New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, joined by FDNY and Department of Buildings officials, briefs reporters July 7 on the emergency response. 

Screenshot: WABC-TV

The discovery prompted city officials to declare the building unstable and begin emergency stabilization efforts.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said FDNY, the New York City Dept. of Buildings and other agencies responded shortly after 8 a.m. to reports of a structural issue at 235 E. 42nd St., the former Pfizer headquarters now being converted into a residential complex. Officials said there were no injuries and that all workers were accounted for.

"Our focus right now is the safety of New Yorkers," Mamdani said during an afternoon briefing outside the collapse zone. At the time, officials said emergency crews continued to observe movement within the compromised structure.

DOB Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said inspectors found two load-bearing structural columns had buckled on the 21st floor, along with multiple cracks and sagging floor conditions.

Since first responders arrived, officials documented additional movement in one compromised column using monitoring equipment and FDNY drone observations, preventing engineers from immediately entering the building.

FDNY released images showing one of the buckled structural members inside the former Pfizer headquarters redevelopment at 235 E. 42nd St., left, and the exterior of the 37-story tower, right, after officials declared the building unstable July 7.  
Images: FDNY via X

City officials later confirmed that engineers entered the building after monitoring indicated no additional structural movement, allowing emergency stabilization work to begin. 

Crews began installing temporary shoring to stabilize the damaged floor while investigators continued working to determine the cause of the failure.

"Once we can determine that it's safe to enter the building, we will then, in concert with the contractors' ownership and with consultation with FDNY, deploy a plan to shore up that floor," Tigani said.

The city plans to install emergency structural struts to transfer loads away from the damaged columns before investigators determine the cause of the failure.

Metro Loft CEO Nathan Berman told The Real Deal the building "was never at risk of collapse" and said the damage was limited to a small section of the project. 

He acknowledged the incident is expected to delay the redevelopment schedule. City officials have continued to describe the incident as a serious structural emergency while the investigation proceeds.

FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said the steel members "started to bend and deflect from the weight." Because the building is a steel-frame structure, officials said their primary concern is a localized structural collapse rather than a complete building failure.

"We have seen continual movement," Esposito said. "It is still a very serious and dangerous situation."

The city established a collapse zone and a "frozen zone" extending roughly from East 40th to East 45th streets between First and Third avenues. Crews evacuated the construction site and seven surrounding buildings, including residential and commercial properties. Earlier reports cited as many as nine precautionary evacuations as the response expanded.

Complex Adaptive Reuse Project

Tuesday's emergency occurred in the taller of the two former Pfizer office buildings that make up the redevelopment. 

Metro Loft Developers and David Werner Real Estate Investments are converting the former Pfizer headquarters complex into approximately 1.3 million sq ft of residential space, including more than 1,600 apartments, more than 400 of which are designated as affordable. Completion is targeted for 2027.

The redevelopment combines the former Pfizer office buildings on E. 42nd Street. The shorter building at 219 E. 42nd St. incorporates a new reinforced-concrete tower constructed within the footprint of the original structure. The adjacent 33-story tower at 235 E. 42nd St. has been vertically expanded with an 11-story addition that city officials said had already topped out, while the existing tower is being converted into apartments.

235 GC LLC is serving as the construction contractor. Gensler serves as architect and architect of record, while Collaborative Construction Management lists G.A.C.E. as structural engineer and JMV Associates as MEP engineer.

Project documents published by GEODesign, the project's geotechnical consultant, say the work required subsurface investigations coordinated with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority because the No. 7 line subway tunnel passes beneath East 42nd Street. GEODesign said it developed foundation recommendations for the expanded buildings, designed rock-anchor systems to resist significant added wind loads and performed special inspections of the subgrade and rock anchors during construction.

Officials repeatedly declined to speculate on the cause of the structural distress. Tigani said the office-to-residential conversion underwent "an extensive, exhaustive review" by DOB during the past two years and emphasized that investigators will determine whether the incident stemmed from design, construction sequencing or another factor.

"What is happening now is an investigation of what is the cause of why the undermining happened," he said.

When asked about allegations raised during the press conference that construction corners may have been cut, Mamdani said the city would not speculate while emergency stabilization remained underway.

"Our focus right now is on making sure that this site is safe, this building is safe, this neighborhood is safe," he said. "That investigation, however, will continue because we want to make sure that these actions are not ones that are repeated."

Metro Loft did not respond directly to ENR's request for comment. Gensler and G.A.C.E. also did not immediately respond.