Adaptive Reuse
Manhattan Office-to-Apartment Conversions Doubled in 2024
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.
A Multimillion Dollar Virginia Company is Turning Empty Office Buildings Into Farms
Area 2 Farms envisions a world where 90% of the U.S. population lives within 10 miles of an indoor farm.
Washington Nonprofits Build Housing on Their own Offices
While affordable housing with some office space for nonprofits is relatively common, in Redmond, Washington, a group of human services organizations went the other way: they rebuilt their collective office space and added housing.
LA Mall Garage Converted to 200 Housing Units
As indoor malls continue to struggle, more of them are being converted to housing and other uses.
Congress Kills Office Conversion Tax Credit
A federal tax incentive for energy efficiency upgrades is going away next year.
Dorm-Style Housing: A Solution for DC’s Vacant Office Buildings
Adapting office buildings to dorm-style housing with shared spaces is a much more affordable option than repurposing offices into apartments.
Adaptive Reuse Will Create Housing in a Suburban Texas Strip Mall
A developer is reimagining a strip mall property as a mixed-use complex with housing and retail.
Defunct Pittsburgh Power Plant to Become Residential Tower
A decommissioned steam heat plant will be redeveloped into almost 100 affordable housing units.
Albuquerque Route 66 Motels Become Affordable Housing
A $4 million city fund is incentivizing developers to breathe new life into derelict midcentury motels.
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.
Texas Legislature’s Surprising Pro-Housing Swing
Smaller homes on smaller lots, office to apartment conversions, and 40% less say for NIMBYs, vote state lawmakers.
Texas Bill Supports Adaptive Reuse in Commercial Areas
Senate Bill 840, which was preliminarily approved by the state House, would allow residential construction in areas previously zoned for offices and commercial uses.
Downtown Pittsburgh Set to Gain 1,300 New Housing Units
Pittsburgh’s office buildings, many of which date back to the early 20th century, are prime candidates for conversion to housing.
Minnesota Seeks State Support for Office Conversions
The 30% “CUB credit” would support the conversion of buildings 15 years or older into any use that “will return that vacant area to an income-producing, habitable condition.”
Honolulu's Iwilei Center Plans for Redevelopment Into Mixed-Use Space
Striving to expand affordable housing options for Oahu residents, Honolulu's Department of Land Management requests to redevelop the Iwilei Center into a mixed-use space.
Over 71K Office-to-Apartment Units in the Pipeline for 2025
Adaptive reuse projects are continuing to bring thousands of new housing units onto the market as demand for office space remains low.
DC Announces ‘Office to Anything’ Adaptive Reuse Program
The program complements an existing residential conversion initiative and could yield up to 2.5 million square feet of new commercial space.
Midtown Manhattan Rezoning Proposal Could Yield Almost 10,000 Housing Units
A plan to alter zoning for parts of Midtown would permit new housing and make it easier to convert office buildings to residential units.
Shuttered Baltimore Hotel Will Become Affordable Housing
The project will create 303 new workforce housing units in a former downtown hotel.
Repurposing Vacant Schools
Some communities are turning abandoned campuses into offices, art studios, and housing.
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.
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
KFH Group Inc.
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
