NEW YORK – A Manhattan tower evacuated Tuesday morning after reports of falling brickwork and buckling support columns remained structurally unsafe and continued to shift, prompting officials to clear nearby buildings as a precaution.
The 1970s high-rise, once the global headquarters of pharmaceutical company Pfizer, was undergoing construction as part of a conversion into luxury apartments. The building sits in one of Midtown Manhattan’s busiest stretches, roughly a block from the Chrysler Building and between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations headquarters.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s previous report continues below.
NEW YORK (AP) — Falling bricks and reports of compromised columns led authorities to order evacuations around a Midtown Manhattan office tower that was in the process of being transformed into high-end residential units, fire officials said Tuesday.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said one of the evacuated properties was a school with about 400 students. No injuries had been reported, and all construction workers who had been inside the building were accounted for, he said. Streets in the surrounding area were shut down to both pedestrians and traffic.
The building, dating to the 1970s, previously served as Pfizer’s worldwide headquarters. It stands along a heavily traveled Midtown corridor about one block from the Chrysler Building, positioned between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations headquarters.
The New York Fire Department said crews were called at about 8 a.m. after receiving reports that bricks had fallen from the 38-story structure. Inspectors later determined that two columns had buckled on the 21st and 22nd floors, while sections of flooring were sagging from the 21st through the 26th floors.
Gensler, the architecture firm overseeing the project, has described the office-to-residential conversion as the largest ever undertaken in New York City. Plans call for more than 1,600 apartments, including the addition of more than a dozen floors above the original tower and a redesign of a connected tower. A Gensler spokesperson did not immediately respond to a voicemail and email requesting comment.
Asked whether the building was actually at risk of collapse, Mamdani said first responders found “structural issues with the building” and “beyond that, just for those in the immediate area to follow the instructions of those on the ground.”
The city’s building department said its inspectors and engineers were on the scene at 235 East 42nd Street.
“Our top priority right now,” the mayor added, “is the safety of those who live in this area and the safety of those who work in this area.”
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Izaguirre reported from Lindenhurst, New York.
