Alexandria In Top U.S. Cities For Office To Apartment Conversions

ALEXANDRIA, VA — With housing demand strong in Alexandria and the DC region, a new study names the city among the top in the U.S. for office to apartment conversions. Alexandria was ranked fourth in the U.S. in RentCafe’s Adaptive Reuse Report on conversions of office space to apartments.

Adaptive reuse has been a growing trend in recent years, according to RentCafe's study. Apartment conversions from office space are up 25 percent in the U.S. in the last two years, bringing 11,090 units to the market in 2020-2021. That's a significant jump from 7,762 units in 2018-2019 as adaptive reuse catches on in large cities to meet housing needs.

Apartment conversions from all types of spaces totaled 27,992 in 2020-2021 around the U.S. That's up 25 percent from 22,337 in 2018-2019.

In Alexandria, 520 apartments were created from office conversions in 2020-2021, more than double the 249 conversions in 2018-2019. Alexandria is also trending as the third top city for apartment conversions in 2022 from office and any other uses. From January to June, Alexandria had 648 apartment units completed from conversions, and additional projects are expected in the coming years.

One example of an office conversion to apartments is The Foundry, a 520-unit project in the Carlyle neighborhood that was completed in 2020. In the West End, Park + Ford was converted from Park Center office complex buildings to 435 units.

A future example is 1101 King Street, which will be converted into 200 apartments with first floor retail and office space. Construction is expected to begin in July 2023 and leases will be maintained for Orange Theory and Paris Baguette.

Washington, DC topped the list with 1,147 apartment conversions from office space in 2020-2021. RentCafe noted the trend had started before the COVID-19 pandemic but grew due to vacant offices in downtown DC.

RentCafe looked at conversions into apartments in two-year segments using apartment data from Yardi Matrix. Across the U.S., 77,100 conversions to apartments are expected in the next few years around the U.S., according to Yardi Matrix data.

See the full study on apartment conversions here.