Buckling Columns Halt Midtown Manhattan’s Largest Office-to-Residential Conversion

On Tuesday, July 7 2026, workers at 235 East 42nd Street—the former Pfizer headquarters—discovered two support columns buckling on the 21st (and 22nd) floor. Floors 21-26 sagged up to four inches, prompting the FDNY to evacuate the 37-story tower and nine nearby buildings, including the Hampton Inn Manhattan Grand Central and a school of roughly 400 children. Streets on East 42nd and 43rd between Second and Third Avenues were closed as a “frozen zone” was established.

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The 1970s-era steel-framed building is being transformed into about 1,600 apartments (including 400 affordable units), the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York City history. Developer MetroLoft (founder Nathan Berman) and architect Gensler added roughly 11-15 new floors, increasing the load on the original structure. Pfizer, founded in 1849, vacated the site in 2023.

NYC Orders Pause of Construction on Damaged Midtown Office Tower

• Nathan Berman, founder, MetroLoft

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• Ahmed Tigani, NYC Department of Buildings Commissioner

NYC Orders Pause of Construction on Damaged Midtown Office Tower

• Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York City

Emergency in NYC: Manhattan high-rise evacuated as buckling columns raise collapse fears

• John Esposito, FDNY Chief of Department

Emergency in NYC: Manhattan high-rise evacuated as buckling columns raise collapse fears

• Matthew Roblez, structural engineer on-site

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• Will Thomas, spokesperson, Steamfitters Local 638

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• Chris Cerino, past president, National Council of Structural Engineers Associations

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• Kemal Celik, associate professor, NYU Abu Dhabi

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• More than 100 emergency shoring jacks were delivered; shoring has been installed on floors 18-23 (later extended to 17-24).

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• The compromised area affects fewer than 30 of the planned 1,600 apartments.

NYC Orders Pause of Construction on Damaged Midtown Office Tower

• Nine adjacent buildings were evacuated; the frozen zone originally covered five city blocks.

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The incident underscores engineering risks when adding substantial new loads to older high-rises, a practice increasingly common as developers repurpose office space to address New York’s housing shortage. Workers such as Jason Polanco have been forced to operate from nearby coffee shops, and local businesses—including a bagel shop, nail salon, and Dunkin’—remain closed, highlighting immediate economic disruption.

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• Mayor Mamdani called the event “extremely serious” and reiterated that office-to-residential conversions are “part of our answer to the housing crisis” but must be “safe and fully accountable.”

ABC7 New York

• Commissioner Tigani said the structure is now “stable” and that crews will continue shoring from the roof down to the ninth floor.

New York Daily News

• MetroLoft described the problem as “localized,” pledged to rebuild the affected portion, and asserted that the overall schedule will not be delayed.

Manhattan streets begin to reopen as crews stabilize compromised high-rise building

• The Department of Buildings ordered a third-party forensic evaluation and warned that enforcement actions will follow the investigation’s findings.

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Steamfitters Local 638 praised the swift evacuation, while Local 79 staged a protest with an inflatable rat, accusing MetroLoft of using non-union labor. A separate lawsuit by construction worker Wilmer Cabrera Rojas alleges prior safety violations, and city records show $30,000 in recent workplace-safety citations at the site.

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Evacuees like Jason Polanco left personal belongings behind and now work from a coffee shop. Hotel guests and tourists, such as Sally Grant and Margaret Clark, reported sleeping on the streets after a rapid evacuation. Nearby streets show a mix of pedestrians, dogs, and strollers as the area reopens.

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Early coverage listed the tower as 38 stories; later corrections confirm it is 37 stories. The precise cause of the column failure remains undetermined—Berman points to added weight, while engineers note possible reinforcement deficiencies.

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• “Now luckily there have been no injuries to report at this time, all workers are accounted for, the building has been evacuated, a number of tall buildings in the area are also being evacuated at this time, a school with about 400 children has also been evacuated,” — Zohran Mamdani, Mayor

ABC7 New York

• “The building is stable and we are confident in the emergency plan we have now,” — Ahmed Tigani, Buildings Commissioner

New York Daily News

• “Why those particular two columns and nothing else? We don’t know,” — Nathan Berman, Founder, MetroLoft

NewsNation

• “it would not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse.” — John Esposito, FDNY Chief of Department

Associated Press

• “The lesson is that when a project changes what a building has to carry, it needs the deepest possible level of structural review — before construction, not during it,” — Kemal Celik, NYU Abu Dhabi professor

CNN

Emergency shoring is expected to be completed by Thursday morning; replacement of the buckled columns will proceed after DOB clearance. The department’s forensic investigation will produce a “rigorous assessment” before any non-emergency work resumes, with potential enforcement actions pending its results.

New York Daily News