Housing researchers are floating a new use for empty office buildings: communal microapartments.
Many office buildings simply weren’t designed with the layout, plumbing, and amenities that residential use requires. This makes converting them to traditional apartments complicated, costly, and in many cases impractical.
But they can still be turned into homes. Rather than full apartment-style conversions, researchers at Gensler and The Pew Charitable Trusts propose transforming empty office spaces into dorm-style co-living spaces, featuring private bedrooms but shared kitchens, bathrooms, and living areas.
This solution would cost 25% to 35% less than traditional residential conversions, but offers the benefit of maximizing rental capacity and profitability with more tenants per square foot.
Is America ready for communal living?
While adult dorm-style housing may seem unconventional, many Americans are already choosing this lifestyle.
The Foundation for Intentional Community alone tracks nearly 1,000 communities across the country where people – unrelated and not romantically involved – live together by choice. Tenants are drawn in by cost savings, shared resources, and a built-in social network to combat loneliness.
For property managers, this trend could open up new opportunities. Properties with ADUs, (legal) basement apartments, or mother-daughter homes may increasingly attract renters interested in co-living.
And when office-to-co-living conversions come to market, landlords will need expert, market-attuned and technology-equipped property managers to alert them to the investment opportunity and manage the complexity of overseeing and maintaining them.
More property management headlines
"Boomerang children" here to stay. Here’s how to rent to multigenerational households – PayProp blog
States are making ADUs easier to build. It’s up to municipalities to follow suit. – HousingWire
Making sense of squatters’ rights as a property manager – PayProp blog
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