With a surfeit of downtown empty office high-rises, a lightbulb has winked on the brains of developers who see a way of cashing in by converting office buildings to rental apartments or condos. And any restoration of activity in a empty building promises the prospect of tax revenues flowing to the community. Repurposing commercial high-rises might even be a way to tap new ‘affordable housing’ construction funding.
The winking bulb may not impress affordable housing activists quite so much. They are in all probability aware of historic trends, particularly in America, to place truly affordable public housing projects where the jobs aren’t. An empty downtown might qualify as an unfortunate location for those forced by poverty to live where little or no work is available to lift oneself by the bootstraps — a key tenet of conservative thinking that rewards personal initiative.
Leaving aside placement issues, however, equating a building constructed for one purpose — business — does not make it well suited for adaptation to another use.
You may have a subscription to the New York Times. Or you may read it so infrequently the you are entitled to a free read. The following article provides a brilliant, media-rich explanation why some of the older high-rises are suitable for conversion. As the Times expresses the problem, it is not an issue of building height, but one facing many modern commercial buildings — cavernous floor space that is too far from windows.
Read more, if you can manage to do so, in The New York Times: So You Want To Turn An Office Building Into A Home?
Otherwise, here’s an accessible discussion of the topic in the CBC: Turning empty offices into housing is a popular idea. Experts say it’s easier said than done
