''we don't want a residential building, this is an office district, we want to preserve jobs...'' What jobs are you preserving in an empty building?

@paxundpeace9970

11 ай бұрын

Great line

@imeakdo7

11 ай бұрын

They mean in office jobs

@poppinc8145

11 ай бұрын

Putting the cart before the horse much? Some areas might want zoning so that landlords don't opt for housing over offices even before the latter closes shop on its own. It's the same reason you wouldn't a random building full of offices in a residential suburban area.

@FGH9G

11 ай бұрын

Thank you for pointing that out. It is totally ridiculous thinking, because mixed use neighborhoods, meaning areas of a city that have office space, commercial real estate, and residential space within close proximity of one another, and even occupying the same parcels of land, actually can make a place MORE lively, and can actually increase job growth and retention.

@vkdrk

11 ай бұрын

@@imeakdo7 but those office buildings are empty...so again, what office jobs are they preserving in empty office buildings?

The lack of light and air in "modern" offices is also part of why a lot of people don't enjoy working inside them.

Local governments should also be realistic and be open to change zoning codes in their cities. Cities need a mix use area wherein people can live, work and have quality life within 20 mins of walking. Wouldn't it be nicer if workers can just walk or have shorter commute to and from work?

@MAG320

11 ай бұрын

The taxes have already been paid, so theres no incentive other than some election. Thank your local NIMBYs for that part.

@ViceCoin

11 ай бұрын

I lived 20 minutes walking distance to work in Minneapolis. No car needed.

@mohammedsarker5756

10 ай бұрын

single family zoning shouldn't exist in a city PERIOD. San Francisco and LA zone over 70% of their city for single family homes only and then wonder why housing is so expensive and a person making $125k still needs government assistance. Talk about self own

@Basta11

10 ай бұрын

Ideally, we zone more like Japan or do away with residential and commercial zoning altogether and make them mix use. That would be quite disruptive since we've been building out in a not so smart way for a long time. Getting rid of parking requirements one mile from transit stations and job centers like shopping malls, colleges, hospitals, military bases, business districts, and downtowns. That will do a lot as many of these places are adjacent to single family homes, low density commercial, and massive parking lots. For reference on what that would do, look at all the senior living apartments in any city. Their parking requirements are usually lower by half than normal. These places tend to have the largest buildings and cheapest rents. They are often located in prime areas as well close to walkable main streets.

@citibear57

10 ай бұрын

My city's downtown is a ghost town after 5:00 pm as there are very few residences there. Everyone hurries home to suburbia.

600 units that wouldn’t have existed otherwise. That’s great, hopefully we do more conversions in the future and decrease their cost. An empty office building helps no one. And housing can revitalize an area.

@JaganDoodala

11 ай бұрын

Great comment, said better than I ever could! Cheers 😊🥳

@paxundpeace9970

11 ай бұрын

This proves it can work out to convert those office towers. I would like to see more mixed use. Having some offices floors and some housing floors could be great with retail or commercial spaces in Base or Ground levels.

@JaganDoodala

11 ай бұрын

@@paxundpeace9970 Agreed, humans take up enough space as is. Let’s try and make the most of what we’ve got! Lol

@java4653

11 ай бұрын

Sorry, but more expensive options does not help the housing crisis.

@monsieurbono

11 ай бұрын

why is news so focused on metropolitan issues? do you guys ever get out of town?

Man I worked on this deal quite a bit. The boys at vanbarton know what they are doing. But the real reason this works is because they are working with Nathan Berman who happens to own the sister mirror building, 180 water st so it’s a much easier “copy paste” conversation than it would be otherwise. (Easier not easy)

Glad to see lots of innovation in this area! I remember seeing a lot of naysayers insist that office-to-residential conversions were impossible/prohibitively expensive, but I think building light shafts/wells is an interesting solution.

@java4653

11 ай бұрын

"I remember"....no, you don't. These comments are so funny. The WSJ really has gone down hill, along with it's audience.

