Midtown Manhattan high-rise remains unstable after two support columns buckle
A 37-storey high-rise under conversion in Midtown Manhattan remained structurally unstable on Wednesday morning after two of its support columns buckled on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of nine nearby buildings and a school housing 400 children. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani described the situation as “extremely serious” and said engineers were still assessing whether the building could be stabilised without a partial collapse.
The incident began shortly before 08:00 ET on Tuesday when bricks began falling from the steel-framed tower at 220 East 42nd Street, a structure originally built as Pfizer’s corporate headquarters and now being converted into 1,600 residential units by Gensler under a project scheduled for completion in 2027. Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) chief John Esposito told reporters that two vertical columns on the 21st and 22nd floors had buckled and that multiple floors between the 21st and 26th were sagging. “The steel beams are bending like cigarettes in there,” said pipefitter Cliff Johnsen, who was evacuated from the site. Esposito added that while a total collapse was unlikely because of the building’s steel frame, officials were preparing for the possibility of a localised failure.
By midday Tuesday, the FDNY had established a collapse zone around the perimeter of the block, closed surrounding streets to both vehicles and pedestrians, and ordered the evacuation of nine adjacent buildings, including the nearby school. NBC News reported that the school’s 400 pupils were among those relocated. Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement that New York’s Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services was on site and ready to provide additional support, urging the public to avoid the area while rescue operations continued.
Mamdani told a press conference at 12:30 ET that the building was still moving hours after the first alert and that engineers would only enter once they were confident the floors were secure. “The building remains unstable,” he said. “If the floor is deemed to be secure, engineers will enter and begin shoring up the building as we await the arrival of materials that will stabilise the building.” Esposito emphasised that the structure’s steel frame meant any collapse would be localised rather than total, but cautioned that movement in the load-bearing beams had been observed throughout the morning.
As of late Tuesday, officials said no injuries had been reported. The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) confirmed that extra beams were being brought in to reinforce the weakened floors. The cause of the structural failure has not been determined, and investigators have not ruled out construction errors, material defects, or unanticipated loads during the conversion from office to residential use. The project, billed as New York’s largest office-to-apartment conversion, has drawn scrutiny in recent months over the complexity of retrofitting a 1960s-era high-rise for modern residential occupancy.
With the building still under observation on Wednesday, city officials said they would continue to monitor stability before allowing engineers to re-enter and begin stabilisation work. The FDNY collapse zone remained in effect, and streets in the immediate vicinity of 42nd Street and Park Avenue remained closed.
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