New York City has expanded its investigation into the structural failure of Pfizer’s former headquarters tower in Midtown Manhattan, as the Department of Investigation confirmed a parallel investigation and the Department of Buildings ordered the property owner to maintain third-party engineering oversight.
These developments come as the project’s structural engineer alleges that the required reinforcing steel was never installed.
DOB directed project owners to retain Thornton Tomasetti as a third-party engineering firm to oversee stabilization efforts and conduct a forensic review.
The department also required the owner to retain Special Testing & Consulting as a third-party special inspection agency, adding oversight beyond the project’s existing engineering and inspection teams.
While no official conclusion has yet been reached as to why the columns buckled in the former office tower earlier this month, GACE Consulting Engineers, the project’s structural engineer, claims that steel reinforcement specified in its design was omitted in construction.
“The reinforcement from the 19th floor to the top of the 21st floor, which would have significantly increased the strength of the columns, was never installed,” GACE Principal Engineer Chris Behan told Gothamist on July 16. “The structure was not reinforced as required by the GACE design.”
Gothamist’s own review of city-approved structural drawings found that the original steel columns under the building’s vertical expansion were specified for bracing.
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Christopher Raebel, vice president of engineering and research at the American Institute of Steel Construction, which is not involved in the research, said contractors are usually responsible for the means and methods of construction and may hire specialized engineers for temporary work, while the project’s engineer of record designs the entire structure and should remain informed as construction progresses.
“The engineer of record should always be involved,” Raebel said. “They should know what’s going on. Even if it’s during construction, they should at least be involved.”
DOB declined to comment on GACE’s claims. The department told ENR via email that its investigation remains ongoing and that civil enforcement actions are pending its findings.
The July 7 setback halted one of the nation’s largest office-to-residential conversion projects after inspectors found two buckled load-bearing columns and collapsed floors on the 21st floor of Pfizer’s former headquarters at 235 E. 42nd St.
While the cause of the incident is still being determined, contractual and insurance disputes are likely as the parties involved try to limit their exposure to liability.
“While most stakeholders will initially seem very collaborative, eventually everyone tends to go back to their respective fields,” Robert Alfert, a board-certified construction attorney at Nelson Mullins, told ENR.
“The severity, the risk and the liability exposures are so important that it’s simply human nature: each party tends to look out for their own interest and be very protective,” he added.
City officials have cautioned against jumping to conclusions while investigators determine whether the failure was the result of design, construction sequencing or another factor.
GACE Consulting Engineers and Thornton Tomasetti did not immediately respond to ENR’s requests for comment.
