{"id":1522587,"date":"2026-07-07T15:37:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T20:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?guid=226b77b87ff0aacd9dd48a84941dade3"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:52:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T17:52:06","slug":"midtown-manhattan-blocks-evacuated-after-beams-found-buckling-at-construction-site-police__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=1522587","title":{"rendered":"Midtown Manhattan blocks evacuated after beams found buckling at construction site: Police"},"content":{"rendered":"
This screen grab from a video taken on the 22nd floor of a Midtown building shows interior damage, on July 7, 2026, in New York. (Obtained by ABC News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>

(NEW YORK) -- Several Midtown Manhattan blocks were evacuated Tuesday morning after construction workers discovered the structure of a massive office building being converted into residential housing was compromised on the 21st floor, officials said.<\/p>

The building at 235 E. 42nd Street has continued to move as engineers and first responders work to secure the site, with fears there could be a partial collapse, officials said at a press conference.<\/p>

The city established a frozen zone for several blocks surrounding the building following the 911 calls that were made around 8:00 a.m. after workers \"observed structural support beams beginning to buckle,\" the NYPD said.<\/p>

That caused the 21st through 26th floors of the building to start caving under the stress, officials from FDNY and the city's Department of Buildings said.<\/p>

The fear, officials said, is a partial collapse, which could be internal. A full collapse onto the street is less likely, Fire Chief John Esposito said at Tuesday's news conference. <\/p>

\"The building has continued to move since we have been on scene,\" Esposito told reporters. \"It does mean it is not yet stable.\"<\/p>

Esposito said that when first responders arrived, the building had moved, but a city official told ABC News around 2:45 p.m. that the building had not moved for two hours.<\/p>

A team of six people was able to enter the building around 3 p.m. to determine if it was safe to begin shoring efforts, according to the official.<\/p>

There were no reported injuries and all construction workers were safely evacuated, according to police.<\/p>

Structural engineers monitored the building's movement from the outside, New York City Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani told reporters.<\/p>

\"There is extensive work going on now to evaluate the situation,\" he said.<\/p>

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that a frozen zone was set up between 40th and 45th Streets and 1st and 3rd Avenues. Those streets are closed to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.<\/p>

The 37-story commercial building, formerly the Pfizer headquarters, is currently undergoing renovations to convert it into a residential building, according to the DOB. It is one of the largest office-to-apartment conversion projects in city history, officials said.<\/p>

Metro Loft, the developer of the conversion project, said in a statement that it is working with the Department of Buildings as it investigates the situation.<\/p>

\"The safety of our workers and the public has always been, and remains, our top priority,\" the developer said.<\/p>

This building has seven violations between July and December 2025, resulting in more than $32,000 in fines issued, according to DOB records.<\/p>

The mayor said that seven other buildings near 235 East 42nd Street were also evacuated, including a nearby Hampton Inn, according to officials.<\/p>

Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference earlier Tuesday morning that among the evacuated locations was a school with 400 students.<\/p>

\"I want to be honest with New Yorkers that this is a fast-developing situation. We are taking it minute by minute,\" he told reporters.<\/p>

The mayor added that the people living and working in the frozen zone will get updates and thanked them for cooperating with the evacuations.<\/p>

Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement, saying she is in contact with city officials and state building inspectors are also on the scene.<\/p>

ABC News' Nicole Katchis and Tonya Simpson contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>

Copyright \u00a9 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This screen grab from a video taken on the 22nd floor of a Midtown building shows interior damage, on July 7, 2026, in New York. (Obtained by ABC News)(NEW YORK) — Several Midtown Manhattan blocks were evacuated Tuesday morning after construction work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8885,"featured_media":1522588,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2026-07-07\/News_NYCbuildingObtainedbyABCNews_070726_0.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1522587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-national-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-14 18:05:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/syndication.abcaudio.com\/files\/2026-07-07\/News_NYCbuildingObtainedbyABCNews_070726_0.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8885"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1522587"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1522627,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1522587\/revisions\/1522627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1522588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1522587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1522587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1522587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}