A hulking Midtown office tower that recently traded for pennies on the dollar is now on track for a major residential makeover. The new leasehold owner is plotting to turn one of the largest single buildings a block west of Rockefeller Center into hundreds of apartments, with demolition targeted for this summer and a larger conversion push expected next year.
From Auction Shock To Apartment Makeover
Sam Thakkar, co‑founder of McKinney, Texas‑based Thakkar Developers, told The Real Deal that the firm is "working to finish up the diagrams and those things required to convert that building to residential." Early architectural work, he said, suggests the existing footprint could handle roughly 550 to 700 apartments. Thakkar added that the company is eyeing initial demolition as early as July, with the broader buildout more likely to kick off in early 2027.
Why The Sale Was So Cheap
The Thakkar family paid $8.5 million for the leasehold last year, a price that reflected the quirks of the structure of the deal more than the Midtown dirt under the tower. According to PincusCo, the transaction closed in October 2024, and reporting around the sale highlighted a ground rent of roughly $800,000 a month tied to the property. Safehold, which owns the land beneath the 23‑story, roughly 925,000‑square‑foot building, closed on its ground‑lease interest in 2019, according to the company’s press release.
Tenants And What Would Stay Put
The lower floors already feature street‑level retail and a food hall, while the upper floors remain tilted toward office use. Commercial Observer reported that Mazars (now Forvis Mazars) signed on for about 90,000 square feet across several floors, and listing data showed the building was roughly 35 percent occupied when it hit the auction block, according to Bisnow. That tenant mix helps explain why the Thakkars plan to keep the lower floors as office and retail while turning the upper stories into apartments.
Big Hurdles Between Offices And Apartments
Long‑term office leases, hefty ground‑lease payments and the sheer scale of the structure all make the conversion a heavy lift. The largest tenant occupies multiple floors under a lease that stretches into the 2030s, and the new owners have indicated they intend to preserve the street‑level retail while remaking the upper floors as housing. The Department of City Planning has said that plan would not require a rezoning, according to The Real Deal. Thakkar also said the firm is weighing state tax incentives that could require setting aside a portion of the new units as affordable.
What To Watch Next
This would be Thakkar Developers’ first real estate project outside Texas and its first office‑to‑residential conversion, according to PincusCo, so the firm’s playbook on tenant buyouts, permits and financing will draw plenty of attention. If the conversion goes forward, it would join a growing crop of Midtown deals that repurpose underused office buildings, a trend that market observers say could speed up if incentives and construction financing fall into place, per Bisnow.
