NYC inspectors review steel firm’s projects after near-collapse at Midtown building

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): A Department of Buildings safety inspection blitz has reviewed at least eight projects handled by a steel fabrication firm that was involved in the construction of the Midtown tower where key structural columns buckled earlier this month, a Gothamist analysis shows.

The city’s enforcement effort includes a stop-work order for all steel-related construction issued at a Greenwich Village development site where the company Barone Steel Fabricators was contracted.

City officials said the exact cause of the structural failure earlier this month at 235 East 42nd St. remains unclear and an investigation is still ongoing.

The project’s structural engineer told Gothamist that crucial reinforcing was never added to a pair of columns that later buckled directly below a 14-story expansion of the existing building, despite plans that called for steel plates to be installed. The engineer and the city Buildings Department have declined to say who was responsible for installing the reinforcing plates.

The partial collapse on the building’s 21st floor spurred the Buildings Department to launch a flurry of “Construction Safety Enforcement” inspections that targeted many of the companies involved in the Midtown project.

The department has conducted more than 150 inspections to ensure safety compliance at dozens of properties since the debacle began, a fourfold increase compared to the weekly average for the rest of 2026, according to a review of city data.

Barone Steel played a role in at least eight projects reviewed by the Buildings Department since July 7, the day of the Midtown incident, according to permits approved by the FDNY and the firm’s social media posts.

The Brooklyn-based company, which recently opened a new factory in Newark, handles fabrication and installation of steel structures. It has touted its work on new construction as well as its involvement in major renovation projects, like the office-to-housing conversion of the former Pfizer headquarters at 235 East 42nd St.

The proposed 1,600-unit apartment complex from developer MetroLoft is set to be the city’s largest-ever office-to-housing conversion project. The near-collapse of the building prompted city officials to evacuate several surrounding blocks before deeming the high-rise structurally sound on July 7.

Barone Steel has used Instagram to document its progress on the development since last year, showing workers replacing columns on the building’s ground floor and constructing additional stories on the roof. The company’s name appears on permits issued for the building by the FDNY.

At another project where Barone Steel was working, a development site at 332 West 11th St. in Greenwich Village, city building inspectors issued an order to “stop all steel” work on July 14. Designs for the project show that the property owner plans to turn an existing parking garage into a seven-story housing complex.

In a written statement, Buildings Department spokesperson Andrew Rudansky said contractors had installed “hollow structural section” steel to strengthen wooden joists between the first and second floors, which was different from what was called for in the architect’s plans.

Barone Steel and its attorneys did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The partial stop-work order notice was still posted outside the job site when Gothamist visited Monday morning.

Barone has also documented its work at the Greenwich Village site on social media, including a video posted Dec. 29, 2025, that shows structural columns rising from the ground, and workers installing bracing plates.

The property owner, a limited liability company, did not respond to a request for comment through an attorney listed on mortgage documents.

Rudansky said the department’s investigation into the cause of the buckled columns is still ongoing. He declined to describe what Barone Steel’s involvement was at the Pfizer building site, or why inspectors have visited at least eight Barone Steel projects in Construction Safety Enforcement sweeps since July 7.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the city’s Department of Investigation have also opened preliminary inquiries into what led to the structural failure. Department of Investigation spokesperson Diane Struzzi said the agency would not provide information about its ongoing investigation. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.

Since July 7, city building inspectors have also visited another MetroLoft office-to-housing conversion at 25 Water St., previously known as 4 New York Plaza. Barone Steel has touted its work on the project on Instagram and on a construction advertising site called The Blue Book.

Additional construction safety inspections where Barone Steel was working include 701 Seventh Ave., 415 East 52nd St., 17 John St., 16 Madison Ave., 76 Eleventh Ave. and 101 Franklin St. Barone Steel is named on FDNY permits for all the sites and the company is listed in a field directory inside the construction office at 101 Franklin St.

City-approved structural plans for the 42nd Street renovation show engineers called for steel reinforcement to be installed along the columns on the 21st floor that later partially collapsed. The project’s structural engineer, Chris Behan from GACE Consulting Engineers, told Gothamist Thursday that the reinforcement was “never installed” on the 21st, 20th and 19th floors.

Behan and GACE declined to comment on who was responsible for the installation, or how Behan knew the reinforcement was never installed.

The day the columns buckled, MetroLoft Managing Principal Nathan Berman speculated to the New York Times that steel reinforcing was either never installed or was installed incorrectly along the bent columns.

Berman and MetroLoft declined to comment on Behan’s assertion. MetroLoft Senior Project Manager Robert Travis is listed as general contractor on job filings.

Courtesy: www.gothamist.com