Cities and states across the U.S. are looking to transform vacant office buildings into housing — a solution for both empty downtowns and housing shortages.
Cities and states across the country are looking to transform vacant office buildings into housing — a solution for both empty downtowns and housing shortages.Commercial districts with little to no residential presence turned into near ghost towns during the pandemic, becoming a blight on the cityscape and a detriment to local businesses like shops and restaurants.And much of the U.S. still faces a persistent housing shortage.
Adaptive reuse of old office buildings has happened on the margins for decades, but the pandemic has accelerated interest in it, says Wendi Shafran, a principal at FXCollaborative Architects, and also a member of the N.Y.C. task force .Despite the fact that offices are still only half-full in many cities, these types of conversions have yet to really pick up steam. They’re expensive, and loads of red tape and zoning laws usually get in the way.
But a few big cities are creating new incentives they hope will unleash a wave of housing conversions in the decade ahead.It's not just New York. Chicago just this week proposed an initiative to repurpose high-vacancy buildings in its downtown financial district into homes, offering tax credits and incentives along with financing tools.
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