Mayor Mamdani full press conference as Midtown building faces possible 'localized collapse'

[0:00] We continue to follow the breaking story on Manhattan's east side. [0:03] Buckling beams discovered inside an office building under construction is causing a mass evacuation. [0:09] Yeah, right now several buildings in that area have been evacuated, at least eight, maybe nine, actually. [0:15] Workers work quickly to make sure those buildings do not collapse. [0:19] Yeah, moments ago we heard from the governor, Governor Hochul, saying she's in communication with local officials here in the city [0:25] and obviously saying that any aid that they need to provide, the state is there and ready to help out. [0:31] Eyewitness News reporter Lauren Glassberg, part of our team of reporters on Manhattan's east side. [0:36] She's live now from the scene. Lauren? [0:40] Yeah, let me just point out for your perspective where this building is. [0:44] I am at 41st and 2nd Avenue, and the building that is of concern is at the north corner, northwest corner of 42nd and 2nd Avenue. [0:55] That is the old Fizer building. It is currently going under a renovation to turn it into residential apartments. [1:04] And we did just hear from Metroloft, which is the developer of this conversion project, and they say, quote, [1:11] we are working closely with the Department of Buildings to understand the full scope of the situation. [1:17] The safety of our workers and the public has always been and remains our top priority. [1:23] Now, we do have video and images of the issue that is inside the building. [1:27] We understand it's on the 21st and 22nd floor where some steel beams have buckled. [1:33] We're not sure what caused that buckling, but the weight of the ceilings and the floors obviously impacting that steel, [1:40] and that causes structural issues throughout the building as well. [1:45] Emergency crews on the scene evaluating. [1:48] But the precautionary move here is for the city to evacuate a number of buildings in the area, more than eight at this point. [1:56] But they are on the north side of that building, to the west of the building, [2:01] and even we understand buildings on 41st Street have been evacuated as well. [2:06] The mayor spoke earlier today. [2:07] He mentioned bricks were falling from that building, and that was a tip-off that there were issues. [2:12] It's actually a paneled building, so perhaps there were panels falling off. [2:15] And we did just hear from the mayor again, although I will say we are expecting him on the scene at any minute for a press conference. [2:22] And I think he might even be walking this way, but let's hear what he said a short time ago. [2:26] Our top priority right now is the safety of those who live in this area, the safety of those who work in this area, [2:34] and DOB inspectors and engineers are on site working quickly to secure the site as well as that surrounding area. [2:43] Okay, and I just want to bring out to live pictures right now, and we see the mayor showing up on the scene right now. [2:48] He's with a number of OEM and FDNY as well. [2:53] They will be hearing from them, too. [2:56] And I do want to say when we came over to the scene, we saw a number of ambulances, stretchers prepared. [3:01] The city is ready for any emergent situation, but right now, all steps are precautionary. [3:06] The mayor walking up to that podium. [3:08] I'll step out of the way, and we'll listen to what he has to say here in Midtown right now. [3:25] Good afternoon, everyone. [3:26] Around 8 a.m. this morning, FDNY received reports of a structural issue at an active construction site [3:33] on East 42nd Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. [3:38] This is an existing 37-story building with active permits to convert it from a commercial office building to a residential building. [3:46] First responders from FDNY, NISOM, and the Department of Buildings responded to the call immediately [3:53] and found structural issues on the 21st floor. [3:57] Two structural columns have buckled in addition to multiple cracks and sagging floors. [4:02] The building remains unstable. [4:05] Since arriving on scene, we have witnessed additional movement in one of the compromise columns. [4:11] First responders and structural engineers are working closely with the project engineer [4:15] to develop plans to shore up the impacted floor. [4:19] If the floor is deemed to be secure, engineers will enter and begin shoring up the building. [4:25] As we await the arrivals of materials that will stabilize the building, [4:28] DOB engineers have been investigating with FDNY drones. [4:33] This is an extremely serious situation, and I am thankful to our first responders for quickly arriving at the site [4:40] and to New Yorkers for reacting calmly and with urgency. [4:44] I am grateful to report that there have been no injuries at this time [4:47] and that every worker has been accounted for. [4:50] The NYPD has instituted a frozen zone from 40th to 45th streets between 1st and 3rd avenues. [4:57] These streets have been temporarily closed off to both pedestrian and vehicular traffic. [5:03] The