Joseph Hoffman’s Bushburg closed on its $160 million purchase of the Rudin family’s 80 Pine Street office building.
The Brooklyn-based developer finalized its purchase of the half-empty, 1.2 million-square-foot building on September 6, according to records filed with the city Wednesday.
It wasn’t immediately clear what Bushburg’s plans are for the building. It had been pitched as a potential residential conversion, and records show Bushburg signed the contract on February 11.
That was more than two months before state lawmakers passed a budget in April that provided an incentive program for developers to convert office buildings.
The program provides a tax abatement of up to 90 percent for developers south of 96th Street in Manhattan who set aside 25 percent of a conversion’s units as affordable at 80 percent of the area median income.
The tax break, though, only lasts for up to 35 years, while the units must stay permanently affordable. That’s led many to be skeptical that the program will actually pencil out.
A representative for Bushburg did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 40-story 80 Pine Street has had high vacancy since the insurance giant AIG relocated to Midtown in 2021, leaving behind 800,000 square feet of space. Rudin put the 1960s-era building up for sale in the fall with an Eastdil Secured team led by Will Silverman and Gary Phillips, who arranged the deal with Bushburg.
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