Before columns buckled inside a Midtown Manhattan office tower on Tuesday, a private firm conducted several inspections of major structural alterations being done at the site — and apparently signed off on at least some of them, records and interviews show.
The firm, Domani Inspection Services, certified the safety of high strength bolting, steel welding and the structural stability of changes being made as part of an ambitious project to transform the offices into a 37-story apartment building.
It was not clear whether any of the work inspected by Domani contributed to the failure of columns on the 21st floor of the building. But a New York Times examination of the inspection company’s record has found that it has been repeatedly cited for missing warning signs at other building projects in the city.
The damage at the building, at 235 East 42nd Street, forced the evacuation of several other buildings throughout the area, disrupting workplaces and choking off a vital thoroughfare during a time of peak tourism. The disruption has placed scrutiny on the future of office-to-residential conversions as a creative and efficient solution to the city’s crippling housing shortage.
It has also put a spotlight on MetroLoft, a developer of the project, and Domani, the private firm hired by the property owner as a so-called special inspection agency. Such firms are supposed to ensure specific tasks performed by individual workers are done properly. And they sign and stamp technical reports attesting to as much. The city requires their approval before deeming large projects completed.
The New York City Department of Buildings accused Domani three times from 2012 to 2017 of violations ranging from conducting unlicensed concrete testing to failing to report a facade collapse. Two of those cases were dismissed, while a third resulted in a fine of $1,000, records show.
In 2019, Domani was accused of failing to perform inspection duties after a six-foot section of concrete wall broke loose from the 25th floor of an Upper East Side building project it was hired to monitor. The concrete crashed through the roof of a neighboring six-story building and into an occupied apartment, causing significant damage. It was not clear whether anyone was injured. The inspection firm was fined $12,500 in that incident, records show.
A spokeswoman for Domani said the firm was involved in litigation related to that incident and could not comment on it for that reason.
At least some private inspections by Domani appear to have been conducted by John McMonagle, whom city officials identified as “the director” of the inspection agency.
He was fined $12,500 by city officials for making a false statement during the inspection of another Manhattan property, in 2022. Records show that the fine was never paid, but a spokeswoman for Domani, commenting on behalf of Mr. McMonagle, said the firm has no record of the violation.
Later that year, the city accused him of failing to perform his duties at a landmark building in Lower Manhattan that was found to be so unstable it eventually had to be demolished. That case was dismissed.
Mr. McMonagle was listed as having performed numerous inspections at the Midtown building project that was evacuated on Tuesday on East 42nd Street.
Although Domani has had a number of brushes with the Buildings Department over the years, there was no indication in city records that it had been singled out for violations more frequently than other inspection agencies.
In a statement issued by the Domani spokeswoman, Mr. McMonagle said the firm was still reviewing records related to the office conversion on East 42nd Street and added that it would be “inappropriate to speculate” on the cause of the incident or whether “any inspection issue contributed to it.”
“Domani has performed tens of thousands of special inspections throughout New York City over many years, and we take our professional and regulatory responsibilities extremely seriously,” he said.
Such inspection firms are not the only ones on a work site responsible for safety. Contractors, developers and engineers also play roles. The Buildings Department hovers over it all, sending inspectors on occasional spot checks to make sure building codes and safety regulations are being followed and to ensure all work matches approved construction plans.
But those reviews, known as development or enforcement inspections, occur less frequently than special inspections. They can include serious findings, like dangerous work conditions, or administrative issues like paperwork mishaps.
Before the conversion project ran into trouble on Tuesday, city inspectors had flagged at least 22 administrative violations at the site.
On fewer occasions, they found serious safety concerns.
The property owners were required to pay the city more than $32,500 in safety violation penalties in 2025. The Buildings Department issued a stop work order in August of that year after a large metal panel fell from the 33rd floor onto the sidewalk outside.
The Buildings Department conducted four enforcement inspections from March to May of this year, said Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman for the department, and found no unsafe or illegal conditions.
On Wednesday, Mr. Rudansky said the Buildings Department is still investigating the cause of the buckling of the columns.
MetroLoft said that it is working with the Buildings Department to fix the problems. The company said the tower was never at risk of collapse and the issues affected only a small area of the project.
Still, the incident at the East 42nd Street building raises questions about the city’s inspection process, including its reliance on special inspection agencies, like Domani, to monitor and ensure the safety and soundness of construction.
“Was work being performed in accordance with approved plans, permits and any post-approval amendments?” said Pierina Sanchez, a member of the City Council who chairs the Committee on Housing and Buildings. “Were the engineer of record, special inspection agency, construction superintendent, site safety manager and other required professionals fulfilling their responsibilities?”
Jamison D. Morse, principal at PVEDI, an engineering and architecture firm that also acts as a special inspector, said the system works well because it lightens the load for the city.
“It’s hard for cities or municipalities to staff people with this kind of expertise, and also then to keep up with the volume of projects,” he said. “If you talk about the number of special inspectors, and the number of projects in construction right now in New York City requiring this, there’s just not enough.”
City building codes have required special inspections of major projects since 1968, and the rules were strengthened in 2008 to prevent unqualified inspectors from signing off on crucial safety reviews. Today, there are more than 2,000 special inspectors registered in New York City.
After an incident at a Queens construction site Domani was supposed to be inspecting in February 2017, the city asked the firm to come to the site the next day. The city accused Domani of failing to cooperate with the Building Department’s follow-up inquiries. That citation was dismissed.
During excavation work at a Brooklyn construction site in 2018, adjacent bracing — temporary supports that can affect the stability of the building and neighboring properties — was removed improperly, the Buildings Department said. Domani had been hired as the project’s special inspector, but the city cited the firm for failing to perform the structural safety inspections required for that work, according to city records.
City inspectors said that the site had become hazardous and the Buildings Department was never notified, though the case was later dismissed.
And after the incident involving falling concrete in 2019, city inspectors found that the walls of the Upper East Side tower Domani was hired to inspect were thinner than required by the construction documents — a compliance violation the special inspectors never flagged in their reports.
Steve Bongiorno, a structural engineer who has worked on high-rise projects in New York, said relying on such private inspectors like Domani can work well, but the entire program must be better monitored.
“The city really needs to put the brakes on here and re-evaluate their process for assuring quality control,” he said.
The joint project on East 42nd Street, the former headquarters of the drug company Pfizer, is intended to be the largest transformation of office space to housing in New York City. It began construction in 2024 to convert the office space into a massive 1,602-unit apartment complex with a rooftop pool, shops and a fitness center, and had been expected to be finished early next year.
But transforming cubicle farms into apartments is often challenging because of various codes and structural challenges, and this one was particularly complicated.
For now, city officials say the building is stable, and workers are undergoing the process of shoring it up. Temporary supports had been added to the building where four new floors and a large vertical portion had been added onto the existing building in recent months.
Gary LaBarbera, the president of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, which represents unionized workers, said he was concerned about Domani’s role as an inspector on this project, given its history of violations.
And he also pointed to the flawed nature of special inspectors who are paid for by property owners.
“You can’t inspect yourself, and that is essentially what is going on,” he said.
Claire Fahy, Caitlyn Freeman and Ashley Southall contributed reporting. Alain Delaquérière contributed research.
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