Buyers Begin Moving Into Harry Macklowe's One Wall Street Residential Conversion

One Wall Street, Macklowe Properties’ bet on luxury condo demand in the Financial District, is seeing its first residents move into the completely renovated property.

Macklowe Properties acquired the 1.25M SF art deco building in 2014 from the Bank of New York Mellon, which had used it as its headquarters. The firm has reportedly spent some $1.5B converting the property into more than 500 units.

The building now has its certificate of temporary occupancy, and the first residents will be moving in next week, CEO Harry Macklowe told a gathered audience for the unveiling of the interior amenities on Thursday night.

Significant buyer interest has come from the local area, he said.

“There's a great loyalty to the community below Canal Street,” he said.

There are 81 active sales at the property, per StreetEasy, and Macklowe said about half the available units are sold, Bloomberg reported. 

The landmarked property at Broadway and Wall Street was the former Irving Trust headquarters and was built in 1931. It is also home to the Financial District’s first Whole Foods, as well as a 75K SF Life Time Fitness, and has inked a lease with French department store Printemps. 

“When I started my working career … the first bank that I did business with was Irving Trust. Subsequently, during my real estate career, they lent me money,” Macklowe said. “For me, everything goes around, comes around. Now I bought the building, and now I'm sharing it with 560 other residents.”

The building represents the largest office-to-residential conversion in the city’s history to date, a practice that is set to become more common as city and state leaders consider ways to make it easier for developers to take on these types of projects.

Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed a tax break, called Affordable Housing from Commercial Conversions, which would offer a 19-year abatement for conversions that set aside 20% of the new units for households earning less than 70% of the area median income.

Mayor Eric Adams has signaled his intention to push forward with a plan to rezone Midtown to allow for more residential housing after a city-run task force released recommendations aimed at boosting office-to-residential conversion in the city. Adaptations to zoning, regulations and the formulations of tax incentives were all listed as ways to produce more housing.

Not far from One Wall, Silverstein Properties has partnered with Metro Loft with the view of turning 55 Broad St., a largely vacant office building, into more than 500 units. Metro Loft also has a partnership with GFP Real Estate and Rockwood Capital to turn 25 Water St., a former JPMorgan back office building, into 1,300 units.

Issues of oversupply in the city’s luxury condominium market have abated, as inventory has been absorbed over the last few years. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Manhattan had 6,643 condos listed for sale, spending an average of 99 days on the market, per Douglas Elliman data. By the final quarter of last year, there were 769 total listings.

Along with supply, demand has decreased as interest rates have soared.

“I dubbed 2023 as the year of disappointment,” Jonathan Miller, the president and CEO of appraisal firm Miller Samuel, told Bisnow last week. “Buyers aren't going to get much of a discount — they may get some, but nothing significant — and sellers aren't going to get what they could have sold for in 2021, so equally disappointed.”

Last week, 31 contacts were signed on apartments asking $4M or more, according to Olshan Realty data.

Prices in One Wall Street run between $990K for a studio to $19M for a five-bedroom unit, per StreetEasy. The building’s amenities span 100K SF and include a 75-foot, glass-enclosed pool, a 6,500 SF coworking space, a private fitness center, a 4K SF landscaped terrace, and a bar and lounge.

“The strength of New York's vitality is both its people and its culture, and that may be a little tarnished but will never be diminished,” Macklowe said on Thursday. “And I believe it will always flourish.”