By Philip Marcelo and Anthony Izaguirre
Associated Press
NEW YORK — A Manhattan high-rise that was under construction when columns buckled and bricks tumbled into the street below during the Tuesday morning rush hour remained unstable and was still moving, forcing nearby buildings to evacuate, officials said.
The 1970s-era office building was being converted to luxury apartments, and is the former global headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. It’s located in a busy corridor about a block from the landmark Chrysler Building and between Grand Central Terminal and the United Nations headquarters.
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A nearby school with about 400 children was among the evacuated buildings, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. There were no reports of injuries and all workers inside the office tower were accounted for, he said at a press conference at the scene.
Mamdani said engineers are working on ways to shore up the damaged floors and using drones to monitor the building, so that they don’t have to send people in.
“The building remains unstable,” he said. “This is an extremely serious situation.”
Fire Department Chief John Esposito added that the building has continued to move as emergency officials have been on scene. Nearby streets were closed to people and vehicles.
“It is not yet stable,” Esposito said. “It is still a very serious and dangerous situation.”
The Fire Department of New York said it received reports of bricks falling at around 8 a.m. from the 37-story tower. Officials found two columns had buckled on the 21st and 22nd floors and that floors were sagging between the 21st and 26th floors.
The office-to-residential conversion has been billed as the largest in the city’s history, according to Gensler, the architectural firm leading the project. The planned complex with more than 1,600 units includes adding more than a dozen stories atop the building’s original tower while also redesigning an adjoining tower.
A spokesperson for Gensler did not immediately return a voicemail and email seeking comment.
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 said earlier, “is the safety of those who live in this area and the safety of those who work in this area.”
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