Conversion Under Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan Moves Forward at 29 West 35th Street

The first office-to-residential conversion under New York Mayor Eric Adams’s Midtown South mixed-use plan is moving forward at 29 West 35th Street.

A joint venture led by Marty Burger’s Infinite Global Real Estate Partners and Andrew Heiberger’s Buttonwood Development has acquired the 12-story office building between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas for approximately $25 million, according to a Wednesday announcement and city records made public last week.

The seller was Starwood Property Trust subsidiary LNR Partners, which took back the property for $22 million in October 2024 after former owner United Group defaulted on a $41 million loan on the building, as Commercial Observer previously reported.

Now, the JV is planning to convert the building into 107 studio apartments ranging from 400 to 575 square feet, according to the announcement. All units will feature washers and dryers, and 70 percent of the units will also include “flexible spaces” such as offices, alcoves or bonus rooms.

The deal represents the first project to move forward under Adams’s rezoning plan, which the New York City Council voted to adopt in August. The plan is intended to create 9,700 apartments across 42 Midtown blocks through ground-up development and office-to-residential conversions, as CO reported.

“New York City is home to some of the world’s most beautiful and iconic structures, many of which have outlived their original commercial purpose but possess incredible architectural character that deserves preservation,” Burger said in a statement.

“Rather than tearing these buildings down, we have an incredible opportunity to breathe new life into them as homes for New Yorkers,” Burger added. “This is a model example of adaptive reuse of an obsolete building in which we are creating much-needed housing — both affordable and market rate.”

Allegiant Real Estate Capital and 400 Capital Management, an LLC, provided financing for the project, while additional equity partners include L&L Holding’s David Levinson and Terracotta Management, the announcement said. 

Ariel Property Advisors’ Ben Schlegel represented the developers in the deal, while Colliers’ Zach Redding, Dylan Kane and Matt Mastrocola brokered the deal for the seller. Allegiant was represented by Richard Stanton.

“We promoted and educated the market on the Midtown South rezoning, which now allows for residential use as-of-right at the property,” Colliers’ Redding said in a statement to CO. “This allowed us to achieve pricing at $350 per gross square foot, a great result for our client, and created an opportunity to add housing in a part of the city that is undersupplied.”

Spokespeople for Allegiant, L&L, Terracotta, Ariel and Starwood did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Stanton could not be reached for comment.

Using the new 467-m real estate tax abatement program and the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program, the JV will create both market-rate and affordable housing at 29 West 35th Street. Of the total 107 units, 80 will be market-rate units renting for around $4,000 per month, and 27 units will be designated as affordable at $1,701 per month. Burger and Heiberger plan to begin leasing during the first quarter of 2027, Bloomberg reported.

The building will also offer amenities including a large outdoor movie screen, a pet wash station, bike and storage bins, a laundry facility and multiple seating areas, according to the announcement. Retail space will be available at the base of the building.

“Work patterns have shifted, and proximity to the office is now a top priority for Manhattan residents,” Heiberger said in a statement. “They seek efficiency, the ability to walk to work, to enjoy amazing restaurants, and to live in thoughtfully designed spaces. We’re delivering on that vision with 29 West 35th Street, where true live-work lifestyle isn’t a luxury, but a priority.”

The project is the first of likely many conversions to follow in Midtown South — and according to Open New York, a housing advocacy group that supported Adams’s rezoning plan, it’s “long overdue.”

“Just six weeks after the Midtown South mixed-use plan passed, we’re already seeing new homes brought to this neighborhood,” Andrew Fine, chief of staff at Open New York, said in a statement. “Amid a historic housing shortage, it’s long overdue that we create more homes in our city’s most transit-connected neighborhoods.”

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.