New York construction scare highlights the challenges of converting offices into housing
Summary
Two steel columns buckled inside a building in midtown Manhattan that is being converted from offices to apartments, causing evacuations and stopping work. The project aims to turn two office buildings into about 1,600 apartments by adding new floors, but this incident shows the engineering challenges in such conversions.Key Facts
- The incident happened inside the former Pfizer headquarters at 235 East 42nd Street in New York.
- Two steel columns buckled on the 21st floor of the newer building.
- The project involves converting two office buildings, one from 1909 and another from the 1960s, into apartments.
- Plans include adding more than a dozen new stories to the older building and redesigning the other.
- Temporary supports were installed to stabilize the structure after the buckling.
- Experts say the project is complex because old buildings must safely carry new weights and floors need reconfiguring for homes.
- Engineers believe the buckling was likely caused by the extra load added during construction.
- The developer, MetroLoft, has not publicly commented on the cause of the incident.
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