On Tuesday, July 7, 2026, a 37-story building at 235 East 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan was evacuated after structural failures were detected. The building, a former Pfizer headquarters currently being converted into 1,600 apartments by Metro Loft, experienced buckling steel beams and sagging floors on the 21st and 22nd floors. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared the structure unstable, prompting the FDNY to establish a "collapse zone" and a "frozen zone" between First and Third avenues. As a precaution, seven nearby buildings, including a school and a hotel, were evacuated. While no injuries were reported and all construction workers are accounted for, the NYPD closed several streets from East 40th to 45th Street. Officials noted that any potential collapse would likely be localized rather than a total structural failure.