Overview
- Workers noticed cracking and bent steel supports on Tuesday, July 7, and emergency crews found two deformed load-bearing columns on the 21st–22nd floors with floors sagging up through the 26th.
- Police, the FDNY and about 130–150 responders evacuated nearby buildings including a school of roughly 400 children and cordoned off streets around 235 East 42nd Street with no reported injuries.
- Fire Chief John Esposito warned of a possible localized collapse even as officials said a total building failure was unlikely given its construction.
- The developer MetroLoft says damage is limited to a small area and is co-operating with inspectors while engineers and DOB statics teams begin temporary stabilization and emergency repairs expected to take days.
- Unions and on-site workers have criticized the vertical expansion work, citing added loads and bending steel beams, and the incident has triggered an official probe of construction practices and oversight for the large office-to-residential conversion.