According to the graph in the article, NYC is doing about average, and LA/SF are the other front-runners.

owned by amazon ..

now where should data centers be constructed, rather than arable farmland?

Wasn't the shared-workspace business model to take advantage of these vacancies?

Despite the graph shown in the article, I have to wonder if this is really a new problem.

The article goes into this:

> The city of Seattle estimates that, with aggressive incentives, conversions could generate up to 6,000 housing units over the next seven years. At a rough approximation, that would use around a fifth of the city’s present office surplus.

> But “potential” is doing a lot of work here.

> Newer, larger office buildings, like the U.S. Bank Center, are hugely impractical for conversion, thanks to massive floor plates, centralized plumbing and other utilities and a host of other constraints.

> The preferred candidates are typically smaller, older buildings, especially those with C- or E-shaped floor layouts, which make it easier to create smaller units with adequate windows.

> But these buildings can be prohibitively costly to bring up to seismic and energy building codes, said Jen Pasquier, a Seattle developer who wants to convert the 10-story Liggett Building, at Fourth and Pike, into 93 apartments.

On top of the architectural challenges and efficacy of it, you have to contend with the terms of the bank loans that apply. Those are why the buildings "can't" lower rents to attract new business.

If they sign a lease at a new lower rent it basically triggers a re-check of "can they repay the loan based on their rental income?", which comes back as "no". That trigger _doesn't_ occur if you just leave the building empty, with _no one_ paying rent, because your last mark to market rent was high enough.

It's a shell game that eventually leads to the loan defaulting, but both the bank and the building owner are happy to pretend they can't see the train coming down the tracks at them.

For an example of this in Seattle that everyone was calling years ahead of the collision, see the Martin Selig sagas https://deepnewz.com/real-estate/seattle-developer-selig-war...

It's not easy, but some people are trying it! https://www.npr.org/2026/02/21/g-s1-110595/from-cubicles-to-...

I live in a converted office building I. Downtown Chicago . But it was built in 1913. Newer office buildings are less practical to convert due to larger floor plates. Older office buildings are smaller or have light wells etc.

might depend how different the codes are. could be a really expensive retrofit. Residential and office put different stresses on infrastructure.

Apparently it's really expensive to convert to meet reasonably sane residential standards.

Add in required shrubbery, section 8 housing set-asides, rent control, etc., it becomes unattractive -- especially if the jobs have moved to business friendly suburbs

The bipartisan housing bill that Trump has refused to sign included provisions for encouraging this.

I believe the quote was:

"the ones that leave, like, bye"

Isn't this the city of mayor "Buh bye millionaires"?

Not sure the incentives will bring a useful change.