NEW YORK – The developer behind the Midtown Manhattan tower that was evacuated over structural concerns on July 7 says it has a plan to fix the issue, including reconstructing 15 floors that were added to the original building as part of its conversion into apartments. 

The height of the tower’s 21st floor, which is taller than others at 235 East 42nd St, made two columns more susceptible to load, said Nathan Berman, chief executive officer of developer Metro Loft.

Those columns weren’t sufficiently reinforced, leading them to bend and causing some of the 15 cantilevered floors above to sag.

Metro Loft now plans to replace the facade, slabs and steel on those floors.

“We are prepared to rebuild that portion of the building,” Berman said in an interview. “It will be reskinned, everything will be levelled, fixed in place, and it will be brand new.”

The damage at the tower, the former headquarters of Pfizer Inc, has highlighted the engineering challenges of office conversions, a strategy embraced by developers and officials including Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a way to address New York’s housing shortage.

Concerns over the tower’s safety led to evacuations and street closures in the surrounding area on July 7, disrupting commutes and displacing residents.

Construction crews are installing temporary supports at the building, and streets reopened as city officials deemed the tower stable.

But building regulators have issued a partial stop-work order to halt all non-emergency construction at the site. 

Berman said shoring and stabilisation of the building is likely to be completed in the next day or two, after which Metro Loft will wait on city officials for further instructi...