3 ms·

This is what Chicago is doing. They're converting a ton of office space into housing. https://www.marketplace.org/2022/10/04/chicago-iconic-office-buildings-ap

by tedivm 3y ago

This is what Chicago is doing. They're converting a ton of office space into housing. https://www.marketplace.org/2022/10/04/chicago-iconic-office-buildings-apartment-conversions/ https://www.marketplace.org/2022/10/04/chicago-iconic-office... San Francisco hates housing though, so it doesn't seem like anyone is actually considering this there.

marcinzm 3y ago
>They're converting a ton of office space into housing. From that article if I read correctly, they're trying to see if it's possible to convert a lot of existing office space into housing. Not yet at the actually doing it phase.
- tedivm 3y ago
  They're planning on approving the first projects this quarter. https://www.costar.com/article/666325850/over-12-billion-in-office-to-residential-conversions-proposed-for-chicagos-lasalle-street-corridor https://www.costar.com/article/666325850/over-12-billion-in-...
  - vuln 3y ago
    Let’s just wait to see what actually gets approved and if the actual projects are completed on time and on budget.
    - Kon-Peki 3y ago
      Not only is my employer's office lease not being renewed, but we're going to get paid to vacate early. This is happening.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    "planning on approving" =/= approved. and we'll see what gets a greenlight; could be one or two pet projects, and after those crash and burn nothing else happens.
BurningFrog 3y ago
San Francisco took 20 years to build a bus line. It's very much a "let's never change anything" place.
- xrd 3y ago
  Yes, and in this case there are property owners who stand to lose hundreds of millions. They need to get permits to convert, but they can apply political pressure. I think things are different in that there are some powerful forces aligned to make this work, rather than just government ineptitude. Andy Jassy, as example, who owns part of the Mariners and a new NHL team. He's going to be motivated to protect that wealth by protecting downtown Seattle.
- m0llusk 3y ago
  That is a highly inaccurate description of what happened. When the bus rapid transit lane was approve inspection showed that the infrastructure underneath was in dire need of maintenance, so the project attended that first in order to avoid simply digging up the newly built lane in the short term as old infrastructure failed. San Francisco has many problems and has made many mistakes recently, but this is an example of taking the time and money to get things right.
rhaway84773 3y ago
NYC has some useful history here. The entire downtown area was expected to become a ghost town after 9/11 because companies fled from there and it was entirely an office district. Office to residential conversions and new residential towers have completely transformed the area, arguably making it much better than what it was before. And the largest office to residential conversion in America was just green lighted there. https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/longtime-nyc-home-of-the-daily-news-to-convert-to-residential/ https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/longtime-nyc-home-of-the-daily...
m0llusk 3y ago
That is terribly political and ignorant. San Francisco has a great deal of commercial space that has been converted to either pure residential or live/work. One potentially interesting recent example is the tower on Van Ness which was empty and abandoned for many years. That enabled it to be sold at an extremely low price which still did not make the renovations pencil out for anything except high end luxury apartments. Commercial to residential conversions tend to be expensive and complex and political convenience is not much help for that.

by tedivm 3y ago

marcinzm 3y ago

>They're converting a ton of office space into housing. From that article if I read correctly, they're trying to see if it's possible to convert a lot of existing office space into housing. Not yet at the actually doing it phase.

tedivm 3y ago
They're planning on approving the first projects this quarter. https://www.costar.com/article/666325850/over-12-billion-in-office-to-residential-conversions-proposed-for-chicagos-lasalle-street-corridor https://www.costar.com/article/666325850/over-12-billion-in-...
- vuln 3y ago
  Let’s just wait to see what actually gets approved and if the actual projects are completed on time and on budget.
  - Kon-Peki 3y ago
    Not only is my employer's office lease not being renewed, but we're going to get paid to vacate early. This is happening.
- red-iron-pine 3y ago
  "planning on approving" =/= approved. and we'll see what gets a greenlight; could be one or two pet projects, and after those crash and burn nothing else happens.

BurningFrog 3y ago

San Francisco took 20 years to build a bus line. It's very much a "let's never change anything" place.

xrd 3y ago
Yes, and in this case there are property owners who stand to lose hundreds of millions. They need to get permits to convert, but they can apply political pressure. I think things are different in that there are some powerful forces aligned to make this work, rather than just government ineptitude. Andy Jassy, as example, who owns part of the Mariners and a new NHL team. He's going to be motivated to protect that wealth by protecting downtown Seattle.
m0llusk 3y ago
That is a highly inaccurate description of what happened. When the bus rapid transit lane was approve inspection showed that the infrastructure underneath was in dire need of maintenance, so the project attended that first in order to avoid simply digging up the newly built lane in the short term as old infrastructure failed. San Francisco has many problems and has made many mistakes recently, but this is an example of taking the time and money to get things right.

rhaway84773 3y ago

NYC has some useful history here. The entire downtown area was expected to become a ghost town after 9/11 because companies fled from there and it was entirely an office district. Office to residential conversions and new residential towers have completely transformed the area, arguably making it much better than what it was before. And the largest office to residential conversion in America was just green lighted there. https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/longtime-nyc-home-of-the-daily-news-to-convert-to-residential/ https://nypost.com/2023/04/24/longtime-nyc-home-of-the-daily...

m0llusk 3y ago

That is terribly political and ignorant. San Francisco has a great deal of commercial space that has been converted to either pure residential or live/work. One potentially interesting recent example is the tower on Van Ness which was empty and abandoned for many years. That enabled it to be sold at an extremely low price which still did not make the renovations pencil out for anything except high end luxury apartments. Commercial to residential conversions tend to be expensive and complex and political convenience is not much help for that.