See plan to convert FiDi office tower 55 Broad into 571 market-rate apartments
Image courtesy of Joe Woolhead
The plan to convert the Financial District office tower at 55 Broad Street into apartments is finally moving forward, with a closed deal and the release of new renderings this week. Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management on Monday announced they bought the tower for $172.5 million with plans to turn the 30-story office tower into a residential building with 571 market-rate apartments; upon completion, it will be one of New York City’s largest office-to-residential conversions ever. Construction is expected to start in August and take roughly two years.
Lobby
Designed by famed architecture firm Emery Roth & Sons, 55 Broad opened in 1967 and served as the headquarters for Goldman Sachs until 1983. With the rise of remote work and slow return to office since 2020, the building is only 60 percent occupied.
Last June, Silverstein and Metro Loft announced a deal to acquire the building for $180 million and convert it into housing, which would cost a third less than new construction, according to the developers. As the Real Deal reported, the closing was delayed until now because of higher interest rates.
Club lounge
Co-working space
Architecture firm CetraRuddy has been tapped for the conversion. The firm has designed other residential conversions in the city like 443 Greenwich Street and 30 Morningside.
Apartments at 55 Broad will range from studios to three bedrooms, all priced at market rate. The building will be designed with sustainability in mind and utilize fully-electric power, sustainable and recycled materials, and aim for LEED certification. Developers estimate 55 Broad Street will use 22 percent less energy than before the conversion.
Amenities will include a private club, wellness and fitness facility, a co-working space, social spaces, and a 45-foot-long rooftop pool with a landscaped sundeck and grill area.
Rooftop club
With record-high rents and a lack of housing, the idea to convert vacant offices and hotel spaces into apartments continues to be on the agenda for many New York officials.
According to Mayor Eric Adams, the city could convert 136 million square feet of office space to create enough homes for 40,000 New Yorkers. Gov. Kathy Hochul recently issued several executive orders related to building more housing, including a mandate requiring state agencies to identify vacant state properties across the state that can be repurposed for housing.
“Amid a citywide housing shortage, our conversion of 55 Broad Street will create hundreds of new apartments in Lower Manhattan,” Marty Burger, CEO of Silverstein Properties, said.
“As our local and national policymakers look to conversions as a critical way to generate new housing, Downtown continues to be a model mixed-use neighborhood, offering lessons to cities across the country. We are excited to partner with Metro Loft on one of the city’s largest conversions.”
Metro Loft is one of the most prominent companies leading the way in office-to-residential conversions in Lower Manhattan. Over the past two decades, the company has converted more than 3.5 million square feet of office space into thousands of residential units at buildings including 443 Greenwich Street, 20 Exchange Place, 63 Wall Street, 67 Wall Street, 180 Street, and 20 Broad Street.
Metro Loft is also overseeing the conversion of nearby office tower 25 Water Street into 1,300 apartments. Designed by Cetra Ruddy, the building will feature a massive fitness complex, ground-floor retail, and two swimming pools. The project is expected to be the country’s largest residential conversion, according to Gothamist.
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