A Financial District office tower that once served as Deutsche Bank's U.S. headquarters is reportedly changing hands for a fraction of what it sold for less than a decade ago. Bushburg Properties is in contract to purchase 60 Wall Street from Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC for $400 million, according to The Real Deal.
The reported price marks a steep drop from 2017, when GIC and Paramount Group formed a 95/5 joint venture that acquired the building for $1.04 billion, according to a GIC announcement at the time. GIC's own release described the property as a 47-storey, 1.6 million-square-foot, LEED Silver office building in Manhattan's Financial District. Commercial Observer reports the tower has 46 floors and was originally developed by J.P. Morgan Chase in the 1980s.
The Real Deal, which first reported the pending sale, characterized the reported $400 million price as about a third of the tower's 2017 value. At the time GIC made its purchase, the building was 100 percent leased to Deutsche Bank and served as the bank's U.S. headquarters, per GIC's own newsroom statement.
Deutsche Bank's Exit Reshaped the Building's Fortunes
Deutsche Bank's departure set the stage for the tower's decline in value. The bank's move to One Columbus Circle was expected to begin in the third quarter of 2021 and wrap up in 2022, according to Reuters. Commercial Observer reports Deutsche Bank formally vacated the building in 2021.
Anticipating that exit, Paramount Group had planned to invest more than $250 million repositioning 60 Wall Street once its anchor tenant left, according to the New York Business Journal. Commercial Observer notes that brokers and tenants reportedly seemed unfamiliar with the building as far back as 2012, well before Deutsche Bank's exit reshaped its prospects.
A Conversion Opportunity, But No Confirmed Plan
Commercial Observer reports that Bushburg Properties specializes in office-to-residential conversions and that the deal gives the firm an opportunity to convert 60 Wall Street from a former single-tenant headquarters into a residential tower. No conversion plan, approval, or timeline has been announced for the property.
High office vacancy in Lower Manhattan contributed to elevated interest rates and risk on a refinancing of 60 Wall Street, according to ABS Real Estate. A New York City Comptroller report estimated that projects in Manhattan south of 59th Street that could start renovation by the end of June 2026 would involve $5.6 billion in present-value tax expenditures and a $5.1 billion present-value drop in property-tax revenues relative to a counterfactual, according to an excerpt from the NYC Comptroller's office.
Ownership Changes on Both Sides of the Table
The seller's side has also seen upheaval. Paramount Group became Elecor Properties in April 2026 after Rithm Capital acquired Paramount Group that same month, per Commercial Observer's reporting.
Brokers Gary Phillips and Will Silverman represented the seller in the transaction but declined to comment, according to Commercial Observer. Bushburg Properties and GIC did not immediately respond to requests for comment, the outlet reported. Mark Hallum authored the original Commercial Observer report on the deal.
Other Lower Manhattan Towers Have Already Made the Switch
Bushburg would not be the first firm to bet on turning a former Financial District office tower into housing. At 25 Water Street, now rebranded as SoMA, a building that once housed JPMorganChase, the National Enquirer and the New York Daily News was converted by GFP Real Estate and Metro Loft, along with Rockwood Capital, according to The New York Times. Whether 60 Wall Street follows a similar path remains to be seen, as no conversion plan for the tower has been confirmed.
