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Buckling at Pfizer Tower
A Manhattan high-rise under construction and being converted into luxury apartments remained unstable Tuesday after officials found that columns buckled and floors sagged, forcing evacuations in and around the Midtown construction site.
“"This is a minute-by-minute assessment," Mayor Zohran Mamdani told reporters”
The former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer sits at 235 East 42nd Street in a busy corridor near the Chrysler Building and Grand Central train station, and firefighters rushed to the area at around 8 a.m. after reports of falling bricks.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, "This is a minute-by-minute assessment," while Fire Chief John Esposito said the steel-framed building would "not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse."
Officials said two support columns on the 21st floor buckled, and there were multiple cracks and sagging floors between the 21st and 26th floors as the project added more stories.
The developers said the conversion is a more than 1,600-unit project, and city officials and drones were checking the building as emergency workers assessed it floor by floor.
Evacuations and Officials
As the response escalated, officials ordered mass evacuations around the 37-story tower, with NBC News reporting that the area near Grand Central Terminal was evacuated after two structural support columns on its 21st floor began to buckle at around 8 a.m.
NBC News said the mayor added that "since we have been on site in the early morning, we have seen continued shift of the structure," while Fire Chief John Esposito said the steel construction meant there was only a possibility of a "localized collapse" versus a "total collapse."
The Los Angeles Times reported that about 400 children were evacuated from a nearby school as firefighters discovered buckled columns and sagging floors between the 21st and 26th stories.
Officials also said they had not found evidence that debris came off the building, and the building commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said officials hadn’t found evidence that anything came off the building.
City officials said first responders and city officials were working closely with the project engineer to develop plans to shore up the impacted flooring, and engineers would enter if it was deemed secure.
What Comes Next
City officials said the stabilization effort would involve shoring and reinforcement, with the building commissioner saying workers would need to add emergency beams and columns to stabilize compromised ones.
“"floor by floor" in order to "finalize a plan for how they’re going to reenforce the structure"”
The Associated Press reported that emergency workers were assessing the building "floor by floor" to "finalize a plan for how they’re going to reenforce the structure," adding "it is encouraging," while Mamdani said the top priority was safety for those who live and work nearby.
The Los Angeles Times said the incident halted work on what had been billed as New York City’s largest office-to-residential conversion, a more than 1,600-unit project rising in a dense corridor near the Chrysler Building and U.N. Headquarters.
NBC News reported that the NYPD temporarily closed off 40th to 45th streets between First and Third Avenue, and that seven neighboring buildings were evacuated, including a school and the Israeli consulate just across the street.
Officials said the cause of the instability would be determined after emergency trusses are in place, and the Department of Buildings said it had an active construction permit for the conversion project.
