The next steps for a weakened NYC high-rise are up in the air. Here’s what’s happening now – and what could come next
Structural Engineers Weigh In on Midtown Manhattan High-Rise Crisis
The next steps for a weakened – Emergency reinforcement efforts at a prominent Midtown Manhattan skyscraper are anticipated to conclude by Thursday, according to the project’s developer. However, the path forward remains uncertain as experts investigate the root cause of support columns that buckled on the building’s 21st floor. Nathan Berman, founder and managing principal of MetroLoft, stated that crews expect to complete the temporary shoring work within the next day or so.
One independent structural engineer suggested to CNN that a partial demolition could become necessary before construction resumes on what MetroLoft describes as the most significant office-to-residential transformation in New York City’s history. While the developer maintains that no section of the structure faced collapse risk, this position differs from Tuesday’s statements by city officials, who characterized the building as unstable and created an official “collapse zone” surrounding the property.
Understanding the Structural Failure
Union workers identified the crumpled support beams on Tuesday and assisted with evacuating occupants, according to a union spokesperson. Now, both these workers and other New Yorkers are questioning when it will be safe for people to return to the building. For over 24 hours, laborers have been reinforcing the building’s most vulnerable areas using emergency jacks and installing new steel supports, as New York City Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani explained.
Shoring jacks function as heavy-duty, adjustable props designed to temporarily support vertical structures including ceilings, concrete slabs, and walls. By Wednesday morning, workers had installed temporary shoring and beams on floors 18 through 23, with crews continuing to shore up additional floors throughout the day, Mayor Zohran Mamdani reported.
The construction project encompasses adding floors to an existing building located at 219 East 42nd Street while simultaneously renovating the neighboring 33-story tower at 235 East 42nd Street, according to the architectural firm Gensler. The project added approximately 18,000 square feet to 15 upper floors, and the additional load caused two columns to bend, Berman explained. Those floors then shifted and sagged—some sections moving as much as four inches, he noted.
Engineering Solutions and Next Steps
The buckled columns sit between the existing structure of the building and the new floors being constructed, which caused the floors to sag, city officials said. The columns bent from either not being properly reinforced or “having been missed in the reinforcement process,” Berman said, though he added the exact cause will be determined “in due time.”
CNN asked the Department of Buildings on Thursday what work is expected to take place in the coming hours and days. To fully stabilize the building, crews might need to shore up floors all the way down to the foundation and up to the sagging floors above, structural engineers said.
Visualizing the buckling at an NYC high-rise and how teams are working to stabilize Ideally, crews will “transfer the weight in the compromised areas to the foundation,” said Chris Cerino, past president of the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations and the Structural Engineers Association of New York. “They will likely be installing shoring posts, which are small columns, for the entire height of the building at and below the failure zone,” Cerino said.
After reviewing images of the site, Cerino said he believed part of the building might need to be demolished before construction can resume. MetroLoft said it will replace impacted beams and “will fully rebuild” the affected part of the building.
Broader Implications for NYC Housing
The skyscraper is being converted into apartments—a process that is far more complicated than building apartments from scratch. New York hopes converted offices can ease a housing crisis. A structural emergency at a high-rise tower shows the challenges Office-to-apartment conversions have surged since the pandemic emptied out aging office buildings and gave cities a way to add much-needed housing. But these conversions require extensive structural, plumbing and mechanical work.
MetroLoft said it will fix the issue that caused the structural damage and rebuild the affected portion alongside ongoing construction. The developer said the problem is a localized situation affecting fewer than 30 of more than 1,600 apartments. Rebuilding the buckled sections will not delay the project, which is scheduled to be completed next year, the company said. Mamdani said office-to-residential conversions are “part of our answer to the housing crisis”—but safety remains paramount as engineers work to resolve this unexpected setback.
“They will likely be installing shoring posts, which are small columns, for the entire height of the building at and below the failure zone,” Cerino said.
“They will likely be installing shoring posts, which are small columns, for the entire height of the building at and below the failure zone,” Cerino said.