Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Safety blitz finds lapses at 19 NYC jobsites by firms tied to near-collapse
By
David Brand
Published Aug 4, 2026
Modified Aug 4, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Brittany Kriegstein
By
David Brand
Published Aug 4, 2026
Modified Aug 4, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
An inspection blitz targeting firms tied to the near-collapse of a major office-to-housing conversion on East 42nd Street uncovered safety lapses at 19 worksites, according to a report released Tuesday.
The infractions included 18 partial stop-work orders, with one issued at a separate office-to-housing project on the same block in Manhattan, as well as one order halting all construction at a Williamsburg apartment building.
Inspectors targeted 180 buildings in their enforcement dragnet, including two dozen other conversion projects. But the report said inspectors found no evidence suggesting that issues causing columns to buckle beneath a 14-story expansion of the existing building at 235 East 42nd St. were “inherent” to similar office-to-housing redevelopments.
“DOB inspectors did not observe any immediately hazardous structural issues that posed an imminent danger to public safety,” according to the department’s analysis.
The structural failure last month at the city’s largest-ever office-to-housing conversion project has ignited scrutiny of the developer behind the project and its various contractors, as well as the safety and viability of similar developments. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said turning office buildings into apartments is a key way to address the city’s housing shortage. More than 40 other office-to-housing plans accounting for more than 14,000 new apartments and condos are in the works or under construction citywide, according to Department of City Planning data.
The report does not provide information on exactly what caused columns to bend like paper straws at the Pfizer building site. Department of Buildings spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said the agency’s “investigation into the cause of the structural failure at 235 East 42nd Street is ongoing.”
The report indicates that each location “had a connection to the project team at 235 East 42nd Street.” Rudansky said all of the sites were either associated with developer MetroLoft, Barone Steel Fabricators, or Domani Inspection Services, a private inspections outfit hired to review structural steel and welds at the site, or demolition subcontractor Northeast Specialist Group. He said the agency would target other companies in another round of enforcement sweeps.
MetroLoft is turning the Pfizer building on East 42nd Street and a neighboring structure into roughly 1,600 new apartments.
FDNY drone imagery shows a buckled steel structural member inside the office-to-residential conversion project at 235 E. 42nd St., where officials say two structural columns failed and floors above began to sag.
The wave of inspections also resulted in at least 65 violations, mostly for unsafe work conditions or a failure to follow structural plans, according to the report.
The buildings department launched its crackdown in the days after the July 7 debacle at the former Pfizer headquarters. The project is the largest such office-to-housing conversion in city history, and is scheduled to open to tenants next year.
The structural failure prompted city officials to vacate the buildings, shut down nearby businesses and evacuate surrounding blocks for several hours. The Manhattan district attorney’s office and the city’s Department of Investigation opened criminal inquiries into the cause. Both have declined to comment.
But some people involved with the project have pointed to what appears to have been a critical oversight: a failure to install steel reinforcement material along the columns directly below a 14-story expansion of the building.
Project structural engineer Christopher Behan told Gothamist the reinforcing steel was “never installed” on three floors, including the 21st, where the columns buckled. Behan’s city-approved structural drawings called for steel reinforcements that would turn I-shaped vertical beams into sturdy steel boxes.
MetroLoft Principal Nathan Berman also said in an interview the day of the structural failure that he suspected the columns were not properly reinforced. Berman declined interview requests from Gothamist. A MetroLoft spokesperson declined to comment about what caused the columns to buckle.
In the wake of the structural failure, city inspectors ordered MetroLoft to hire a third-party engineering firm to examine structural drawings for the two sites along East 42nd Street — a “peer review” process that many engineers say the city should consider requiring for similar conversion projects that add new floors to existing buildings.
The developer added 21 floors to the existing nine-story structure next door.
A MetroLoft spokesperson declined to comment on the sweeps. Barone, Domani and Northeast Specialist Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tagged
housing
new york city
public safety
David Brand
David is a reporter covering housing for Gothamist and WNYC. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 908-310-3960.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
NY farmer's market shopping list: Fancy apples, tomatoes, legal weed?
Gov. Kathy Hochul signs legislation authorizing legal weed merchants to sell at approved community events, farmer's markets included.
By
Herb Pinder
Published Aug 6, 2026 at 1:34 p.m. ET
Baby on board: MTA to make room for strollers on all NYC buses
The MTA said it wants riders to be able to convert two seats in the back of all buses into stroller parking by the end of the first quarter 2027.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
News
Baby on board: MTA to make room for strollers on all NYC buses
The MTA said it wants riders to be able to convert two seats in the back of all buses into stroller parking by the end of the first quarter 2027.
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
New York targeting tax cheats after clunky rollout of pied-à-terre levy
By
David Brand
Will the Mamdani-Menin rivalry boost regulations of e-bikes in NYC?
By
Elizabeth Kim
Extreme heat returns to NYC as city activates emergency plan
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .