Can Adaptive Reuse of Commercial Real Estate Address the Housing Crisis in Los Angeles?

Jason M. Ward
Bok · Engelsk · 2022

Utgitt	RAND Corporation , 2022
Opplysninger	Adaptive reuse (AR) refers to the repurposing of a building for a new, more valuable use while preserving as much of the existing structure as possible. A primary application of AR is the conversion of commercial properties for residential use. In this report, the authors provide estimates of the number of residential units that could be produced through the AR of underutilized commercial real estate (CRE) in the Los Angeles area and provide evidence on the financial feasibility of creating these residential units. The results suggest that, if the properties identified as underutilized were all repurposed as housing, they would represent about 9 percent to 14 percent of the total housing Los Angeles County needs to produce over the next eight years, according to the Southern California Association of Governments. The authors also estimate the average financial feasibility of these properties for AR and find that the conversion of hotel/motel properties appears to be broadly feasible. However, they also note that the feasibility of AR using office properties-the most common property type in the sample-depends significantly on area-specific real estate prices and the size of the residential units to be produced (e.g., studio apartments versus one- or two-bedroom apartments).