Converting Empty Office Spaces to Multi-Family Residential: What It Would Take

Sunday - July 23 2023, 06:45 UTC - 1 year ago

The conversion of empty office buildings to residential multi-family dwellings would require structural and nonstructural changes, plus a reassessment of electricity, fire alarm, and HVAC needs. The number of apartments in an office building will depend on the floor plan and restrictions will vary in each city.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more companies have offered remote work options for their employees, or have even switched to working entirely remotely – leaving empty office buildings a new fixture in many cities. In July 2023, Boston’s Planning and Development Agency announced a pilot program to offer incentives to building developers who convert office buildings to residential housing.

As engineers who study buildings, we wanted to know if these empty spaces could be converted to residential buildings, and what hurdles developers would face.

While converting office buildings to multi-family residential involves many considerations – including zoning codes, real estate values and structural issues – certain buildings may be good candidates for this type of conversion. Here’s what it would take to remodel these spaces.

Redefining space .

First off, the building owners wouldn’t need to make any major structural changes to convert an office building to a residential building. Most office buildings are designed so that the tenants can easily build out the space to suit their needs. This means they can put up walls, take power where they need, and select finishes like flooring, paint and lighting.

With a conversion to multi-family residential, the shell and structural elements of the building would remain, while the building owners could add or move walls to create individual apartments. The costs for this interior remodeling would depend on the how fancy things like the countertops and light fixtures are.

But remodelers would also need to consider nonstructural building features, like windows. Windows determine the distribution of natural light in each residential unit. Narrower office buildings with more area along the perimeter – and therefore more opportunity for viewing windows – would transition more easily to residential than deep, rectangular-shaped office buildings. No one wants to live in a home with no daylight.

Electricity, fire alarm and telecommunications .

Residential and commercial buildings have different electricity needs. Residential buildings have kitchen appliances that require lots of power, but office buildings use more computers, projectors and copy machines – meaning the electrical load would likely be about the same. Office and residential buildings also have similar power needs for lighting.

The electrical load from heating and air conditioning would depend on the type of systems used. While the main electrical service of an office building might be an OK size for a residential building, remodelers would need to add a subpanel to each residential unit. U.S. code requires that all residents have "ready access" to the circuit breakers or fuses supplying their unit.

Building owners would also need to add more fire alarm devices, since residential buildings have more rooms. They might need to revise the internet, telephone and cable systems, as well, to make sure each residential tenant has access to these services.

Though expensive, these electrical revisions are possible. The biggest hurdles would be adding the subpanels and metering to figure out how much each unit uses.

Heating, venitilation and air conditioning .

For multi-family conversions, homewoners will have to add individual heating and air conditioning systems to each unit. This would require building owners to install ducts to each unit, and may require installation of air conditioning chillers, boilers and roof-top units.