A scary scene is unfolding in Manhattan Tuesday as support beams on the 21st floor of an under-construction 37-floor building started buckling, sending bricks falling off the structure and prompting evacuations around Grand Central Station.
BREAKING: Midtown Manhattan high rise evacuated after construction workers discover buckled columns … sagging floors and falling bricks. 42nd & 43rd streets near 2nd avenue closed as DOB assesses the danger. pic.twitter.com/294MXBdkeY
— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) July 7, 2026
A large emergency response is currently underway, and streets in the area have been closed off:
The FDNY said it got a call around 8 a.m. about bricks falling from the building at 235 East 42nd Street, between Second and Third avenues. The NYPD says it got a 911 call about the incident less than 15 minutes later.
When cops got to the scene, the NYPD says officers were told that construction workers on the 21st floor of the commercial building saw the columns beginning to collapse.
Raw footage from inside, taken by a construction worker, showed crumbling steel beams on the 21st floor.
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Nine other buildings in the area have been emptied. It’s unclear how many construction workers were in the building. Investigators found multiple cracks and sagging floors on the 21st floor:
Tons of police and fire department this building that is collapsing internally at 20/21st floors 42nd and 2nd #manhattan #nyc #scary pic.twitter.com/aGwSok43Dc
— Jennie Walker (@msjenniewalker) July 7, 2026
The building is being converted into a 1,500-unit luxury rental complex slated for completion in 2027 and was formerly the site of drugmaker Pfizer’s global headquarters. If it’s able to be saved, it would be the largest conversion of its kind in the city’s history and was intended to be a showcase for how the Big Apple could deal with an excess of empty office space.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani weighed in: “All of this is a reflection of the fact that our top priority right now is the safety of those who live in this area, the safety of those who work in this area,” he said.
According to a union worker, the beams were severely failing:
Cliff Johnsen, business agent for the Steamfitters Local 638 Union, said fitters were evacuated after the beams started to bend.
“The north side of that building is crumbling,” he said. “I-beams are bending like cigarettes in there.”
This is a developing story, and RedState will bring you more information as it becomes available.
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