Your old office could become someone’s new apartment: Roughly 41% of converted apartments built in the last two years, or 13,250 units, have come out of ex-offices, according to a report from the apartment-search site RentCafe.
The trend picked up in the last decade and could grow even more as remote work takes off in the aftermath of the pandemic. Office vacancy rates remain high as employers plan to reduce their physical footprint and real estate developers have to transform vacant spaces. Meanwhile, adaptive reuse, or repurposing an existing building for something new, can minimize the environmental impacts of construction, cost less money, take less time and create more housing in some of the most expensive cities across the U.S.
Looking ahead, roughly one-quarter of apartment conversions planned in 2022 and beyond will take place in former office buildings, according to RentCafe.
Here are the top 10 cities where old offices are being turned into apartments in 2020 and 2021, plus how much it costs to rent there, according to RentCafe and based on data from its sister company Yardi Matrix, a commercial real estate data firm.
1. Washington, D.C.
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 1,091
Average rent in the city: $2,160 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: The Wray, previously occupied by the State Department since the beginning of World War II
The Wray in Washington, D.C.
Courtesy of The Wray
2. Chicago
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 1,020
Average rent in the city: $2,059 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: Millennium On LaSalle, a 13-story office building most recently known as Barrister Hall
3. Alexandria, Virginia
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 955
Average rent in the city: $1,902 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: The Foundry, a mixed-use building with a food hall, coworking space and 520 apartment units
4. Los Angeles
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 904
Average rent in the city: $2,518 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: The Mayer Building, an LA Art Deco landmark that will be converted into affordable housing
5. Cleveland
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 652
Average rent in the city: $1,172 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: Terminal Tower, a 52-story skyscraper that was the tallest building in the world outside of New York City when it was completed in the 1930s
Terminal Tower rises behind Public Park in downtown in Cleveland, Ohio on Tues. June 7, 2016.
Michael Macor| San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
6. Philadelphia
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 591
Average rent in the city: $1,736 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: Lyndon at the Curtis, previously home to offices for the Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal
Lyndon at the Curtis in Philadelphia.
Barry Halkin | Halkin Mason Photography
7. Honolulu
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 571
Average rent in the city: $1,943 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: The Residences at Bishop Place, a 493-unit high-rise building in the city’s Financial District
8. Nashville, Tennessee
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 458
Average rent in the city: $1,581 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: Lofts at the Reserve, formerly the Nashville branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
9. Union, New Jersey
Number of office-to-apartment conversions: 415
Average rent in the city: $1,557 per month
Notable office-turned-apartment building: The Titan Union, formerly the Union Center National Bank now home to apartments, coworking space and an event hall
10. Hyattsville, Maryland
