Archinect - News

Manhattan’s office building spree is now ‘over,’ according to the New York Times

2023-12-29T11:49:00-05:00

Just three large office towers — of more than 500,000 square feet — are being built across New York City, with two expected to open in 2024 or 2025 and nothing else projected to go up for years. Normally, a handful of sites that size would be in various stages of construction, with at least one opening every year since 2018, according to JLL, a real estate services firm.

Due to an obvious confluence of interest rates, office vacancy records, and construction costs, the Times says Manhattan is “entering its most significant office construction drought since after the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s and early ’90s.” Recent superlatives like BIG’s 66-story The Spiral and the Foster + Partners-led 270 Park Avenue replacement may stand as the last major realized office designs before the early 2030s. Another three proposals totaling over 3 million square feet are stuck in the approvals pipeline as of right now.

The stasis has notably led to the cancellation of the much-maligned ten-block Penn Station revitalization plan, among other significant stall-outs. A “flight” to high-quality modernized office spaces of the kind featured in 425 Park Avenue and One Vanderbilt could spark a turnaround if not for their asking price. As the report stated, some industry experts believe $200 or $300 per square foot rents might be a reality for similar buildin...

An updated study led by Gensler tracks progress of office-to-residential conversion data

2023-12-04T10:15:00-05:00

Gensler Principal Steven Paynter shares an update announcing important statistical findings related to his firm’s work surrounding the adaptive reuse and conversion of office buildings worldwide.

The data report has been updated to reflect changes in office conversions. The firm shares that an estimate of only 25% of buildings (from Gensler's original assessment) are suitable for conversion. This is a decrease from the 33% figure that was reported in January as Gensler began marketing its proprietary metric of office conversions.

The new study was expanded to cover some 1,000 buildings, an increase from their previous analysis of 300 buildings. Paynter and his team now report that conversion is "an unprecedented opportunity to create new residential stock quickly, sustainably, and at a 30% lower cost than new construction."

Previously on Archinect: Gensler Principal Steven Paynter further details office conversion algorithm in podcast sit-down

The assessment also provided some intere...

Economic and political obstacles stand in way of office-to-residential conversion projects

2023-07-25T12:12:00-04:00

These conversions seem like a win-win: turning a plethora of barely used office space into desperately needed urban housing. But converting offices into apartments is easier said than done. And while it's easy to imagine the process behind conversions, like adding in walls and plumbing, it gets complicated.

Various cities across the United States have been turning to office-to-residential conversions as a way to address declining city cores that have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. As noted by NPR, San Francisco is making way for these conversions by adjusting current building codes and getting rid of extra fees. In Washington D.C., the mayor has proposed an increase in tax breaks for owners of downtown office buildings who convert them to housing.

Previously on Archinect: A new Brookings Institution report extends solutions to America's struggling office-to-residential conversion market

While cities are aiming to provide favorable incentives for conversions, the benefits may still fall short due to the many obstacles in front of ensuring a successful project. On top of some office buildings lacking the physical qualities needed to convert to residential, strict zoning rules, as seen in New York City, already determine which buildings can be transformed into housing. And, rezoning ca...

A new Brookings Institution report extends solutions to America's struggling office-to-residential conversion market

2023-05-02T13:21:00-04:00

A new report published by the Brookings Institution is offering potential solutions for developers, architects, and urban planners engaged in office-to-residential conversions in the hopes of remedying the spate of downtown declines that are beginning to plague cities across the country.

Co-authors Tracy Hadden Loh, Egon Terplan, and DW Rowlands explain: “This report begins by identifying the five common arguments made by proponents for converting offices into housing. It then evaluates the myths and realities of each argument, using data from cities across the United States. It concludes with six recommendations for what cities should do about conversions and what other long-term strategies they could adopt.”

By first identifying and then debunking the critical “myths” they say predominate thinking in the market, the authors make possible a clearer path towards more informed conversion strategies. Notions that conversions are either too pricey or the key to providing solutions to a...

Moody’s declares pre-1980s office buildings ‘obsolete’ due to conversion costs

2023-04-07T15:18:00-04:00

A new report from Moody’s Analytics is further dampening CRE prospects for the near future after declaring all office structures built before 1980 to be “obsolete” in terms of their abilities to lure back tenants in the face of an ongoing national downtown decline.

Speaking to MarketWatch recently, the ratings agency’s Nick Villa said buildings built before that date are obsolete because “generally speaking, if there were no significant renovations to the building, the amount of capital required to bring it 'current' and compete in today's market would be costlier.”

Cities like New York and Oklahoma City that maintain a higher share of these buildings may therefore face further economic difficulties as interest rates continue to climb and lending standards tighten.

Previously on Archinect: Zoom Town to Boom Town: North American business districts are going to evolve instead of dying off completely

The end of the pandemic has ushered in a new era of office design, with many new const...

