Bushburg Embarks on 500-Unit Conversion of 80 Pine Street

Just when it seemed like there couldn’t be any more conversions in the Financial District, Bushburg Properties launched another.

Joseph Hoffman’s firm filed plans for a major alteration of 80 Pine Street, PincusCo reported. The plans include a partial conversion of the office building into 500 residences.

The filing seems to suggest that the half-empty office building may remain half dedicated to offices. It only notes the conversion of floors 2 through 17 of the 38-story tower. The first ten applicable floors will have 50 units each, but it’s unclear what will be different from floors 12 through 17; residential amenities may be placed there.

AIG relocated to Midtown in 2021, leaving behind 800,000 square feet at 80 Pine. Vacancies have been aplenty there ever since.

Bushburg could not immediately be reached for comment by The Real Deal. The architect on the project is CetraRuddy Architecture.

Bushburg closed its $160 million purchase of 80 Pine Street last month, buying the building from the Rudin family. The developer signed the contract to purchase the 1.2-million-square-foot property all the way back in February. It had been pitched as a conversion candidate.

Since then, lawmakers passed a budget with an incentive program for office conversions. There is a tax abatement of up to 90 percent for developers below 96th Street in Manhattan who designate 25 percent of a conversion’s units as affordable at 80 percent of the area median income.

The tax break, however, only lasts for up to 35 years, while the units must stay permanently affordable.

Other conversions unfolding in the Financial District include Nathan Berman and InterVest Capital Partners’ 1,300-unit transformation of 111 Wall Street as well as the 798-unit redevelopment of 222 Broadway, spearheaded by GFP Real Estate and TPG Real Estate.

Developers have filed plans for at least nine 250-unit office conversions since the start of 2019.

— Holden Walter-Warner