Manhattan building developer says collapse fears were overblown, calls buckling columns ‘localized situation’

The developer behind a Manhattan high-rise that sparked fears of a collapse after buckled columns forced evacuations says the danger was overstated, calling the structural damage a "localized situation" that never put the building at risk of collapsing.

MetroLoft said in a statement obtained by NBC 4 New York on Wednesday that the developer worked closely with New York City’s Department of Buildings to confirm the building "is now stable," and that it has "a clear plan to fix" the issue.

"This is a localized situation affecting less than 30 apartments out of over 1,600. At no time was the building, or any portion of it, at risk of collapse," the statement said.

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Emergency responders discovered two buckled support columns and sagging floors inside the 37-story structure on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of construction workers and occupants of nine nearby buildings.

Nathan Berman, founder of MetroLoft, said reports of an impending collapse had been "blown a little bit out of proportion" during an interview with real estate publication The Real Deal.

"This is a 1.3 million-square-foot project with an issue at the building's northwest corner," Berman told the publication, noting that the building has a "huge base that is as stable as anything in the city." He said the damage was limited to a roughly 20-by-20-foot section of the building and described the problem as "very fixable."

Fire officials initially warned of an "extremely dangerous situation" after finding the damaged columns on the 21st floor, though they said the primary concern was "a localized collapse" rather than the failure of the entire 37-story structure.

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After emergency crews worked overnight to stabilize the building, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said no additional movement had been detected but vowed to conduct a full investigation into what caused the situation.

Berman said the damage likely occurred because added weight from the ongoing office-to-residential conversion overloaded two columns, calling it a "freak accident" involving supports that may not have been reinforced sufficiently or may have contained an undetected defect.

"That’s it. There’s no mystery, and there’s no magic," he said.

He rejected claims from a union official that the project lacked enough structural steel, calling the allegation "total nonsense" and insisting the work had been designed and approved by structural engineers.

The project is converting the former Pfizer headquarters near Grand Central Terminal into roughly 1,600 apartments in what is billed as the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York City history.

Berman said replacing the damaged columns and raising the sagging floors should keep the project on track for its planned 2027 completion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.