As part of a series of policy changes to meet the obligations of its 2021-2029 Housing Element, the City of Los Angeles is implementing a citywide adaptive reuse ordinance to streamline the conversion of empty commercial buildings into housing. Although the ordinance still awaits final City Council adoption, some developers have gotten a head start on the process.

A new report from RentCafe finds that Los Angeles has approximately 4,388 apartments in the works that will be created through the conversion of existing office buildings. That is the third most out of any Metro area in the United States - surpassed by only New York and Washington, D.C. - and represents an 80 percent increase over the total proposed at the same point in 2024. Including projects that will transform other types of buildings, there are nearly 9,000 adaptive reuse units in the works through the region.

The report estimates that there is 83 million square feet of office space in the L.A. area which could be suitable for adaptive reuse - roughly 25 percent of the area's total office inventory.

The San Fernando Building in Downtown Los Angeles, which was converted to housing through the adaptive reuse ordinanceWikimedia Commons

Jamison Services, one of the region's largest private office landlords, has also emerged as one of its biggest adaptive reuse developers. The Koreatown-based firm started work last year on its 10th adaptive reuse project, the conversion of a 13-story building at 3325 Wilshire Boulevard into 236 apartments, and has plans to convert a 33-story tower that was once the headquarters of Arco into 691 apartments.

Adaptive reuse has already had great success in Los Angeles, spurring the conversion of numerous historic structures in Downtown into approximately 12,000 apartments and condominiums.

Across the country, Atlanta is also emerging as a hot spot for adaptive reuse projects, with more than 2,200 units in the pipeline through office-to-residential developments.

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