NEW YORK | 5 Times Square Redevelopment | FT | 38 FLOORS

[NYguy]

https://commercialobserver.com/2025/05/5-times-square-conversion-housing/

State Gives Green Light for 5 Times Square Conversion Into 1,250 Units


By Isabelle Durso
May 22, 2025

A state agency has given the green light for a major office-to-residential conversion in Times Square.

The Empire State Development (ESD) board of directors, which runs the state’s economic development corporation, voted Thursday to allow the transformation of the 38-story office tower at 5 Times Square into a mixed-use development with as many as 1,250 housing units, 313 of which will be permanently affordable. There will also be more than 37,000 square feet of retail space, according to an announcement.

The confirmation of the project comes after Apollo Global Management, SL Green Realty and RXR — which co-own the property through a long-term leasehold with the city — filed plans in December to convert the 1.1 million-square-foot office building into a residential and commercial property with a new address of 592 Seventh Avenue, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

In addition to residential floors, the developers’ plans included coworking spaces, a party room, tenant recreation rooms and storage units, CO reported.

The ESD’s Thursday vote also approved an amendment to the 42nd Street Development Project — the three-decade-long push from the city to revitalize a 13-acre section of the neighborhood which wrapped up in 2010 — that will enable the conversion of 5 Times Square, which currently sits at 77 percent vacant, the announcement said.

Construction on 5 Times Square — which is expected to create approximately 1,400 construction jobs and 830 permanent direct and indirect jobs — is set to begin during the third quarter of 2025, with the first phase anticipated to be completed in 2027, according to the announcement.