Trying to keep up with the conversions in the Financial District — they are coming in hot! Here’s a bit of a summary below; I’m sure I am missing tons.

Also ICYMI, the New Yorker also did a big story on the developer Metro Loft, titled “Can Turning Office Towers Into Apartments Save Downtowns? Nathan Berman has helped rescue Manhattan’s financial district from a ‘doom loop’ by carving attractive living spaces from hulking buildings that once housed fields of cubicles.”

The New Yorker notes that 22 percent of office space in the city is unrented (100 million square feet) and that the vacancy rate for apartments is 1.4 percent — clearly does not compute. As Berman told the New Yorker, people still want to come here to start their careers: “Young people are social—they don’t want to sit in the middle of a forest on a Zoom call.”

160 WATER AKA PEARL HOUSE (at Water and Fletcher streets)
30 floors, 588 apartments
Developed by Vanbarton Group
From The Times: “Vanbarton Group, and the architect, Gensler, transformed a 1970s-era office building into the hip new rental. That meant constructing a new lobby, reallocating the square footage from mechanical shafts to new units and amenity spaces, and upgrading the facade, to make the windows operable by residents. The developer also added five floors to the top, for a total of 30 floors.”

55 BROAD
30 stories, 571 apartments
Developed by Metro Loft Management & Silverstein Properties
From the building website, in July 2023: “Construction is expected to begin next month and will be completed over a two-year period. The 571-unit residential property will include layouts ranging from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Designed with a high level of hospitality, quality spaces and finishes, amenities at 55 Broad will include a private club, wellness and fitness activities, an elegant co-working space, and multiple social spaces, in addition to a 45-foot-long rooftop pool, landscaped sundeck, and grill area.”

80 PINE
In contract to Bushburg
From The Real Deal: “Joseph Hoffman’s company is in contract to buy the Rudin family’s 1.2 million-square-foot office building at 80 Pine Street for around $160 million, The Real Deal has learned. The building, which is about half empty, could be the latest Manhattan office tower converted into apartments.”

THE WHOPPER: 25 WATER AKA 4 NEW YORK PLAZA
32 stories, 1300 rental units in 1.1 million square feet
Developed by GFP Real Estate, Metro Loft Management and Rockwood Capital
The building was 22 stories and the developers have added another 10 along with a lot more windows. From Yimby in February: Recent photographs show the new superstructure built to its pinnacle and awaiting the installation of its glass curtain wall and staggered balconies. Meanwhile, crews have formed the new window grid on the lower two-thirds of the original building by removing extensive portions of the brick wall, which was formerly only punctuated by sparse slit-like vertical voids.

COMPLETED: ONE WALL STREET
50 stories, 566 condos
Developed by Macklowe Properties
This has to be the most upscale conversion, with serious amenities, and they added premier retail as well. From the building website: “You’re just an elevator ride away from Manhattan’s newest Whole Foods market, with exclusive offerings including locally roasted coffee and regionally made pantry items. There’s also a four-level Life Time on-site, where residents enjoy complimentary membership and priority access to 75,000 square feet of fitness and wellness. And, coming soon, Parisian retailer Printemps will unveil a new fashion-forward concept store, a first for New York City.”

NEW CONSTRUCTION: 7 PLATT STREET
37 stories, mixed use, 250 rentals + retail + parking
Developed by The Moinian Group
From Yimby: “Fogarty Finger is in charge of the residential interiors, Rockwell Group is the hotel interior designer, and AECOM Tishman is the general contractor for the property, which is alternately addressed as 110 John Street and located on an interior lot bound by John Street to the north and Platt Street to the south.

NOT CONVERTING?
60 WALL AKA FORMER DEUTSCHE BANK BUILDING
47-floor, 1.6 million-square foot tower developed in 1989 for JPMorgan
This is the building with the insane 1980s lobby, which is already being dismantled. (Local residents tried to get it protected by Landmarks but the effort failed.) The owner, Paramount Group, just refinanced, according to Crain’s, in order to redevelop the empty building.