Manhattan High-Rise at 235 East 42nd Street Unstable After Columns Buckle, No Injuries Reported

A 37-story building at 235 East 42nd Street in Manhattan remained unstable Tuesday morning after two columns buckled on the 21st and 22nd floors. Floors sagged between the 21st and 26th floors, and bricks fell from the structure around 8 a.m. during rush hour.

The Fire Department of New York responded to the site. The building, a 1970s-era former global headquarters of Pfizer located about a block from the Chrysler Building between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations headquarters, is undergoing conversion to luxury apartments. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said a nearby school with about 400 children was among the evacuated buildings.

There were no reports of injuries, and all workers inside the office tower were accounted for. Fire Department Chief John Esposito stated that the building has continued to move. "It is not yet stable.

It is still a very serious and dangerous situation," Esposito said. Mamdani added, "The building remains unstable. " Engineers are using drones to monitor the structure and develop plans to shore up damaged floors.

City building department inspectors and engineers were on scene. Nearby streets were closed to people and vehicles. Several buildings in Midtown Manhattan were evacuated Tuesday morning. The conversion project, led by architectural firm Gensler, is described as the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York City history and will add more than a dozen stories while creating more than 1,600 residential units.