“There’s basically nothing else there,” she explains. Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, who researches commercial real-estate trends, says that if you look at the top 10 office markets in the US, you’ll find about 90% office space in the CBD. On the contrary, North America has high concentrations of office buildings – many of which have outdated infrastructure and technology – located at the very heart of its cities. In Europe or Latin America, business districts were typically built outside historic centres, shielding the mixed-use downtown core from the biggest effects of changing workplace trends (even if Canary Wharf is empty, for example, central London still buzzes with life). In Asia, remote work hasn’t taken off to the same extent as in the West, leaving less office stock available for adaptive reuse. Yet, the need for such conversions is greatest in North America. For instance, the Greater Paris Investment Agency launched a design competition for office-to-housing conversions. The trend of turning ageing offices into residential buildings isn’t just happening in the US. Just as adapting homes into offices required major changes, so, too, will turning offices into homes. Yet the roadblocks – such as tax codes and zoning restrictions – are many, meaning it won’t always be an easy transition. This adaptive reuse has the potential to revitalise central business districts (CBDs), which have been devastated by the pandemic, as well as upend outdated assumptions about how to design cities. Meanwhile, the heated housing market has left developers eager to transform ageing assets into prime residential real estate. Remote-work and hybrid schemes have led companies to reduce the footprint of their offices, lowering demand and increasing supply. They are also the most popular building type for future adaptive reuse projects, creating one-quarter of the 52,700 residential units expected to become available in the US in 2022 (a figure that’s up from 6,960 in 2012). Now, former offices comprise 41% of all US apartments converted during the past two years, according to RentCafe. Neighbouring city Alexandria, Virginia, meanwhile, is right behind with 955 new units.Ī decade ago, factories and hotels were the prime targets for adaptive reuse. According to a recent report from rental listings site RentCafe, the US capital has converted more offices to housing since the start of the pandemic than anywhere else in the nation, with 1,091 new units. The Wray is just one of several work buildings in the Washington DC area that have been adapted into residential space. It was, after all, filled just two years earlier with foreign-policy makers dissecting diplomatic cables at offices run by the US State Department. Not only did the eight-storey apartment complex have bold Art Deco designs in its grand lobby, but also a rooftop terrace overlooking the DC skyline with fire pits and grills as well as a penthouse clubroom with a lounge and private meeting space.įor residents of the neighbourhood, it was quite a surprise to see this World War Two-era building transformed into 158 luxury apartments. The college is pledged to preserve and use this facility and other historic and architecturally unique campus structures.When The Wray opened in Washington, DC’s fashionable Foggy Bottom neighbourhood in May 2021, it was one of the buzziest real-estate projects of the year. The Hotel Ponce de León, was innovative for its time and served as a reminder of his enterprise, diligence, and commitment to high standards. Murals were completed by George Willoughby Maynard and Virgilio Tojetti. Louis Comfort Tiffany is credited with the building’s interior design, including the stained glass and mosaics. The Edison Electric Company powered the building with steam heat and 4,000 electric lights, making the Ponce one of the nation’s first electrified buildings. Interestingly, Carrére and Hastings, were young men right out of college when they designed the hotel. The grand hotel launched the careers of young architects John Carrére and Thomas Hastings, who are noted most for the New York Public Library and The House and Senate Office Buildings adjacent to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. A National Historic Landmark, it serves as the centerpiece for Flagler College. A masterpiece of Spanish Renaissance architecture and the first major poured-in-place concrete building in the United States is now known as Ponce de Leon Hall. In 1888, Flagler built the Hotel Ponce de León, his first in a series of luxury resorts along Florida’s east coast.
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