NYPD is also deploying additional officers to ensure that the area remains secure. [5:08] I want to encourage New Yorkers to avoid the area until it has been deemed safe to re-enter. [5:13] As we work to secure this building and ensure that New Yorkers are safe, [5:17] I want to encourage New Yorkers to also continue to follow the instructions of those who are on the ground. [5:23] Now, I want to thank the many government agencies who have worked closely with one another this morning [5:27] to protect the people of the city. [5:29] FDNY coordinated with NYSOM. [5:31] NYPD officers are keeping traffic moving and helping to keep New Yorkers out of the frozen zones. [5:37] DOB inspectors and engineers are managing an incredibly complex situation. [5:41] On behalf of New York City, thank you. [5:44] Now, I will pass it over to our Fire Commissioner, Lillian Bonsignore. [5:49] Good afternoon. [5:53] At 7.57 this morning, the FDNY received a 911 call for 235 East 42nd Street. [6:01] The report was for bricks falling from the upper floors. [6:05] Our units arrived very quickly and did an assessment. [6:09] At this moment, we have 150 fire and EMS personnel on scene, over 50 units. [6:16] Upon arrival, there was an assessment done and the building was determined to be unstable. [6:21] So we started evacuations of the building and the surrounding areas, establishing a collapse zone. [6:28] I'm going to turn this over to Chief of Department John Esposito to talk a little bit more about the actual operations here. [6:37] Good afternoon. [6:38] Thank you, Commissioner. [6:39] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. [6:40] So when we arrived on the scene to the reports of buildings, bricks falling from the building, [6:47] we conducted the assessment. [6:49] We put our firefighters into the building to conduct a search. [6:53] We were in touch with the construction crews. [6:56] All workers were accounted for. [6:58] There were no injuries. [7:01] It's a very serious situation. [7:03] The box beams, the steel beams, have started to bend and deflect from the weight. [7:08] We evacuated the building and started evacuations of surrounding buildings and the building has continued to move since we've been on the scene. [7:17] We have a frozen zone and a collapse zone set up and we are working with the buildings department and the building engineer to make sure that this is safe for our people and for all New Yorkers. [7:29] I'm going to turn it over now to the Department of Buildings Commission. [7:36] Hello, everyone. [7:38] Much of the initial information, the setting, has been already shared by the mayor and my colleagues. [7:45] We have seen both buckling and floor conditions that are impaired on the 21st floor. [7:52] We both have construction safety inspectors and construction safety engineers on site evaluating from the street and vantage points set up across the street and to the west [8:05] so we can monitor movement of the building and the floors to understand what's happening on a continuous basis. [8:12] Once we can determine that it's safe to enter the building, we will then, in concert with the contractors, ownership, and with consultation with FDNY, [8:23] be able to deploy a plan to shore up that floor and then continue to investigate further for any other weak points that need further help and shoring. [8:34] After that point, we will be able to investigate further if there's anything else that we need to do scoping out from that area. [8:42] The work of FDNY, I want to thank OEM FDNY for the work they're doing to create the perimeter and the safety zone. [8:49] We encourage everyone to please heed our asks not to come to the area. [8:54] And right now, the safety of the public is our top priority. [8:57] Once we have more, we'll make sure to share that information with the public. [9:00] Okay, we have a few questions and please speak up. [9:05] We're going to start with Dan Russo from NBC. [9:06] Yes. [9:07] Can you please speak up? [9:08] Chief Esposito talked about seeing that the building has continued to move. [9:13] Can you clarify for us, does that mean that those top floors remain at risk of actually collapse? [9:20] What do you mean by at risk of seeing continue to move? [9:24] And is it a risk of actually collapsing? [9:26] So, we have specialized tools that we can watch the building from and see movement even in centimeters or fractions of an inch. [9:36] And since we arrived on the scene and put that in place, we have seen continual movement. [9:43] It does mean that it is not yet stable. [9:46] It is still a very serious and dangerous situation. [9:49] And just, Mayor, to follow up on that, having heard the assessment, what worries you most about this situation? [9:57] I think this is a minute-by-minute assessment. [10:00] And I'm thankful for the work of all of our city workers in doing exactly that from the morning through this moment and then through the rest of the day. [10:06] And as you heard from our DOB commissioner, the number one focus here is the safety of New Yorkers. [10:13] We're thankful that at this time there are no injuries. [10:15] Every worker is