Even more Manhattan offices are slated for a residential conversion

Continuing the post-pandemic trend, yet more Manhattan office buildings have been marked for conversion into residential units. 

The newest address to join the pool is 77 Water St., a 26-story Financial District tower that Big Apple-based real estate firm Vanbarton reportedly plans to turn into some 600 rental apartments, people familiar with the matter told Crain’s.

Vanbarton is reportedly under contract to pay approximately $95 million for the 1970s-built tower in a deal that is anticipated to close before the year is out. 

Over the years, commercial tenants at the building have included AT&T, Goldman Sachs and the law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith.

According to real estate management company VTS, the Water Street property currently has approximately 546,000 square feet of usable office space, as well as amenities including an open plaza area dotted with locust trees, a Wild West-style candy store within the building and, on the roof, a steel replica of a World War I fighter plane. 

Transforming empty or under-used office spaces has become an increasingly popular tactic as employees continue to significantly do their jobs remotely and the affordable housing crisis creates high demand for residential. 

Well over 60 New York City office buildings are currently in the process of attempting to quickly convert into homes, with some more viable for such remodeling than others.

“If your building is wide open and empty, there is a clear path,” Gerard Nocera of Resolution Real Estate commented on the matter, The Post previously reported. “But if you have tenants with long-term leases, to rework your core with existing tenants is an impossibility.”

One particularly notable such conversion case is that of the celebrated Flatiron Building, an iconic office tower for which residential plans were filed last month.