One Wall Street Serves as Test Case for Office-to-Residential Conversions Post-COVID

With New York City facing an office glut and housing shortage, One Wall Street serves as one of the biggest physical examples of how conversion could tackle those two issues.

“Building those units wasn’t exactly easy,” said Dan Shannon, Managing Partner of MdeAS Architects. “The elevator system needed to be rebuilt to accommodate residential owners, who travel at different times than office workers. One Wall also needed to negotiate with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission regarding the amount of outdoor space it could provide to owners.”

“But One Wall also benefited from its office past. All of its windows could be opened, a feature that helped circulate air into the building, which was constructed before modern air conditioning. For that same reason, the distance from the building’s core to its exterior windows is shorter than in a more modern office building, allowing One Wall to be converted without having to carve out oddly shaped residential units. And, for units deeper in the building, Macklowe was able to add windowless home office space, right in time for a huge work-from-home trend thanks to the pandemic,” Shannon said.

Read more in the full article from Commercial Observer.