It was home to the NY Daily News. Now you can rent an affordably priced apartment there.

Two years ago, a drab brown-brick tower in Manhattan’s Financial District, pitted with narrow, slit-like windows, hid the remnants of empty bank offices and the last physical newsroom of the New York Daily News.

Now, tenants are moving into the same building — not to work, but to live. The tower's transformation is the largest office-to-residential conversion project in the country. It features thousands of brand new windows and 10 additional stories overlooking the East River.

The 1,300-unit residence also marks another milestone: It’s the first converted office building to offer apartments through the city’s affordable housing lottery.

City rules required developers GFP Real Estate and Metroloft to reserve a quarter of the units for moderate-income earners in exchange for a newly devised property tax break meant to help offset construction costs.

Apartments replacing old offices became a relatively common occurrence in the Financial District after 9/11, but city officials insist that the inclusion of affordably priced units in the project at 25 Water St. represents the future of office conversions amid a serious housing shortage and pandemic-fueled rise in vacant, older office buildings.

“Transforming office buildings into apartments isn't just a great idea on paper, but an innovative, smart way to create the additional affordable housing New York City so desperately needs,” said Department of Housing Preservation and Development spokesperson Ilana Maier.

Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of City Planning also have their sights on Midtown, where they’ve kicked off the approval process for turning a commercial and industrial section into another residential neighborhood, akin to the transformation that began in the Financial District more than two decades ago.

Citywide, construction and planning is underway to convert at least 64 office buildings into residential units after state and city officials changed rules to ease their redevelopment, Gothamist first reported last year. Owners could opt into the new tax break program, which requires recipients to price at least a quarter of the new units for moderate-income tenants so that they pay roughly 30% of their income on rent.

At 25 Water St., the city’s Housing Connect lottery features 330 affordable apartments, primarily tailored to individuals and couples.

Nearly three-quarters of the affordable apartments are studios. Overall, 48 units have rents set at $932 per month that are reserved for individuals and families of two earning less than $50,000 a year. Another 186 have rents set at $2,249 per month and will house individuals and families of two earning between $77,000 and $111,000.

GFP Real Estate and Metroloft purchased the 1.1 million-square-foot building for $250 million in December 2023 and received a $536 million private loan to fund the renovation.

The roughly 1,000 market-rate apartments are priced from around $3,500 per month for a seventh-floor studio to $9,111 per month for a three-bedroom on the 10th floor, according to listings on the building website

The building has been the subject of “substantial demand” since it began leasing earlier this year, GFP Real Estate co-CEO Brian Steinwurtzel said Wednesday

When it was originally built in the 1960s, 25 Water St. – known then as 4 New York Plaza – was designed to resemble a computer punch card, with narrow windows irregularly placed along its brown brick facade.

Today, most of the old-style windows have been replaced by wider expanses of glass and the building has been painted white, save for a few sections where construction crews were still working on Wednesday. A newly renovated lobby boasts a modern-style fireplace and plush sofas.