NEW YORK — Workers were evacuated and construction was stopped this week after two steel columns bent on the 21st floor of the former Pfizer headquarters as crews press ahead with plans to turn the Midtown Manhattan complex into roughly 1,600 apartments. The incident drew attention to the technical difficulties of adding new residential loads to century-old and midcentury office structures.
What happened at the site
The buckling occurred inside the newer of two connected buildings that form part of the conversion site. Crews have installed temporary shoring while city and project engineers investigate the cause and assess structural integrity, according to project details made public this week. The evacuation and work stoppage affected activity in and around 235 East 42nd Street, a highly visible parcel in Midtown.
About the redevelopment
The adaptive reuse plan involves two neighboring buildings: one constructed in 1909 and a second built in the 1960s. Developers propose to thread a tall new addition through and atop the older structure while substantially redesigning and expanding the later building, ultimately creating about 1,600 residential units.
- Location: Midtown Manhattan, near 42nd Street (former Pfizer headquarters)
- Buildings involved: One from 1909; one from the 1960s
- Planned outcome: Approximately 1,600 apartments and multiple new stories atop the older building
Engineering challenges and expert perspective
Structural engineering specialists say adaptive reuse—especially where new towers are placed atop older shells—requires careful sequencing so that existing foundations and columns are not overstressed. One commonly used approach is to have the original building continue to carry its own weight while a separate structural frame is built to carry the added vertical load down to its own foundations.
“I don’t think it really brings into question our understanding of how to do something like this,”
The comment came from Ben Schafer, a structural engineering professor at Johns Hopkins University who is not involved in the project. He said the likely strategy is to have the century-old building keep supporting its existing loads while a new structural system is constructed to carry the additional stories down to the foundation.
Local impact and what comes next
The immediate effect is the pause in construction activity and an investigation into why the steel members failed. Temporary supports are in place to stabilize the area while engineers examine whether connections, sequencing or unexpected loads contributed to the buckling. City building officials and the project team typically review such findings before work resumes.
Beyond this site, the episode highlights trade-offs cities face as they convert underused office inventory — left vacant or lightly occupied since the pandemic — into housing stock. The approach can add much-needed units without building on new land, but it frequently involves intricate structural work, updated mechanical systems and changes to floor plates to create workable apartments.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Address | Former Pfizer headquarters, Midtown Manhattan (near 235 East 42nd Street) |
| Buildings | One from 1909; one from the 1960s |
| Planned units | About 1,600 apartments |
| Incident location | 21st floor of the newer structure |
For neighbors and prospective residents, the pause may mean delays in project timelines and continued construction disruption in the short term. For engineers and builders, the incident will serve as a case study in how to manage complex load paths, temporary supports and sequencing when inserting new structures into older buildings.
The investigation’s findings will be closely watched by city officials, developers and other teams pursuing similar conversions across New York and the nation. Adaptive reuse remains a favored strategy to increase housing supply without extensive new footprints, but this episode underscores the need for meticulous engineering and oversight on large-scale projects.
Ava Rosenberg is New York correspondent at News Block.
