East 43rd Street remains closed between Second and Third avenues, and multiple nearby buildings are still under evacuation orders as engineers work inside the former Pfizer headquarters, which is being converted into residential housing.
Crews are installing temporary supports, known as shoring, floor by floor to relieve pressure on the bent steel beams and columns that buckled on the building's 21st floor under the weight of the floors above. City officials say the building remains stable as the reinforcement work continues.
The structural concerns were first discovered Tuesday morning when workers noticed buckled columns and bending steel beams, prompting emergency crews to respond amid fears the building could collapse. Nine nearby buildings were evacuated as a precaution, and surrounding streets were shut down.
The city has released photos showing crews making progress installing temporary supports throughout the upper floors of the building.
NewsCopter 7 above former Pfizer HQ on Manhattan's East Side
The Department of Buildings said Wednesday that the building is stable as crews continue to reinforce the damaged supports and investigate the cause of the structural issues.
"Right now, we have been in a consistent and stable and safe situation, we have been able to bring in a plan and materials to stabilize the impact," said NYC Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani.
Surrounding streets were shut down Tuesday while engineers assessed the risk and worked to secure the site.
According to MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion project, the columns likely buckled under the added weight of newly expanded upper floors. The company said part of the floor sagged by about four inches but maintained that the building was never in danger of collapsing.
Managing principal and founder of MetroLoft Nathan Berman told the New York Times that he believes the weight of the additional floors caused the columns to buckle and that the building was never in danger of collapse.
"This incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap," he told the Times.
It comes as Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that converting office space into residential space remains a part of solving New York City's housing affordability crisis.
"I do continue to consider the conversion of office space into residential space as part of our answer to the housing crisis, I also consider that we have to do so safely and in a way that is fully accountable," Mamdani said.
Officials said the investigation remains ongoing as engineers determine the root cause of the failure and develop a long-term repair plan.
"We are going to be conducting a full investigation into how we got to this point because this is not a necessary consequence of an office to a residential conversion," Mamdani said. "This is clearly however a breakdown in that process."
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