Buckling scare puts MetroLoft’s ‘scoop-and-stack’ playbook under microscope

The dramatic structural failure at MetroLoft’s conversion of Pfizer’s former Midtown headquarters is drawing attention to one of the developer’s signature redevelopment techniques. The temporary evacuation around 235 East 42nd Street earlier this month, after columns buckled and floors sagged during construction, has brought renewed focus to MetroLoft founder Nathan Berman’s “scoop-and-stack” approach, according to Crain’s. While investigators continue probing what caused the incident, engineers and developers say the method itself underscores the growing complexity of converting postwar office towers into apartments. The strategy essentially hollows out portions of a building’s lower floors, creating interior lightwells while transferring that unused […]

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