Malek Hajar, senior project manager at the Vanbarton Group, shows a bathroom inside a model apartment while touring a New York City high-rise underg

Too many cubicles, too few homes spur incentives to convert offices to housing

submited by

Style Pass

2024-04-18 12:00:08

Malek Hajar, senior project manager at the Vanbarton Group, shows a bathroom inside a model apartment while touring a New York City high-rise undergoing conversion from commercial to residential apartments in April 2023. States are stepping in with tax breaks and zoning changes to help cities and suburbs replace vacant office space with much-needed housing. (Bebeto Matthews/The Associated Press)

HERNDON, Va. — Juan Ramirez, watching his dog play in Chandon Park here in suburban Virginia on a Saturday morning, tries to imagine the massive office buildings next to the park becoming apartments and townhouses.

“I guess it’s inevitable. People don’t use offices as much now. I hope it’s affordable. Maybe it’ll bring more young people to town, more taxes for parks,” said Ramirez, 38, who grew up in the area and returned recently to take a restaurant management job after living in Minnesota and Ohio.

Cities and suburbs around the country are struggling with vacant office space as remote work becomes an established post-pandemic reality. States are stepping in with tax breaks and zoning changes to help replace the unwanted cubicle farms with much-needed housing. In suburbs such as Herndon, the answer might be tearing down an office complex and replacing it with a residential building. In more urban environments it might mean renovating and retrofitting office buildings to create apartments.