The New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) has halted construction work on a third office-to-residential conversion project in Manhattan this month. The DOB issued a partial stop-work order for SL Green Realty's 805 million dollar redevelopment project at 750 Third Avenue in Midtown East, which is set to include 680 residential units and potentially be expanded by eleven storeys.
The stoppage follows the near-collapse of the former Pfizer headquarters in early July. In that incident, steel beams buckled at the MetroLoft and David Werner project at 235 East 42nd Street, leading to the evacuation of ten surrounding blocks in Midtown. Earlier this week, the GFP Real Estate conversion project at 222 Broadway in the Financial District was also halted after cracks were discovered in a newly added storey.
In the case of 750 Third Avenue, the steel supports appear not to have been properly welded, and irregularities were reported, according to the DOB. As a result, inspectors have temporarily halted all steel construction work above the eighth storey of the 34-storey building, as reported by the New York Times, which first broke the news.
A spokesperson for SL Green stated in a comment to Commercial Observer that during preparatory work for structural reinforcement, even before the superstructure began, a deviation from the submitted building plan was discovered, which only became visible after the completion of the initial preparatory work. The spokesperson assured that there were no structural issues with the building and that they were already working with the responsible licensed structural engineer to rectify the situation. They did not anticipate any impact on the overall project schedule, as other work would continue, and had already submitted the application to lift the partial stop-work order.
While the collapse at Pfizer certainly led to increased scrutiny of ongoing redevelopment projects in New York City and a heightened focus on safety, such partial stop-work orders are not uncommon. The DOB issued a total of 7,000 such orders in 2025, the Times reported. This underscores the rigorous monitoring and high safety standards applied in the city to construction projects, particularly complex change-of-use developments.
