MetroLoft and Quantum Pacific Group in Contract for $100M Office Real Estate Acquisition at 1 Whitehall Street
Metro Loft Management and Quantum Pacific Group are in contract to acquire the office building at 1 Whitehall Street in Manhattan's Financial District for just north of $100 million, according to sources cited by The Real Deal. The acquisition would mark the latest office-to-residential conversion project for the partnership led by Nathan Berman and Idan Ofer, who plan to transform the building into rental apartments.
Deal Details and Seller Background
The seller is LoanCore Capital, the Greenwich, Connecticut-based debt fund that foreclosed on the property in December and took control from the Chetrit Organization. The Chetrit Organization — led by brothers Michael and Juda Chetrit, and formerly Jacob Chetrit, who died last year — had purchased 1 Whitehall Street in 2019 for $181.5 million from the Rudin family, which originally developed the building in 1962. The Chetrits financed the acquisition alongside another downtown property, 428 Broadway, with roughly $200 million in loans from LoanCore Capital, led by Mark Finerman. After defaulting in 2023 when they stopped making payments, LoanCore filed to foreclose in late 2024 before completing the takeover.
The last major financing at the property came three years ago, when Michael Dell's MSD Partners and Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance provided a $536 million loan for the acquisition and redevelopment of the building. A CBRE team led by Doug Middleton and Jack Stillwagon brokered the current sale.
A Growing Office-to-Residential Partnership
The 1 Whitehall Street deal is the latest in an accelerating partnership between Berman's Metro Loft Management and Ofer's Quantum Pacific Group. Ofer, an Israeli billionaire and heir to a shipping fortune, teamed with Berman last year to purchase the office building at 101 Greenwich Street for $105 million. That project secured a $220 million construction loan from Apollo in January to fund the conversion of the building into 614 apartments.
The two have also partnered on 767 Third Avenue in Midtown, which they acquired last year for $88 million from Sage Realty and are converting into 337 apartments. They are additionally partnering on 845 Third Avenue, a planned 411-unit conversion.
Berman confirmed the purchase of 1 Whitehall Street and signaled more deals ahead. "Their ability to move decisively, make smart decisions and have the wherewithal to do many more of these," Berman said of Quantum Pacific Group, adding that he expects more projects in the pipeline with the firm.
New York's Office-to-Residential Conversion Market
The 1 Whitehall Street acquisition comes as New York City's office-to-residential conversion pipeline has reached 16,358 units — double the figure from a year ago, according to RentCafe. The surge reflects continued developer interest in targeting discounted office buildings, with distressed situations like the Chetrit default creating acquisition opportunities for developers willing to undertake complex conversion projects.