A Manhattan high-rise that once served as Pfizer's global headquarters was evacuated Tuesday morning after bricks plunged from the 38-story tower, sparking a large emergency response and the clearing of several neighboring buildings.
New York City Fire Department officials said that after emergency responders arrived at the under-construction building at 235 East 42nd Street in Midtown, they found two support columns "buckled" on the 21st and 22nd floors, as well as "sagging" floors between the 21st and 26th floors.
The FDNY initially received a call about falling bricks just before 8 a.m. ET, according to officials.
Seven other surrounding buildings were evacuated as a precaution as city officials assessed the scene, fire officials said.
No injuries were reported, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that all construction workers who had been inside the building at 235 East 42nd Street were accounted for.
"Multiple cracks and sagging floors were found at the 21st floor," Mamdani told reporters during a press conference.
Video footage circulating on social media appears to show structural steel beams bending inside the building.
The former Pfizer headquarters is undergoing a major conversion from office space into a 1,600-unit residential rental development with a quarter of the units reserved for affordable housing.
The project, developed by the firm MetroLoft, is slated for completion early next year and is expected to include ground-floor retail space and 100,000 square feet of amenities.
Representatives for MetroLoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Business Insider.
MetroLoft says on its website that upon completion, the project will be New York City's "largest office to residential conversion to date."
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Natalie is a senior reporter on Business Insider's Business News team.She was previously on BI's Legal Affairs team where she covered major cases out of state and federal court, as well as bankruptcy. Her coverage often focused on stories at the intersection of law, business, politics and technology. Natalie has covered Donald Trump’s criminal and civil cases, the wave of lawsuits against the second Trump administration, the indictment and criminal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and the legal battles facing Elon Musk and his companies. Natalie came to Business Insider in June 2021 as a breaking news reporter, focusing on the most interesting angles around the trending news of the day. Natalie largely drove BI’s coverage around the fatal “Rust” shooting involving Alec Baldwin and the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito.Prior to joining BI, Natalie worked for the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and The Brooklyn Paper. She has an extensive background covering crime and courts. During her more than 12-year journalism career, she did a stint covering the police beat out of the headquarters for the New York Police Department. Natalie, a Brooklyn native, graduated from Brooklyn College in 2012 with a journalism degree. Popular articles
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