{"id":379176,"date":"2026-10-22T02:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379176\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T02:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T02:32:11","slug":"buckled-nyc-midtown-building-set-to-be-repaired-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379176\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckled NYC Midtown building set to be repaired: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Repair work on the Midtown Manhattan high-rise that dangerously buckled over the summer<\/a> is reportedly slated to begin shortly \u2014 with crews jacking up its sagging floors 1\/64th of an inch a time.<\/p>\n

The construction work at the former Pfizer headquarters at 235 E. 42nd Street will kick off more than three months after the buidling was dramtically evacuated over structural concerns. <\/p>\n

Hardhats will gradually jack up the buckled floors in tiny increments \u2014 equivalent to the thickness of a guitar pick, Gothamist reported<\/a>, citing newly filed engineering plans.<\/p>\n

Eventually, the floors will be raised about 7 inches.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former Pfizer building in Midtown Manhattan was evacuated in July after two support columns buckled on the 21st floor of the 37-story building. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

The Midtown high-rise, located steps away from Grand Central and the Chrysler Building, was evacuated during the morning rush<\/a> in the first week of July when massive beams in the under-construction building started buckling.<\/p>\n

Several floors of the 37-story commercial building \u2014 which is the city\u2019s largest office-to-housing conversion project \u2014 caved in and bricks rained down on the street under the crushing strain.<\/p>\n

Emergency crew workers were able to successfully shore up<\/a> the building and a third-party engineer has been brought in to \u201cverify and act as another set of eyes\u201d to ensure it was safe for emergency crews to come onto the impacted floors where beams were \u201cbending like cigarettes,\u201d Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said at a press conference on July 8.<\/p>\n

The skyscraper\u2019s developer MetroLoft described plans to rebuild the section of the tower immediately after the building\u2019s summer debacle, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

The proposed office-to-residential building at 235 East 42nd Street is located steps away from Grand Central and the Chrysler Building. James Keivom for NY Post<\/p>\n

Sagging floors in the high-rise will be jacked up 7 inches \u2013 1\/64th inch at a time. Obtained by NY Post<\/p>\n

However, the company\u2019s strategy has since changed, according to engineering plans and reviews submitted to the Department of Buildings obtained by Gothamist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Structural engineers who reviewed the plans to slowly jack up the floors said the developers revised strategy appeared safe and incremental.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe threat is going too fast and missing a problem, like something that is causing damage somewhere else,\u201d Eric Cowley, president of the firm Cowley Engineering, told the local outlet.<\/p>\n

Cowley noted he thinks \u201cthe repair is fine\u201d and did not see a need to redevelop<\/a> the entire section above the buckled columns.<\/p>\n

Initial work was underway on the higher floors of the building near the site of the collapsed column when the local publication visited on Friday.<\/p>\n

Emergency crew workers were able to successfully shore up the building in July. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the city\u2019s buildings department confirmed jacking is scheduled to begin this week and records indicated columns were removed last month, according to Gothamist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would not allow any work to proceed in the city if we thought it was posing a hazard to the public,\u201d David Maggiotto of the Department of Buildings said in a statement to the outlet.<\/p>\n

A framing plan for the 20th and 21st floors of the office-to-housing conversion at 235 East 42nd St. NYC Department of Buildings<\/p>\n

\u201cThese plans to effectuate permanent structural repairs to the building were approved by DOB following an extensive vetting and review process by senior department engineers, as well as from an independent third-party engineering firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former office building is slated to transform into a 1,600-unit complex<\/a> which is said to be the city\u2019s largest ever office-to-housing conversion project, the publication reported.<\/p>\n

MetroLoft and the Department of Buildings did not immediately return The Post\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Repair work on the Midtown Manhattan high-rise that dangerously buckled over the summer is reportedly slated to begin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2823,57,360,9,24,55,54,56,3273,58],"class_list":["post-379176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-department-of-buildings","tag-metro","tag-midtown","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-office-buildings","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}