Officials began emergency stabilization work on the former Pfizer building at 235 East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan after two structural columns buckled on the 21st floor. This structural failure caused floors above to sag, leading to the evacuation of the building and surrounding areas. Engineers, after initial assessments, found no additional movement in the damaged columns, allowing contractors to proceed with installing temporary shoring. Stabilization efforts were expected to continue for several days.
The building is currently undergoing a massive conversion into roughly 1,600 apartments, set to be the largest office-to-residential conversion in the US. The project includes a 10-story expansion to widen the building's upper floors (a "horizontal bump-out" between floors 23 and 32) and plans to add four new floors to the top. The buckled columns were located directly beneath this horizontal expansion. Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani stated that metal beams, poles, and galvanized steel were being used to prop up the structure, and by late Tuesday, officials expressed confidence that the emergency measures were stabilizing the building.
While some evacuations were lifted and streets reopened, 42nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues remained closed to vehicles. Developers MetroLoft and David Werner Real Estate are behind the project, with Gensler as the architecture firm. Although MetroLoft Senior Managing Director Mitchell Wasser emphasized safety, and MetroLoft's Nathan Berman reportedly downplayed the severity, officials have not yet determined the cause of the structural failure and are investigating whether the expansion played any role. No injuries have been reported.
