By Zachary Stieber
Contributing Writer
The 37-story building in New York City that was at risk of collapse is stable, an official said late Tuesday.
“I can say right now that the building is stable,” Ahmed Tigani, New York City’s buildings commissioner, told reporters in a briefing near the building at 235 E. 42nd St.
“We were able to visit and get to the 21st floor this evening ourselves to inspect and look at the work that’s been done,” Tigani added later. “And we are feeling confident that many of the emergency shoring measures that have been put in place as a result of extensive discussions with the building owner, the contractor, their licensed professional is stabilizing the situation.”
Two structural columns buckled earlier Tuesday. Officials also found sagging floors and multiple cracks. The building and others nearby were evacuated.
Officials had said that a collapse was possible.
“It’s a very serious situation because the box beams — the steel beams — have started to bend and deflect from the weight,” John Esposito, a city fire official, said during a morning press conference.
He also said that the building had been moving.
Tigani said that shoring up was done with metal beams, poles and galvanized steel to stabilize the building.
“As we get to spend more time in the space and understand the source of the issue, we can figure out with the contractor and their licensed professional what’s the long-term solution, so that we’re not depending on that shoring,” he said.
Nearby buildings and streets remained evacuated for much of the day, including a school and the Israeli consulate just across the street. The former Pfizer building was empty at the time, aside from the construction workers.
Some of the buildings that had been evacuated were reopened before the end of Tuesday.
Building department records show the project has been fined by the city for several safety violations, including glass and metal falling off the building, along with an incident where a worker fell off a ladder.
Gensler, an architectural company working on the project, and MetroLoft, the project’s developer, did not return requests for comment by the time of publication.
Gensler says on its website that the conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters into a residential space is slated to be complete in 2027. It says the space will include more than 1,600 apartments, a rooftop pool, and retail stores on the ground floor.
Nathan Berman, founder of MetroLoft, told The Wall Street Journal that the added weight from widening the top 15 or so floors of the building likely caused the damage. The two columns that buckled may not have been properly reinforced, he said.
“Why those particular two columns and nothing else? We don’t know,” Berman told the Journal. “We’re investigating that.”
Berman said that 95% of the building was “sound and intact” and that the compromised columns would not lead to a collapse.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
