Midtown Manhattan building to be stabilized after columns buckle

Key Points:

• Emergency repairs began Tuesday evening on a Manhattan high-rise after buckled columns and sagging floors prompted evacuations around the midtown construction site, which is being converted into luxury apartments.
• The 1970s-era former Pfizer building showed structural damage on the 21st floor, leading to evacuations of nearby buildings including a school, diplomatic offices, and hotels, with fears of collapse described as a localized risk rather than total.
• Developers attribute the damage to added weight from widening the top floors during the office-to-residential conversion, while experts warn that the buckled columns likely need removal and replacement, requiring extensive and costly repairs.
• City officials conducted floor-by-floor inspections and allowed emergency stabilization work to proceed, with some nearby residents permitted to return after safety assessments; the building remains unstable but intact.
• The project, the largest office-to-residential conversion in NYC history with over 1,600 units, has faced prior safety violations, and experts caution that damage may extend beyond the visible buckled columns, necessitating careful structural analysis.