Construction crews returned to work on a controversial luxury tower in Manhattan last week, less than a month after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned all nonessential construction during the coronavirus pandemic.

The city’s Department of Buildings granted permission to the developers of the building at 200 Amsterdam Ave. to do “emergency work.”

In February, a State Supreme Court judge ordered the developers — SJP Properties — to lop 20 stories off the nearly completed 52 story building after community groups fiercely opposed the project.

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The return to work on the Upper West Side tower comes amid a flurry of thousands of building permits from the city allowing construction sites to resume work despite the state ban.

On April 3, days after Cuomo’s directive to shut down nonessential job sites, there were 800 approved sites throughout the city, according to The City.

According to the city’s Department of Buildings, there are 5,091 approved “essential” construction sites as of April 24.

“To help slow the spread of COVID-19, the expert staff at the Department of Building have been hard at work implementing the Governor’s Executive Order to halt all nonessential construction in New York City,” said Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman for the DOB, adding after the ban last month the city shut down 35,000 construction sites citywide. “While the vast majority of construction sites are subject to this order, our diligent plan examiners are carefully reviewing and auditing every work application we receive to ensure that any needed essential work and necessary emergency work can still proceed during this shutdown.”

In the case of 200 Amsterdam Ave., the DOB recently approved emergency permits, citing safety concerns due to high force winds and damage to partially installed equipment and water infiltration, the spokesman told The Post.

The article was published on nypost.com