A high‑rise building in Manhattan was declared unstable on Tuesday after officials determined that support columns had buckled, prompting the evacuation of nearby structures, according to city authorities and news reports.
The former Pfizer pharmaceutical building, now being converted into residential rentals, also experienced faulty floors, as reported by fire department officials.
Authorities said they received reports of a “structural issue at an active construction site” on East 42nd Street, between Second and Third Avenues, before 8 a.m.
Fire, building, and emergency management officials arrived at the site and identified “structural issues” on the 21st floor. “Two structural columns buckled, and there were multiple cracks and sagging floors,” the fire department noted on X.
The fire department also shared a photo of a dramatically bent beam on its X account.
“It’s a very serious situation because the box beams – the steel beams – have begun to bend and deflect under the weight,” John Esposito, the fire department chief, explained. “We evacuated the building and initiated evacuations of surrounding structures.”
Fire department drones have been deployed to supply “technical information and visuals” while officials continue assessing the building.
Authorities indicated that efforts to stabilize the site will extend “into the night,” according to ABC 7.
“The building remains unstable,” Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor, stated on Tuesday afternoon, per ABC 7. “This is an extremely serious situation.”
Esposito, the fire chief, said during a press conference that a potential collapse would “not be a total collapse, but more of a localized collapse,” per ABC 7. He explained that the structure is steel‑built, as reported by NBC News.
A six‑person team examining the building floor‑by‑floor has detected no further movement, CNN quoted Leila Bozorg, the deputy mayor for housing and planning, as saying.
Nearby workers are uncertain when they will be able to return to their offices, with estimates ranging from several days to two weeks, CNN reported.
