Gothamist77%
After fears of collapse in Midtown, developer eyes next office conversion project 29%
By David Brand72%
7/13/2026, 8:41:25 PM
Keywords: Housing, New York City
BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Negativity Bias, and Halo Effect, with Self-Serving Bias as the most egregious example at 25.6% saturation with 187 hits. Analysis detected 1,149 faulty-reasoning hits from 731 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 39.2% and a BS Rank of 29% (15,702 of 21,886 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 71.70% of the article peer group.
The New York City developer behind a calamitous office-to-housing conversion project that triggered a mass evacuation in Midtown Manhattan and an ongoing criminal investigation is now eyeing its next project inside a 23-story Financial District high-rise, property records show.
The firm MetroLoft, which specializes in turning older office buildings into luxury apartments, bought the terraced tower at 1 Whitehall St. on July 1, according to a deed filed with the city on Friday, just three days after a severe structural failure halted construction at the former Pfizer headquarters on East 42nd Street.
Metroloft bought the FiDi high-rise from the financial institution LoanCore, which acquired the building after foreclosing on its previous owner, the Chetrit Organization, according to property records.
The complex was originally completed in 1962.
"Based on our 30-year track record as a responsible developer of office to residential conversions, we are hopeful that last week's incident at our East 42nd Street project won't negatively impact any of our future deals," said James Yolles, a spokesperson for MetroLoft.
"We continue to work closely with the Department of Buildings to determine the cause of what happened and our focus remains on ensuring the site remains safe and that we can complete the repair work necessary to move forward."
Real estate broker Doug Middleton of CBRE handled the sale but declined to comment on the plans or the potential fallout from the structural failure at MetroLoft’s other project.
But the near-catastrophe could have far-reaching consequences, not just for the building’s financial future but also for a wave of office conversion projects.
The Pfizer Building debacle has also sparked a criminal investigation.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the city’s Department of Investigation are now investigating the incident, the New York Times reported.
During an unrelated event on Monday, Deputy Mayor Leila Bozorg told Gothamist that investigators have contacted the city’s Department of Buildings, but that she “could not speak to any document requests” related to their investigation.
Workers at the Midtown building last Tuesday noticed severely bent structural columns and sagging floors above, prompting the evacuation of surrounding blocks and buildings.
City officials at the time warned of the potential collapse of the 37-story structure.
The Buildings Department determined that the tower was structurally sound by Tuesday night and crews began shoring up most of the floors.
The mangled columns occurred on the 21st floor of the building directly below a major horizontal expansion of 10 stories from the 23rd to 32nd floor.
The city’s Buildings Department has not yet determined the cause of the near-catastrophic failure.
The project’s structural engineer, GACE Consulting Engineers, has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, MetroLoft principal Nathan Berman said the columns collapsed because they could not sustain the load from the additional floors added to the building.
MetroLoft Managing Director Mitchell Wasser told Gothamist in a written statement that the company plans to “fully rebuild” the section of the building that sits atop the buckled columns.
For its newest project at 1 Whitehall St., MetroLoft is partnering with the private equity firm Quantum Pacific on the conversion, The Real Deal reported in April.
Quantum Pacific did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two companies have partnered on at least two other similar projects.
The architecture firm CetraRuddy is designing the 1 Whitehall St. project, according to building records.
A spokesperson for the company referred questions to MetroLoft.
MetroLoft has completed more than a dozen office conversion projects in Manhattan, according to its website, including a 30-story building at 55 Broad St. and a 32-story complex at 25 Water St. that features 1,300 apartments, making it the largest such redevelopment in the city.
New York City is in the midst of an office conversion boom, with state and city lawmakers enacting multiple measures to incentivize redevelopment projects to help address the city’s housing shortage.
Just 1.4% of apartments are vacant and available to rent – a near 60-year low, according to the city’s most recent housing survey.
Developers have completed 10 conversions, totaling 4,200 new housing units, since 2020, according to data from the Department of City Planning.
They have applied for permits or begun construction on 44 other projects, accounting for more than 13,700 apartments and condos, the agency’s records show.
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