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Vital City | Office Conversions, Easier Said Than Done

vitalcitynyc.org · 1,458 words · saved by 1 readers

As remote and hybrid work has become the norm for many in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. faces a drastic oversupply of office space alongside a housing affordability crisis in many cities. Converting underutilized office space into apartments is a compelling solution to address the challenge posed by stranded office real estate assets. It offers the potential to reduce the vacancy strain on office markets, provide additional housing units to relieve demand pressure in dense areas and revitalize cities more broadly through additional foot traffic which can help to reverse aspects of what we have dubbed the “urban doom loop.” Conversion, however, is easier said than done. It is complicated by physical, financial and regulatory challenges and will require careful policymaking in order to facilitate these shifts effectively. We explore the challenges in greater length in a paper, “Converting brown offices to green apartments,” jointly written with Candy Martinez and published

In the real world, how to convert commercial into residential space As remote and hybrid work has become the norm for many in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. faces a drastic oversupply of office space alongside a housing affordability crisis in many cities. Converting underutilized office space into apartments is a compelling solution to address the challenge posed by stranded office real estate assets. It offers the potential to reduce the vacancy strain on office markets, provide additional housing units to relieve demand pressure in dense areas and revitalize cities more broadly

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