Buckling Manhattan high-rise deemed 'stable' for now after evacuations ordered

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: NBC News

U.S. NEWS
Buckling Manhattan high-rise deemed ‘stable’ for now after evacuations ordered

The building, formerly Pfizer’s global headquarters, is being converted into a luxury rental complex. It was evacuated, along with neighboring buildings, and no injuries were reported.

July 7, 2026, 12:08 PM EDT / Updated July 8, 2026, 5:23 AM EDT
By Matt Lavietes and Emilie Ikeda

An unoccupied Manhattan high-rise that is under construction was deemed “stable” late Tuesday after being at risk of collapse and prompting nearby evacuations, city officials said.

The area surrounding the 37-story building, in midtown Manhattan near Grand Central Terminal, was evacuated after two structural support columns on its 21st floor began to buckle around 8 a.m. No injuries were reported.

“I can say right now the building is stable,” Ahmed Tigani, the city’s buildings commissioner, told reporters during a Tuesday night news conference. Some evacuation orders had been lifted, Tigani said, adding “we feel confident in the emergency plan that we have.” … He added that the building was being monitored from the inside and outside and still had not moved.

“Right now, we have been in a consistent, stable and safe situation,” Tigani said. “We have been able to bring in a plan and materials to stabilize the impacted floors and [are] looking to extend that stability plan to other parts of the building.”

{snip}

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/buckling-beams-manhattan-high-rise-construction-trigger-mass-evacuatio-rcna353343

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It’s too early in the morning for me to put on my official internet junior structural engineer hat, so I can’t say how the work is going to proceed. From the pictures that were online yesterday, I would say not that one column in particular “began to buckle,” but that it had buckled.

[mwmisses4289]

1. How old is that building? Could that have something to do with it?

It's probably just the cameras perspective, but not only did it look like a column had buckled, but it looked like several floors were curving downward. Hope they don't send the workers back in there for another day or two.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. 1961. NT

[QueerDuck]

3. Heat stress? Would the conversion process be adding more weight than intended originally?

Or would the weight of the additions and improvements have been unevenly distributed (depending on the new layout of the luxury apartment units?)

[twodogsbarking]

4. When they say a human is "stable" they are sometimes near ded.