The architect of New York’s ‘loft movement’ has some lessons for would-be conversion architects today

2024-07-08T18:53:00-04:00

Today, the ideas Mr. Lombardi pioneered nearly 50 years ago are serving as a template for addressing twin problems: the city’s enormous office glut and its growing housing crisis. Mr. Lombardi, now 84 and still running a 16-person firm, is part of a wave of architects and developers now undertaking the mammoth work of converting financially distressed office buildings into multifamily housing.

A lengthy Times profile on the legendary New York conversion architect Joseph Pell Lombardi traces his early career efforts in SoHo and the Financial District to the contemporary challenges posed by office buildings and the impetus to remake them into housing in spite of the difficult parameters and feasibility of such designs.

One tenant of his crowning late-70s Liberty Tower conversion said: “He painted a picture of the neighborhood as a residential mecca, which no one else could see at the time.” Richard Gluckman of Gluckman Tang Architects adds: “His foresight inspired a lot of architects. He showed what was possible.”

At least 64 building owners have 'expressed interest' in the city's new Office Conversion Accelerator since the program was launched last summer. According to a RentCafe data analysis, 5,215 units are currently in the city's project pipeline after the local market experienced an 18% growth from the preceding calendar year.

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The architect of New York’s ‘loft movement’ has some lessons for would-be conversion architects today