Vanbarton files to convert 77 Water in FiDi into 651-unit apartment building
77 Water Street (Credit - Google)
Vanbarton Group submitted a major alteration application with an initial cost of $65 million to convert the 26-story commercial office (COM) building at 77 Water Street in Financial District, Manhattan into a 651-unit apartment building with amenities including a pool, meeting rooms, spa, as well as one floor with office space but no retail space.
The plan was filed with the New York City Department of Buildings on February 21, 2025 under job number M01157498. It calls for a change in use of the 26-story building from one with no dwelling units to a 33-story building with 651 dwelling units and from 373 feet tall to 429 feet tall with a total of just over 520,000 square feet of residential zoning space. The project is described in the filing as: Alt-CO being filed for the conversion of a commercial building to a residential use per article 1 chapter 5.
Joseph Chilelli, principal of Vanbarton Group submitted the plans. The architect is CetraRuddy Architecture.
The plans call for a lobby on the first floor, a steam room, sauna, treatment rooms, spa, fitness, pool, balcony on the mezzanine floor, office space, a bar and “town hall” space on the second floor, and apartments on most of the floors from the second to the 33rd floor.
77 Water Street
| wdt_ID | floor | comment | description | persons_permitted | occupancy_label | zoning_use | dwelling_units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cellar | STORAGE ROOMS, BIKE STORAGE (4037 SF, 326 BIKES) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 36 | Storage | ||
| 2 | Cellar | ACCESSORY RESIDENTIAL AMENITY SPACES (RECREATIONAL ROOMS) | Apartment | 66 | Residential | ||
| 3 | Cellar | MECHANICAL ROOM, NETWORK ROOM, WATER SERVICE ROOM | Mechanical and/or electrical equipment room | 9 | Factory and Industrial | ||
| 4 | Cellar | MANAGEMENT OFFICE | Apartment | 6 | Residential | ||
| 5 | Cellar | ||||||
| 6 | 1 | (1) LOADING BERTH FOR RESIDENTIAL USE | Storage of non combustible Materials | 0 | Storage | ||
| 7 | 1 | STORAGE | Storage of non combustible Materials | 2 | Storage | ||
| 8 | 1 | RESIDENTIAL LOBBY, MAILROOM | Apartment | 0 | Residential | ||
| 9 | Mezzanine - 1 | POOL EQUIPMENT ROOM, SWITCHGEAR ROOM, MEP, GENERATOR ((2ND FLOOR MARKETING)) | Mechanical and/or electrical equipment room | 0 | Factory and Industrial | ||
| 10 | Mezzanine - 1 | STORAGE (2ND FLOOR MARKETING) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 8 | Storage | ||
| 11 | Mezzanine - 1 | ACCESSORY RESIDENTIAL AMENITIES (STEAM ROOM, SAUNA, TREATMENT ROOMS, SPA, FITNESS, POOL, BALCONY) - (2ND FLOOR MARKETING) | Apartment | 103 | Residential | ||
| 12 | 2 | MECHANICAL ROOMS (3RD FLOOR MARKETING) | Mechanical and/or electrical equipment room | 3 | Factory and Industrial | ||
| 13 | 2 | STORAGE ROOM (3RD FLOOR MARKETING) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 1 | Storage | ||
| 14 | 2 | 22 CLASS "A" UNITS (3RD FLOOR MARKETING) | Apartment | 0 | Residential | 22 | |
| 15 | 2 | STORAGE, READING ROOM, OFFICES | Office | 36 | Business | 6 | |
| 16 | 2 | TOWNHALL MEETING ROOM | Exhibition Hall | 101 | Assembly | 6 | |
| 17 | 2 | OFFICES | Office | 87 | Business | 6 | |
| 18 | 2 | BAR AND LOUNGE | Office | 70 | Business | 6 | |
| 19 | 3 | STORAGE ROOM (4TH FLOOR MARKETING) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 1 | Storage | ||
| 20 | 3 | 23 CLASS "A" UNITS (4TH FLOOR MARKETING) | Apartment | 0 | Residential | 23 | |
| 21 | 3 | ||||||
| 22 | 4 | STORAGE ROOM (5TH FLOOR MARKETING) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 1 | Storage | ||
| 23 | 4 | 23 CLASS "A" UNITS (5TH FLOOR MARKETING) | Apartment | 0 | Residential | 23 | |
| 24 | 4 | ||||||
| 25 | 5 | STORAGE ROOM (6TH FLOOR MARKETING) | Storage of non combustible Materials | 1 | Storage |
The property
The office building in Financial District has 541,568 square feet of built space according to a PincusCo analysis of city data. The parcel has frontage of 214 feet and is 121 feet deep with a total lot size of 25,779 square feet. The lot is irregular. The zoning is C6-9 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 $130.5 million. The most recent loan totaled $165 million and was provided by TYKO Capital on December 4, 2024.
Prior sales and revenue
This property was sold by William Kaufman Organization and Principal Real Estate Investors for $95.5 million to Vanbarton Group on December 4, 2024. Vanbarton then signed a $165 million construction loan with TYKO Capital.
The 541,568-square-foot property generated revenue of $29.1 million or $54 per square foot, according to the most recent income and expense figures.
Violations and lawsuits
According to city public data, the property has received $5,250 in OATH penalties 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 74 percent of the 79.9 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 5th highest sale turnover among other neighborhoods in the city with $1.7 billion in sales volume in the last two years. For development, Financial District is the 3rd most active neighborhood among other neighborhoods. It had 14.1 million square feet of commercial and multi-family construction under development in the last two years, which represents 18 percent of the neighborhood’s built space.
The block
On this tax block, PincusCo has identified the owners of two of the two commercial properties representing 1,015,028 square feet of the 1,015,028 square feet. The two identified owners are Udr, Inc. and Vanbarton Group. There are no active new building construction projects on this tax block.
The owner
The PincusCo database currently indicates that Vanbarton Group owned at least 18 commercial properties with 1,121 residential units in New York City with 2,757,486 square feet and a city-determined market value of $934 million. (Market value is typically about 50% of actual value.) The portfolio has $1.4 billion in debt, with top three lenders as Blackstone Group, Blackstone Mortgage Trust, and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance respectively. Within the portfolio, the bulk, or 74 percent of the 2,757,486 square feet of built space are office properties, with elevator properties next occupying 14 percent of the space. The bulk, or 94 percent of the built space, is in Manhattan, with Bronx next at 6 percent of the space.
The surrounding
Within a 400-foot radius of 94 Front Street, PincusCo identified one commercial real estate item of interests occurred over the past 24 months. It was a sale which Carlos Rosario bought one condo unit in the 7,092-square-foot, 128-unit mixed-use building (RM) on 82 Beaver Street for $5.5 million from Red Pine Capital Partners on January 14, 2025.
Direct link to the property’s ACRIS page and link to DOB NOW portal.