@JT-hq2cc

11 ай бұрын

I don't think light shafts are a solution for the prohibitively expensive aspect of it. But it is a good solution for maximizing usable/rentable space! NY has passed laws and is offering incentives which make some conversions worth it - but a vast majority of office spaces are still "prohibitively expensive" because of zoning laws, regulation, etc. :) hopefully cities can insentivise conversions and work with these developers!

@user-pf5xq3lq8i

10 ай бұрын

This is a begging video for city taxpayers to bail out the owners of these empty buildings. Corruption.

@tracy419

9 ай бұрын

​@@java4653you could always Google and see the articles for yourself🙄

business is wild they're like: there's not enough air and light to live here but please still come into the office and spend 40+ hours a week in the space anyways.

Remote workers finally got a break from outrageous cost of housing plus exhausting commutes.

All Americans have it wrong. We don’t need “affordable housing”. We just need more housing. Doesn’t matter if it’s luxury. The key is more supply. This will reduce costs long term.

Appreciated the explanation of converting older vs newer buildings. Going forward all office buildings should be designed with conversion in mind because housing is going to remain a big issue. We have the design software so let's use it properly.

The opening lines of this piece highlight the problem with housing in this country. We are short on housing, yet developers only want to build luxury housing. We don't need anymorw luxury housing! Hardly anyone can afford it!

Wow. The buildings are actually being coverted after 20 years of talk. Impressive.

Great news. There are so many people needing luxury appartements nowadays.

@peterkkk849

11 ай бұрын

Government can relocate all the homeless people and drug dealers into these apartments with taxpayers’ money, government get more votes from drug dealers, they win, apartment building get paid by the government, it’s a win win, only loser is the middle class taxpayers here😂

@Brian-uc5vj

11 ай бұрын

This, but unironically

@holycrapchris

11 ай бұрын

This is in the financial district where there aren't many housing options. A lot of Wall St. workers would exchange their Jersey apartment + train ride for one of these units within walking distance to the office. Thus freeing up an apartment in Jersey.

@jmlinden7

11 ай бұрын

There actually are. There's a massive shortage of luxury apartments in NYC.

@PabloM201

11 ай бұрын

​@@jmlinden7 #firstworldproblems

HEY NEW YORK THIS IS A MSG FROM THE SECOND MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN THE WORLD VANCOUVER CANADA. Surprisingly enough our housing crisis are quite similar as it seems like multi million rental corporations and slumlords are now controlling most to all rental housing stock. New apartments are labelled “LUXURY RENTALS” or “STARTING FROM LOW 700,000 CONDOS”. What’s funny is both our cities government are quite Democratic for you folks or Liberal in Canadian terminology. The developers get incentives in Vancouver to build affordable homes but they come with so many segregated systems built in place. Separate doors or as Vancouver calls it “Poor Doors” for the regular folk renting and Luxury entrances for the rich and elitists. Condo units are shrinking and prices are now at or close to the Million dollar mark with nothing seeming to give way. I know many friends and family members I grew up with who have moved further out taking long commutes on the Metro Skytrain system to get to work. It’s a shame both our cities are heading in this downward spiral where the elite win and the working class are shoved aside. The housing market is bound to burst at some point. We just gotta hold on until then!

sounds like since pre-war buildings are better for conversions nyc is more primed than most of the west coast (like SF)

@serafinacosta7118

11 ай бұрын

Besides , Pre War buildings have more architectural appeal. Most of them already have been converted.

@poppinc8145

11 ай бұрын

Why even bring up the west coast? California doesn't allow landlords to build apartment buildings in most places. The housing crisis there is entirely artificial and man-made.

@serafinacosta7118

11 ай бұрын

@@poppinc8145 with dwindling tax collections , give it time. Eventually they will be forced to cave in. Or become a Detroit. Even the commies in the West will have to figure out that with shrinking tax rolls , fewer programs they can milk. Between the NIMBYies and the Plutocracy at city hall , they have to see the cow udders are going to dry up and be an end to fat times.

