Owner of a downtown office building proposes turning it into 36 apartments

A New York real-estate investment firm has filed plans to convert the seven-story and currently mostly vacant 4 Liberty Sq. at Water and Batterymarch streets into 36 apartments - and for a tax break under Boston's downtown office-to-residences pilot program.

In its filing with the Boston Planning Department, Abramson Brothers says seven of the units will be rented as affordable, with one of those set aside for somebody with a housing voucher, such as Section 8.

The current empty ground-floor restaurant space will remain as a commercial space, Abramson Brothers, which paid $12.2 million for the building in 2016, says.

Under the city's downtown office-to-residential pilot, building owners are eligible for up to a 29-year break on property taxes, through an abatement of up to 75% of the buildings' assessed value. The city program is aimed at both filling office space that has gone vacant since the start of the pandemic in 2020 and providing more housing in the city.

No parking is planned for the building, but the company says it's situated in the middle of numerous subway and bus lines. The building would get indoor storage for 36 bicycles.

4 Liberty Sq. filings and comment/meeting schedule.