A high-rise building in Manhattan currently being renovated has been stabilized after it was deemed unsafe Tuesday and feared at risk of collapse. Some evacuations of nearby buildings have also now been lifted.
“We’ve been monitoring the building for many hours and have not seen any movement,” Ahmed Tigani, commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings, said during a news conference Tuesday as reported by AP.
The outlet detailed some of the events that followed around the mid-town structure currently being converted from business to residential use:
The scene unfolded after columns were spotted buckling on Tuesday morning at the 1970s-era building, which is being converted into luxury apartments.
Construction workers at the site and people in nearby buildings — including a school, diplomatic offices and several hotels — in the busy corridor of midtown were rushed out after firefighters were called there around 8 a.m.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani described it as “an extremely serious situation” as multiple cracks and sagging floors littered the suspect building.
City officials have since been moving from floor-to-floor to carry out risk assessments as to whether the buckling columns are repairable on the former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer.
Emergency personnel work near the former Pfizer headquarters building on July 07, 2026 in New York City. Construction workers at the former pharmaceutical company building, a high-profile commercial-to-residential housing project, were evacuated after it was determined that it was at risk of collapse. (John Lamparski/Getty Images)
The structure is located just down the street from New York City icons like the Chrysler Building and the United Nations headquarters.
John Esposito, the fire chief, said at a press conference if the building fell, it would “not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse”, per ABC 7.
He said it was because this building was made of steel, NBC News said.
AP contributed to this report
