New York City's Department of Buildings has issued a partial stop-work order for the ongoing office-to-residential conversion at 235 East 42nd Street, near Grand Central Terminal. This action follows the buckling of steel columns on the 21st floor and structural damage to multiple adjacent levels. The building, formerly Pfizer Inc. headquarters, is being transformed into approximately 1,600 rental apartments, including 400 affordable units, making it one of the largest such projects in the U.S. Following the incident, five nearby buildings remained under evacuation orders, and a "frozen zone" closed to traffic was established, though it has since been reduced.
According to Metro Loft, the developer behind the project, the increased weight from the widening of about 15 top floors, commencing on the 22nd floor, likely caused the structural damage. Nathan Berman, founder of Metro Loft, described the incident as a "typical construction mishap" or a "freak accident," asserting that the project was well-engineered except for the two columns that could not bear the load. He also noted that the affected area was confined to a small section of the building. Despite City officials initially suggesting bricks falling from the building, Berman stated no debris fell, and the building is not at risk of collapse.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed on Wednesday that the building has shown no additional movement since Tuesday morning, and structural assessments deemed it stable. Emergency repairs involve installing temporary steel shoring, which has been completed on floors 18 through 23, with ongoing work extending to the roof and down to the ninth floor. Mamdani stated that a full investigation into the cause of the failure would be conducted, emphasizing that while it was a breakdown in process, it was not an inherent consequence of office-to-residential conversions.
