Inspector of Buckling NYC Tower Had Prior Violations at Other Sites

The private inspection firm responsible for certifying structural safety at a Midtown Manhattan building that partially buckled on July 7 had itself been cited for violations at other projects, raising new questions about oversight in New York City’s construction industry.

A New York Times investigation revealed that Domani Inspection Services, the firm hired to conduct special inspections at 235 East 42nd Street, was the subject of three complaints by the NYC Department of Buildings between 2012 and 2017. The complaints included conducting unlicensed concrete testing and failing to report a collapsed facade at other job sites. Two cases were dismissed; the third resulted in a $1,000 fine.

The Incident

On the morning of July 7, the FDNY received reports of bricks falling from the 37-story tower, the former global headquarters of Pfizer. Upon arrival, first responders discovered that two steel columns had buckled on the 21st floor. As The City Reporter documented, the building was evacuated along with nearby towers and a school housing 400 children. A frozen zone and collapse zone were established, and traffic was shut down on 42nd and 43rd streets between First and Third Avenues.

“The box beams — the steel beams — had started to bend,” FDNY Chief John Esposito said at a news conference. All workers were accounted for, and no injuries were reported.

A Troubled History

The buckling incident was not the first sign of trouble at the site. Records obtained by The City Reporter show that between July and December 2025, the general contractor, Robert Travis of 235 GC LLC, was hit with six to seven major DOB violations totaling over $32,000 in fines. Violations included failure to follow blueprints, falling debris — a window glass fell from the 8th floor — and unreported worker injuries.

As Fox 5 NY reported, the violations spanned structural deviations to severe workplace hazards. In one incident, a piece of window glass plunged from the eighth floor onto the public sidewalk during active demolition. In another, a worker fell six feet from a platform ladder placed on an uneven surface, and the contractor was cited for failing to report the injury.

Domani Under Scrutiny

Domani Inspection Services served as the special inspection agency for the project, responsible for certifying high-strength bolting, steel welding, and structural stability. Private special inspection agencies like Domani fill oversight gaps for the city’s understaffed Department of Buildings, which State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli reported has not recovered its pre-pandemic budget and staffing levels, leading to “deteriorated” timeliness for inspections.

John McMonagle, a director at Domani, told The Real Deal that it was “inappropriate to speculate” on what happened at 235 East 42nd Street as the matter remains under investigation.

Reconstruction Plan

MetroLoft CEO Nathan Berman announced plans to reconstruct 15 floors of the building, replacing the facade, slabs, and steel. According to The Straits Times, the height of the tower’s 21st floor, which is taller than others, made two columns more susceptible to load, and they were not sufficiently reinforced.

“We are prepared to rebuild that portion of the building,” Berman said. “It will be reskinned, everything will be levelled, fixed in place, and it will be brand new.”

Temporary supports have been installed, and the building has been deemed stable enough for streets to reopen. A partial stop-work order remains in effect for non-emergency construction.

Broader Implications

The incident has highlighted the engineering challenges of office-to-residential conversions, a strategy embraced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani as a way to address New York’s housing shortage. The project, one of the largest office-to-housing conversions in U.S. history, aims to create more than 1,600 luxury residential units and is backed by a $720 million construction loan from Madison Realty Capital.

Labor unions have been vocal critics of the project’s use of non-union labor. A 2026 report found that 81% of New York construction deaths occurred on non-union sites. “They should have used those New York City union ironworkers to begin with, and I guarantee you wouldn’t have had this problem,” a union representative told Fox 5 NY.

What’s Next

Engineering experts warn that the investigation and repair process could take months. Anil Agrawal, a professor at City College of New York, told Bloomberg that “a well-informed decision will require doing a very detailed analysis, very good inspection, some testing, and that might take several months.”

Mayor Mamdani has pledged a full investigation into the incident, while the DOB continues its probe. The broader questions — about the adequacy of private inspection agencies, the safety of adding floors to existing structures, and the oversight of non-union labor — are likely to reverberate through New York’s construction industry for months to come.