High office vacancies have cities rethinking downtown zoning

As record-high office vacancies persist in U.S. urban areas, cities are rethinking zoning policy.

More cities are modifying single-use downtown zoning to encourage office conversions to multifamily and mixed-use developments. And with good reason, as mixed-use neighborhoods on average have weathered pandemic shutdowns better than single-use business districts.

With most downtown-based workers embracing work-from-home options, the conception of office-only city districts that go vacant at night may be outmoded. In Washington D.C., for example, a record office vacancy rate of more than 18% has fueled a trend of office-to-apartment conversions.

Officials in D.C. and New York City are debating zoning changes to spur more of these conversions. New York officials are particularly focused on the mid-town Manhattan office district, though many towers targeted for conversion in that area were built in the 1960s. These buildings, with most of the square footage configured on large floor plates inside windowless building cores, make for a significant design challenge to convert them to residential use.

To tell the truth, I didn’t want to write about the terrible events of December 14, 2012, when 20 children and six adults were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. I figured other media would provide ample coverage, and anything we did would look cheap or inappropriate. But two things turned me around.

| Jan 8, 2014

Strengthened sprinkler rules could aid push for mid-rise wood structures in Canada

Strengthened sprinkler regulations proposed for the 2015 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC) could help a movement to allow midrise wood structures.

| Jan 8, 2014

New materials should help boost sustainability in cities by 2020

Newer developments include windows made with nano-crystals that control intense heat penetration while lighting living areas from the outside.

| Jan 8, 2014

Architect sentenced to a year in jail for firefighter's death

Architect Gerhard Becker was sentenced to a year in LA county jail after pleading no contest to the manslaughter of a firefighter who died while trying to contain a fire in a home the architect had designed for himself.