Luxury has become one of those words like communist or diversity or conservative, a word that has no meaning anymore. But NYC has no shortage of "luxury" apartments - there's tons of empty units. Theres a massive shortage of affordable units that regular working people could afford.

It’s funny how removing square footage actually helps some of these conversions.

@paxundpeace9970

11 ай бұрын

In the first example those could have been some space to have additional storage or laundry rooms or just an additional set of emergency stairs

@global2829

11 ай бұрын

NYC has limits on the usable square footage that each lot can have. By removing it from the core of the building, they can legally add it elsewhere. The video didn't really explain this.

@tjbellah349

11 ай бұрын

@@global2829 bro I never knew that, thank you for a genuinely informed and intelligent response.

There's actually a fairly simple solution to areas in the middle of the building that don't receive light and air: turn them into public storage space. In most cases, you DON'T want light and air in those places. You also kill two birds with one stone wrt access control, and dealing with running plumbing. And because of the way that people tend to use storage units, you won't have heavy foot traffic from non-tenants. This might not apply much to NYC, which lives in its own reality distortion field, but in other places, it would solve a lot of the problems associated with trying to make every single square foot liveable.

@MrSkeltal268

10 ай бұрын

There are so many things they could put in the middle. Gym space, community space, laundry? Even storage like you mentioned.

@M.Evra91

10 ай бұрын

@@MrSkeltal268 gym space and community space need windows. I am not sure if a laundry room would generate enough money to justify it. Maybe a paid parking lot in the middle? I am no architect so idk if that one makes sense. They would have to soundproof it if someone's apartment is connected to it

@mrparts

10 ай бұрын

The addition of that courtyard in the center is to provide windows to allow more units to be built and make the project economically viable. Without those center units, the rental price of the periphery units would be significantly higher.

@brandonsanders6033

10 ай бұрын

@@MrSkeltal268 @MEvra-wj6up Really, it's just about working with the resources we have. Any use that doesn't require massive, expensive retrofitting and structural work is worth considering!

@brandonsanders6033

10 ай бұрын

@@mrparts I don't know that I agree. A lot of these buildings would be condos, which could be marketed at a higher price per unit because of the exclusivity. This might not make up for the potential return of the missing units, but you also don't have the major structural cost and concerns of literally putting a hole in the middle of your building. You're also not earning nothing from the storage units; rent can be higher than market because many units would presumably be rented by residents - they're essentially receiving a discount on extra square footage that isn't serviced by water or personal climate control. Convenience costs. Finally, many of these projects are only viable because of public investment. The public has the prerogative to say that investors don't need to necessarily make ridiculous profits off of overwrought, lengthy luxury projects when a quick conversion would yield much-needed housing and storage in 1-2 years, instead of 5-7. Affordable units happened, and this could too.

I hope they do this to more places, but make the apartments regular and not "luxury" (which really means nothing nowadays).

But is 600sqft for $3500/mo affordable?? What about making a bigger courtyard or larger units that are able to fit a family?

This is a puff piece, the building next to this one was converted from office to housing back in 2009.

Glad they're adding housing. Can we PLEASE stop misusing the word "affordable" though? Call it what it is... subsidized.

@poppinc8145

11 ай бұрын

If there's regulation that say X percentages of units need to be below a certain price, then that isn't subsidization, just quota.

@abyszero8620

11 ай бұрын

@@poppinc8145 is that what they're doing though?

That's cool and all ... but, doesn't explain why there is so much empty office space in the first place. What happens when businesses decide to move back into Manhattan?

I live in an apartment that faces only an interior courtyard. I get minimal sunlight. Bad for mental health. ESP. In nyc.

Hilarious. The revolutionary idea that enabled this conversion - adding light wells - is just an old innovation repackaged. I live in a 1910s building that was built before widespread electric lights and fire safety. There were several apartments in the middle of the building that had no exterior windows, but they each had access to an interior light well.

