With uncertainty surrounding the future of a Midtown high rise that sparked fear of collapsing, a developer behind the conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters into apartments dismissed concerns of imminent danger and said he plans to press forward with the project, according to a published report.
“It’s very simple,” developer Nathan Berman told The Real Deal hours after support columns buckled and upper floors sagged Tuesday morning at the 37-story tower at 235 E. 42nd St. “You add more load to something that can’t support it, it’ll give way, and that’s what happened, and now it just needs to be fixed.”
Berman, whose MetroLoft development company is in a partnership to turn the commercial building into a 1,600-unit residential space, suggested that the work stoppage and evacuation order was just a setback that can be put back on track — with the project still being completed on time.
But a day after work crews shored up the weak spots, and reduced the frozen zone around the building, city officials gave no indication about when — or if — construction would resume. Mayor Mamdani said the Department of Buildings is monitoring the emergency response, and will conduct a full investigation.
“As soon as this emergency work is concluded, DOB is going to be conducting a rigorous assessment and ensuring that the plans and the site are fully compliant with all codes before any non-emergency work moves forward,” the mayor said at a news conference Wednesday.
Mamdani said that there has been no additional movement of the structure since the Tuesday morning scare, and that the number of buildings still under evacuation had been reduced to four, while shrinking the area’s frozen zone to just two blocks. There were no injuries reported.
Berman, meanwhile, said the project could still be completed within the original timeline. He said the largest residential conversion development in city history was actually ahead of schedule, and that a 2027 completion date is still within reach.
“This is a very fixable issue, and something that our guys are experienced enough to fix,” Berman said.
The developer said the building was never in danger of collapsing, and that an assessment of the danger was blown out of proportion.
“Total nonsense. This was well designed, and approved by structural engineers,” Berman told The Real Deal. “This is a freak accident that something occurred with these two specific columns that either were not reinforced or were not reinforced sufficiently, and they gave way. That’s it. There’s no mystery, and there’s no magic.”
Firefighters were first called to the scene for a report of bricks falling from the facade of the 37-story building. But when they arrived, firefighters learned that two columns had buckled on the 21st and 22nd floors, causing floors to sag between the 21st and 26th floors.
By the afternoon, the shifting had stopped long enough to risk bringing in emergency crews to brace the impacted floors, officials said.
Mamdani insisted that converting office space into residential space is still a viable answer to the city’s housing crisis.
”We have to do so safely and in a way that is fully accountable,” he said.
