The evacuation of a building on East 42nd Street undergoing conversion from office space to apartments is putting these projects under scrutiny.
What You Need To Know
More than 150 nonresidential buildings have been approved for apartments over the last five years
Experts told NY1 they don’t expect a chill in conversions after the structural problems found at the old Pfizer building
Mayor Zohran Mamdani believes conversions are key part of housing development
But office-to-residential conversions are becoming a growing part of the city’s housing market, with no signs of a chill after city officials determined the East 42nd Street building was unstable and required evacuation.
Officer-to-apartment conversions are complex feats of engineering in order to make sure the buildings are up to code for living spaces.
Engineer Mark Plechaty had to get creative to while working on One Wall Street — at the time, the largest office to residential conversion project in New York. The plan required huge portions of two lower level floors to be knocked out, with new floors on top.
“The new floors were built with concrete, with bubbles in them using these plastic bubbles that if you place them strategically, you can significantly reduce the weight of floors,” Plechaty said.
The firm where he is managing principal, DeSimone Engineers, has other conversion projects in the pipeline.
Plechaty has been fielding calls about them since work was halted on a development to turn office space in the old Pfizer building on East 42nd Street into apartments.
The building, under development by the firm MetroLoft became unstable when two columns bent under new floors that were built on top
“What we’re explaining is – look, the fact that it’s office-to-residential conversion has nothing to do with that issue up there.”
Experts in construction told NY1 that they don’t expect a chill in office conversions after the structural problem found in the old Pfizer building.
“Our job is to make it safe and make it efficient,” Plechaty said.
“I don’t think this is going to chill anybody but I think it’s going to remind everybody that these projects are complicated,” said James Barry, a New York construction manager.
According to the Department of Buildings, over the last five years, the city approved permits to build apartments in more than 150 commercial and nonresidential buildings.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani remains bullish on these conversions to get the city out of a housing crunch.
“Office-to-residential conversions are and will continue to be an important part of our response to the housing crisis,” he told NY1.
City and state officials in recent years encouraged the renovation of old office buildings through zoning changes and tax breaks.
“Most of the old buildings that are being sold now. And old is 50, 60 years to 100 years – most of those buildings that are being sold not to be recycled as offices, or, not to be demolished but to be recycled as residential buildings,” Gary Rosenberg, a chairman of the real estate-focused law firm, Rosenberg & Estis, said.