Thanks in part to recent zoning changes, a record number of office space is being converted to housing in the city’s former business districts.
In 2024, 3.3 million square feet of Manhattan office space began conversion to residential units, up from 1.6 million in 2023. As Rowan Crosby explains in an article on EliteAgent.com, the dramatic rise in adaptive reuse stems from the continued drop in demand for office space and new city incentives that promote conversion.
Thanks to new zoning regulations, it is now much easier to rezone a property for residential use. The newly adopted Midtown South Mixed-Use Plan (MSMX), for example, which rezones 42 square blocks, could bring 9,500 new housing units to the area.
According to Crosby, “Several prominent buildings on Third Avenue in the East 40s and 50s are undergoing conversion, as well as 135 E. 57th Street at Lexington Avenue, which was once a symbol of the late-1980s office development boom.” One Times Square building will house 1,250 apartments, bringing thousands of new residents to that neighborhood. The former Pfizer headquarters, which will be converted into 1,602 homes, is the largest project of its kind in the country.
Read the full story: Manhattan office conversions rise as housing demand grows
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