Matt Haney’s Post

There is the equivalent of 370 Empire State Buildings (over 8 billion sqft) of empty office space still available in the US. You'd think that transforming them into residential units would be one quick solution for companies stuck with huge real estate holdings they can't unload and with employees who refuse to come to the office. That would also solve the shortage of affordable housing most cities struggle with. However, the transformation cost from office to residential is costly, so they become luxury apartment rentals ranging from $3,500/month for studio apartments to $7,500/month for larger ones. One reason for the cost is the challenge of dividing the large (and much taller) office floors into apartments with access to light, heating, and ventilation provided by a system designed to supply air to a huge open floor. There is another obstacle that the The Wall Street Journal uncovered, which comes from the cities themselves: they want to preserve the office district rather than transform it into a residential one, and unless cities relax the zoning rules, it will be hard to even explore the conversion, let alone invest in it. The solution is enforcing #RTO mandates to justify the current real estate portfolio investment without the additional conversion cost. https://lnkd.in/gmwEAHJy

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q020NlxT0

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q01_qYD40

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q02r1YtD0

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q021XMjY0

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q02dhRk40

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q027txvZ0

Vacant office space is taking up hundreds of millions of square feet across the country. Cities are losing foot traffic, economic activity, and tax revenue from the dismal office market nationwide. At the same time, there is a serious lack of residential buildings and affordable housing in these areas. And with no end in sight to the high office vacancy rate, adaptive reuse is being suggested to bring new life to the country's central business districts. Office-to-residential conversions are on the rise, but to convert office buildings for residential uses, a lot of financial support and complex construction is required. #CRE #Office #Conversions #Residential #CorporateRealEstate #TenantTips #TenantRep #OfficeConversions https://hubs.li/Q01_r6gN0

Tax Abatements = Office Conversions. There are plenty of viable conversion candidate buildings. Cities need to stop trying to get blood from a rock and realize that office-to-residential conversions win in three ways: 1. Reduce obsolete low value office stock 2. Create affordable housing 3. Increase residential housing options within walking distance to CBDs It takes pragmatic policy + elbow grease. Take a page from the NYC Bloomberg Administration post 9/11. High functioning, high achieving, altruistic government. No political hacks. Turning Empty Offices Into Apartments Is Getting Even Harder https://lnkd.in/eVZ59qge

A very cool piece in the WSJ about the challenges and costs of converting office space into Housing. We will see more and more of these conversions in the years to come. https://lnkd.in/egRHatRN