Scaffolding and an exterior construction elevator have been erected at 20 Pine Street, 700,000-sq.ft. office building that is being converted to 409 condominium apartments by Shaya Boymelgreen and Lev Leviev.

The offering plan has been approved by the New York State Attorney General?s office and sales are expected to start next month with occupancy planned for 2007.

The tower has one of the finest sites in Manhattan at the epicenter of the financial district.

Its north and east facades front on Chase Manhattan Plaza with its large "Group of Four Trees" 1972 sculpture by Jean Dubuffet Sculpture and sunken fountain by Isamu Noguchi.

It is surrounded by many of the finest buildings in the area including One Chase Manhattan Plaza, 40 Wall Street, 140 Broadway, the Federal Reserve Bank building and 14 Wall Street.

The developers acquired the property last year from the Resnick and Reuben families for about $170 million.

Gruzen Samton LLP is the architectural firm for the conversion and its major projects in the city have include the black residential tower at 245 West 66th Street, the Evansview and Rio apartment towers on the Upper East Side and TriBeCa Point, Parc Place and Regatta at Battery Park City and the Montana on the Upper West Side.

The interiors at 20 Pine Street are being designed by Armani/Casa.

The 35-story building, which is also known as 2 Chase Manhattan Plaza, was erected in 1928 as the headquarters of the Morgan Guaranty Trust and was designed by Graham Anderson Probst & White, the successor firm to Daniel Burnham?s firm whose famous and very influential buildings include the Rookery, Monadnock, Reliance, Wrigley and Merchandise Mart buildings in Chicago and the Flatiron Building in Manhattan.

Mr. Boymelgreen is also the developer of ?Downtown by Starck,? the condominium conversion of the office building at 15 Broad Street across from the New York Stock Exchange. He was born in Israel and moved to New York as a student in 1969 and subsequently founded a Jewish bookstore called Eichler's, which is now among the largest Judaica stores in the world. After selling Eichler's, he operated a diamond business and later established his own real estate firm, Boymelgreen Developers, in 1993.

Apartments at 20 Pine Street are expected to range in price from about $600,000 to $4 million witn an average price per square feet over $1,000. The building will be known as ?20 Pine, the Collection.? It will have about 60 different apartment layouts.

The kitchens will have Sub-Zero refrigerators, Gaggenau ranges and sinks and Fisher & Paykel dishwashers.

The building will have an indoor pool, a golf simulator, a Turkish bath, a hitness center and a large outdoor terrace.