutiny After 345 Park Shooting

The devastating shooting at Midtown’s 345 Park Avenue has caused both landlords and tenants to take a closer look at security measures in New York City’s largest office buildings.

A gunman killed four people and critically wounded a fifth inside the Rudin-owned office tower Monday evening, where office tenants include Blackstone, KPMG, the National Football League and Rudin’s own offices.

The deceased include Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT) CEO Wesley LePatner, Rudin associate Julia Hyman, NYPD officer Didarul Islam, and Aland Etienne, an unarmed security officer. An NFL employee was seriously injured. The 27-year-old gunman killed himself following the shooting.

“The Rudin family and everyone at our company are devastated by yesterday’s senseless tragedy,” the Rudin family said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and lost last night, including our cherished Rudin colleague, a brave New York City police officer, a beloved lobby security guard and an employee at a tenant firm.

“As New Yorkers, we stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of this hatred, we grieve with the families and loved ones of those lost, and we pray for the full recovery of those injured,” the family added.

The tragedy highlights a major issue: security. Landlords can increase NYPD presence in their buildings and install safety software all they want — but will it stop a determined person with a gun?

“There was probably nobody better trained than a current police officer in [this] situation,” said Michele Ehrhart, a crisis communications expert and former vice president of global communications at FedEx.

“[But] I don’t think any amount of security in that lobby could have stopped this person from doing what they were trying to do,” Ehrhart added. “This was a senseless act of violence that no one could have been prepared for.”

A spokesperson for Rudin declined to comment on the company’s specific security protocols at 345 Park, but New York Mayor Eric Adams said during an interview with MSNBC Tuesday morning that Rudin has “implemented many safeguards” at the property.

“Our partners, such as Rudin Management, [have] implemented so many safeguards, and even to the point that they could have stopped the elevator from moving in any direction or bringing it back to the floor,” Adams said during the MSNBC interview.

“But the security guard that was in charge of that operation was killed at the desk. … On the floor itself, there were safe rooms, such as the bathrooms, where you had bulletproof doors and you were able to lock in the staffers inside. … We believe it played a major role in not having a greater loss of life,” Adams added.

It’s unclear what, if any, adjustments Rudin is making to its security protocols, but another landlord in the city is already making moves to further secure its buildings.

KPG Funds, which owns boutique office buildings throughout New York City, currently has Bluetooth technology and facial recognition for all doors and elevators in its properties. Now, the firm is in “ongoing negotiations with an Israeli-based artificial intelligence company” to enhance its CCTV and AI to trigger silent alarms and automatically secure elevators, KPG CEO Gregory Kraut said.

The work has already started at KPG’s 40 Crosby Street in SoHo, where access to any office within the building requires either an encryption key or an encrypted cellphone, Kraut said. In addition, the landlord will install retina scanning to allow front-door and elevator access.

“We’ve been on the cutting edge of technology because, for us, we have smaller buildings, and it’s cost prohibitive to have two or three armed security guards in our small buildings,” Kraut said. “[Our new technology] basically allows AI to detect advanced technology, to detect weapons and trigger silent alarms, which goes directly to the police headquarters,” Kraut added.

That technology now includes AI weapon detection systems, such as the one Jared Epstein, president at Aurora Capital Associates, is working on. Epstein’s system — which he created with AI expert Cory Haber and his brother Jason Haber — provides real-time AI weapon detection in plazas, elevators and common areas.

“[Monday’s] horrific shooting shattered lives and reminded all of us that public safety is not theoretical — it’s urgent, immediate and personal,” Epstein said. “We’ve made the decision to deploy [our system] now. Our city cannot afford delay, denial or ideological fantasy.”

While technology is certainly capable of further securing office buildings, Jeffrey Friedman, founder of security solutions provider Building Intelligence and CEO at IT consulting firm Fortifye, said access to an office building really comes down to two things: the types of turnstiles and the elevators in the lobby.

Some turnstiles in buildings are height-restrictive, but the run-of-the-mill turnstiles can easily be jumped over by someone like the gunman at 345 Park, Friedman said. As for elevators, most operate by pushing buttons for each floor, but some are “destination dispatch,” meaning an employee’s key card automatically takes them to their appropriate floor. The latter feature could be why Monday’s shooter accidentally ended up on Rudin’s floor, rather than his targeted NFL floor.

(Police found a note from the gunman referring to the football league and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease afflicting some people who play contact sports.)

It’s unclear which specific turnstiles and elevator functions Rudin has installed at 345 Park, but Friedman said security measures at the 44-story Midtown building were the “reasonable standard.”

“Here you are in one of the nicest buildings in New York City, what we call a Class-A office building on Park Avenue, where the landlord spent what would be considered the reasonable standard, with an armed guard, and it just demonstrated that reasonable standard doesn’t stop something like this,” Friedman said.

One potential measure landlords can take is to increase police presence outside their office buildings — but not just mega office towers like 345 Park, or, say, One Vanderbilt.

“Everybody always talks about the walls inside the building, but there’s not a lot of conversation about what happens outside the walls,” Kraut said. “We should talk to the mayor about having an office building task force that would address these security needs. More has to be done not just inside the buildings, but also outside the buildings.”

Well-trafficked areas such as near Grand Central Terminal — where 345 Park is located — need more police presence than others, Kraut added.

“If somebody’s willing to go into a plaza with an AK-47 and start shooting, there’s very little that quite frankly can be done,” Kraut said. “But a visible police presence in Grand Central or other high foot traffic areas [could help].”

Friedman agreed, saying even a person hired to stand outside office buildings could help prevent further tragedies.

“Some buildings in New York City hire somebody to be outside of the building, to engage with people as they arrive,” Friedman said. “They don’t necessarily have to be armed, but they just have to be thoughtful of what’s going on, have the tools and training to report, and when something is off, like someone walking in with a gun, report immediately.”

It seems like the NYPD is already taking steps along those lines.

A spokesperson for the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information said the police department will be deploying its uniformed officers, Critical Response Command and counterterrorism officers to “high-profile and commercial areas” in the city.

As city officials and landlords determine the next steps for security at Manhattan’s office buildings, tenants of 345 Park are taking precautions and keeping their offices closed in the meantime. The building was open Wednesday for essential personnel. 

A spokesperson for KPMG confirmed its offices at 345 Park were closed Tuesday and that the company is giving employees flexibility to work from home.

“Our hearts are with the victims of this horrific act and their families, as well as all of our neighbors in 345 Park,” Timothy Walsh, chair and CEO at KPMG, and Atif Zaim, deputy chair and U.S. managing principal at KPMG, said in a joint statement on LinkedIn Tuesday morning. “This was a terrible, tragic and frightening event. We are incredibly grateful for the bravery of building security and law enforcement.”

Blackstone also issued a statement on the death of LePatner, who took over leadership of BREIT in January after being named CEO last year.

“Wesley was a beloved member of the Blackstone family and will be sorely missed,” the firm said in a statement. “She was brilliant, passionate, warm, generous and deeply respected within our firm and beyond. She embodied the best of Blackstone. Our prayers are with her husband, children and family.”

Meanwhile, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called the shooting an “unspeakable act of violence.” Ehrhart said the most the NFL can do as the alleged target of the attack is acknowledge the tragedy and express sympathy.

“Acknowledging that it happened and what you’re going to do about it is really all that I would ever recommend anyone say at this phase of this tragedy,” she said.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.