15/06/2026

BIZ & FINANCE MONDAY | JUNE 15, 2026

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Tight housing market boosts New York office conversions

NEW YORK: New York real estate firms are increasingly converting office buildings into apartment complexes as an antidote to the city’s housing crunch, tapping into tax incentives also designed to increase the supply of affordable homes. Water Street in lower Manhattan has been a popular area for the makeovers, earning it the nickname “Conversion Alley”, with buildings offering a mix of luxury and affordably-priced apartments to qualify for municipal abatements. “My belief is just about any building could be converted as residential,” Joey Chilelli, partner at real estate developer Vanbarton Group, told AFP during a tour of an office highrise at 77 Water Street the firm is converting into a residential building. The real estate retooling has reached celebrated structures such as the Flatiron Building near Madison Square Park, which is currently being converted. Real estate firms view the projects as less risky and quicker to implement than many new builds. The movement comes as rental costs continue to drift higher. In April, the median rent of a Manhattan apartment topped US$5,000 for the first time as the vacancy rate slipped to a six-year low of 1.55 per cent. By contrast, commercial real estate vacancies stood at 14.6 per cent in the first quarter, reflecting a lingering impact from the pandemic period when remote working depleted downtown business districts. Under the current policy, the city abates 90 per cent of property taxes on conversions that set aside at least 25 per cent of units as affordable housing. The affordable apartments may rent for around one-quarter of market rates, but otherwise look identical. Such abatement policies have drawn interest from developers, along with a measure that expands the pool of qualifying buildings to those built before 1990 instead of 1961. In Manhattan, more than 44 commercial buildings have been converted into residential ones between 2020 and 2024, resulting in nearly 18,000 new apartments. Real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield expects 31 conversions in 2026 compared with 18 in 2025 and nine in 2024. In December 2022, former mayor Eric Adams set a target of adding 500,000 new apartments through

That brief release ended on Friday. In a blog post, Anthropic said the US government told the company it believes there is a method of bypassing, or “jailbreaking,“ a safeguard against using the model to find cybersecurity holes. The bypass found only “minor” security flaws that other publicly available models can also find, Anthropic said in its blog post. The Trump administration ordered Anthropic to block any foreign nationals, whether inside or outside the US, from using both its latest models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, the company said. In response, Anthropic said it would disable access to the models globally. 2030, while his successor Zohran Mamdani in April unveiled plans for another 200,000 new affordable homes. Vanbarton began converting buildings in 2013 and currently manages more than 5,000 apartments. Construction at 77 Water Street is in full swing, with the first residential occupants arriving in October and completion slated for mid-2027. The 30-floor highrise will contain 650 apartments, some with a view of the Statue of Liberty. Chilelli said the firm is anticipating hundreds of thousands of applications for suites designated for affordable housing; the winners will be determined by lottery. At Pearl House, a 1972 building at 160 Water Street, the conversion has resulted in nearly 600 new apartments since December 2023. “We are very very happy here,” said renter Charles Wisell. Wisell, an attorney, originally rented a one-bedroom apartment but has gone for a bigger space to accommodate his wife and son, who now prefer their new abode to their home outside the city. Wisell raved about the building’s amenities, which include a bowling alley, a sports suite featuring simulated golf, a spa with a jacuzzi, a “paw salon” for pets and a “game den” with backgammon, board games and a pool table. “The location is terrific, you’re right in the middle of everything,” Wisell said. “I’m walking distance to my office.” At 77 Water, Vanbarton has implemented suggestions from o Developers tap into tax incentives designed to increase supply of affordable homes

A person walks through the lobby at Pearl House. – AFPPIC

The biggest conversion so far is the SoMA, which was built in 1969 and once occupied by JPMorgan Chase and the New York Daily News. It has 1,320 apartments. But that will be overtaken in 2027 by the former Pfizer building in midtown, which will have around 1,600 apartments. – AFP

fee of US$100-150. Monthly rents at Pearl House start at US$3,995 for a studio and US$6,475 for a one-bedroom. Rents for the affordable units begin at US$932 for a studio to US$3,286 for a three-bedroom. In Manhattan, the average price in April for a one-bedroom was US$5,228.

renters, including a room with light therapy in the spa. At other converted Manhattan buildings, developers have installed basketball courts, Pilates studios and both indoor and outdoor pools. Such luxury services may be included in the rent or are available to residents for a monthly

Amazon voiced concerns about Anthropic AI models before US crackdown WASHINGTON: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy was among tech leaders who raised concerns to senior US officials last week about security risks in Anthropic’s most advanced AI models, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. what it described as cybersecurity safeguards. Amazon did not confirm whether it spoke to government officials about Anthropic’s models. plans for regulating other firms. The US government restrictions came in the form of an export control, Anthropic said in its blog post. Technology and formerly the White House’s AI czar. Some experts who favour export controls on advanced artificial intelligence models found the Trump administration’s action puzzling because it affects allied nations as well as adversaries.

“As a leading cloud provider that serves a large number of private and public sector customers, it’s not uncommon for governments to seek our counsel on potential security risks,“ an Amazon spokesperson said. “When they occur, we don’t share the details of these discussions.” The Information , a technology news outlet, earlier on Saturday reported Jassy’s concerns. The Information , citing a US official, later reported that the administration was unlikely to force other AI firms to abide by restrictions similar to those placed on Anthropic. Reuters could not immediately verify the Trump administration’s

The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees export controls, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials issued the export control “reluctantly” after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei “refused” to “fix the jail break or de-deploy the model,“ White House adviser David Sacks wrote in a social media post on Saturday. “The Admin’s hope now is that Anthropic remediates the safety issue, the export control is lifted, and Fable goes back into general release,“ wrote Sacks, co-chair of Trump’s Council of Advisers on Science and

Jassy’s involvement sheds light on the extraordinary move by Anthropic on Friday to shut down its latest models globally in response to national security orders from President Donald Trump’s administration. The San Francisco-based AI startup, which has confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, had previously warned about the hacking capabilities of its Mythos model and held it back from wide release, but earlier this week, Anthropic rolled out a public version, called Fable, with

“This was not well thought-out,“ said Jimmy Goodrich, a senior fellow at the University of California’s Institute for Global Conflict and Cooperation. “It even bans Canadians and Brits employed at Anthropic from doing research and development.” The order came just as a previous dispute between Trump administration officials and Anthropic showed signs of easing across parts of the US government. – Reuters