The building that has become the marquee example of New York’s office-to-residential conversion wave reached a milestone aimed at lower-income renters in early 2026: a housing lottery opened for 330 affordable apartments at 25 Water Street, the Financial District tower now branded SoMA.

At roughly 1,320 apartments, 25 Water Street is billed as the largest office-to-residential conversion in the country. The lottery, for households earning 40%, 80% and 90% of area median income, advertised rents ranging from about $932 a month for studios to $3,286 for three-bedrooms — a rare offering of below-market units inside one of Lower Manhattan’s newest large rental buildings.

From office slab to apartment tower

The tower was completed in 1969 and spent decades as office space, at various points home to JPMorgan Chase and the New York Daily News, before emptying out by 2022. GFP Real Estate and Metro Loft Management, with the participation of Rockwood Capital, acquired it for conversion; CetraRuddy designed the redevelopment.

The transformation was unusually ambitious. Rather than simply re-fitting the interior, the team added roughly 10 floors to the original 22-story structure, bringing the building to about 32 stories, and reclad the bulky 1960s slab in a lighter facade. The finished building carries roughly 1,320 apartments and about 100,000 square feet of amenities. Leasing of the market-rate units began in January 2025, with the first residents moving in shortly after.

A test case for tax policy

25 Water Street was the first project in New York City to use the state’s 467-m tax exemption, a program created to make office-to-residential conversions financially viable by granting tax relief — conditioned on including affordable units — to buildings changing from commercial to residential use. The 330-unit affordable lottery is the visible fulfillment of that bargain: developers get a tax break, and the city gets permanently affordable homes embedded in a market-rate building.

That model has become central to the city’s housing strategy. Older office towers, especially in the Financial District, have struggled to attract tenants in the hybrid-work era, leaving a glut of obsolete space at the same moment the city faces a severe housing shortage. Converting the buildings tackles both problems at once — if the financing can be made to work. The 467-m incentive, the residential flexibility unlocked by recent rezonings, and programs like 485-x for ground-up construction are the policy scaffolding meant to make the math pencil.

Part of a Lower Manhattan cluster

SoMA anchors a growing cluster of conversions in and around the Financial District. Metro Loft, led by longtime conversion specialist Nathan Berman, is a recurring name across the wave — also involved at 55 Broad Street, where the firm and Silverstein Properties are creating 571 apartments and drew a roughly $500 million recapitalization led by RXR in 2026. Other nearby projects, including a separate Pearl House conversion at 160 Water Street, have leased up quickly, suggesting strong demand for new apartments in a neighborhood historically dominated by offices.

For the city, each completed conversion chips away at the twin problems of empty offices and scarce housing. SoMA, the largest of them, is the most visible proof of concept — and its 330-unit affordable lottery is a reminder that the tax incentives underwriting these projects are supposed to produce homes ordinary New Yorkers can actually afford, not just luxury rentals in repurposed towers.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is 25 Water Street / SoMA?
25 Water Street is a 1969 Financial District office tower — once home to JPMorgan Chase and the Daily News — that has been converted into a roughly 1,320-apartment residential building branded SoMA. Its developers bill it as the largest office-to-residential conversion in the United States.
Who developed and designed it?
GFP Real Estate and Metro Loft led the conversion with Rockwood Capital's participation; CetraRuddy is the architect. Metro Loft, run by conversion pioneer Nathan Berman, has been a common developer across several of Lower Manhattan's office-to-residential projects.
What's the affordable-housing component?
A housing lottery opened for 330 affordable apartments aimed at households earning 40%, 80% and 90% of area median income, with advertised rents ranging from about $932 a month for studios to $3,286 for three-bedrooms.
What makes the project notable beyond its size?
It added 10 floors to the original 22-story tower, bringing it to about 32 stories, and was the first project in New York City to use the state's 467-m tax exemption, which encourages converting non-residential buildings to housing.