This architect has identified the qualities office buildings need for converting to residential

2023-03-21T11:51:00-04:00

That simple recipe for pandemic lemonade—offices people no longer use, combining with central urban locations where people want to live—is blissfully ignorant of a wide range of architectural and economic factors that make the vast majority of office buildings simply unsuitable as housing.

Labeled by Fast Company as “Goldilocks” zones, the sweet spot for office buildings with the potential to become residential are ones that are mid-rise, built pre-WWII, with at least two sides facing open areas or streets near, but not within, a city’s financial core. According to San Francisco-based architect and structural engineer Charles F. Bloszies, the challenge with converting some office buildings lies in their large floor plates and lack of street exposure. Bloszies and his firm have been using publicly accessible data from the San Francisco Planning Department to identify offices that meet the ideal conversion characteristics.

Previously on Archinect: Gensler Principal Steven Paynter details new proprietary office conversion metric

This approach could be done in almost any city says Bloszies, and with higher office vacancies, greater housing demand, and lower real estate costs, this is an opportune moment to convert offices. There’s even the potential to make use of larger, ...

Gensler Principal Steven Paynter details new proprietary office conversion metric

2023-01-09T11:56:00-05:00

Now the algorithm he spearheaded collapses the survey process — which must be conducted to determine whether a commercial building can be turned into apartments — from months to hours. His work will help these conversions to be enacted on a mass scale. which is important given the urgency created by America's rising office-vacancy rates due to the pandemic's reshuffling of where and how we work. It could help bring people back to downtowns across North America as renters or homeowners

Gensler estimates that only 3 out of 10 office buildings are eligible for conversion. The pitfalls of mass-scale conversions remain impediments even as architecture firms are earning more from renovations than new buildings for the first time. In the last two years alone, office conversions have jumped by 25%, with an estimated 77,000 apartments currently under construction, according to November data from RentCafe.

"If we can find the perfect buildings for conversion, you start to be able to correct the market, you start to be able to bring people back to neighborhoods," Paynter said to Business Insider. "And then, actually, the demand for the remaining office buildings goes up, because you're creating scarcity by taking some out of the market."

Related Companies expands into Austin with a pair of new office projects from Gensler and KPF

2022-09-19T12:39:00-04:00

The ever-changing skyline of Texas’ eccentric state capital is getting another pair of new additions after Hudson Yards developer Related Companies announced plans this month for two new separate Austin office buildings designed by Gensler and KPF.

Related says both projects will be located in South Austin and are slated to be completed in 2024 and 2025 respectively. The larger 15-story One Ladybird Lake tower is designed by KPF for a 3.3-acre plot located along the waterfront at the city’s Lady Bird Lake reservoir. Its total 475,000-square-foot construction will include a mixed program of ground-level retail spaces topped by office amenities with four wraparound terraces, a bar, green spaces, and an activated rooftop area created by the local landscaping concern TBG.

One Ladybird Lake by KPF. Image courtesy Related Companies

This is to be joined by a shorter 5-story development located half a mile to the south on 901 South Co...

D.C. steps up office-to-residential conversions in the face of housing shortage

2022-08-09T10:00:00-04:00

Through the doldrums of America’s pandemic-triggered office downturn, the nation’s capital is quickly turning into a case study for the conversion of former commercial spaces into residential housing and mixed-use development.

The Washingtonian magazine recently did a survey of different office conversions in and around the District. Vacancy rates in the area climbed to an all-time high last quarter, and the city is predictably feeling the same housing crunch as nearly every other metropolitan area of the country.

A 2019 report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments indicated that the area needs to bring online at least 325,000 units before the end of the decade in order to match rising demands, making its estimated 157.9 million square feet of rentable office space a prime target for prospective developers.

The up-for-grabs Victor Building near downtown. Image courtesy Brookfield Properties.

Among the projects mentioned are PGN’s conversion of the former Peace Corp...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces new adaptive reuse task force

2022-07-22T18:01:00-04:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has announced a new adaptive reuse task force that will explore the vast untapped potential for rehabilitation present in the city’s considerable stock of outdated office buildings.

Born out of the new Local Law 43, the task force is charged with producing recommendations by year’s end for how to best approach the rehabilitation of these buildings in the face of crises of affordability, homelessness, and the loss of tax revenue caused by corporate America’s yet-unresolved pandemic exodus from the city.

The creation of the panel indicates the further migration of large global cities towards adaptive reuse policies in the hopes of making strides in the area of sustainability before the end of the decade.

The 12-member panel is composed of four staffers from the city’s Department of Buildings, Economic Development Corporation, Depa...

RIBA is looking to sell property, refurbish headquarters according to new president

2021-10-01T17:08:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced two major changes that will help it restructure and rebound following recent economic losses.

The institute will shed staff and sell its surplus property as it looks to redevelop its 66 Portland Place headquarters according to reports published today in The Architect’s Journal and Building Design.

