New York City has paused construction at several office-to-apartment conversions after structural problems were discovered at one of the city’s largest such projects. The city is counting on these conversions to help relieve its housing shortage, but regulators have intensified scrutiny after a partial collapse was threatened at the former Pfizer headquarters.

Structural Problems Found

Inspectors from the New York City Department of Buildings have issued partial work stoppages at several sites, including 750 Third Avenue, where unapproved modifications to steel columns were found. The 34-story office tower is being converted into roughly 678 apartments.

Another project, at 77 Water Street, was paused due to site safety issues, including workers operating machinery without proper certification. A separate project at 222 Broadway was halted after concrete beams were found to have cracked and been repaired without proper notification to the city.

The city has ramped up inspections at other construction sites, with the Department of Buildings issuing thousands of stop-work orders per year. The agency is reviewing requested reports from engineers on site to ensure that the buildings can be safely transformed into apartments.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.