@serafinacosta7118

11 ай бұрын

Older building featured light wells, higher ceiling clearances , larger window frames, whose panes opened up. Newer office buildings have either a C plate or a core shaft plate. As for fire safety , older buildings have wider emergency staircases within. Newer buildings have chamber staircases. Night and day.

@paxundpeace9970

11 ай бұрын

light wells in a old stone building is one lightwells with concret floors and steal beams are much more difficult

@user-pf5xq3lq8i

10 ай бұрын

Exactly, the structural loads are shared in modern buildings, they can't just hack out the core without incredible complexity. It makes zero financial sense. I'm sorry, but these buildings are useless. Either knock them down, or have very very low cost office space. Greedy landlords and banks want the taxpayer to bail out their poor investment decision. No sir, not again. This isn't 2008, we won't let you use taxpayers money. Corruption.

@julialane6645

9 ай бұрын

A fire Hazard.

@serafinacosta7118

9 ай бұрын

@@julialane6645 please elaborate Juliana. Thanks.

You could also make something bigger than 600ft studio/1bd apartments. 1500ft apartments could probably manage rooms and windows well enough still without carving out the center. And of course elevators and main hallways should be in the center too. You can also make the building mixed use, at least the first floor be retail as is common.

@FullLengthInterstates

10 ай бұрын

A trade that cities should try to encourage, is for the easiest conversion - for converted offices to be all giant luxury units. In exchange, the developer subsidizes smaller apartments in neighboring buildings as affordable housing

@azrrrrrrrr

10 ай бұрын

yeah but then you are losing like 90% of ppl interested in thos appartments cause only the richest 10% can affor appartment that big

3:27 Who'd want to live there? I'd say just about ANYBODY living on the street would rather live in the middle of a building with no windows than in freezing winter temperatures above a manhole.. 🤦‍♂

Cities need AFFORDABLE housing, not more posh condos. Without affordable housing, none of the waiters, cleaning staff or other services the posh condo dwellers expect to have on hand will be there.

Maybe all the rooms in the apartment don’t have to be connected? You could put living spaces on the outside of the building and with the same key access private offices and media rooms inside.

Just what the world needs - more high end apartments !!! Don't worry about the 99% of people that can't afford housing.

Really hoping the window well isn’t their only window 🤞🏻

We don’t need more “luxury” apartments. We need more affordable housing in NYC!!! Rent is out of control and is only getting worse. You could build an entire community in these buildings, not just a place for the rich and elite

Obviously we just need more dynamic zoning laws

@mohammedsarker5756

10 ай бұрын

or just get rid of a lot of them period. Having strenuous zoning in urban areas BEGS for all kinds of problems to occur

Glad to see that MSM and local politicians are now past the acceptance stage of remote work. No, I am not spending 1 or 2 hours on a commute so some CEO can talk about their "team culture" on a private resort after their golf tournament (I mean customer prospecting)

$300-500 Per Square foot Just for the Hard Cost, Excluding the price of Land, Rezoning, Permitting, Financing, Architectural Plans, etc..etc.. Here in San Antonio Brand New Construction on Multifamily Class A is at most $120 Per Square Foot. Building it out of ICF Concrete Walls and Steel Everywehere instead of Wood Frame still puts you at $145-150 PSF. Can't imagine many are going to go for it with interst rates where they are now and the average person making $60-90k per year.

Kinda funny to carve out a well in the middle of a building - I dunno if I'd want that window anymore. 😅 Tho the charm of the pre-1900s buildings are undeniable. I really hope those can be converted

Zoning laws in general are a huge issue. They should be completely abolished. Minimize the regulatory gridlock. Also, affordable housing is a problem too.