RIBA is currently facing a budget deficit after reported earnings for the year 2020 failed to match its £28.2 million expenditure by a figure of about £8 million ($10.8 million).

The organization is now looking to sell its offices at 76 Portland Place in order to reduce overhead after an internal audit reportedly revealed that approximately 89% of full-time staffers feel more comfortable working upwards of three days a week outside of the redesigned administrative center.

In addition to the sell-off, RIBA has also announced a new competition that would completely overhaul its adjacent 87-year-old art deco office originally desi...

Converted commercial buildings may not be a short-term answer to solving the affordable housing crisis

2021-08-03T09:00:00-04:00

Last month, New York State passed the Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA), laying the groundwork for hotels and other commercial buildings to be converted into affordable housing. Nevertheless, a recent article by NBC News gives a laundry list of reasons why among commercial buildings, office space, in particular, is unlikely to be converted to affordable housing.

The gist: it still remains far too profitable to give this property over to affordable housing. That is, there’s simply too much money to be made in the long term, even if rentable spaces continue to remain vacant in the short term. Why risk setting a precedent that unused space should be given over to the thousands of people who live on the street? Why set a precedent that the dignity of every person is more important than Cushman Wakefield’s quarterly earnings?

The Flatiron District in New York is filled with older office buildings. Image: pixhere

Nevertheless, politicians have at least begun posturing. New Yo...

Chipperfield Architects wins commission for Hamburg office development

2021-06-24T12:59:00-04:00

A three-juror panel in Hamburg has announced David Chipperfield Architects as the winner of its two-stage competition to build the future headquarters of the nation’s largest insurance company, Signal Iduna Group.

The firm submitted plans for a multi-building office complex in Hamburg’s Eimsbüttel district that will represent its second major commission in the city in recent years.

DCA’s Berlin office beat out 11 other entries with its design featuring several buildings made from recovered materials and composed of varying timber, mixed-timber, and concrete frames customized to match their differing spans.

Centered by a courtyard house that will greet workers and users of its ground-floor public space the new complex will “integrate into the heterogeneous urban environment consistently and confidently” by joining with a closed street to create a flexible scheme capable of adaptation throughout the building...

Hamonic+Masson completes complex three-building office development in France

2020-09-02T13:02:00-04:00

Paris-based Hamonic+Masson & Associates has completed "Urban Quartz," an urban development of three office buildings designed to establish a more prominent office sector in Rennes, France. Each structure is uniquely shaped to create the impression of a canyon-like experience through jagged folds and cornering.

The 14,000 square meters of office space is divided into two main clusters with one cluster containing two of the three buildings, connected by three bridges to allow occupants to travel between each structure; and the other cluster consisting of a single building to add an anchoring point to the lot.

Building tenants will enjoy a series of framed urban viewpoints spread throughout each massing. These take the form of large geometries of glazing that outline distinct views in the surrounding landscape and smaller apertures spread more evenly along each facade.

Triangular perforated screens provide an added layer of detail and porosity to the facade system while giving the re...

OMA's plans for Axel Springer building officially released

2016-10-06T13:20:00-04:00

OMA's Axel Springer building, which received the official launch from its namesake company today, visually confronts the disparate nature of modern office work. The 30-foot tall atrium with 3D facade elements creates a stage for unscripted interaction, while the more discreet sections of the building provide focused, quiet working space for 3,500 employees. The building will also feature a publicly-accessible park on its top.

As Rem Koolhaas noted, “Over the years, Berlin has been a profound source of inspiration, and with Axel Springer we are thrilled to continue our long engagement with this city.
We are lucky to have a client who views architecture as an instrument of change, and with this building, we hope to address a central dilemma of the contemporary office: as computer-based work has become largely intangible and silent, how can people effectively
communicate in a workspace which fosters both concentration and vigorous interaction?”

For more on the Axel Springer building:

OMA wi...

BIG's concept for a spiraling-landscape tower in NYC's Hudson Yards

2016-02-08T18:56:00-05:00

The New York cityscape might get another tower from Bjarke Ingels. At 1,005 feet, "The Spiral" is a new office building proposed to fill up an entire block on 66 Hudson Boulevard in Manhattan's West Side. The concept was unveiled today.

The 65-story Spiral is set to be the fourth tallest tower in the rapidly redeveloping Hudson Yards neighborhood. The 2.85 million square-foot structure shows off a glass exterior and, most notably, cascading landscaped terraces and hanging gardens, akin to BIG's affinity for incorporating slopes and spirals into their designs. As its name describes, the Spiral's terraces will wrap around the tower in an ascending motion to create a continuous green pathway and give easy access to outdoor space on each floor.

Located at the intersection of the four-acre Hudson Boulevard Park and The High Line, the Spire "will punctuate the northern end of...the linear park [and it] will appear to carry through into the tower, forming an ascending ribbon of lively gr...