Midtown building stable after collapse scare forces mass evacuations

NEW YORK CITY - Crews say they've stabilized a Midtown high-rise after several upper-floor columns buckled, showing signs of potential collapse.

After the area surrounding the building was shut down, and several nearby buildings were evacuated Tuesday, several streets have been reopened.

The backstory:

The panic began when structural engineers and city officials discovered severe structural failures on the upper levels of the building. According to the New York City Department of Buildings, support columns on the 21st floor had severely buckled under immense weight, with officials noting they visually resembled "bending arms."

The building, located at 235 East 42nd Street, is the former global headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The structure is currently undergoing a massive renovation to convert the commercial office spaces into luxury apartments.

Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, the project's developer admitted that structural alterations likely triggered the failure. The developer explained that the additional weight generated by widening the top 15 floors probably caused the severe buckling, noting that two critical columns had not been properly reinforced to handle the new load.

For hours, the danger was considered so serious that emergency personnel and construction crews were barred from entering the interior of the building out of fear that a collapse was imminent.

Emergency repairs

What we know:

Emergency crews began work to shore up the building on Tuesday night, after monitoring systems showed zero movement in the skyscraper for several hours.

Tthe work continued Wednesday, with crews installing steel beams on several floors to prop up the floors. SkyFOX captured workers installing the beams on floors 17 through 24.

On Wednesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that crews have not detected any movement in the building since Tuesday morning.

"We’ve been monitoring the building for many hours and have not seen any movement," said the Commissioner of the Department of Buildings during a late-night press briefing. "I can say right now that the building is stable, and we feel confident in the emergency plan that we have now."

"We have columns that could not hold the weight that they held before," an official explained regarding the mechanics of the repair. "So we come in with different metal beams and poles. In this case, we’re also bringing in galvanized steel in order to replace those columns and hold up the weight that the previous columns were holding."

Evacuations

Local perspective:

While the immediate danger of collapse has been mitigated, a strict "frozen zone" remains active around the perimeter of the building. Multiple nearby structures remain under full, mandatory evacuation orders as a precaution.

According to city officials, the following addresses remain completely evacuated:

• 815 Second Avenue
• 235 East 43rd Street
• 231 East 43rd Street
• 225 East 43rd Street
• Ground floor at 217 East 43rd Street

Traffic delays are still expected for commuters coming off the FDR Drive.

Several streets were closed for hours because of the work, including portions of 42nd Street, 43rd Street and 2nd Ave. But by Wednesday evening, 44th Street and 2nd Ave. As of Wednesday night, 43rd Street remains closed.

What they're saying:

The sudden evacuation orders forced neighboring office workers and hotel guests to scramble.

"I was ironing my shirt for a meeting and somebody on a bullhorn started saying, 'Evacuate the building!'" said one displaced hotel guest. Another guest recounted receiving an urgent message from management: "They were like, 'Hey, you can't come in.' Then we got an email from the manager saying staying here is not optional. You need to go ahead and come get your stuff."

What's next:

It remains unclear how long the emergency reinforcement work will take or what the long-term future of the luxury residential conversion project holds. 

DOB officials emphasized that the immediate, singular focus remains on completing the emergency repairs to ensure public safety before a permanent structural fix can be engineered.