NYC building threatening to collapse had multiple past safety violations

Thomas Tracy and Molly Crane-Newman, New York Daily News on Jul 7, 2026

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NEW YORK — The midtown Manhattan skyscraper evacuated Tuesday after steel support beams began to buckle and bend, leading to fears of a collapse, has been the target of multiple complaints — and has been hit with more than $30,000 in workplace safety violations in the past year, city records show.

Construction crews working at 235 E. 42nd St. have been accused of “blowing material off the roof with a leaf blower” as well as unsafe demolition practices, city Department of Buildings records show.

The steel-framed 37-story building once held offices for Pfizer but is now being renovated into residential housing, the largest such conversion in city history. The project is slated to create 1,602 apartments.

In August 2025, complaints were lodged with the city that debris was falling from the windows and that electrical equipment “fell from the building onto the street.”

In the fall of 2025, there were complaints of “unlicensed and unsafe conditions” in the building. In December, a worker was injured falling off a ladder but contractors didn’t report the incident to the Department of Building, which they are required to do.

Building owners were hit with a $10,000 fine for failing to report the incident, Department of Buildings records show.

Owners were also hit with a $2,500 fine for work being done “which did not conform” with design and building plans. They were also fined $10,000 for “failing to safeguard the public and property.”

“A metal panel fell from the 33rd floor and landed on the sidewalk,” the violation noted. “Inspection revealed debris was thrown from the roof to the 33rd floor without an enclosed shaftway.”

Owners and contractors were charged $5,030 in October after glass from a window fell from the eighth floor to the sidewalk shed below.

An email to the developers in charge of the conversion, Metro Loft and David Werner Real Estate, was not immediately returned.

Hours after the 8 a.m. evacuation, the buildings and streets around 235 E. 42nd St. near Second Avenue remain closed off because there was “additional movement in one of the compromised columns,” Mayor Mamdani said at a press conference at the scene.

City Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said at a press conference at the scene Tuesday that his agency “went through an extensive plan review” before the permits were approved for the building conversion.

Only after the building is stable will the investigation begin into what happened, he added.

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