NEW YORK | Residential Conversions

[NYguy]

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo...phrase=manhattan%20skyline&adppopup=true

[NYguy]

https://nypost.com/2025/11/24/real-estat...on-in-office-to-residential-conversions/

NYC leads the US in office-to-residential conversions — with thousands of homes to flood 1 famous nabe

By Emily Davis
Nov. 24, 2025

Adaptive reuse is reaching record highs across the country, but nowhere is the trend more pronounced than in New York City. Midtown, in particular, is expecting a windfall from the trend.

Just as redevelopment gave the buttoned-up Financial District a more family-friendly feel, all eyes are on whether Midtown’s conversion trend will add new energy — and desirability — to the area’s 9-to-5 and touristy reputation.

The pipeline of adaptive-reuse projects in the city includes nearly 11,000 apartments in various stages of development; roughly 9,000 of them are coming from former office buildings.

Weak demand and declining prices for aging office buildings made these vacant towers attractive to residential developers. Subsequent zoning changes and new housing incentives helped make the conversion boom possible.

The expected injection of new housing thanks to this “conversion mania” is welcome news to the many New Yorkers who have contended with record-high rents over the past few years.

About half of the city’s upcoming conversions are located in Midtown — Manhattan’s least residential area. A housing boost here wouldn’t just add supply — it could reduce strain on the city’s public transit system as daily commuters become full-time residents.

The area’s expected windfall of converted housing includes buzzy projects like the redevelopment of the former Pfizer headquarters on East 42nd Street.

The two office towers near Grand Central — currently the largest office conversion in the US — are expected to yield roughly 1,600 new rentals when they open in 2026.

At 5 Times Square, along Midtown’s busiest corridor, the former home of Ernst & Young is slated for 1,250 new homes. These office-to-residential conversions have found popularity among two oft-opposing groups — ambitious residential developers and housing advocates.

[NYguy]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...partments-from-outdated-office-buildings

NYC to Get 12,000 New Apartments From Outdated Office Buildings


By Nacha Cattan
December 5, 2025

New York developers are transforming struggling office buildings into more than 12,000 new apartments in a bid to help offset the city’s worst housing crisis in decades.

Most of the units are either starting or completing construction next year and over 3,000 of them will be earmarked as permanently affordable homes, according to a new estimate from the Adams administration which tracks progress on City of Yes — a 2024 zoning overhaul designed to spur housing development. A change in a tax-incentive last year also contributed to the growth.

Real estate developers have already turned iconic towers like Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s former headquarters and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s old brick fortress into luxury apartments, helping remake the Financial District into a residential neighborhood after banks moved uptown. There’s been a more recent push into midtown Manhattan, with firms lined up to convert Pfizer Inc.’s former headquarters into more than 1,500 rentals and others overhauling the Archdiocese of New York’s onetime home.

Nearly 90 buildings have already joined a city program to help navigate government approvals for conversions, according to the city department. But after the recent frenzy, possible conversion candidates could face competition as Manhattan’s commercial real estate is seeing a stronger lease environment this year. Plus, transitioning an office building to residential apartments is tricky as many have dim interiors, vast floor plates, and reams of regulations.

[mrnyc]

yesterday —
25 water st w/fraunces tavern in the foreground —
totally unrecognizeable from it’s former self —

[UrbanImpact]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

yesterday —
25 water st w/fraunces tavern in the foreground —
totally unrecognizeable from it’s former self —

Well it's definably unique and different.