This 28-story office tower, built in 1959, was once an insurance company headquarters.  Effort was the first large-scale conversion done in Lower Manhattan creating a total of 437 rental units.  Unique regulations allowed for the design of mechanically-ventilated home-occupation spaces for home office use that did not require windows.   The challenge:  large floor plates up to 20,000 square feet making distance to outside wall nearly 80 feet, in some instances. 

Project development including demolition, design, construction and the complete leasing of all units was completed in an, unprecedented, schedule of 18 months.  

Existing building represented more than 28 times the maximum FAR of 15.0; design strategy included the removal and relocation of some existing stairwells to make space for residential units.  An integrated system was needed to align substantially increased capacity of all utilities within the existing structural system; the design of more than 400 accessible mailboxes at street level also presented a unique challenge.