In the weeks since the country's largest office-to-residential conversion project was deemed at risk of collapsing, scrutiny of these complex projects, which have soared in popularity since the pandemic, has intensified. Three other buildings have been hit with stop-work orders following an inspection blitz carried out by officials in New York City, which has more conversion projects under construction than anywhere else. Converting older buildings to luxury apartments or condos isn't a new endeavor, but the projects can be enormously complicated. Photo credit: X/NYC Department of Buildings Building inspectors detected multiple beams and columns in the 42nd Street conversion project that buckled under the weight of an addition. Municipal building officials Bisnow spoke to across the country emphasized that adding floors to an existing structure, as MetroLoft did with the Pfizer building, heightens safety risks.