How Incentives Boost Office Conversions

While the public sector works on eliminating hurdles, these projects are becoming increasingly diverse.

A growing number of cities, states and now the federal government are looking more closely at converting unused or obsolete office space. Which should not come as a surprise: The national office vacancy rate reached 18.2 percent in November, up 190 basis points year-over-year, according to CommercialEdge. Some major cities face even higher vacancies.

Coupled with a national housing shortage and an affordability crisis, most of the incentives aim for office-to-residential conversions. But there are other potential uses being considered, including educational, both K-12 and university-level, and student housing; hotels; data centers; industrial; lab and life science space.