Office-to-Residential Conversions
Let’s face it: a lot of downtowns these days feel like ghost towns with better Wi-Fi. Ever since remote work strutted into our lives in sweatpants, those once-bustling office buildings have been left doing their best impression of an abandoned Blockbuster. Enter stage left: your friendly neighborhood city planner, armed with blueprints, tax incentives, and just a hint of desperation.
Yep, cities are now wooing developers harder than a contestant on The Bachelor. The pitch? “Take this sad, lonely office tower and turn it into a chic new apartment complex! Maybe even throw in a rooftop pool?”
Tax Breaks: Because Love (and Housing) Ain’t Free. Cities are whispering sweet nothings like, “What if we gave you a little break on property taxes?” Developers love this kind of pillow talk, especially when paired with waived fees and low-interest loans.
Zoning Laws: Loosened Like a Friday Night Tie. Remember when you couldn’t legally live in an office building? Cities are tossing zoning restrictions out the window like yesterday’s TPS reports. Mixed-use zoning? Upzoning? “Make it residential, we don’t care—just please, make it something.”
Fast-Tracked Approvals: Skip the Line, Build the Condo. No one wants to wait 18 months for a permit. Cities are rolling out red carpets and express lanes. Think of it as the TSA PreCheck of urban development. Just don’t forget your architectural renderings.
Brainy Backup: Free Feasibility Studies! To sweeten the deal, some cities are even paying for studies to prove that, yes, this 1980s Brutalist cube can become your next luxury micro-loft complex. Who knew data could be this seductive?
Public-Private Flirtations: Sometimes it’s not just about cash. Cities are offering up their own underused buildings for conversion, because nothing says commitment like handing over your old municipal annex for a studio apartment glow-up.
Success Stories:
New York City- NYC has transformed over 8,300 office units into residences in 2025 alone. The 25 Water Street project, now named SoMA, is the largest conversion in U.S. history, offering 1,320 upscale apartments, with 25% designated as affordable housing.
Los Angeles- Since 1999, LA has converted approximately 12,000 housing units from office spaces. A new ordinance aims to extend adaptive reuse citywide, potentially adding up to 113,000 residential units by repurposing underutilized commercial structures.
Washington, D.C.- D.C. has undertaken significant conversions, such as the transformation of the former U.S. Department of Agriculture Cotton Annex into 562 luxury units. The city offers tax incentives to encourage these projects, contributing to a growing number of adaptive reuse developments.
Chicago- Chicago is revitalizing its historic Loop area by converting nearly 5 million square feet of office space into residential units. The city provides financial assistance, including tax breaks, to developers who allocate a portion of units for affordable housing.
Philadelphia- Philadelphia has been a leader in office-to-residential conversions, with projects like Franklin Tower transforming outdated office buildings into vibrant residential communities. The city offers significant tax abatements to incentivize such developments.
St. Louis - The Marquette building, a former bank and YMCA, was converted into 119 residential units, revitalizing a historic structure and contributing to downtown renewal efforts.
Portland- Your move