222 Broadway Office-to-Residential Conversion, Manhattan

GFP Real Estate and TPG paid $147.5 million for 222 Broadway in 2024. Deutsche Bank paid $502 million for it in 2014. That 71 percent markdown is the entire economic case for converting a 770,000-square-foot Financial District office block into 798 apartments, and it is why the math works here when it fails three blocks north.

Project Scope

CetraRuddy’s design keeps the 31-story frame and adds a 40-foot extension above the parapet, taking the building to 430 feet and 32 floors while creating a roof amenity deck with an outdoor pool. The odd consequence is that the building gains a floor and loses area: 770,416 square feet becomes about 724,000, because residential layouts waste what office layouts absorb. Part of the midcentury facade is being reclad, with new glass curtain wall at the base and across the top three floors. Ground-floor retail stayed open through construction. BDT and MSD provided a $288 million construction loan brokered by Newmark, and 40,000 square feet stays commercial.

Why It Matters

The job is currently under a New York DOB stop-work order, issued in July 2026 over a reporting lapse. GFP says it still expects to finish within about a year, and leasing is already open. New York halted three other office conversions in a three-week stretch this summer, so this is a pattern rather than one contractor’s paperwork problem, and it is worth watching whether the department’s enforcement posture starts affecting conversion schedules across the city.

Location is the other half of the thesis. The building sits directly north of the Fulton Street transit hub, with A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4 and 5 service and underground access to the Oculus. Former Western Electric headquarters, 798 units, eight subway lines under the sidewalk. That combination is why the discount was worth buying.

Project Team & Details