More than 1,100 apartments are under development in Center City through office-to-residential conversion projects. The conversions address two of Philadelphia's most pressing issues at the same time — keeping the office vacancy rate from rising above 20% while increasing the city’s tight housing supply. Clint Randall, vice president of economic development for Center City District, said more owners of Class B and C buildings may need to reposition their properties as a result of the flight-to-quality trend among office tenants that has left much of the downtown office vacancy clustered within lower-quality stock. “In some cases, that will be a full redevelopment into residential, which is something that's actually occurring at quite a clip right now,” Randall said. Philadelphia has been a leader in office-to-residential conversions. The city has seen 10 million square feet of office space converted to new uses since the 1990s, and that trend is on track to continue.
Source: Philadelphia Business Journal; 5/1/2025