Excellent video, thank you

Light shafts come way short of a courtyard building such as you have uptown. It is meant to allow for air circulation and some dim lighting , at best. Now, if you have a core shafted building with a large floor plate ( a typical floor plan in a large corporate tenancy type of building ) , you can even parse your units throughout the building perimeter, by keeping the elevator hallways in a concentric inner ring shape and scatter your units throughout the outer perimeter of the building. On the video they explain how a C- Plate would be impractical for these type of projects. For the neophytes here, a C-plate is a floor plan that has three out of four exposed perimeters with office windows , whereas the fourth leg of the perimeter is only used to the stairwell , elevator shafts. Using a corporate lease tenancy building , this is the range of 2,000 to 4,600 sf. A core shafted floor plate has a larger floor footage , usually around 5,000 plus sf , and elevators , stairwell , and no hallways ( except for a cut through at the elevators , if that many ) , all fit into the center core of the building. In both cases , on office usage , the riser cables , heavy duty plumbing ( including fire ) is around the shaft.

@user-pf5xq3lq8i

10 ай бұрын

Retrofitting that where it wasn't designed is so expensive, you may as well build it on an empty lot. I'm sorry but removing an unwanted building is fantasy economics, and can only exist if the taxpayers bails out the billionaire building owners. I'm not paying to bail out a banks investment..not again after 2008, no sir.

@azrrrrrrrr

10 ай бұрын

well i agree with you about natural lighting but as someone that spends most of my day outside the apartment i wouldnt mind having no natural light/windows as long as my rent is reasonable considering no windows

Thanks for sharing ❤

Apartments in the business district. ... oh nooo. Can't have people being able to walk to work. Why not have mixed use with apartments on the outside of retail in the core.

@melissaharris3389

11 ай бұрын

I was thinking retail on street level, 2 to 3 floors of office space near street level, a level with the building amenities (gym, party rooms, etc) and the apartments above; away from street noise. Multiple use zoning for higher density urbanization. Put on a green roof to help with rain runoff and heat island effect.

This is not cheap but at least the office is being used. People need to realize that as things get more expensive in NYC, more people have to move.

Yes thank you WSJ, New York was really running short on high end over-priced real estate.

@mrparts

10 ай бұрын

It is. That’s why the rents are so high. People aren’t paying 3k a month for a tiny studio because they like it. They’re only paying it because it’s the ongoing price due to the scarcity of housing.

@na976

10 ай бұрын

@@mrparts and everybody knows that building 6k/month apartments helps lower the rent on 3k/month studios! Landlord all over the city will see the surplus of high end real estate and lower prices. It’s just how it works!

@mrparts

10 ай бұрын

@@na976 lol you’re joking, but yes. Your 3k a month rental didn’t start at that price. It was a $300 a month studio back in 1990 that struggled to keep tenants. But because nothing was ever built since then, the landlord was able to raise prices with impunity for decades.

@legitplayin6977

10 ай бұрын

@@mrpartsMaybe they should introduce rent controls then

Thank you for sharing.

This type of re-development will never be easy. Tried them in the early 2010s. Very high construction costs, price to acquire the office buildings are way too high and due to the overal costs the price of the apartments are sky high. Basically a very risky venture

Homelessness goes high rise.

What’s the total cost for renovation of the building? What are they projecting rents to be?

This is good, but rent prices from $3500 is not in the affordable range. They need to get the price down to $1000 to be remotely considered affordable...

love reuse of buildings. Courtyard creation seems a lot like a chimney that could really escalate fires. I think on interior cabins of cruise ships they have tv screen that shows the video of outside, somehow think would be so much cooler to be living on 3rd floor facing a brick wall but have faux window that lets you have penthouse view continually.

It makes sense, with the advance of technology and the lockdowns, more jobs are finally available at home. With the issue of being behind of providing enough homes, this is a great alternative. The country also probably still needs small commercial buildings for shops and restaurants, so hopefully that is kept in mind of these designs too. The issue with the American planning in these infrastructures is that they largely separate and divide regions that has backfired in planning some of these cities. It’s one thing if there is zoning for a quiet neighborhood, but not everyone has a family and are wanting to have an easier community to certain areas. From the office’s perspective it might be cheaper to have employees work from home than to rent out big spaces with bills for electric and other utilities.

Corporations and the government don't want things to quick and efficient so that they can get more money.

