Vanbarton Group Set to Buy 77 Water Street for $95M for Office-to-Resi Conversion
By Isabelle Durso September 25, 2024 5:02 pm
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Vanbarton Group is all lined up to begin the Financial District’s latest office-to-residential conversion project.
The investment manager went into contract to buy Sage’s 77 Water Street for roughly $95 million, with plans to convert the 26-story office tower into as many as 600 residential units, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the news. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year.
Sage declined to comment, while a spokesperson for Vanbarton did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Eastdil Secured advised Sage on the transaction, a source with knowledge of the deal told Commercial Observer.
Vanbarton’s plans to turn 77 Water Street into a residential property is part of a wave of similar conversion projects in the Lower Manhattan neighborhood. In fact, 64 office owners have expressed interest in a city initiative to aid office-to-residential conversions, with the bulk in the Financial District, according to May data from the city’s Department of City Planning.
Most recently, GFP Real Estate and TPG Real Estate submitted plans for a major conversion at 222 Broadway, calling for the 31-story, 756,138-square-foot office building to be turned into 798 apartments, as CO previously reported.
Besides that, Mayor Eric Adams announced in January that 46 buildings are enrolled in the city’s Office Conversion Accelerator Program with the landlords hoping to reposition those properties for residential use, CO reported at the time.
Those buildings include 25 Water Street’s $535.8 million overhaul into 1,300 apartments and Vanbarton’s own separate project at 160 Water Street, where the company’s planning to provide 588 market-rate units.
Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.
