As the occupancy rate in most cities craters due to organizations reducing their footprint, reducing staff, and changing policies on how often employees must come to work, a growing trend in the buildings industry is converting commercial office space to multi-family residential space. An entire cottage industry has grown up recently around this type of conversion, and many experts see it as the biggest trend in the commercial real estate industry.
The U.S. Green Building Council has published an anthology collecting all its resources and guidance on commercial to residential conversion. USGBC notes the trend isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon, and “repurposing existing buildings presents an opportunity to create healthy, high-performing multifamily housing and can have a positive environmental outcome by avoiding the resources consumed in new construction.”
That’s to say, repurposing unused or underused buildings is inherently a sustainability strategy. The most sustainable building is the one that doesn’t need to be built, and so reusing other buildings is a good way to save resources.
While this conversion trend is one to watch for sure, it’s not all good news. Some of the information included in USGBC’s new anthology includes findings that show:
Conversions are trending in the news, not necessarily in practice.
Conversions can be difficult and expensive to achieve.
Typical conversions produce luxury apartments, not affordable housing.
The feasibility of conversions depends on the local market.
Greg Zimmerman is senior contributing editor for FacilitiesNet.com and Building Operating Management magazine.
