FiDi office tower to become 796-unit residential building

RXR Realty secured a $420 million construction loan last week for an office-to-residential conversion that will transform a century-old Financial District office tower into 796 new homes. Affiliates of Apollo Global Management provided the financing to convert the 32-story 61 Broadway, with construction expected to begin later this month and the first residents projected to move in during the first half of 2028, according to Crain’s. Roughly 200 of the apartments will be set aside for households earning 80 percent of the area median income (AMI).

Upon completion, the tower will include 40,000 square feet of amenities, featuring dedicated interior amenity floors, upper-level lounges, resident storage, and a rooftop lounge and terrace offering views of the Manhattan skyline and New York Harbor.

Constructed in 1913 as the seventh-tallest building in Manhattan, 61 Broadway was long known as the Adams Express Building after its long-time tenant, according to CityRealty. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also eligible for state and federal historic tax credits, according to Multi Housing News.

RXR purchased the building for $330 million in 2014. Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the firm defaulted in 2022 on a $240 million loan it had taken out three years earlier, as office occupancy at the building fell to 57 percent. At the time, co-working operator Knotel leased roughly 60,000 square feet across four floors, but the company filed for bankruptcy two years later, as reported by The Real Deal.

The project joins a growing wave of office-to-residential conversions across Manhattan, with a concentration in the Financial District. For the redevelopment, RXR Realty is using the city’s 467-m tax abatement program, which incentivizes developers to include affordable housing in residential conversions.

Other prominent conversion projects in the Financial District include 25 Water Street, the former home of JPMorgan Chase and the New York Daily News, now the nation’s largest office-to-residential conversion with 1,320 homes, as 6sqft previously reported.

Several additional conversions are completed, underway, or planned for the Financial District as it continues its transformation into a live-work neighborhood. In addition to 25 Water Street, projects at 55 Broad Street, 77 Water Street, 160 Water Street, 111 Wall Street, and 1 Wall Street are expected to add roughly 5,000 new homes to the area.

The Broadway project is not RXR’s first conversion effort. The firm is also working with SL Green and Apollo Global Management to convert the 38-story 5 Times Square into 1,250 new homes. Approved by Empire State Development in May, the project will include 313 permanently affordable apartments for New Yorkers earning up to 80 percent of the area median income.

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