NEW YORK (AP) — The streets around a midtown Manhattan high-rise where buckled columns forced evacuations gradually returned to life Wednesday, as roads reopened, residents and hotel guests were allowed back into nearby buildings, and workers shored up the damage.
After crews worked through the night to stabilize a section of the building where beams had buckled and floors had sagged, Mayor Zohran Mamdani sought to reassure wary New Yorkers, saying no more movement had been detected in the massive office-to-apartment conversion project at Pfizer’s former headquarters near Grand Central Terminal.
But several other nearby buildings remained off-limits, and the city will conduct a broader inquiry into what went wrong and what can be done to prevent a more devastating development such as a collapse, the mayor vowed.
“As soon as we answer the emergency questions around safety in this moment, we are going to be conducting a full investigation as to how we got to this point,” Mamdani said. “Because this is not a necessary consequence of an office to residential conversion. This, however, is clearly a breakdown in that process.”
Buckled columns and sagging floors triggered collapse concerns
Authorities responding to emergency calls at the building discovered two mangled support columns on the 21st floor as well as multiple cracks and slumping floors early Tuesday, triggering mass evacuations and street closures in a bustling area not far from the Grand Central transit hub and the Chrysler Building.
In the initial hours, officials believed the steel-framed building, which was empty other than the workers, wasn’t at risk of a total collapse, but “more of a localized collapse,” as Fire Chief John Esposito described it.
On-site contractors were eventually allowed to reenter the building late Tuesday to do emergency repairs after city officials conducted a floor-by-floor inspection.
The renovation project is billed as the largest office-to-residential conversion in the city’s history, creating some 1,600 units of housing by adding more than a dozen stories atop one tower in the complex and redesigning the other. Plans also call for adding roughly 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) of amenities, including a rooftop pool, a fitness center, ground floor retail and offices.
Pfizer, which was originally founded in Brooklyn in 1849, established its headquarters in the building in 1961. A massive mosaic of metal and tile honoring ancient and modern figures in medicine was displayed prominently in the high glass-windowed lobby. The pharmaceutical giant moved out in 2023 after opening a new office near Penn Station, leaving the property vacant.
Spokespersons for MetroLoft, the project developer, didn’t respond to requests for comment Wednesday but have previously voiced optimism that the project could resume quickly as they’ve stressed that the building is not at risk of collapse.
Nathan Berman, the firm’s founder, acknowledged in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, though, that the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage.
Residents and hotel guests return as evacuation orders are lifted
Sally Grant and Margaret Clark were among those Wednesday waiting to be let back into the Hampton Inn near the damaged building.
They had traveled from Scotland to see Bon Jovi perform at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday but were evacuated and told to leave their belongings, including their credit cards, passports and medication.
“They could have given us five minutes to grab our belongings, you know, instead of just saying, ‘Everybody out, everybody out,’” Clark said. “We’ve been left with nothing. We slept in the streets last night. The police wouldn’t help us. It’s been awful. Absolutely it’s ruined our holiday.”
There were signs of things returning to normal Wednesday on the streets surrounding the construction site, with people walking dogs, pushing strollers and riding bikes.
Some streets remained closed for much of the day while gawkers paused to take photos of the now-infamous high-rise. Unionized construction workers staged a protest — complete with a large inflatable rat — slamming the building's developers for using non-union labor.
Elinor Ruskin, 94, was among those redirected by police after trying to get through a closed block in the morning. She took it in stride.
“These things happen. I don’t know if they will catch the mistake or what they will do,” she said. “Anyway, you know, this is New York City.”
More thorough inquiry to come as repairs are ongoing
Temporary shoring and beams were installed throughout the 37-story building as crews made their way to the top.
Photos shared on social media by the city's Department of Buildings showed multiple steel rods inserted side-by-side next to one badly bent column.
The department said the emergency work is being supervised by the owner’s engineer and an independent, third-party engineering firm hired by the owner.
Once the emergency repairs are complete, Mamdani said city building officials will conduct a “rigorous assessment” to ensure the plans and the site are fully compliant with all codes before any non-emergency work proceeds.
New York, along with other major cities, has for years been pursuing ambitious overhauls to transform underused office space into residential buildings, in part to help struggling business districts and take strain off tight housing markets in need of more apartments.
Mamdani, a Democrat, told reporters Wednesday that he considers the conversions “part of our answer to the housing crisis,” but he added that the projects must be done “safely and in a way that is fully accountable.”
Real estate expert thinks project will still find tenants
Joshua Harris, director of Fordham University’s Real Estate Institute, said it remains to be seen whether the building's problems were caused by faulty engineering, a failure to follow design plans or even hidden flaws in the original building's construction. It also remains to be seen whether the developers have the financing to absorb the cost of the delays and added expenses to make the needed fixes, he said.
What is almost certain, Harris said, is that the hulking tower, if completed, would still find willing tenants, given its prime location and the nearly unquenchable demand for housing in New York City.
“There’s no real stigmatization from a death or something that was like tragic,” he said. “It’s probably going to be one of the safest buildings out there when it’s done. You’re not going to cut any corners at this point. There's too much attention on it."
Walking near the high-rise Wednesday, Sabrina DeRizzio wondered why developers keep trying to turn outdated office towers into modern housing, as she lives in one herself.
“It’s not the best,” she said of her building, adding that it’s impossible to hang anything on the concrete walls and the unit never feels properly insulated. “The infrastructure is just not the same.”
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This story was updated to correct the name of Grand Central Terminal.
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Associated Press video journalist Ted Shaffrey in New York contributed to this story.
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