NYC high-rise to be stabilized
Buckled columns, sagging floors force evacuations around Manhattan site
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NEW YORK -- Workers were expected to begin stabilizing a Manhattan high-rise Tuesday evening after buckled columns and sagging floors forced evacuations in and around the midtown construction site.
Construction workers at the site and people in nearby buildings -- including a school, diplomatic offices and several hotels -- in the busy corridor of midtown had been rushed out after firefighters were called there around 8 a.m. and found the precarious conditions.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said early Tuesday afternoon that the building remained unstable and was "an extremely serious situation."
His office said later that a team had gone floor-by-floor and observed no additional movement of the damaged columns, giving on-site contractors the greenlight to move forward with emergency repairs.
The temporary measures are meant to stabilize the building and are expected to stretch into the coming days, impacting a busy corridor of midtown near the famed Grand Central train station that is a hub for metro area commuters and residents as well as tourists.
The building, which is the former headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, is located just down the street from New York City icons like the Chrysler Building and the United Nations headquarters. The gleaming glass-and-steel building is in the midst of being converted to luxury apartments.
Leila Bozorg, one of Mamdani's deputy mayors, said it was "encouraging" the building did not appear to be shifting as officials went up into and past the damaged floors on their way to the 37th floor -- the top floor -- of the building.