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A compromised 37-story building in New York City that was evacuated amid fears it could collapse has been stabilized with temporary supports and no additional shifting is taking place, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday.
235 East 42nd Street, a former office building being converted to apartments in Midtown Manhattan, was worked on throughout the night and into this afternoon after construction workers noticed alarming signs of stress early Tuesday — steel beams “bending like cigarettes,” cracks and falling bricks.
“I can say right now the building is stable,” NYC buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, reassured New Yorkers, while Mamdani noted the city would “continue to prioritize the safety of all that immediate area.”
But the structural concerns had upended life in a pocket of Manhattan, densely populated by residents, office workers and tourists and close to the iconic Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station and United Nations headquarters. After a wider evacuation Tuesday morning, the high rise remains at the center of a smaller “frozen zone” between East 42nd and 43rd Streets and between Second and Third Avenues, with five buildings partially or fully out of bounds. Traffic and pedestrians were also being redirected around the area.
On Wednesday morning, protesters were at the scene, accusing the developers of reckless corner-cutting, with signs reading “Crime Scene” and “1,600 residential units at risk due to cutting corners.”
Metroloft, the developer, has called the incident a routine “construction mishap.” The building, the former headquarters for Pfizer, has 44 prior complaints against it, including one alleging there was “falling debris.”
Crews worked through the night to stabilize the building, installing temporary support beams as a third-party engineering firm was brought in to assist. Police drones circled the structure after dark. By Wednesday morning, an elevator could be seen moving up and down the building, while crews in hard hats and neon vests inspected the interior.
Workers have “made significant progress in stabilizing the impacted building,” the Department of Buildings said in a Wednesday afternoon update.
“DOB inspectors and engineers will remain on site to monitor the progress of work and continue their investigation into the structural failure.”
Officials’ investigation into the structure remains ongoing.
Here are the latest developments on the building Wednesday, July 8:
- The “frozen zone” has been reduced. 42nd and 43rd Streets between 2nd and 3rd Avenue remains closed to vehicles.
- Those who live or work on 42nd and 43rd Street and not in one of the buildings under an emergency evacuation order will be able to access the area.
- The following buildings remain under an emergency evacuation order and may not be occupied at this time: 815 2nd Avenue, 235 East 43rd Street, 231 East 43rd Street, 225 East 43rd Street and 217 East 43rd Street — just the restaurant on the ground floor
Workers, residents and tourists left in limbo
The evacuation left workers, residents and tourists suspended in limbo Wednesday with many unable to retrieve belongings from buildings that remain sealed behind police lines.
Early Wednesday morning, small crowds had formed near barricades, lingering in the summer heat and angling for scraps of information.
“I’ve been both working and in meetings, but of course at the same time waiting for information,” an Italian businessman told The New York Times as he tried to gain access to the Hampton Inn Grand Central to collect his luggage.
One nearby resident struck a markedly different tone. She told the outlet she had managed to return to her East 43rd Street apartment late Tuesday night, appearing largely unfazed by the disruption: “I’m not worried about anything in life.”
A worker at a physical therapy center at 815 Second Avenue — one of five buildings with restricted access — told The Independent she had “gotten in personally” to her place of work Wednesday.
A North Carolina mother staying at the Westin New York Grand Central on East 42nd Street posted in a TikTok video Tuesday that she and her family were unable to return to their hotel. “We just called the hotel. We cannot get back to the hotel, which obviously, it’s dangerous,” she said.
“Who knows where we’re gonna stay tonight,” she added. “This has been quite an eventful New York trip for the girls.”
Developer downplays concerns
Nathan Berman, the founder of MetroLoft, the project’s developer, downplayed concerns about the building, telling the Times that it was never in danger of collapse and that the project will likely only be set back by a few weeks.
“This incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap,” Berman said. “It happens unfortunately far too often on construction sites: falling cranes, people — God forbid — falling off buildings, windows falling out.”
According to the city’s Department of Buildings, the building has 44 prior complaints against it, including an allegation in March that a worker was blowing material off the roof. In April, another complaint said there was “falling debris” from the building, which an emergency response team later said they had not observed.
As part of the conversion project, workers have been in the process of adding 11 floors to an area that was previously 22 stories, according to The Real Deal. The project is part of a broader campaign to turn office space into residential units amid a housing shortage.
Office-to-residential conversions have emerged as a priority for Mamdani, who frequently spoke about affordable housing on the campaign trail. His SPEED task force seeks to accelerate the process, aiming to trim permitting timelines by about five months.
The Independent has contacted MetroLoft and the mayor’s office for comment.
‘The building has continued to move since we have been on the scene’
The situation began shortly before 8 a.m. Tuesday, when the New York City Fire Department received reports of a possible structural failure at the 37-story building.
When firefighters and Department of Buildings officials arrived, they found alarming signs on the 21st floor: two buckled columns, visible cracks, and floors beginning to sag under strain.
“It’s a very serious situation because the box beams—the steel beams—have started to bend and deflect from the weight,” Fire Chief John Esposito said Tuesday. “We evacuated the building and started evacuations of surrounding buildings. The building has continued to move since we have been on the scene.”
“They obviously didn’t add the right amount of steel, so the north side is crumbling,” Steamfitters union representative Cliff Johnson told local media. “The I-beams are bending like cigarettes in there, which is super dangerous.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday that officials are “working toward reopening the area as quickly as possible” and that the safety of those nearby remains the “top priority.”
