A residential project billed as New York’s largest office-to-residential conversion has begun leasing in Manhattan’s Financial District, where CoStar data shows the average market asking rent per unit is more than $1,500 that of the city average.
Pearl House, located at 160 Water St. near the South Street Seaport, features studios, one- and two-bedroom apartments, including penthouses with private terraces, developer Vanbarton Group said Thursday in a statement. Rents at the 588-unit project start at $3,500 and go up to $10,000 for the penthouse homes, the developer said, adding that 200 units were completed Dec. 1.
Designed by architecture firm Gensler, the market-rate apartments feature nearly 10-foot ceiling heights and large double-pane windows for "ample" natural light with resort-style condominium-quality finishes and designs, Vanbarton said.
The development also features over an acre of indoor and outdoor private club-inspired amenities spanning three floors, including a bowling alley, a high-tech sports simulator, a pet-grooming salon, a spa featuring a cold plunge pool and hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber and an outdoor rooftop terrace.
The development was converted from a Class B office building, Vanbarton said on its website. A few blocks away from the New York Stock Exchange, it’s also directly adjacent to 180 Water St., another office-to-residential redevelopment that Vanbarton said it undertook, along with its development partner, and sold in 2017.
The leasing is beginning at a time when the average asking rent in the Financial District, where the property sits, is near record highs of $4,600 reached this year, according to CoStar data. That’s above the citywide average of $3,075, also near a record high.
The conversion of Pearl House is part of the changing tapestry of lower Manhattan’s transformation from a financial hub to a 24/7 livable domain, especially in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Nearby, the mega luxury condo development located at One Wall Street that’s begun selling also is another office-to-residential conversion.