08/07/2026 13:03 - Internacionales
Tuesday, July 8, 2026.
Panic temporarily gripped Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday morning when construction workers detected bent columns and sunken floors in the building at 235 East 42nd Street. This 37-story structure, built in the 1970s and formerly the headquarters of the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is currently undergoing a massive conversion to become over 1,600 luxury apartments—the largest project of its kind in the city's history.
New York City Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani confirmed that the two columns that gave way were located on the 21st and 22nd floors, with the sinking extending up to the 26th floor. Thanks to early detection, the building was successfully evacuated, along with eight adjacent properties, a school, the Israeli consulate, and several hotels, affecting a total perimeter of nine city blocks closed to traffic.
With the situation initially described as “extremely grave” by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, emergency teams worked tirelessly. Tigani explained that the plan involved installing shoring, metal beams, and new galvanized steel to replace the damaged columns and support the structural load. The result was an absolute success: the building stopped moving and stability was recovered, preventing any major collapse.
“The building is stable. It has not moved since we started monitoring it earlier today, and we are confident in the emergency plan we implemented to keep it stable,” Commissioner Tigani told the press.
Nathan Berman, founder of MetroLoft (the development company), suggested that the additional weight from the expansion of the top 15 floors might have caused the damage to those two specific columns, which perhaps were not adequately reinforced during the remodeling. Despite this scare, Berman emphasized that 95% of the building maintains a solid and intact structure, providing great optimism for the definitive solution and the completion of the housing project.
As a result of the successful stabilization, the city was able to drastically reduce the evacuation perimeter. Second and Third Avenues restored vehicular traffic by the end of the day on Tuesday, and most neighboring buildings were authorized for normal reoccupation. Monitoring will continue constantly, but New Yorkers can safely walk through their neighborhood thanks to the professionalism and speed of the intervention teams.
Source: Infobae
Alfredo S. Quiroga
