NEW YORK: Emergency crews evacuated a busy Manhattan street block during the Tuesday (Jul 7) morning rush hour after structural columns buckled inside a skyscraper undergoing construction work, officials said.The former head office of the drug giant Pfizer, near Grand Central station and the United Nations headquarters, is being converted from offices into apartments in a major overhaul at the 37-story tower.The developer insisted there was no risk of the entire building collapsing. But city officials warned the situation remained serious as they worked to determine if the structure was safe enough to enter to perform remedial work.
"Two structural columns have buckled, in addition to multiple cracks and sagging floors. The building remains unstable. Since arriving on scene, we have witnessed additional movement in one of the compromised columns," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
The former Pfizer headquarters building is seen on Jul 7, 2026, in New York City. (Photo: Getty Images via AFP)
No one has been injured and all the workers in the building repurposing work are accounted for, the mayor said, adding that the project engineer was working with structural engineers to develop plans to shore up the tower.Emergency struts and beams would be brought in to strengthen the building, officials said.Nearby hotels, businesses, apartments and a school were evacuated, and streets were closed as a precaution as police and firefighters swarmed the area, AFP correspondents saw.A drone was deployed to allow officials to assess the extent of the damage.The mayor said New Yorkers will be allowed to "return back into these buildings when we are fully confident that they are safe for them to do so".Local cable channel PIX11 was forced to abandon its studio near the affected building mid-broadcast following an evacuation order.
