Emmet Building Conversion, 95 Madison Avenue, New York

Thomas Addis Emmet, a surgeon and author, built a 16-story office tower at Madison Avenue and 29th Street in 1912 and kept a penthouse apartment at the top for himself. He lived there for more than 40 years. The Emmet Building conversion now under way at 95 Madison Avenue turns the rest of the tower into homes too: 65 condominiums inside a terra-cotta landmark designed by Barney & Colt.

Project Scope

Sunlight Development bought the NoMad building out of bankruptcy for $65 million under a contract signed in June 2024, then locked a $99 million construction financing package in January 2025, bringing total capitalization to $164 million, according to Propmodo. Bank Hapoalim is senior lender, NuVerse Advisors is the equity sponsor, and Sunlight is acting as its own general contractor. Interior demolition started in late 2024.

FXCollaborative designed the conversion. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved it in July 2024, and the exterior changes are deliberately small: restoration of the ornamented limestone and terra-cotta facade, new skylights on the sloped roof, a rooftop bulkhead and new windows above the ground-floor doorways. Units run from one to five bedrooms and top out with an Emmet Penthouse. About 108,000 square feet of the 150,000-square-foot building is sellable residential space, with roughly 17,000 square feet of retail at street level.

Sales launched June 25, 2026. Delivery is expected in the second quarter of 2027.

Why It Matters

This is the expensive end of Manhattan’s office-to-residential push. It’s a designated landmark with Gothic terra-cotta ornament, floor plates laid out for silk merchants and shirtmakers, and every exterior move subject to landmarks review. Condos, not rentals, carry that cost here.

The path to this point was slow. The city designated the building a landmark in March 2018, its owner filed for bankruptcy in March 2021, and a buyer with a conversion plan didn’t arrive until 2024. Divide the $164 million capitalization by 65 units and it’s roughly $2.5 million a home before a single sale closes.

Project Team & Details