Landmarked McGraw-Hill Building's $100M Residential Conversion Is Moving Forward
The owner of the McGraw-Hill Building is ready to start converting more than a dozen floors of the 650K SF landmarked office tower into apartments.
Resolution Real Estate Partners is moving forward on plans to turn floors 12 through 32 of the art deco building into luxury condos, according to a release. The top two floors will also undergo conversion, turning into residential amenity spaces, while the remaining office floors — the second through to the 11th — will be upgraded.
The building, located at 330 West 42nd St., received permission for its plans last month from the Landmarks Preservation Committee, a spokesperson for Resolution Real Estate Partners confirmed to Bisnow.
“We’ve cleared all the hurdles,” Gerard Nocera, managing partner at Resolution Real Estate, told the New York Post Sunday.
After conversion, the building will add 224 luxury apartments to the New York City housing market, which is facing a shortage of residential units of all stripes. Other improvements will be the addition of a second lobby, a residential entrance and restoring the building’s famous signage.
“With more people seeking apartments designed with live-work trends in mind, the new residences at 330 W 42nd Street will deliver just that, and we look forward to welcoming residents in 2024,” Nocera said in a statement.
MdeAS Architects will lead office and residential conversions in the 1931-built Midtown tower, originally designed by Raymond Hood, while SLCE Architects will design the apartment unit layouts and Corcoran New Development will market the spaces.
Project completion is expected for Q2 2024, with office leasing discussions slated for spring next year. The $100M price tag on the conversions will be financed by conventional bank loans and private equity, a spokesperson told Bisnow. Resolution already completed a $120M upgrade process in 2021, adding a new HVAC system in addition to other modernizations. Resolution took out a $25M loan with Signature Bank last February, public filings show.
Midtown hasn't seen many office-to-residential conversions, although proposed zoning and regulatory changes from Mayor Eric Adams could allow for more than 130M SF of offices in the city to be converted. The proposal is similar to previous rule changes in Lower Manhattan — currently the epicenter of the conversion trend in the city.
