WSA, A Manhattan Office Tower Becomes an Unlikely ‘It’ Building

Deep in the canyons of New York’s financial district, there is an office tower that matches the cultural moment, for better and for worse. It might be the first “It” building.

Known as the WSA building (short for Water Street Associates), the 31-story structure, at 175 Water Street, has become a nexus for the kind of people who might not otherwise set foot in this neighborhood of bankers and brokers.

It is owned by developers who have been awarded a $41.3 million discretionary tax break from a recently established New York City government program to help pay for their vision and the $150 million renovation that goes with it.

Built in 1983, the tower was the longtime global headquarters of the insurance giant A.I.G. After A.I.G. sold the building for about $270 million in 2019, it sat all but empty during much of the pandemic, when scores of companies, including A.I.G., left the financial district. In late 2022, an LLC under the name 99c bought the building for $252 million and announced a bold plan to “reinvent” the property.

Now, in place of the underwriters and claims adjusters who once toiled on its floors, the building is starting to fill up with artists, designers and boutique creative agencies, many of whom pay rents far below the going rate. By night, it has become the site of splashy events that generate reams of social media content and press coverage.

The model Emily Ratajkowski co-hosted two parties there after the annual Met Gala, drawing guests including Kendall Jenner and the singers Lana Del Rey and Bad Bunny. At two awards dinners held in the building, GQ magazine attracted a who’s who of the modern-day statusphere — the Formula 1 champ Sir Lewis Hamilton, the novelist Min Jin Lee, the Apple chief executive Tim Cook, and the multi-hyphenate Donald Glover. In September, when Ms. Jenner wanted to show the world that she had gone blonde, she posted photos of herself taken inside the tower.