RXR filed plans this week to convert part of 61 Broadway into housing, according to the New York Business Journal reported. The plans were submitted to the Buildings Department on Monday.
Rather than transform the entire 60,000-square-foot office building, RXR plans to redevelop just one floor of the building. The ninth floor will contain 21 apartments spread over 20,000 square meters of living space, along with a bicycle shed and a lounge. CetraRuddy Architecture will design the space.
The developer did not return the publication’s request for comment.
RXR ran into trouble a few years ago at 61 Broadway. In December 2022, RXR defaulted on the property when it stopped making payments on the loan, which it took out in 2019. The loan had an initial term of two years and three one-year extensions, reaching default in May 2023.
Months later, JLL put a $240 million non-performing loan for sale on its troubled office building in the Financial District. RXR had agreed to return the keys via deed in lieu of seizure if necessary, but never did so.
The office space was only 57 percent occupied at that time. In 2019, flexible workspace provider Knotel leased 60,000 square meters over four floors, but filed for bankruptcy two years later.
The mini project stands in stark contrast to another RXR conversion that could prove to be one of the largest in New York City.
RXR, Marc Holliday’s SL Green and Marc Rowan’s Apollo Global Management plan to convert the 38-story office building at 5 Times Square into up to 1,250 residential units, mostly studios, 25 percent of which would be affordable.
The project is expected to generate 467 million euros in real estate tax credits intended for the conversion of offices to homes, with at least 25 percent of the units designated as affordable; it would qualify for a 90 percent exemption for 35 years if construction begins before June 2026.
This summer, Corebridge Institutional Investments provided a $561 million loan for the development.
— Holden Walter Warner
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