accounted for. [10:17] And now we are continuing to assess as soon as this building is stable, it then opens up the possibilities for us to shore up the building. [10:25] But until that point, we are still having to measure that. [10:28] I know our DOB commissioner wanted to add a few details. [10:30] As an example of how information changes over time, the initial report that came in was about bricks falling off the building. [10:39] When arriving, we did not see evidence of that, so we're not seeing things come off. [10:42] The compromise point, as you mentioned, is something that we're monitoring and looking at. [10:48] The chief, especially FDNY's drone unit, has been integral to watching and seeing how that movement happens. [10:54] And so right now you have both DOB staff, you have the contractors. [10:59] With beams that are tracking that, and what we are focused on and what we feel like the next step is, [11:07] is making sure we can get into that 21st floor to add additional emergency trusses to spread that load [11:14] and be able to move on with the investigation. [11:16] Thank you. [11:17] We're going to go to Gloria Pazvito for the DNN. [11:19] We're in a floor part of this project, and whether that addition had anything to do with the buckling of the beams that was reported. [11:32] And can we get some clarity on how many floors there actually are? [11:37] Because I think there's some confusion because of that addition. [11:40] So I will just add a few words before passing it over to my deputy mayor for housing to share on that. [11:47] When it comes to what this building is, as you said, this is a commercial office building [11:53] that is being renovated into a residential building. [11:57] And as part of the renovations is what we have seen here today. [12:02] I'll pass it over. [12:03] We'll have the DOB. [12:03] Yeah. [12:04] We'll have the DOB commissioner come on. [12:05] So if I understood the question, this is a building that was going through an office residential conversion. [12:12] It went through plan review and has gone through an extensive, exhaustive review with DOB over the last two years. [12:19] What is happening now is an investigation of what is the cause of why the undermining happened. [12:27] And so once we have that information, we'll be able to share it. [12:29] But as the mayor said, it's a conversion of an office building into a residential property. [12:36] And with that comes certain code changes and structural requirements, all of which have gone through a plan review. [12:42] And now we're examining what happened now and we'll check it against the reviews, the plans were approved. [12:47] Oh, sorry. [12:48] That was the question. [12:48] Yeah. [12:49] How many floors? [12:49] So the existing, it's 37 floors with an addition of 11 floors above a 22-floor element. [12:58] So 22 floors on one piece, 37 on the taller part of the building. [13:03] And they were adding 11 floors above the 22 floors. [13:07] How many floors exist now? [13:09] So right now there are 37 floors and they have topped out on the extension as well. [13:14] So the extension has been built out and they have topped out on that part as well. [13:18] All right. [13:19] Thank you. [13:19] We're going to meet me, Steve. [13:23] Yes. [13:24] Just by looking at it. [13:26] The concern is that since we have been on site in the early morning, we have seen continued shift of the structure. [13:45] And I'm going to pass it over to our chief of department to add a little more detail to that. [13:51] The way this building is constructed, it's a steel frame building. [13:54] So it would not be a total collapse. [13:57] It would be more of a localized collapse. [14:00] But that remains our concern that it's moving. [14:13] Possibly. [14:14] Jill from New York, why do you speak up? [14:19] Hi, Mayor. [14:20] Thank you. [14:21] How's the tour of this building right now? [14:26] How do you get this in a condition that makes it safe to be on the street, let alone inside the building, next door, or the building? [14:32] So I'll first just start with the importance of safety at this time. [14:37] We have evacuated not only the building, but also seven buildings around it. [14:41] I really do appreciate the way in which New Yorkers have responded to this situation. [14:45] We've seen that they have followed the instructions that have been provided by first responders on the ground. [14:49] And that has been immensely helpful to ensuring that those first responders can be focused on the work at hand. [14:55] I'm now going to pass it over to our DOB commissioner to add to additional details. [15:00] So because the structural issue has to do with load-bearing columns, what we bring in are emergency struts that will take on the load of that and be applied throughout the floor to take on that load. [15:16] Plus, we may apply additional struts, given that there could be weakening or cracks somewhere else. [15:24] So it's really emergency beams, emergency columns that are brought in, and then they go and replace the load. [15:31] Plus, we may add additional for extra security and safety. [15:34] Thank you. [15:35] Yes, as