MIDTOWN — Police briefly escorted residents and hotel guests back onto West 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues, a block that has been evacuated since Hurricane Sandy knocked a crane from its perch atop a 90-story luxury tower and left it dangling above the Midtown street.
A police spokeswoman said residents and hotel guests were given about five minutes Thursday evening to collect belongings and necessities left behind in the mandatory evacuation that immediately followed the partial crane collapse at ONE57, which is slated to become high-end condos and a swanky hotel when it opens in 2013.
But there was still no official word on when business and life on the block would return to normal.
At a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the block would not be reopened until engineers could secure the arm of the crane to the side of the tower, where condos will start at $6.375 million.
That likely won’t take place until some time this weekend, Bloomberg said.
Then, the task of dismantling the crane will begin, a process that could take weeks, he added.
