Manulife Financial Buys NY Office Tower

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Manulife Financial Corp. has purchased its first office building in New York's financial district from Mitsui Fudosan Co., Japan's largest property developer, for $166.5 million. 

Toronto-based Manulife, the world's third-largest life insurer by market value, bought the 21-story building earlier this month, Bloomberg reports. It is located close to the Federal Reserve, designed by architect Emery Roth & Sons, which also designed the World Trade Center towers destroyed 12 years ago. 

"There's quite a bit of activity right now converting Class-A offices in the financial district into residential," Warren Thomson, chief investment officer of Manulife, told Bloomberg. "Those conversions start to reduce the supply. We think it's going to be an interesting market for commercial rates. There should be some good pricing over time."

The value of commercial buildings in the city is expected to increase as developers convert offices to residential units, according to Manulife.

The median rental for Manhattan apartments dropped 1.6 percent in November, marking the third consecutive month of declines.