{"id":456,"date":"2026-07-09T05:11:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=456"},"modified":"2026-07-09T05:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T05:11:30","slug":"midtown-manhattan-high-rise-stable-after-columns-buckled-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=456","title":{"rendered":"Midtown Manhattan High-Rise Stable After Columns Buckled, Officials Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>By Maria Tsvetkova and Joseph Ax<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>NEW YORK, July 8 (Reuters) &#8211; A Midtown Manhattan high-rise \u2060being \u2060converted into 1,600 apartments has been stabilized after \u2060buckling support columns triggered evacuations and fears of a collapse, but officials and engineers were still trying on \u200bWednesday to determine what went wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=454\">Judge in Charlie Kirk Case Blocks Parts of Roommate Video<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that emergency crews had installed temporary shoring and steel beams from the 18th to the \u200c23rd floors and that there had been no \u200cfurther movement of the structure since Tuesday morning, when two columns buckled and several floors began to sag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The 37-story building on East 42nd Street, once Pfizer&#8217;s \u2060corporate headquarters, is \u2060situated about a block from the United Nations. It was evacuated along with neighboring properties after \u200bbricks fell from the structure and responders discovered damage on the 21st and 22nd floors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;There has been no additional movement of the structure since yesterday morning,&#8221; the mayor told reporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Neighboring buildings, including a school, had been evacuated, and busy 42nd Street was closed down. Some buildings have since reopened, but four remain evacuated and a ground-floor restaurant \u200bon a fifth is still shuttered, Mamdani said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Eva Notwicz, 47, who lives across the street, had been happy to see the office tower \u2060being converted \u2060into much-needed housing. But watching the \u2060addition of several floors atop \u200bthe building, right above where the columns eventually buckled on Tuesday, had made her nervous.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;It felt like it&#8217;s hanging there,&#8221; she said. &#8220;But \u200byou know, you trust the builders.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>She and \u2060her son were ordered out of her apartment on Tuesday morning, with time only to grab her phone and the dog, but were allowed back in by nighttime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m sure they&#8217;re gonna make it super safe now,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>On Wednesday, bystanders took photos from the street, while office workers at the News Building across the street \u2013 the former home of the Daily News \u2013 said they were told to return to their workplace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>CAUSE UNCLEAR<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>One of the developers behind the project told the \u2060New York Times that the building was never in danger of collapsing and described the buckling columns as a \u2060run-of-the-mill problem.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=452\">Mexico Arrests Man in Theft of Leonora Carrington Bronzework From Church Patio<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;This incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap,&#8221; Nathan Berman, the managing principal and founder of developer MetroLoft, told the newspaper. He said the columns were likely not reinforced properly and thus could not bear the weight of the addition above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Experts agreed that the risk of collapse was minimal, but that city inspectors would have to determine the exact cause of the buckling columns before allowing construction to proceed. There were a number of possible explanations, experts said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;Typically, it&#8217;s not just one mistake,&#8221; said Michael Chajes, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Delaware.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Converting an existing building carries more complications than building a brand-new structure, said Magued Iskander, chair of the civil and urban engineering department at New York University&#8217;s Tandon School of Engineering.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&#8220;There are more unknowns,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It is \u2060easier to design from a blank sheet of paper.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The building, which served for decades as Pfizer&#8217;s corporate headquarters, is being converted into a 1,600-unit apartment complex due for completion in 2027, according to the architectural firm Gensler&#8217;s website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Mamdani said Wednesday he remained supportive of converting office space into residences to help address the city&#8217;s housing affordability crisis. The city&#8217;s building department will conduct a &#8220;rigorous assessment&#8221; to ensure \u200bthat the high-rise is safe and compliant with all codes before any further construction work can proceed, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>(Reporting \u200bby Joseph Ax; Editing by Jesse Mesner-Hage, Mark Porter and Howard Goller)<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=451\">Trump Administration Puts Plan for Harriet Tubman $20 Bill on Ice<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><b>Copyright 2026 Thomson Reuters<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US News is a recognized leader in college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings. Track elected officials, research health conditions, and find news you can use in politics, business, health, and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[94,158,8,60],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-sign-in-to-manage-your-newsletters","tag-united-states"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Midtown Manhattan High-Rise Stable After Columns Buckled, Officials Say - Office Moving America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/officemovingamerica.com\/?p=456\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Midtown Manhattan High-Rise Stable After Columns Buckled, Officials Say - Office Moving America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"US News is a recognized leader in college, grad school, hospital, mutual fund, and car rankings. 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