CALGARY — A major construction site in Midtown Manhattan was evacuated Tuesday morning after workers discovered buckled structural columns, sagging floors and falling bricks inside a high-rise undergoing conversion into residential apartments.The incident occurred at 235 East 42nd Stree near Grand Central Terminal. The 33-storey building, formerly the headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is currently being redeveloped into a residential tower expected to contain approximately 1,600 apartments.According to the New York City Fire Department and city officials, construction workers reported falling bricks shortly before 8 a.m. Emergency crews responding to the scene discovered two buckled structural columns on the building's 21st and 22nd floors, along with multiple structural cracks and sagging floor slabs extending several storeys above.Authorities immediately ordered the evacuation of the construction site. As a precaution, seven neighbouring buildings, including a school and a hotel, were also evacuated while structural engineers assessed the safety and stability of the affected high-rise..“The I-beams are bending like cigarettes in there, which is super dangerous,” Local 638 Steamfitter Cliff Johnsen told The New York Post.“At that point, you need to add more steel — and they obviously didn’t add the right amount of steel, so the north side of that building is crumbling.”New York City officials said the building remained unstable as structural engineers worked to determine the extent of the damage. Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated crews were waiting for conditions to become safe enough to enter the affected area and install additional supports..As engineers continued their assessment, officials said the building had not yet stabilized. FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito told reporters at NBC that specialized monitoring equipment indicated the structure was continuing to move, confirming it remained unstable several hours after the initial evacuation.As of now, emergency crews have limited access to the affected areas while engineers developed a stabilization plan. The New York City Department of Buildings said emergency steel trusses would be installed to temporarily support the damaged sections of the high-rise by redistributing the building's structural load and helping prevent further movement or a localized collapse..The redevelopment of the former Pfizer headquarters is one of New York City's largest office conversion projects, part of a broader effort to transform aging office buildings into housing amid changing demand for commercial real estate.Officials stressed that while emergency planners were preparing for the possibility of a localized structural failure, there was no indication the entire steel-framed building was at imminent risk of catastrophic collapse. The stabilization work is expected to allow engineers to safely enter the affected floors and determine the full extent of the damage.As of Tuesday afternoon, emergency crews remained at the scene while engineers continued evaluating the building's structural integrity before any work could resume.
