Quarter of the renovation projects in the pipeline are located in former offices
From Dolores Quintana
The adaptive reuse of existing buildings will increase in 2021 and is expected to increase even further in 2022.
According to a study by Rent Cafe, the pandemic-induced boom in remote working has left many office buildings empty. Adaptive reuse is defined by Chesco Planning.org as “the process of converting buildings for viable new uses and modern functions that do not originally meet today’s needs. Re-use enables the continued use of a building and helps it remain a viable commons. ”Instead of demolishing old buildings with potential historical value or spending twice as much money and time completely demolishing one building just to have another on his Building place is adaptive reuse like recycling.
Adaptive reuse, like recycling, helps reduce the environmental impact of building. Emil E. Malizia, PhD, CRE, of the UNC’s Chapel Hill Department of Urban and Regional Planning, said, as quoted by Rent Cafe, “Perhaps the most compelling reason to choose adaptive housing reuse over new construction , is the lower environmental impact, especially when it comes to demolitions, “he adds.” Adaptive reuse mitigates climate change; Not demolition and new construction. “
The city of Los Angeles will lead the country with the most projected conversions in 2022. Rent Cafe’s study states, “Indeed, LA prides itself on having the most future residential conversions in total, with more than 4,300 homes to be refurbished from 2022 to be featured in a popular Netflix documentary . The building should be a mixture of hotel and apartment building with a total of 290 units. “
While hotels were the most heavily converted buildings in 2020, adaptive use of office buildings has risen to the top for similar reasons. Due to stay-at-home orders and the repeated outbreaks of the COVID virus, particularly the highly contagious Delta variant, many companies and employers have switched entirely to a home-based model. As a result, many office buildings are empty and unused.
Rent Cafe reports: “A quarter of the upcoming renovation projects are located in former offices and will lead to more than 12,300 apartments. One such example is the Mayer Building, the stunning Los Angeles landmark that is expected to create 79 affordable homes. “
Comments are closed.