Beyond 9-to-5: How Office Conversions Are Reviving Downtowns
Here are four office-to-residential projects that illustrate how sharp design, friendly policies and creative financing work together.
As cities across the country continue to confront with high office vacancies and persistent housing shortages, converting office buildings into residential units is increasingly seen as a practical—even if complex—response to shifting needs, particularly in dense urban centers. Office-to-residential conversions are now a notable area of experimentation for developers, architects and city governments.
But how are different cities approaching these adaptive-reuse projects? Multi-Housing News looked closely at four recent conversions—LaSalle Residences in Chicago, 7 West 7th in Cincinnati, Altitude on Main in Richmond and SoMA in Manhattan. Although they vary in scale, financing models, design strategies and local policy support, these examples illustrate both the opportunities and constraints that come with reconfiguring office buildings for residential use, especially in aging or historically significant structures.
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Rather than presenting a uniform solution, these office conversions point to a range of outcomes influenced by regulatory environments, market demand, available incentives and the physical characteristics of the buildings themselves.
The LaSalle Residences
Developed by The Prime Group, The LaSalle Residences repurposes roughly 222,500 square feet of office space on floors 13 to 16 of an underutilized 22-story office building in Chicago into 226 apartments comprising 94 studios, 93 one- and 39 two-bedroom apartments. Roughly a third of these units will be designated as affordable housing as part of the city’s LaSalle Street Reimagined initiative that requires 30 percent of units to be affordable. This program aims to revitalize the downtown area by transforming LaSalle Street into a dynamic mixed-use corridor that mixes business and culture with residential living.
Designed by architecture company Lamar Johnson Collaborative, the project is set to include a new lobby, fitness facilities, club-inspired resident lounge spaces suitable for coworking and social events, and penthouse-level terraces featuring an outdoor pool and gathering areas.
“The opportunity is substantial,” Lamar Johnson Collaborative Principal & Residential Market Leader Alan Barker told MHN. “Residential conversion of historic buildings along the LaSalle Street corridor offers a rare chance to breathe new life into the area, transforming it from a daytime office hub into a vibrant, mixed-use destination full of energy and activity well beyond traditional working hours.”
Initially designed by local architectural firm D.H. Burnham & Co. and completed in 1914, the 1.2 million-square-foot building at 208 S. LaSalle St. is a Chicago landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Originally, the high-rise housed the Continental and Commercial National Bank. Three years ago, The Prime Group opened floors 18-22 as The LaSalle Hotel. The lower 12 floors of the building were converted into a JW Marriott Hotel.
Work on the office-to-residential conversion began this year and is expected to be completed in 2026.
7 West 7th
Last month, the former Macy’s headquarters in downtown Cincinnati officially reopend as 7 West 7th Apartments, a 341-unit luxury tower, after one of the largest conversion projects in the city to date. This $73 million redevelopment by Victrix LLC is the result of a nearly decade-long effort to repurpose the 21-story building.
“In addition to a Tax Increment Financing abatement, our local Port Authority helped get the project across the finish line through a $60 million bond issuance,” said Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval.
The pet-friendly community includes amenities such as a fitness center designed by Homage, indoor and outdoor rooftop lounges, an expansive outdoor terrace and coworking suites available for lease.
Cincinnati was recently listed second in the nation for office-to-residential conversions, Pureval told MHN. The metro is expected to gain 1,753 new apartments from such projects this year, according to a RentCafe report. Additionally, with almost a fifth of the area’s total office inventory deemed suitable for future transformations, there’s substantial potential for more redevelopment in the years to come, the same source shows.
Fitting modern systems such as electrical, HVAC, plumbing and technology infrastructure into historic buildings calls for creative problem-solving and often necessitates tailored solutions.
“We must carefully identify which historic elements are most defining and worth preserving, while finding unobtrusive ways to incorporate contemporary necessities,” said Victrix LLC CEO Anoop Dave.
The developer is also involved in the transformation of the historic 49-story Carew Tower—one of downtown Cincinnati’s oldest and tallest skyscrapers—into 385 apartments and 65,000 square feet of commercial space. Construction is anticipated to begin later this year and wrap by the end of 2029.
Altitude on Main
Developed by RPC Capital and Kalyan Hospitality, Altitude on Main is a conversion project in downtown Richmond, Va., that involves converting the former Wytestone Plaza office tower into a 17-story, 302-unit luxury apartment building, complemented by approximately 8,500 square feet ground-floor retail space. This commercial component is already being marketed by Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer.
Construction at Altitude on Main is currently underway, with the development team aiming to open the building to residents in the second half of 2026. Planned amenities include a rooftop deck, indoor pickleball court, golf simulator room, fitness center and a clubroom.
Recently, Octagon Finance provided a unitranche loan to support the conversion project. “The $68 million loan represents a meaningful injection of capital into Richmond’s downtown and signals strong momentum for adaptive-reuse projects in the city,” noted Octagon Finance Founder JP Williamson.
Additionally, the development duo is utilizing both federal and state historic tax credits to support the transformation of the 1964-built, 280,000-square-foot structure into a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units.
“We are seeing similar momentum in markets from New York and Chicago to secondary and tertiary cities, where historic tax credits are the critical catalyst enabling the conversion of underutilized buildings, especially offices, into much-needed housing and, in some cases, into hospitality assets,” Williamson added.
SoMA
SoMA—short for South Manhattan—is a landmark residential development located at 25 Water St. in Manhattan’s Financial District. This project is one of the largest office-to-residential conversions in the U.S. history, which transformed a former ’60s office tower into a luxury apartment community with 1,320 units.
Once home to JPMorgan Chase and the New York Daily News, the building underwent a two-year, $787 million renovation led by developers Metro Loft, Rockwood Capital and GFP Real Estate. Designed by CetraRuddy, SoMA provides studio to three-bedroom apartments, with amenities including indoor and rooftop pools, pickleball and basketball courts, two-lane bowling alleys, fitness center, infrared sauna and salt room, art and recording studios, club lounges and coworking spaces.
“From the earliest stages, the design concept centered on creating a community within the building and offering residents a market-defining set of experiences that can’t be found anywhere else,” said CetraRuddy Co-Founding Principal John Cetra.
The original 22-story structure received a 10-story steel-framed overbuild, including nine floors of residences and a full floor of amenities. The renovation also involved replacing the building’s brick facade with large windows to enhance natural light. Approximately 25 percent of the units are designated as affordable housing, making SoMA the first project in New York City to utilize the state’s 467-m tax exemption, which supports the conversion of non-residential buildings into residential use by providing tax exemptions.
Office-to-residential conversions are also encouraged in New York City by the recently adopted City of Yes plan, which updates a 63-year-old zoning provision that is expected to help add 82,000 housing units over the next 15 years.
“Because of the dense, built-up nature of Lower Manhattan, it’s inevitable that conversions will continue to play a role in the neighborhood’s mixed-use renaissance,” Cetra believes.
