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Cushman & Wakefield reports that momentum in office-to-residential conversion activity across Manhattan strengthened through the end of 2025, extending the sharp acceleration first detailed in the firm’s September 2025 Office-to-Residential Conversions report. The latest data show that office properties are increasingly being repositioned for residential use, underscoring ongoing structural change in Manhattan’s office and multifamily landscape.
According to Cushman & Wakefield, conversion starts reached 5.0 million square feet in 2025. This level marks the highest annual tally for office-to-residential conversions in Manhattan over the past 20 years, indicating that more buildings are formally entering the construction or conversion phase rather than remaining in the conceptual pipeline.
Activity was particularly strong late in the year. Nearly 913,883 square feet of conversions were initiated in just the final four months of 2025. This late-year surge suggests that owners, investors, and project teams continued to push forward with execution even as broader office market fundamentals remained under pressure.
The forward pipeline has also expanded. Cushman & Wakefield now tracks 9.8 million square feet of Manhattan office space planned for conversion across 31 projects. Since September 2025, nine newly proposed projects totaling two million square feet have been added to that pipeline, reflecting continued interest in repurposing office assets for residential use.
Report authors Lori Albert and Reed Hatcher note that proposed conversion activity remains concentrated in higher-quality office assets and core locations. Planned projects are skewing toward Class A buildings, indicating that even top-tier office inventory is being evaluated for alternative use where market conditions support residential demand or where office fundamentals are challenged.
Within Manhattan, Midtown emerges as a focal point for future office-to-residential conversion. Of the 12 proposed Class A conversions in Midtown cited in the report, eight are located in the East Side/UN and West Side submarkets. This clustering highlights that conversion feasibility is highly location-specific, even within a single borough.
Albert and Hatcher emphasize that conversion decisions are being made on a building-by-building and submarket-specific basis. Factors such as building quality, configuration, location, and surrounding neighborhood dynamics appear to be central to determining whether an office asset can be viably repositioned as residential. The pattern of activity across Midtown submarkets illustrates how owners are selectively targeting assets where conversion economics are most favorable.
While the report focuses on volume and location trends rather than individual projects, the combination of a record 20-year annual total for conversion starts and a growing pipeline signals an enduring role for office-to-residential strategies in reshaping Manhattan’s built environment. As more square footage moves from office to residential use, the balance of inventory in both sectors is likely to continue evolving.
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