Tamara Beckwith
First it was business — and now it’s all for pleasure.
Once a hub for financial and media giants like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and the National Enquirer, Manhattan’s Financial District has become a stomping ground for families with kids. The sea of suits that filled the area’s narrow streets are fading in favor of strollers jockeying for coveted sidewalk space.
Jonathan Miller, the president and chief executive of the real estate appraisal and consulting firm Miller Samuel, attributes this tidal change to the neighborhood’s office-to-residential conversions in the wake of COVID-19. A handful have of those developments have opened, while several more are set to debut.
“In a real estate market like Manhattan where the inventory is limited, all of a sudden you have an area with so many more housing options that appeal to families,” Miller said. “The Financial District was busy from 9 to 5 and a dead zone at night, but it’s now a 24-hour neighborhood with a strong family presence.”
Those on the house hunt will have plenty to choose from. According to data from the Downtown Alliance, a non-profit that serves Lower Manhattan, 19 new developments comprising 8,015 units are scheduled to debut over the next several years. Of this number, 5,086 units — or 63% of the total — are office-to-residential conversions.
The headliners include 55 Broad, formerly the Goldman Sachs headquarters, which is now a 571-unit rental with move-ins starting this month. There’s also 25 Water — once home to the National Enquirer, the New York Daily News and JPMorgan Chase — which will launch leasing in January and offer 1,300 units. Farther down the line, in 2026, the former office tower 111 Wall St. will be transformed into 1,300 rental units — while 160 Water St., an office tower dating to the 1970s, is slated to open sometime next year with 588 rental apartments.
But the neighborhood’s newfound appeal can also be credited to its lifestyle and affordability compared to other Manhattan neighborhoods. According to Miller Samuel data, the average sale price of a residence in FiDi in the third quarter of 2024 was $1.16 million, compared with $1.95 million in Greenwich Village and $1.97 million on the Upper East Side. Rentals in this far-downtown area average $5,195 a month, compared with $6,070 in the Village.
Further, the schools, such as Léman Manhattan Preparatory, are top-quality. Numerous green spaces and parks have opened, and there are world-class culinary options having made their debuts in recent years. Those include the 2023-reopened Delmonico’s and the numerous venues inside the dazzling riverfront Tin Building by Jean-Georges. It’s also becoming a very high-end area for shopping, thanks to the French department store Printemps — the French word for spring — opening at One Wall Street this coming spring.
Jessica Lappin, the president of Downtown Alliance, also references the Whole Foods location at One Wall Street, open since January 2023 (that area overall had, for years, been a grocery desert) and the Perelman Performing Arts Center on Fulton Street, which debuted last September.
What’s more, the Financial District has long been a prime hub for public transportation, thanks in large part to multiple subway lines making their way through the neighborhood — all of which are easy to access by a short walk.
“The kernels were there to make FiDi a neighborhood where families want to live, but now, there’s a lot to draw them in,” she said.
The area’s growing population reflects the spurt of new families. Downtown Alliance’s data shows that Lower Manhattan had 14,000 residents in 1995 and 62,000 in 2019. This year, that number is expected to swell to 70,000.
There are buildings they can now call home. Two significant conversions, Pearl House and One Wall Street, are already open.
The former launched leases last December and is 90% re-leased, according to a spokesperson for the development. With 588 apartments ranging from studios to two-bedrooms, Pearl House is currently the largest office-to-residential conversion in New York.
The building’s kid-friendly amenities — on trend with other conversions in FiDi — abound. They include a game room with a video wall, a bowling alley and a children’s playroom.
Martha Rivera, a floral designer — along with her husband Fernando Torres, who works in financial services, and their 4-year-old son, Leonardo Torres — moved into a two-bedroom rental at Pearl House in July. They love its family-friendly community, Rivera said.
They used to live in the West Side Highway-adjacent Waterline Square on the Upper West Side, and she says that they never considered moving to the Financial District. However, when Leonardo got into Léman Manhattan Preparatory, they wanted a home closer to his school.
“I thought that we would stay on the Upper West Side forever, but it wasn’t convenient anymore,” Rivera said.
They appreciate the many parks and kid-friendly restaurants.
“Leonardo and other kids can run around and play with each other,” Rivera said. “Families are an important part of the fabric here, and I don’t see us moving out.”
One Wall Street, initially built for Irving Trust Company and then the Bank of New York Mellon Building, is one of the growing handful of condominiums in the office-to-residential conversion mix.
Developed by Harry Macklowe’s Macklowe Properties and opened in March 2023, it comprises 566 residences that start at $895,000. The property also features 100,000 square feet of amenities, many of which are a boon for families. These include a teen lounge, and an arcade complete with smart TVs with setups for Xbox and PlayStation systems; a playroom; and a membership to Life Time, located within the building, which includes the Kid’s Academy and offers programs such as language classes and date night childcare. “We have so many kids living here that we’ve had to send out memos saying that strollers can’t be out in the hallway,” said Anna Zarro, head of sales for the development.
Jeanne Aicha Ngang, a publicist for several art galleries, her husband, Mikail Ngang, who works in the financial industry, and their 3-year-old son are moving to a three-bedroom apartment there in December. They have lived in FiDi for a decade, she said, and thought they would move uptown when she got pregnant.
But then she started noticing families on the streets, the clean new playgrounds, the less corporate feel — and decided to stay put downtown.
“There’s this misconception that the Financial District isn’t a place to raise families, but that’s changed,” she said. “We bought a three-bedroom, so we don’t have to move again if we have more kids. We want One Wall Street to be home.”