Confusion and uncertainty in Midtown following building’s near collapse 5%
By Kerry Burke34% Roni Jacobson62%
7/7/2026, 10:22:17 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Unattributed Quote, and Anecdotal, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 20.8% saturation with 176 hits. Analysis detected 906 faulty-reasoning hits from 845 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 20.5% and a BS Rank of 5% (19,419 of 20,370 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.30% of the article peer group.
Denizens of Midtown Manhattan scrambled to figure out accommodations after a high-rise building near Times Square threatened to collapse on Tuesday, prompting mass evacuations and uncertainty about when people will be allowed to return to their homes and businesses in the densely populated area, officials said.
The former Pfizer office building, located at 235 E. 42nd St. near Second Ave., was undergoing a massive renovation designed to turn it into housing when two interior columns began to buckle around 8 a.m., leading the FDNY to evacuate the area and set up a “frozen zone” closed to all pedestrian and vehicular traffic from E. 40th to E. 45th St. between First and Third Aves.
In addition to the unstable building, seven buildings were evacuated, including the Israeli Consulate on Second Ave. and the Kennedy International School, a private school that was running a summer camp for Pre-K through fifth grade.
Buildings located at 231 E. 43rd St., 217 E. 43rd St., 211 E. 43rd St., and 681-701 Third Ave. were also evacuated.
Asked for an estimate of how long the evacuation orders will last, an FDNY spokesperson said: “There is no timeline because it is unknown how long it will take to make the building structurally secure.”
The mayor’s office was similarly noncommittal.
“We are continuing to evaluate and determine additional buildings that had been evacuated that can be repopulated,” a city official said when asked the same question.
“Additionally, as of now, we are concluding the prep work and staging, and the installation of the temporary shoring will begin soon after.”
Meanwhile, those affected by the evacuations were left wondering how long that would take and hustling to figure out where to go.
“I’ve got two small kids and it’s my birthday,“ grumbled Simba Machona, 41 who was spotted dragging suitcases across 42nd St. with his family in tow.
Machona, an accountant who is originally from Queens but now lives in California, was staying at the Westin Hotel across the street from the collapsing building with his family when they were ordered to evacuate.
“They got us out of our hotel with no communication whatsoever.
I used to live here, but Im never coming back.”
Others were more upbeat.
“We were out when it happened,“ said Nitin Bhateja,40 a bank manager from Australia visiting New York with his wife and two kids.
“We got an email saying that we were being evacuated.
And it’s going late into the night.”
“Now, we’re going to have to find a hotel room somewhere like Times Square,“ he said as he, his wife and two daughters struggled with their luggage.
“It really breaks up our holiday, but it gives us a nice little story.“
Ronny Ramos, a facility manager who lives in the Summit apartment building on 44th St. with his wife and sons, got an email early this morning from building management telling them to scram.
“They sent out a notification.
It was a very short notification stating it was an emergency and we had to vacate.
I wasn’t prepared for this,” Ramos said.
“I left early in the morning.
The notice was sent at 8:56 and I was already at work.
My family was home.
Did we have a to-go bag?
We did not.
We will have one in the future.”
Ramos’ wife, who declined to give her name, remembered their essential documents.
“I don’t think anyone really knew the severity of it.
I got my kids out.
I brought my work computer because I’m working remotely and the birth certificates and social security cards and our IDs,” she said.
“I was working from home and I went out to the gym,” said Danny Gardiner, 27, a tech worker whose building on 44th St. was evacuated when he stepped out.
“Now I can’t get back into my apartment and get my stuff,” he said.
“They haven’t told me anything,“ he said.
“I’m stuck out here in my gym clothes.”
“I’m going to have to rely on friends and family,” he said when asked about where he planned to sleep tonight.
“I guess I’ll have to figure something out.”
“We came home from work at 5 pm,“ said Irina Wirjan, 29, an ad tech worker who was walking toward their vacated building on E. 44th St. with her fiancé, Justin Halim, 28, a resident doctor in the Bronx.
“At first, the NYPD wasn’t letting us in, but a neighbor came out and convinced them to let us pass the barricades,” she said.
“I heard the sirens at 8 AM but then I left for work,“ she said.
“I wasn’t sure what was going on.“
“We grabbed our dog, Bean,” a nine year-old Shih Tzu.
“And some toiletries,” after being briefly let back into their apartment.
“We’re hoping to check back in a couple of hours and spend the night in our own home” Wirjan said.
As of 7:20 p.m. only residents of 222 E. 44th St. had been told it was safe to return, according to a city official.
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