Woolworth Building Makeover Includes Luxe Apartments, Report Says

The top 30 floors of the iconic Woolworth building will get 40 luxury apartments, the Times said

Flickr/Stewart Morris

MANHATTAN — The Woolworth Building — one of the city's most iconic towers —will undergo a transformation into luxury apartments, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

As part of an estimated $150 million renovation, the top floors of what was once called the "Cathedral of Commerce," will be overhauled into 40 high-end units by 2015, including an 8,000-square-foot penthouse in the copper-clad cupola soaring nearly 800 feet above ground, the paper said. 

A long-abandoned 55-foot long swimming pool in the basement, once used by five-and-dime magnate Frank W. Woolworth himself, will be renovated for the new residents.

Alchemy Properties bought the top 30 floors for $68 million from the Witkoff Group and Cammeby's International, which will continue to own and operate the 28 lower floors of the Cass Gilbert-designed neo-Gothic skyscraper as office space, the Times said.

When the building at 233 Broadway, between Park Place and Barclay Street, was completed in 1913, it was the tallest building in the world and remained so until 1930.