Vanbarton Group’s appetite for office-to-resi conversions seems to know no bounds.
The developer, already one of the most active converters in New York, is in contract to buy 6 East 43rd Street from the Milstein family’s Emigrant Savings Bank for about $140 million, sources told The Real Deal.
The plan is to convert the roughly 400,000-square-foot building into somewhere between 450 and 500 rental apartments, sources said.
It’s the third office building Vanbarton’s bought in the past year as bargains in the office market and demand for new apartments have led to a boom in conversion opportunities.
The company, led by Gary Tischler and Richard Coles, is paying roughly $100 million to buy the home of the Archdiocese of New York at 1011 First Avenue, which it plans to transform into 420 apartments. And in December, it bought 77 Water Street in the Financial District for $95 million, which will turn into 600 units.
The deal for 6 East 43rd Street is expected to close in the fall. A representative for Vanbarton Group declined to comment, and someone for Emigrant Savings Bank could not be immediately reached.
Vanbarton recently completed its conversion of 160 Water Street in the Financial District — dubbed Pearl House — into 600 apartments.
At TRD’s NYC Forum earlier this month, Coles said he’s been doing conversions for two decades, and the number of opportunities has increased dramatically.
“I have to believe it’s a cyclical industry and the numbers will ebb at some point. But there is still a tale of two cities where there is a big part of the office inventory in our city — and cities around the country — that is structurally obsolete,” he said. “I think there’s going to be another four to seven years of that opportunity set.”
Coles added he likes to take on projects somewhere between 500 and 700 units, because they’re easier to sell once Vanbarton finishes the conversion.
“We find the exit liquidity at that scale is a little bit more robust,” he said.
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