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rooklyn-based developer Joseph Hoffman's Bushburg has finalized its purchase of 80 Pine Street, a 1.2 million-square-foot office building in Lower Manhattan, for $160 million. The deal was closed on September 6, according to city records filed this week. The building, which has been half-empty since AIG relocated to Midtown in 2021, leaving behind 800,000 square feet of space, had been pitched as a potential residential conversion.

    Bushburg signed the contract for the purchase on February 11, more than two months before state lawmakers passed a budget that included an incentive program for office-to-residential conversions. The program offers tax breaks to developers who set aside 25% of units in converted buildings as affordable housing at 80% of the area median income.

    While Bushburg has not commented on its plans for the building, the developer's purchase comes with some skepticism surrounding the state's new tax break program. The program provides a tax abatement of up to 90% for developers south of 96th Street in Manhattan, but only lasts for up to 35 years and requires units to remain permanently affordable.