Midtown Manhattan buildings evacuated after columns found buckling at high-rise construction site
The high-rise at East 42nd Street and Second Avenue is a 1970s-era office building being converted into luxury apartments.
MIDTOWN EAST, Manhattan (WABC) -- Columns buckled, and bricks tumbled into the street from an under-construction high-rise in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning. The former Pfizer building remained unstable and continued to move hours later, forcing nearby buildings to evacuate, officials said.
A structural column buckled on the 21st floor, and additional structural issues were subsequently discovered, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
"The building remains unstable," Mamdani said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon, as there has been additional movement in one of the columns since city officials arrived. "This is an extremely serious situation."
The high-rise at 235 E. 42nd St., on the corner of East 42nd Street and Second Avenue, is a 1970s-era office building being converted into luxury apartments. The former global headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is located in a busy corridor about a block from the landmark Chrysler Building and between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations headquarters.
Around 8:00 a.m., construction workers noticed cracks inside the building. The FDNY say the workers spotted structural support beams beginning to buckle on the 21st and 22nd floors and self-evacuated.
Officials say that caused the 21st to 26th floors of the 37-story building to start caving under the stress.
A nearby school with about 400 children was among the multiple evacuated buildings, Mamdani said at a press conference at the scene.
Fire Department Chief John Esposito added that the building has continued to move as emergency officials have been on scene. Nearby streets were closed to people and vehicles.
"It is not yet stable," Esposito said. "It is still a very serious and dangerous situation."
Structural engineers are monitoring the building's movement from the outside. Once it's deemed safe to enter, they will begin shoring up the building with emergency trusses.
The city is using highly sensitive equipment that can measure the smallest of movements, and the column's movement is a concern.
"It does mean that it is not yet stable; it is still a very serious and dangerous situation," Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani added.
Buckling beams and some bad "floor conditions" were spotted by buildings department inspectors.
Esposito said the steel beams have begun to "bend and deflect."
If the building were to give way, it would "not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse," Esposito added.
Every worker is accounted for, and no injuries have been reported, police say.
The building is topped out at 37 floors, and as more infrastructure was added to the floors above the 21st floor, the load-bearing columns became more stressed, officials say.
Mamdani said the current frozen zone is set up from First and Third avenues between 40th and 45th Streets. Those streets are closed to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Building evacuations and street closures
The FDNY said the following buildings have been evacuated:
- 815 Second Avenue
- 235 East 42nd Street
- 210 East 43rd Street
- 212 East 43rd Street
- 211 East 43rd Street
- 220 East 42nd Street
- 231 East 43rd Street
- 225 East 43rd Street
- 235 East 43rd Street
Of the evacuated buildings, 231 East 43rd Street is the Hampton Inn Manhattan Grand Central, and guests have been evacuated from their rooms.
Additionally, 225 East 43rd Street is the Kennedy International School. Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference that approximately 400 students attend the school.
Pedestrian and vehicular traffic is closed on East 42nd Street between Second and Third avenues.
Second Avenue is closed from 38th to 44th streets, and 43rd and 44th streets are closed between Second and Third avenues.
Mamdani said those who live or work in the frozen zone will get updates.
Previous building violations
The unstable building has seven violations between July and December 2025, resulting in more than $32,000 in fines issued.
There are at least 22 violations that date back to 2020.
Metro Loft, the developer of the conversion project, released a statement saying, "We are working closely with the Department of Buildings to understand the full scope of the situation. The safety of our workers and the public has always been, and remains, our top priority."
The cause of the instability will be determined after the emergency trusses are in place, according to the buildings commissioner.
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