We brought you the terrifying story Tuesday of a Manhattan skyscraper undergoing renovation that threatened to collapse following several support beams buckling on the 23rd floor of the 37-story building. Mass evacuations were ordered, and streets around Grand Central Station came to a standstill as they were closed off by authorities.
The good news is that officials declared Wednesday that the structure has been stabilized — although the danger is far from over. A partial demolition is still very much on the table.
The sagging skyscraper that triggered a massive evacuation in Midtown Manhattan will have to be partially demolished, experts have revealed.
Two columns in the 37-story office building on East 42nd Street buckled Tuesday morning as construction crews were working inside the building.
The 21st to 26th floors of the building near Grand Central Terminal caved in under stress, and multiple cracks and sagging floors were reported throughout the high-rise.
🚨 JUST IN: Stunning footage shows New York City high-rise beams BENDING, making the ENTIRE BUILDING unstable and forcing mass evacuations 🤯
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 7, 2026
"It's a lack of vetting your contractors, not picking safety over PROFITS!"
"I don't think anybody is going back in this building for a… pic.twitter.com/riluqAdFvC
🚨 JUST IN: Stunning footage shows New York City high-rise beams BENDING, making the ENTIRE BUILDING unstable and forcing mass evacuations 🤯
"It's a lack of vetting your contractors, not picking safety over PROFITS!"
"I don't think anybody is going back in this building for a WHILE."
Absolutely TERRIFYING.
MORE: The Stuff of Nightmares: Evacuations Underway As Support Structures Buckle on NYC Skyscraper
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The situation brings up tragic memories for many:
Experts have now warned that the former Pfizer headquarters, which was being renovated into luxury apartments, will require some demolition. Even attempting that could trigger a collapse and create a scene that would likely traumatize many New Yorkers who witnessed the fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11.
'The images we have seen show a buckled column, you can see cracking, you can see floors that are sagging, those generally are damage that is not reversible,' structural engineer Emily Guglielmo told the New York Post.
'It's not like we can just push a cracked floor up and it can maintain its capacity, so there will absolutely be removal and replacement of some of these elements.'
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
The possibility of a partial or localized collapse still remains, experts said, although a total collapse is considered unlikely. They’re using drones to inspect the damage and consider the best course of action. The good news is that the building has stopped moving:
"We've been monitoring the building for many hours and have not seen any movement," New York City Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said during a Tuesday evening news conference.
Although it’s unclear why the support beams failed, the situation seems to have been stabilized for the moment. Authorities are still on high alert, and activity in the bustling area is heavily impacted. We’ll keep you posted on any new developments.
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