Midtown Manhattan buildings evacuated after beams found buckling at construction site: Police

Officials in New York City said Tuesday night they are confident emergency work that is now underway is helping to stabilize the situation after construction workers discovered buckling beams in a massive office building being converted into residential housing earlier in the day.

The discovery Tuesday morning led to the evacuation of several Midtown Manhattan blocks and fears of a partial collapse.

Speaking to reporters late Tuesday night, New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said crews were able to make it to the 21st floor to inspect the work that's been done and that there has been no movement in the building, located at 235 E. 42nd Street, for several hours.

"I can say right now that the building is stable, it has not moved since we started monitoring earlier today and we feel confident in the emergency plan that we have now to make it stable," Tigani siad.

Earlier Tuesday, the city established a frozen zone for several blocks surrounding the building following the 911 calls that were made around 8 a.m. after workers "observed structural support beams beginning to buckle," the NYPD said.

That caused the 21st through 26th floors of the building to start caving under the stress, officials from FDNY and the city's Department of Buildings said.

There were no reported injuries and all construction workers were safely evacuated, according to police.

The fear, officials said, is a partial collapse, which could be internal. A full collapse onto the street is less likely, Fire Chief John Esposito said at an earlier Tuesday's news conference.

"The building has continued to move since we have been on scene," Esposito told reporters at an earlier news conference. "It does mean it is not yet stable."

Esposito said that when first responders arrived, the building had moved, but a city official told ABC News around 2:45 p.m. that the building had not moved for two hours.

A team of six people was able to enter the building around 3 p.m. and later determined that contractors on-site could move forward with the installation of temporary shoring to stabilize the building, according to the official.

This emergency shoring is a measure to stabilize the building, and additional stabilization work will be done throughout the evening and coming days, the official said.

Structural engineers initially monitored the building's movement from the outside, Tigani told reporters earlier.

"There is extensive work going on now to evaluate the situation," he said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that a frozen zone was set up between 40th and 45th streets and First and Third avenues. Those streets are closed to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

There is no immediate timetable for the lifting of the frozen zone.

The mayor said that seven other buildings near 235 E. 42nd St. were also evacuated, including a nearby Hampton Inn, according to officials.

Residents of one building, located at 222 E. 44th St., have been told that it is safe to return, a city official said Tuesday evening, adding that they are continuing to evaluate and determine when people can return to additional buildings that had been evacuated.

Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference earlier Tuesday morning that among the evacuated locations was a school with 400 students.

"I want to be honest with New Yorkers that this is a fast-developing situation. We are taking it minute by minute," he told reporters.

The mayor added that the people living and working in the frozen zone will get updates and thanked them for cooperating with the evacuations.

The 37-story commercial building, formerly the Pfizer headquarters, is currently undergoing renovations to convert it into a residential building, according to the DOB.

It is one of the largest office-to-apartment conversion projects in city history, officials said.

Metro Loft, the developer of the conversion project, said in a statement that it is working with the Department of Buildings as it investigates the situation.

"The safety of our workers and the public has always been, and remains, our top priority," the developer said.

This building has seven violations between July and December 2025, resulting in more than $32,000 in fines issued, according to DOB records.

Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement, saying she is in contact with city officials and state building inspectors are also on the scene.

ABC News' Nicole Katchis contributed to this report.