In the wake of the partial collapse of a Manhattan high-rise office building about to be turned into housing, investors may be thinking twice about such conversion projects.
The 33-story Pfizer Building, located at 235 East 42nd Street, was built in 1960 and has long been regarded as a classic example of the International Style of architectural design. After the Pfizer company moved out of the structure in 2023, an effort was undertaken by the Metro Loft Management company to convert the building into upwards of 1,500 apartments.
Work began in 2024 on what has since been regarded as the largest conversion project in history but was abruptly curtailed last week when two large flange columns had either completely collapsed or were significantly damaged at the same time that a number of the upper floors in the building were found to be sagging.
Work on the reconversion project has stopped while city engineers and firefighters have been brought in to stabilize the site. In a statement, the Metro Loft company noted the structural issues, but said “the entire building itself is not at risk of collapse.”
Whatever the near and future condition of the Pfizer Building project, notes the Wall Street Journal, investors may be having second thoughts about the recent boom trend of reconverting office buildings that are in many cases more than 60 or 70 years old.
“Future conversion projects could expect to face more extensive engineering and safety reviews,” reports the paper in quoting an infrastructure and risk analytics expert.
The Pfizer project is one of several dozen such efforts this year alone converting office space into more than 90,300 residential units in such cites as Dallas, Denver and Phoenix, among other places.
Such projects have proven particularly popular because they greatly reduce the costs of building a brand-new structure, while securing incentives from city officials happy to see abandoned multi-story structures repurposed, especially while also providing greatly needed housing space.
“Conversion projects face challenges, from navigating zoning changes to the cost of turning space designed for cubicles into comfortable apartments,” a study produced by the financial services firm J.P. Morgan asserted earlier this year. “But in many cities, they’ve never experienced more support.”
While the problems with the Pfizer project this week have garnered headlines, the publication Crain’s New York has said they should not become an argument “against office-to-residential conversions. It should become an argument for doing them with the rigor their scale demands—and for giving the public a clear account when something goes wrong.”
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has endorsed that sentiment, telling reporters in a press conference, “I continue to consider the conversion of office space into residential space as part of our answer to the housing crisis. I also consider that we have to do so safely and in a way that is fully accountable.”
July 10, 2026
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
