Overview
- Construction crews discovered two buckled interior columns and sagging floors on Tuesday at 235 East 42nd Street, prompting an immediate evacuation of the 37‑story former Pfizer headquarters and several nearby buildings including a school.
- Firefighters treated the scene as a major technical rescue and city teams established a broad frozen zone while engineers used drones and monitoring equipment to watch for further movement.
- After hours of continuous monitoring with no additional shifts, structural engineers and crews entered the tower late Tuesday to install temporary shoring and support beams on multiple floors and declared the damaged section stable for now.
- Public records and reporting show repeated Department of Buildings responses, stop‑work orders and contractor complaints at the site since 2025, raising questions about permitting, engineering decisions and use of non‑union crews.
- Officials say a rigorous DOB-led investigation will determine the root cause and the scope of long‑term repairs, and that remediation work will continue floor by floor before any remaining evacuations or road closures are lifted.