Office conversion “not simple or cheap” but still cheaper than tear down a large building, and rebuild a brand new building…

this is cool, I hope it continues, and that previously business heavy districts become more inhabited and liveable

Nice concept.

people would live in a center box area with no windows as long as it is cheap, so just make them cheap for rental.

Stop throwing the term luxury in every apartment building!!! They’re not luxurious, and do not demand a luxury price tag.

I wonder if you could use them to make giant shelters because the main bathrooms would be communal in the center and you’d have tons of space to put wrap around services.

@episdosas9949

11 ай бұрын

of course they could but they want luxury profits. not to house people with no money.

@mohammedsarker5756

10 ай бұрын

@@episdosas9949 I mean that land and those buildings cost a lot of money, it doesn't make sense using these as homeless shelters cus you'd be burning so much money per resident on the overhead costs. I'd rather just build cheaper housing for poorer people so that every dollar allocated goes further.

@episdosas9949

10 ай бұрын

@@mohammedsarker5756 office spaces are cheap. they are basic. just like a homeless shelter. luxury condos would have to pour in alot of money to convert. its the same arguement developers use to say that theres no money in building affordabke housing. yeah, thats the point. housing shouldnt be about profits. the can sell luxury goods to rich people if they want to make money.

What program can be used to do an animation as in 2:45?

Why not just reserve the windowless sections for office space instead of making the entire building a residential one.

@serafinacosta7118

11 ай бұрын

Because office workers don’t want to work under a dungeon without natural light. Hence the term Corner Office being a perk.

@gjsoriano1

11 ай бұрын

Moreover, the added foot traffic using the elevators and lobby would create unwanted noise and security issues for the residents.

@serafinacosta7118

11 ай бұрын

@@gjsoriano1 well , Lobby is common space. Office crowds in and out flows are controlled by turnstile and elevators badges, FOB cards, or finger print scan. Not something residential or lodging dwellers want to be imposed upon. Hence the lobby segregation. As for the mix lodging and residential , it is a perfectly adaptable environment. You add personnel. One desk exclusively for the residential concierge , and your check in counter for lodging guests. Most residential dwellers won’t be fazed by the added lobby traffic, which won’t be that considerable on extended stay. Further segregation, beyond floor stacks , can be accomplished by pre assigned elevator cars with some kind of digital readout ( key code , finger print , FOB ). People who rather have an exclusive lobby can go elsewhere at a higher rental rate. A flexible lodging and residential can improve cash flow , a plus when tenancy rates might not be at best.

This is so interesting.

I hate buildings with windows that don't open. I avoid them like the plague.

Really interesting show. Maybe office real estate is not dead after all. Thanks

Well , maybe as people move into converted office buildings , the apts they previously lived in will be bulldozed in favor of constructing similarly larger apt buildings ?

I wish they would do this in Boston

I really don’t see affordable housing in some areas where there are empty office space.

Luxury housing?! We need affordable housing, not another real estate bubble! 😡

To allow more office-to-residential conversions. Why don't they do a partial conversion? If a property is too deep to give the interior light, why don't they convert the outer areas towards the windows to residential and then make the inner areas commercial? All commercial offices don't need windows, especially if the offices are more affordable. Then, more buildings will qualify for conversion, and it might even be cheaper than hollowing out the inside of a skyscraper or doing other drastic measures.

What about making it difficult or impossible for domestic and foreign investors to buy up these new apartments and then just sit on them?

Why is the audio for the guest speakers so muffled???

If Cities could increase the supply of quality affordable living spaces for office employees, it might incentivize more of them to return to working and living in the city. I bet many workers who moved out of cities into stand-alone homes are finding suburban and rural home ownership to have its own set of expensive burdens, especially if they were one of the panic buyers who bought some old money pit.

Still wouldn't want to have an issue by renting there in the first place if they can raise rates in at any time. What is an issue is that if all services workers need or are automated. You then get serfs and not clients.

We ran the business case for this in Japan but offices are strangely enough so much higher valued it doesn't make any sense money wise.

