Construction workers found cracking and buckling support beams inside 235 East 42nd Street around 8 a.m. Tuesday, and the building’s occupants were taken out after the problem spread through several floors. The site sits at the corner of East 42nd Street and Second Avenue in Midtown East.
Zohran Mamdani told reporters, “Now luckily there have been no injuries to report at this time, all workers are accounted for, the building has been evacuated, a number of tall buildings in the area are also being evacuated at this time, a school with about 400 children has also been evacuated.”
235 East 42nd Street evacuation
FDNY said workers first spotted the structural support beams beginning to buckle on the 21st and 22nd floors. The workers self-evacuated, and officials later said the 21st to 26st floors of the 38-story building started caving under the stress. The building was the former headquarters of Pfizer and was under conversion to residential use.
Several adjacent buildings were evacuated, including 231 East 43rd Street, the Hampton Inn Manhattan Grand Central, where guests were taken out of their rooms. A school with about 400 children was also evacuated, adding a second layer of disruption beyond the construction site itself.
FDNY street closures
Pedestrian and vehicular traffic was closed on East 42nd Street between Second and Third avenues. FDNY also asked for East 44th Street to be closed between Second and Third avenues, widening the blocked area around the building.
The immediate concern now is the structural failure inside 235 East 42nd Street, where the beams buckled before the building began caving on multiple floors. For people in the area, the practical instruction is simple: follow the directions of first responders on the ground and stay clear of the closed blocks.
