New York City turned its eyes towards the former Pfizer building in Midtown East Tuesday morning, but not for the reason the developers would’ve hoped.
Reports emerged before 8 a.m. of debris falling from the construction site at 235 East 42nd Street, arguably the country’s most notable office-to-residential conversion post-pandemic to unfold.
As of midday, concerns about the safety of the building remain as columns within the building buckle, forcing evacuations and street closures in and around the property.
It’s not the first notable incident at the project, which commanded real estate’s attention long before pedestrians were forced to steer clear. That’s due in part to the developers behind the historic conversion.
Nathan Berman: The “King of FiDi” motors uptown
Metro Loft Management’s Nathan Berman fosters a reputation as one of the most prominent conversion developers in the country. He made a name for himself transforming outdated buildings in the Financial District into modern homes in the 1990s and 2000s, running into a lull in the 2010s before the pandemic emptied out offices and brought the business back to prominence.
Berman’s biggest projects this decade include the recently completed transformation of 25 Water Street into 1,320 units with his partners Rockwood Capital and GFP Real Estate, representing the biggest conversion in U.S. history. The project at the former Pfizer headquarters would surpass that, should it come to fruition.
Berman’s path to the throne has had its thorns. In October, he lost the building at 20 Broad Street he converted in 2018 to his lender. He also faced foreclosure at 180 Water Street before he was able to recapitalize it.
But Berman has kept chugging along. Last month, Berman and Idan Ofer’s Quantum Pacific Realty landed a $170 million loan for the redevelopment of 767 Third Avenue in Midtown East. Developers filed plans for the project last summer, which include turning the 282,000-square-foot office building into a 337-unit apartment building with 68,000 square feet of retail space.
David Werner: An eye for flips and discounts
Despite multiple partnerships with one of the most in-demand developers in the conversion space — there’s a project in the works at 675 Third Avenue — David Werner is a real estate investor who prefers to stay away from the limelight.
He is known for one thing: sniffing out steep discounts and good flips.
Take 300 East 42nd Street, a few hundred feet from the old Pfizer HQ. Werner bought the building last year for $52 million, then engaged in talks with potential buyers, reportedly including a high-net-worth individual from Latin America. Within two months, he traded the property to CSC Real Estate for the same price he originally paid.
One of the biggest buyers of discounted office buildings in recent years, Werner recently closed on buying the 870,000-square-foot One Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza for $270 million from Rockpoint Group, about half the price the seller paid for the building in 2019.
One Dag was only the latest building Werner scooped up at a big discount.
Last year, he bought 440 Ninth Avenue in Hudson Yards for a little over $100 million, which traded seven years earlier for $269 million. And a few months ago, Werner was in contract to buy 311 West 43rd Street at a price a little north of $40 million, about a third what seller DivcoWest paid in 2018.
The Pfizer project: A purported shot in the arm for Midtown
The office-to-residential conversion, led by Werner and Metro Loft, features Gensler as the architect and is the largest conversion project in the city.
Berman reached a deal in March 2024 to convert the former Pfizer headquarters into approximately 1,500 rental units.
He purchased a minority stake in the site from David Werner, who had bought the interests in the property five years earlier when Pfizer relocated to Tishman Speyer’s Spiral.
Werner owns the leasehold of the larger of the two buildings making up the site, the 33-story 235 East 42nd Street, after purchasing it for $407 million. He bought the smaller 10-story 219 East 42nd Street in partnership with life sciences developer Alexandria Real Estate Equities for $142 million before buying out the real estate investment trust.
The developers went through several rounds of financing for the massive undertaking. In May, the pair secured a $700 million construction loan from Madison Realty Capital, a record amount for a residential conversion project in New York.
Northwind Group provided a $75 million loan to the joint venture for the property at 219 East 42nd Street, which is also slated for redevelopment. The firm later supplied another $135 million for the site.
Last year, however, the project generated seven construction safety violations in 2025 totaling more than $32,000 in penalties.
Most recently, the LLC associated with the residential conversion, 235 GC LLC, was dinged in December for failing to notify the DOB of a construction incident that resulted in a fatality or injury, which carried a $10,000 penalty. The seven DOB violations last year were each resolved by the LLC, with all but one of the construction safety infractions classified as immediately hazardous.
In another violation filed last December, the DOB described an incident where a worker fell six feet from a ladder that was not on a flat and level surface, carrying with it a $10,000 penalty.
Records show that no money was paid for any of the violations last year, but that certificates of correction were accepted.
Last August, work stopped briefly at the building when authorities responded to a suspected fire reported as “some smoke by a construction site” in a DOB complaint filed by someone who was “concerned for the workers.” Metro Loft denied at the time that a fire had occurred.
The combined property, which will host a mix of luxury rentals and affordable housing through the 467m tax abatement program, will include more than 100,000 square feet of amenities and 30,000 square feet of retail space.
Construction was expected by the fourth quarter of 2027. That timeline may be in doubt after Tuesday.
Read more
Nathan Berman, Idan Ofer land $170M for Third Ave conversion
Buckling ex-Pfizer HQ hit with multiple DOB violations last year
Metro Loft, David Werner take on Midtown East with next conversion
