NYC 37-story building at risk of collapse, evacuations underway

A 37-story Midtown Manhattan office building undergoing conversion to luxury residential units remains dangerously unstable on Tuesday, July 7, after structural support beams buckled.

This prompted evacuations of surrounding buildings and street closures in a busy corridor near Grand Central Terminal.

It happened at 235 E. 42nd St., which is the old Pfizer worldwide headquarters, after construction workers found bent columns in the 21st-floor area at about 8 a.m. Tuesday. 

According to officials, there has been some more movement in the building, with bent columns moving around during the day.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference: “Since arriving on scene, we have witnessed additional movement in one of the compromised columns. The building remains unstable. This is an extremely serious and dangerous situation.”

Chief of the Fire Department John Esposito observed that although a full-scale collapse is not likely because of the way the building is constructed, there is apprehension of the "localised collapse" of the affected upper levels since they have started collapsing from the 21st to 26th level.

At least nine surrounding buildings have been evacuated, such as the Hampton Inn Manhattan Grand Central and the Kennedy International School housing around 400 students.

Considering the hazard, a “frozen zone” has been established from 40th to 45th Streets between First and Third Avenues, with all pedestrian and vehicular traffic prohibited.

The building, which is among the biggest office-to-apartment conversions in the city’s history, has a checkered history when it comes to compliance issues, with 22 violations from 2020 that have seen it penalised over $39,000. 

The Building Department has recently filed another violation notice against the developers of Metro Loft for unauthorised excavation work.

For now, structural engineers are using drones and sensitive monitoring equipment to assess the situation.