There’s been plenty of chatter around office-to-residential conversions in New York, but there are also questions about who is actually pulling it off.

The Real Deal looked into it and found several properties scheduled for the major overhauls. And an analysis of alteration permits filed between 2022-2023 revealed the five biggest office-to-residential projects. Here’s a closer look.

25 Water Street

After the March ribbon cutting for Harry Macklowe’s One Wall Street, 25 Water Street has taken the title for the country’s largest office-to-residential conversion with proposals to alter more than 900,000 square feet of the building’s 1.1 million total square footage. Formerly known as 4 New York Plaza, the 22-story office used to house the New York Daily News, American Media and J.P. Morgan Chase, all of which cleared out during the pandemic. Owners GFP Real Estate and Nathan Berman’s Metro Loft Management nabbed the historied property for $250 million in December with plans to add another 10 floors while gutting its insides to offer new courtyard spaces. The eventual 1,200 rentals will range from studios to four bedroom apartments, squeezing 50 market and luxury rate units per floor. Some of those homes will offer 10 foot ceilings as well as windowless home office spaces.

160 Water Street

Gensler is the architecture firm behind a 487,000-square-foot conversion in the Financial District. Five new floors will be added to the 24-story former office building, offering 586 rentals that will have access to a communal rooftop terrace, a gym, coworking and dining spaces, a bowling alley and a spa. The massive redesign and expansion is thanks to a $272.5 million loan from Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners, which will also allow its developer Vanbarton Group to reskin the building’s facade. Doors are expected to open and welcome tenants beginning September 2024, according to its construction website.

55 Broad Street

Steps from the construction site of Lower Manhattan’s soon-to-be tallest residential tower at 45 Broad Street, Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management have planned to convert an office building at 55 Broad Street into 571 market-rate rental units. The pair paid $172.5 million to Rudin Management for the property in July 2023, allowing the former owner to retain a stake in the project. Permits filed in August and signed by Metro Loft list 49 Broad Street as the location for more than 400,000-square-feet in construction, adding six additional floors to the 30-story building. Amenities will include a private club, a gym, coworking spaces and a 45-foot-long rooftop pool with landscaped sundeck and grilling area. Construction is expected to start this month, according to the developers.

650 1st Avenue

Lalezarian Properties scooped up this eight story office building for $33.5 million on March 23, one day after the New York City Department of Buildings gave them the green light to bring housing to the Murray Hill property, according to records. Once complete, the building will include 23,000 square feet of commercial space and upwards of 116,000 square feet of housing, according to DOB filings.

330 West 42nd Street

In Midtown, Resolution Real Estate has big plans for a partial conversion to its McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street. The 33-story art deco tower, which was designated as a New York City landmark in 1979, will convert more than 560,000 square feet into 224 rental units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms from its 12th to 32nd floors. But the dramatic, $100 million renovation won’t nix office contracts — corporate tenants will continue to rent space on the building’s lower floors. Previously, its owners had spent $40 million to remove non-historical windows to restore the space’s iconic appearance along one of the city’s major arteries.

Read more

The post GFP, Metro Loft’s 25 Water Street leads the pack of NYC’s largest office-to-resi conversions appeared first on The Real Deal.