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The inquiry, being conducted by the New York City Department of Investigation and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, was in an early stage, and its focus was unclear.
July 10, 2026
New York City investigators and Manhattan prosecutors have opened a preliminary criminal inquiry into what caused columns inside a Midtown building to buckle this week, according to a city official and a person with knowledge of the matter.
The inquiry, by the New York City Department of Investigation and the Manhattan district attorney’s office, was in its earliest stages on Friday, and its focus and targets were not immediately clear, in part because workers were still stabilizing the 37-story high-rise.
The building, at 235 East 42nd Street, was being converted from offices to apartments when workers on Tuesday noticed cracks in the concrete floors and bent columns on the 21st floor, prompting evacuations and an emergency response.
The criminal inquiry is likely to be complex and labor intensive. The construction project at the site, the former headquarters of the drugmaker Pfizer, was set to be the largest residential conversion in the United States, and such projects can involve dozens of companies, subcontractors and developers with different roles and obligations.
Piecing together what happened and why — and whether anyone was criminally responsible — can take months or years, and it is possible the inquiry could be closed without any charges being brought.
