MetroLoft’s giant Midtown conversion stalls after structural fears

FDNY rushed to the former Pfizer headquarters on East 42nd Street before 8 a.m. on July 7 after bricks fell and columns buckled, and firefighters found several sagging floors and two support columns under strain. The emergency spread through Midtown East: seven nearby buildings were evacuated, East 42nd Street was shut between Second and Third Avenues, and 130 firefighters were called to the scene. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it an “extremely dangerous situation.”

The building at 235 and 219 East 42nd Street is MetroLoft’s biggest project. In March 2024, MetroLoft and David Werner Real Estate Investments agreed to turn the former Pfizer headquarters into roughly 1,500 to 1,600 rental units, with plans to add 11 floors to the existing structure. The project spans more than 1.3 million square feet.

Nathan Berman, MetroLoft’s founder and managing principal, built his reputation on earlier office-to-apartment transformations in Lower Manhattan, especially in the Financial District. He founded MetroLoft in 1995 and came to real estate after immigrating from Western Ukraine as a teenager.

By Wednesday, crews had added supports to every floor from the ninth floor up to the roof, while engineers continued examining the damage. Inspectors and engineers stayed on site around the clock, and the building had not moved in the previous 24 hours after stabilization work.

Berman said the damage was likely caused by added weight from construction on the upper floors and insisted the building was never at risk of collapse. He described the worst-case outcome as more sagging of “another four or five inches” and called the episode a “freak accident,” while also saying MetroLoft planned to rebuild the damaged portion of the project, including the facade, floor plates and steel reinforcements. MetroLoft said it was working closely with the Department of Buildings to understand what happened and to keep workers and the public safe.

Steamfitters Local 638 criticized the project and said the problem could have been avoided with more skilled labor on site, while a nearby laborers’ union representative accused Berman of cutting corners. A billboard reading “Shame on MetroLoft” appeared near the site, and a nearby pizza shop owner said business had fallen sharply after the evacuation. Hotel guests were forced to make last-minute housing changes, and evacuated residents were temporarily barred from their homes.

The building had already drawn FDNY attention in August 2025 over a suspected fire that MetroLoft later said was not an actual fire.