In 2006, it was among the first office-to-luxury-apartment conversions in the area, but upscale apartment buildings are now plentiful in the Financial District. A 28th floor studio with two bathrooms is listed at $1.5 million in the building, while just steps away at 25 Broad St., a brand new, two-bedroom, two-bath unit with similar amenities is listed for only slightly more at $1.58 million.
“These buildings are approaching 15 and 20 years old and not one has done any updates or remodeling of the common spaces,” said Martin Eiden, a broker at Compass who has sold real estate all over New York City for more than 20 years. “Most of the buildings were designed to be ultra-trendy. As such, they aged faster than traditional designs.”
As some of the biggest banks have relocated to Midtown, taking with them the highest-paid jobs, developers in the neighborhood have taken to building more small apartments for the entry-level analysts and other employees who put in long hours in the Financial District.
Smaller Floorplans
“The majority of housing stock available for purchase consists of one-bedroom or studio floorplans,” said broker Gill Chowdhury at Warburg Realty. Since January, 179 listings have sold or gone into contract, with those two categories representing 62% of the total units.
For singles or young families who are set on living in Manhattan, the Financial District may offer the best chance, said Scott Avram, senior vice president of development at Lightstone Group, a developer of 130 William St.
“If you want to live in Manhattan, you can often get the best product and the best value, whereas people were previously priced out of Manhattan and had to move to Brooklyn and Long Island City,” Avram said.
--With assistance from Oshrat Carmiel.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.