@FullLengthInterstates

10 ай бұрын

Not enough residential units near the CBD is how a walkable city with world leading transit ends up with 50 minute commutes.

I’d love to live in one of these flats, for a couple 3.5k sounds reasonable. And the sale price is about 650k, also not a crazy sum for the financial district.

Cool video! Id like to add that there are other investment options in businesses like cannafarm ltd as well.

Does this mean there will not be any significant increase in demand for office space in the near future, even after considering back-to-office shifts happening?

@AnimeHumanCoherence

10 ай бұрын

I hope not.

How about regular old affordable housing

they've been converting malls into apartments, too. It's really interesting

The hope is to really make the housing affordable but even having so called "luxury" apartments at overpriced rates will play a part in decreasing the cost of living collectively, because it will lower demand with more options for living.

this might be the answer but with banks not lending how are building owners going to finance this retrofit???? Still a long way to go

Мне кажется, что в середине можно не дырку сверлить, а сделать общественные пространства: где-то магазин, где-то спорт-зал, салон.

Can we convert malls?

How would you like to pay $7,500/mo just to live next to an "affordable housing" (Section 8) tenant?

sure, its more housing in a city, but lets face it.. these kinds of projects aren't going to be affordable apartments in downtown Manhattan for every day people, they are going to be pricey luxury apartments that the everyday person who just needs a place to live. not exactly solving the housing crisis.

@randomprotag9329

2 ай бұрын

its goes a way to do it. if an area has not enough higher end housing poeple who would have got higher end dont have the option. if they have option the demand for lower end decreases as the higher end can get higher end.

I think we are forgetting more supply with equal demand means cheaper prices

There'll be a point where they balance the return on residential property with the tax write-off of the loss of the building. We're not talking about conventional individual landlords here.

Kommunalkas can be easily made from office space, with shared bathrooms and kitchens. And pictures of comrade Stalin.

Most of the office buildings in places like New York cannot be converted to apartments. It’s simply not feasible.

Sound isolation might be nonexistent with these types of solutions.

Why do we need another Luxury Rental Building in NYC

So make the apartments deeper in the newer buildings.

i like the idea but i wish we stopped converting spaces into luxury housing. so few of new yorks population can afford to rent in those places.

The average price per square foot of DC housing is $530. Remember that these people and companies that built these buildings usually have an ROI of 5 years so the offices that are there now are already paid down and all income the used to get from the office tenants went to operations and maintenance and the rest was profit. So these building owners can and should take on additional costs to update them because they shouldn't have the rights to just rake in pure profits on assets already paid off. And before you go all "service economy" argument on me, that isn't how housing should work. Housing shouldn't be a service because at the end of the day everyone needs a home.

@danielmankinde1706

11 ай бұрын

how do you know if its already paid off or not ? a lot of them have a ton of debt on those and some have adjustable rates

@SinkLikeStone

11 ай бұрын

Lesser rent leads to decrease in the value of the building. I guess no one wants to see their asset devalued.

@danielmankinde1706

11 ай бұрын

Even if it was paid off . Who funds the cost to renovate ?

@BikeHelmetMk2

10 ай бұрын

Most office buildings were pushing 5% cap rates before the COVID and work from home ate the floor out from under them. A lot of landlords were using interest only mortgages, and relying on capital appreciation of the buildings to fund their endeavours. 5% cap rate is closer to 20 years instead... and now they're all underwater. I suspect that many are just hoping to survive until rates go down, and then they might fetch higher values.

still far away from affordable housing, but it is what it is...

Need of the day

There is no alternative towards solving the housing crisis other than mixed zoning. "Mixed Zoning" is the only way forward for housing.

Why would someone pay a luxury price to live next to someone who might have affordable housing or rent control.

being out of touch. like manhattan needs more luxury apartments. might as well turn office space into more office space.

Why doesn’t the city incentivize developers to make even more affordable units?

And who would want to live in a studio which looks out to the light shaft? Especially on lower floors…

Some of this is common science at this point. Especially not sharing the school and location 😬