we've discussed before, there is extensive work happening right now between the engineers, DOB staff, FDNY, to evaluate the situation on the level using the information that we're reading from the outside. [15:49] Once we have a secure plan, we'll be able to bring the equipment that we have now on site after asking the contractor to bring that forward so that we're ready to go once we have a plan. [16:01] You have been listening to city officials briefing us on a high-rise building on a construction that is in jeopardy of collapse on the east side. [16:08] To recap, this is the former Pfizer building. [16:11] This all started unfolding at 8 o'clock this morning on East 42nd Streets between 2nd and 3rd Avenue. [16:17] This building is now being converted into a residential building, and construction workers discovered beams had buckled. [16:24] The problem is, the city's building department is using a monitoring system, and they have found the building is still unstable and swaying. [16:32] Exactly. [16:33] So right now, what they've done is that they have essentially frozen the area around this building since early this morning. [16:39] That frozen zone, 40 to 45th Street, 1st and 3rd Avenue. [16:44] So if you are anywhere in the city, the suggestion is to avoid that area. [16:49] Right now, they are continuing to assess the situation, trying to determine when it might be safe to go into that building up to the 21st floor and install emergency trusses, extra beams and columns to try and spread out the load there to make the building safe. [17:07] The big investigation now is, how did this happen? [17:10] We want to bring in investigative reporter Dan Crowe. [17:13] Dan, is there any history of complaints on this site? [17:16] David and Sandra, we have new information on new, current complaints and violations, previous violations, and I also have the original blueprints right there for the building. [17:23] This is the largest conversion in the history of the city of New York. [17:26] It's actually right there on your screen. [17:28] You can hear the DOB commissioner speak about what was going on. [17:30] On the right-hand side of the screen is the building portion that's in question. [17:34] It originally was 33 stories, and they just leveled it off at 37. [17:38] You can see the four additional stories at the top of the building, which leads many people to ask, did any of that construction on the top of the building lead to what happened today? [17:46] We do not have an answer to that question right now. [17:48] On the left side of the building, they were adding 11 stories to an additional structure, so a lot of construction taking place here over the past year. [17:56] I have in my hand right here a violation that the building construction management company just received today. [18:03] It's for doing work contrary to the approved plans. [18:06] It says there was not proper notification to the city concerning drilling and excavation work, and I also digged in the records to show that they were also doing cement and concrete work in the cellar of that building. [18:17] We don't know if these two right here are connected. [18:19] Also right here in my hand here, I have the history of violations, seven violations for this construction work in just the past year, seven violations between July of last year and December of last year, totaling $32,000 in fines. [18:32] And I have to say, to give you some context and perspective, it's not out of the ordinary for a construction project of this size to receive numerous violations, but some of them here are concerning to many who read them. [18:42] This is a complaint made in February for an incident involving a worker falling from a platform. [18:48] In December of last year, they received an incident about a platform ladder that, while dismantling a crane, the inspection revealed that the ladder was not on a flat and level surface or fully opened and the base were not cleared from materials. [19:01] Then back in October, a large item that fell and broke through five floors and almost hit someone, this is out of the ordinary. [19:08] August of last year, unsafe debris removal, which is putting pedestrians and workers at risk. [19:14] The list goes on and on. [19:16] We have reached out to the construction company to get response to these violations. [19:20] We have not heard back from them yet. [19:21] This is what we're learning right now, a new violation issued just today for not getting the proper approval work from the city to do work that was currently underway. [19:29] And we know the building has a history of seven different safety violations from July through December of last year. [19:35] Sandra and David. [19:36] Yeah, Dan, thank you very much. [19:38] And we would anticipate, you heard the DOB commissioner say a few minutes ago, all of those questions are what they are looking at as they continue the investigation into what has caused the problems in that building. [19:50] We will stay on top of this story. [19:51] We'll, of course, be bringing you up-to-the-minute updates on ABC7NY and on the air as we're going. [19:57] We'll be right back.