Cincinnati a top market nationally for converting offices, factories to apartments

Randy Tucker, Cincinnati Enquirer
Updated ·2 min read
1

As more offices and other commercial buildings become obsolete, the Cincinnati area has seen a boom in the number of offices, hotels and other buildings converted to apartments or in the pipeline for conversion.

Last year, Cincinnati ranked fifth in the nation for such conversions, known as adaptive reuse projects, according to a report from RentCafe released earlier this month using data from Yardi Matrix, a national retail and real estate analytics firm.

Downtown office spaces converted to apartments in 2023 added 342 new units to the Cincinnati area's multifamily inventory through adaptive reuse, according to the report, which noted the trend has gained momentum over the past several years.

Where buildings are being converted

Of that number, 282 apartments opened in the old Textile Building at 205 W. Fourth St., and 60 apartments came from the former Second National Bank Building at 830 Main St., now known as The Vibe Apartments.

Cincinnati ranked behind Charlotte, North Carolina, with 351 converted apartments in 2023 and ahead of Lawrence, Massachusetts, with 338, according to the report.

Manhattan was the king of conversions last year with 733.

More than 2,300 apartment conversions planned in Cincinnati area

The Cincinnati area not only stood out in the report for the number of completed apartment conversions, it ranked No. 11 for the most converted apartments in the pipeline.

Just over 2,300 converted apartments are already underway in the Cincinnati area, most of them coming from repurposed office space, RentCafe found.

The Cincinnati area mirrors the national trend in which a record 151,000 apartments are in various stages of conversion, including 40,000 already under construction, according to RentCafe.

Adaptive reuse highlights:

  • Nationwide, 12,734 apartments were added to the market from adaptive reuse projects last year, approaching the high levels of activity of 2019 and 2020.

  • Hotel-to-apartment conversions reached an all-time high (4,556 apartments) and surpassed the number of units converted from office spaces (3,587 apartments). 

  • Repurposed factories represent a total of 1,954 apartments delivered in 2023, and warehouses account for 1,098 units created through adaptive reuse.

Source: RentCafe

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The Cincinnati area has more than 2,300 converted apartments on tap