Evacuees Return to Buildings Around Shaky High-Rise

The streets around a midtown Manhattan high-rise where structural damage forced evacuations gradually returned to life Wednesday, as residents and hotel guests were allowed back into nearby buildings and workers fashioned temporary fixes to shore up the damage. After crews worked through the night to stabilize a section of the building where beams had buckled and floors had sagged, Mayor Zohran Mamdani sought to reassure wary New Yorkers, the AP reports, saying that no more movement had been detected in the massive office-to-apartment conversion project at Pfizer's former headquarters near Grand Central Terminal. But four other area buildings remained off-limits, and the city will conduct a broader inquiry into what went wrong, the mayor pledged. The city's building commissioner pronounced the structure stable, at least for now, per the New York Times.

Sally Grant and Margaret Clark were among those Wednesday waiting to be let back into the Hampton Inn near the damaged building. They had traveled from Scotland to see Bon Jovi perform at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday but were evacuated and told to leave their belongings, including their credit cards, passports, and medication. "They could have given us five minutes to grab our belongings, you know, instead of just saying everybody out, everybody out," Clark said. "We've been left with nothing. We slept in the streets last night. The police wouldn't help us. It's been awful. Absolutely it's ruined our holiday."

There were signs of things returning to normal Wednesday on the streets surrounding the construction site, with people walking dogs, pushing strollers and riding bikes. But gawkers paused to point and take photos of the now infamous hulking glass-and-steel tower, and some major streets remained closed, to the frustration of pedestrians and drivers. Elinor Ruskin, 94, was among those redirected by police after trying to get through a closed block. She took it in stride. "These things happen. I don't know if they will catch the mistake or what they will do," she said. "Anyway, you know, this is New York City."