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NEW YORK (AP) -- An under-construction high-rise in Manhattan was still unstable Tuesday after buckling columns and sagging floors raised fears of a collapse, forcing the tower and other nearby buildings to evacuate, officials said.
The 1970s-era office building is being converted to luxury apartments, and is the former global headquarters of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Initial reports of falling bricks at around 8 a.m. sent firefighters rushing to the busy corridor near Grand Central train station and the landmark Chrysler Building.
New York City officials were using drones to monitor the building to avoid having to send people inside. A nearby school that has 400 students was among the evacuated buildings, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.
"The building remains unstable," Mamdani said at a news conference at the scene. "This is an extremely serious situation."
Fire Chief John Esposito said the way the steel-framed building is constructed, "it would not be a total collapse, it would be more of a localized collapse."
The office-to-residential conversion would add more than a dozen stories and redesign an adjoining tower, according to Gensler, the architectural firm leading the project. With more than 1,600 units, it has been billed as the largest conversion in the city's history, Gensler says.