MIDTOWN MANHATTAN — Structural support beams on the 21st floor of the building at 235 East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan began to buckle around 8 a.m. local time on Tuesday. Emergency officials ordered the evacuation of the building and at least nine neighboring structures, including a school housing approximately 400 children.

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) received a call around 8 a.m. concerning bricks falling from the building. Less than 15 minutes later, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) received a 911 call about the incident. Construction workers on the 21st floor reported that columns were starting to collapse, and raw footage taken by a worker showed crumbling steel beams on that floor.

Officials found that columns had buckled on both the 21st and 22nd floors, with floors sagging between the 21st and 26th floors. Fire Department Chief John Esposito stated that the building continued to move while emergency officials were present at the scene. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the situation, stating, "The building remains unstable." Mamdani further said, "This is an extremely serious situation."

There were no reported injuries from the incident, and all workers inside the building were accounted for. Mamdani announced the closure of 40th to 45th streets, specifically between First and Third Avenues. Engineers are utilizing drones to monitor the building, a method employed to avoid sending personnel inside, according to the mayor. The city's fire commissioner stated that due to the building's steel construction, only a localized collapse is possible, rather than a total collapse.

The 37-story structure at 235 East 42nd Street is situated between Second and Third Avenues. It was formerly the global headquarters of Pfizer and is currently undergoing conversion into a luxury rental complex, planned to contain between 1,500 and 1,600 units. The Department of Buildings confirmed that the building has an active permit for construction, and the architectural firm Gensler is leading the conversion project.