One of the first big office-to-residential conversions of New York’s current wave just drew a major new backer. In April 2026, Scott Rechler’s RXR agreed to lead a roughly $500 million recapitalization of 55 Broad Street, the Financial District office building that Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management are turning into 571 apartments.

RXR is entering into a joint venture with the two original developers, per The Real Deal — an injection of fresh capital into a project that helped kick off the conversion boom now reshaping Lower Manhattan.

The building

55 Broad Street is a 410,000-square-foot tower that Silverstein and Metro Loft acquired in 2023 for $172.5 million with conversion in mind. The plan calls for 571 market-rate apartments ranging from studios to three-bedrooms, with the developers billing it as one of the largest office-to-residential conversions in the city and an early candidate to be a fully electric, LEED-certified conversion.

The developers financed the work with a $220 million construction loan from Banco Inbursa, the bank controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. Compass Development Marketing Group is running leasing and marketing, with a sales-and-leasing center on site.

Why the recap

Recapitalizations have become a common feature of the conversion business. Turning an office tower into apartments is capital-intensive and slow, and projects launched in a higher-rate environment often need new equity to reach the finish line. By leading a roughly $500 million recap, RXR is effectively buying into a project that is already underway rather than originating a new one — and lending its balance sheet to a building it knows the submarket well enough to value.

For RXR, the move is notable given Rechler’s parallel role across the harbor of distress: his firm co-owns the half-empty Worldwide Plaza, which is the subject of dueling foreclosures in 2026, and RXR has marketed nonperforming notes on other office assets. Stepping in on a conversion casts the firm on the constructive side of the same office-obsolescence trend that is hammering older towers — repurposing rather than defaulting.

The conversion wave

55 Broad sits within a cluster of Financial District and Lower Manhattan office buildings being converted to housing. The largest is 25 Water Street — rebranded SoMA, also known as Pearl House — where GFP Real Estate, Metro Loft and Rockwood Capital created roughly 1,320 apartments in what is billed as the country’s largest office-to-residential conversion. Metro Loft, run by conversion pioneer Nathan Berman, is a common thread across several of these deals.

City and state policy has helped. The 467-m tax incentive, created to encourage conversions that include affordable units, and the residential flexibility unlocked by recent rezonings have improved the math on projects that pencil only narrowly. The Comptroller’s office has studied the fiscal trade-offs of the incentive as the pipeline has grown.

The bigger picture

Each conversion that reaches completion chips away at two of the city’s defining problems at once: a glut of obsolete office space and a shortage of homes. 55 Broad, with a deep-pocketed new partner now behind it, is one of the larger near-term tests of whether the model can be executed at scale — and of how much institutional capital is willing to bet on converting Manhattan’s older towers into apartments.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

What is happening at 55 Broad Street?
The 410,000-square-foot former office building in the Financial District is being converted into 571 market-rate apartments by Silverstein Properties and Metro Loft Management. In April 2026, Scott Rechler's RXR agreed to lead a roughly $500 million recapitalization, joining the project as a partner.
What is a recapitalization, and why does it matter?
A recapitalization restructures a project's ownership and financing — bringing in new equity or debt — without necessarily selling the building outright. RXR's entry injects fresh capital into one of the first big conversions of the current wave and signals continued institutional appetite for converting obsolete Manhattan offices into housing.
How does this compare to other conversions?
At 571 units, 55 Broad is among the larger office-to-residential conversions in the city, though smaller than the roughly 1,320-unit project at 25 Water Street (SoMA/Pearl House). Both are in or near the Financial District, where a cluster of older office towers is being repurposed as housing.
Who is financing and marketing it?
Silverstein and Metro Loft previously secured a $220 million construction loan from Carlos Slim's Banco Inbursa. Compass Development Marketing Group is handling leasing and marketing, with a leasing center on site.