A crisis is unfolding in the heart of Midtown Manhattan after a 37-story skyscraper suffered a severe structural failure, forcing emergency mass evacuations and locking down several blocks during the morning rush hour. First responders rushed to 235 East 42nd Street following reports of falling debris, only to discover a far more terrifying reality inside the high-rise: two major structural support columns on the 21st floor had completely buckled under the weight of the building.
The tower, famously known as the former global headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is currently undergoing the largest office-to-residential conversion project in New York City history to transform the space into more than 1,600 luxury apartments. According to construction union representatives, workers inside noticed concrete falling from the roof and windows violently vibrating before realizing that massive steel support beams were visibly bending “like cigarettes.” The Department of Buildings confirmed that multiple floors between the 21st and 26th stories are now actively cracking and sagging, News.Az reports, citing The Washington Post.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the skyscraper remains highly unstable and is undergoing minute-by-minute drone monitoring due to continued structural shifting. While all construction workers have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported, authorities have established a strict “collapse zone.” Nine surrounding buildings—including a local school filled with roughly 400 children—have been urgently evacuated, and a massive five-block traffic freeze remains in effect between First and Third Avenues while engineers scramble to deploy emergency shoring trusses to save the building from a catastrophic failure.