NEW YORK — Evacuations were ordered at a high-rise building in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday after two structural beams on a 37-story structure in New York City began buckling, authorities said.
Mayor: Building remains unstable
Update 1:09 p.m. ET July 7: “The building remains unstable,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a news conference Tuesday.
There has been additional movement in one of the columns since city officials arrived at the scene, WABC reported.
According to WPIX, the mayor said the exact cause behind the columns’ buckling remains under investigation.
Original report: Fire officials said they received a call about bricks falling from the building, located at 235 E. 42nd St., according to the television station.
Police received a call less than 15 minutes later.
The support beams were on the 21st floor of the building, WNBC reported. The New York Times reported that a safety manager said that a steel beam was compromised on the 21st floor, according to the Department of Buildings’ online records. The Fire Department said that two support columns inside the building were buckling, and several upper floors were sagging, according to the newspaper.
The FDNY said that floors 21 through 26 of the building caved in, WPIX reported. The site is an active, permitted construction project to convert the existing commercial office building into residential units.
Cliff Johnsen, business agent for the Steamfitters Local 638 Union, said fitters were evacuated after the beams began to bend.
“The north side of that building is crumbling,” he said. “I-beams are bending like cigarettes in there.”
The building was formerly the site of pharmaceutical company Pfizer’s global headquarters, the Times reported.
Officials evacuated two adjoining buildings, fire officials told the newspaper.
No injuries have been reported, Spectrum News NY1 reported.
Evacuations and street closures caused major delays for commuters trying to get to their homes and workplaces.
The evacuations have disrupted public transportation. According to the MTA, buses are being detoured in both directions, WPIX reported.
MTA says the M42 buses are being detoured in both directions. While detoured, eastbound buses will not serve stops on East 42nd Street from Madison Avenue to Second Avenue.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani advised anyone in the area to follow the instructions of first responders.
“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,” Mamdani said during a news conference.