GFP Real Estate, Metroloft file plans for 1,263-unit office-to-resi conversion in FiDi

Scott Beadle, head of development, design and construction of GFP Real Estate, in partnership with Nathan Berman’s Metroloft Management submitted a major alteration application for a conversion of a 1 million square-foot commercial (COM) building at 25 Water Street in Financial District, Manhattan, to a 1,263-unit residential building. The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on November 3, 2022 under job number M08013214. The project is described in the filing as: Vertical enlargement and conversion to residential use of existing 22-story building. The renovated building will have 33 stories.

The plans call for ground-floor retail, a fitness space on the subcellar, cellar and the first floor, 49 apartments on the second floor, 50 apartment each for floors three to 21, 47 apartments on the 22nd floor. The 23rd floor will have 39 units, the 24th will have 38 units. The 25th floor will have a game room, coworking space and an indoor lounge and an outdoor terrace with room for 74 people.

Floors 26 to 30 will each have 20 apartments.

The Real Deal reported GFP and Metroloft Management were in contract to buy the property and more recently reported the owners planned the conversion with about 1,200 units. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year. Metroloft Management is also written Metro Loft Management. The property was formerly known as 4 New York Plaza.

The property

The office building in Financial District has 1,016,406 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The 25 Water Street parcel has frontage of 167 feet and is 297 feet deep with a total lot size of 54,023 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C5-5 which allows for up to 15 times floor area ratio (FAR) for commercial and up to 10 times FAR for residential with inclusionary housing. The city-designated market value for the property in 2022 is $129.6 million.

Prior sales and revenue

This property was last sold for $270 million on May 23, 2012.

The 1,016,406-square-foot property generated revenue of $35.4 million or $35 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.

Violations and lawsuits

According to city public data, the property has received two DOB violations in the last year.

There were no lawsuits or bankruptcies filed against the property for the past 24 months.

The neighborhood

In Financial District, the majority, or 75 percent of the 81.3 million square feet of commercial built space are office buildings, with elevator buildings next occupying 15 percent of the space. In sales, Financial District has the 7th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $2 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Financial District is the 4th most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 9.3 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 11 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.

The surrounding

Within a 400-foot radius of 25 Water Street, PincusCo identified two commercial real estate items of interests occurred over the past 24 months. Of those two items, two were loans above $5 million totaling $34.4 million. The most recent of the two was Lisa Poulakakos, Harry Poulakakos, and Peter Poulakakos which borrowed $13.4 million from Goldman Sachs secured by the 11,063-square-foot, two-unit mixed-use building (K2) on 30 Water Street and five other properties on August 22, 2022.

Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.