Readers Say

Nearly 200 readers voted: Here’s how they feel about converting office space into housing

"This is the best of both worlds."

A FedEx van is parked on a street, Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in downtown Boston. The city is hoping a new program will encourage the conversion of underused downtown office buildings into residential use by offering building owners tax incentives. The push mirrors office-to-housing conversion efforts in other cities trying to breathe life back into downtown business districts that emptied out during the coronavirus pandemic and may never fully recover. (AP Photo/Steve LeBlanc)

By Annie Jonas

July 24, 2023

Boston is launching a new pilot program to convert downtown office space into housing, in a move to bring life back to a largely vacant downtown and address the city’s housing shortage.

The “Downtown Office to Residential Conversion Pilot Program” offers tax incentives to developers to convert underused downtown office buildings into apartments and condos.

More on housing:

Under the program, owners of commercial office buildings downtown would be offered reduced property tax rates of up to 75% of the standard tax rate for residential properties for up to 29 years if they convert their buildings to residential uses.

Developers will only have a limited time to get in on the program, however; applications will be accepted through June 2024, with projects required to start construction by October 2025.

The program comes as downtown Boston remains somewhat of a ghost town in the wake of the pandemic, with office vacancy rates reaching a record-high of 19.7% in the Boston metro area – exceeding its peak during the Great Financial Crisis, according to real estate brokerage Colliers.

And Greater Boston as a whole is struggling with a housing shortage that has made rents sky-high.

The program’s goal, therefore, is twofold: address both downtown office vacancies and a housing shortage at the same time.

“One building could potentially create hundreds of new housing units that could include a lot of affordable units,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told GBH News. “If we got two or three buildings downtown with a couple hundred units each that would be a significant step.”

The program also aims to generate foot traffic downtown throughout the week to help bolster businesses that have struggled as fewer workers return to their offices full time, opting instead to work from home or on a hybrid schedule.

But converting office buildings to residences is easier said than done.

Residential buildings and office buildings share little to no DNA, Michael Procopio, CEO of The Procopio Companies, a real estate development and construction firm, recently told Boston.com.

Procopia said retrofitting an office building for residential use might not produce a great return on investment.

“The cost to convert is often more than the cost to tear down and rebuild,” he said.

We asked readers if they thought the city’s plan to convert office space into housing was a good idea. Sixty-three percent of the nearly 200 readers who responded said they would move into an office space that was converted to an apartment or condo.

Would you move into a converted office building downtown?

Yes

64%

127

32%

Other

A majority of respondents also expressed support for the program and its impact on Boston’s housing problems.

Below you’ll find responses from readers sharing their thoughts on the city’s plan to convert office space into housing.

Some responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Do you think converting downtown office space into residential housing will help Boston’s housing problems?

Yes

“It’s brilliant! Commercial real estate is crumbling post-Covid, we’re in an active housing crisis and this is exactly the ingenuity we need in leadership.” – A.J. P., Billerica

“More housing is never a bad thing and may help to bring down rents by increasing the supply.” – Jack, Lynn

“It makes sense for all parties involved. Boston has among the lowest ‘return to office’ rates in the US, with 50-plus percent working from home permanently. And it’s better to convert some of these buildings to housing rather than wait for companies to go bankrupt and sort it out after. Pro-active is always greater than reactive.” – Susan, Newton

“I believe this is a unique opportunity to further expand housing and reduce the strain on neighborhoods. Mixed-use housing/office offers both building owners and residents the ability to fill unused space and help businesses in the area thrive. It’s a win-win.” – Joe D., South Boston

“Yes, this is the best of both worlds. It is unlikely that the office will ever reach its pre-Covid occupancy. Let’s do the work now and everyone wins. More housing, less vacancy. Converting some buildings in the financial district (which is currently a ghost town) will also help feed local businesses in the area who used to rely on city workers. This could create more ‘mixed-use’ hubs like the Seaport, North End, etc.” – Sam, Littleton

“Boston is in desperate need of housing. Plus, the lengthy permitting process for new construction could be dramatically shortened since the buildings already exist. Boston will need to reduce some of the red tape to expedite the conversion process.” – Bill, Mission Hill

No

“No, a handful of office buildings may make sense to contribute to this, but the solution is this and approval of new, dense development of housing near transit streamlined through the approval process, education from the city on the positive impact of additional housing units across all neighborhoods, up-zoning in some areas, and providing funding for affordable housing for all who need it.” – Jordan, East Boston

“Easier said than done. Adding bathrooms and kitchens to office space is not easy, nor is getting light into interior units. And knowing this market, someone will come in and charge the moon for construction/redevelopment, then charge the moon for the privilege of living there, that is assuming corporations/private equity don’t come in and buy up dozens of units. They will over pay, drive up prices for everyone else, then leave them vacant since they are treating housing as a stock/investment to flip when the market moves.” – Amanda, Stoneham

“Not really. Downtown office towers are most likely to be converted into downtown luxury condos. For developers and building owners, it wouldn’t make financial sense to convert offices into affordable housing.” – David, Medford

“I believe the rent in downtown Boston will be astronomical, and the people that are in need of housing will not be able to pay it. Also, the conversion of old buildings that are not up to code (sprinkler system, A/C, lead paint, etc.) will be too expensive. The renters will have to pay more to cover that cost.” – J.M., Reading

“This is far easier said than done. A lot of the buildings are old, energy hogs, poorly configured. The costs would be so high that only expensive studio and one-bed condos could be built. Honestly, they’d be better off buying up buildings at discount bargain prices and leveling entire blocks to create purposeful development that includes grocery, medical, schooling, bike-storage, family-sized apartments, etc. There is no quick, cheap or easy solution here.” – Al, Boston

“It might sound good on paper, but economically it makes zero sense. Those buildings will not be turned into affordable housing units, they will be turned into luxury units. No building owner is going to spend millions to renovate and then turn around and rent/sell those units under market price.” – Kirsten L., Waltham

Boston.com occasionally interacts with readers by conducting informal polls and surveys. These results should be read as an unscientific gauge of readers’ opinion.