Oppenheimer & Co. will move its headquarters to 32 Old Slip in Lower Manhattan, taking about 220,000 square feet across six full floors of the RXR-owned tower, the investment bank and wealth manager announced Nov. 9. The firm, a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. (NYSE: OPY), is targeting a phased move-in beginning in the first quarter of 2028.
The deal keeps a firm that traces its Wall Street roots to 1881 in the Financial District. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office, which announced the move the same day, put the project at about $66 million, invested by RXR and Oppenheimer, and said it retains 1,001 full-time jobs in New York.
From 85 Broad Street to the waterfront
Oppenheimer will relocate from 85 Broad Street, according to the governor’s office. Its new building is a 36-story tower that the company said connects the space to “the waterfront heritage of New York City’s Financial District.” The company said the new headquarters will remain a short distance from its existing offices and blocks from where it was founded at 2 Wall Street in 1881.
The state’s economic development agency, Empire State Development, awarded the company a $3.2 million capital grant, the governor’s office said. According to the state, the $66 million covers renovation and fit-out of the space, including trading infrastructure, collaborative workspaces and client facilities. The roughly 1,000 headquarters positions span financial services, technology, compliance, operations and administration.
JLL represented Oppenheimer in the lease with RXR, and Gensler will design the space. The company said the floors will include a dedicated conference center equipped for in-person and hybrid meetings, plus expanded hospitality space for clients. Neither release discloses the lease term or rent.
“For 145 years, Oppenheimer has grown alongside Wall Street, and our new headquarters at 32 Old Slip in Lower Manhattan reaffirms our commitment to the area,” Robert Lowenthal, Oppenheimer’s president and chief executive officer, said in the company’s release. “This move is an investment in our culture, bringing our teams together on six floors with modern technology and a dedicated space to welcome clients.”
Hochul framed the move as a retention win. “Oppenheimer’s decision to stay and grow in Manhattan is a win for New York, retaining more than 1,000 quality jobs in a modern, new headquarters, representing a $66 million investment,” she said.
Consolidation, not expansion
The announcements describe the move as a way to bring staff closer together rather than to add headcount. Neither release projects new hiring; the state counts the 1,001 jobs as retained. The company said the new headquarters “will bring colleagues closer together,” and Lowenthal emphasized putting teams “together on six floors,” language that describes a consolidation of the firm’s headquarters operations into a newer, amenity-heavy space.
On our reading, the deal is a modest but meaningful signal for Lower Manhattan, which has also been a center of office-to-residential conversions. That conversion push has hit bumps: the city recently halted work at 222 Broadway, its second conversion stoppage in a month. A 220,000-square-foot financial-services commitment to an existing downtown office tower cuts in the other direction.
Large Manhattan leases have kept coming this year. SL Green, for one, reported that its 2026 Manhattan leasing reached 1.76 million square feet as it filled 245 Park Avenue. The Oppenheimer deal adds a downtown entry to that tally of large commitments, though its 2028 start means the space will not be occupied for more than a year.
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