A relative lack of conversions from office to residential—the adaptive reuse model driving the housing market in many urban areas—makes the Washington, D.C. region a perfect place to study the factors that make or break an adaptive reuse proposal.
Cities around the country have spent recent years converting old office buildings into residential uses. The wave of adaptive reuse projects in some local cases could be credited with creating entirely new residential neighborhoods.
"Yet despite considerable media coverage, office conversion has been comparatively limited in greater Washington," according to Payton Chung.
Chung cites research from a 2016 report by Jones Lang LaSalle that counted only 26 conversion projects in Washington, D.C.; Montgomery County, Fairfax County, and Arlington County combined. The whole D.C. region has completed "scarcely more" office conversions than the city of Baltimore alone.
According to Chung, the reasons for D.C.'s resistance to office conversions fit into two broad categories: a relatively healthier office market and a lack of specific incentives adaptive reuse. That could be about to change, however, as "Fairfax County and Montgomery County have recently commissioned studies to investigate office building adaptive reuse." In studying the issue, a couple of useful themes have emerged that can help determine the feasibility of adaptive reuse in other contexts, namely, location, price, and layout.
Chung's article goes into a lot more detail on each of those three considerations.
FULL STORY: Not every obsolete office building is cut out to become apartments
Office Conversions Have Increased Every Year This Decade
Since the pandemic, office vacancy rates remain high, leading many cities to adjust zoning codes to accommodate adaptive reuse.
ADU Results Fall Short of Intentions in D.C. Region
Accessory dwelling unit regulations vary but results are consistently underwhelming in the D.C. region.
Co-living ‘Microapartments’ Cost Half as Much to Build as Typical Studios
In 10 major U.S. metros, an analysis found that converting office buildings to small co-living units could dramatically cut the costs of construction.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
The state-sanctioned urbicide of Austin
People don’t kill cities. Freeways do.
US to reduce Colorado River water deliveries to Mexico
A new Colorado Treaty amendment reduces Mexico’s Colorado River water allocation by 250,000 acre feet.
Mamdani overhauls NYC's Vision Zero plan with 100 new policy goals
The overhaul aims to reduce traffic deaths and make streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers through lower speed limits, new safety infrastructure and more.
Amtrak not solely to blame for New Jersey commuter rail's unreliability, report finds
A new study from the Garden State Initiative found that NJ Transit’s budget grew 20% across a 4 year period, but reliability declined significantly over the same period.
EPA erases limits on planet-warming pollution from power plants
Under Monday’s plan, power plants would still have some limits on how much mercury, arsenic and other contaminants they can emit.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association