Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse
We partner with developers, investors, and owners to transform buildings, unlock value, and create new destinations. From office-to-residential conversions to repositioning stranded assets of all types, we leverage our in-house conversion algorithm to discover opportunities.
“
Tenants are looking for an ecosystem. They don’t want to build internal amenity spaces within their own leasehold and are keen to share spaces with other tenants to support social, innovation, and collaboration initiatives.
—Sheryl Schulze, Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse leader
27 Items
Franklin Tower
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
PMC Property Group transformed a vacant, outdated office building in Logan Square into an amenity-rich residential building with ample outdoor and retail space.
135 West 50th Street
New York, New York
Seeking to strategically modernize elements of this existing office building, George Comfort & Sons enlisted Gensler to help reposition 135 W 50th Street by transforming the storefront and lobby, and creating a second-level amenity floor that brings the office tenants and community together.
The Residences at Rivermark
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
The Residences at Rivermark is a transformative project in the beating heart of downtown Baton Rouge’s growing and dynamic cultural scene.
1 St. Clair West
Toronto, Ontario
After determining that demolishing 1 St. Clair West was not viable, Slate Asset Management enlisted Gensler to reposition it as a mixed-use development.
One Post Office Square
Boston, Massachusetts
Gensler is transforming this prominently-located 1980s building into a premier office tower, with new standards for excellence in healthy environments, open...
Loffler Companies
St. Louis Park, Minnesota
With Gensler, the Loffler Headquarters successfully transformed a purpose-built static retail machine into a vibrant and flexible workplace home.
The Mart
Chicago, Illinois
With Gensler’s help, owner and operator Vornado Realty Trust have repositioned architectural icon The Mart as a marketplace of experiences and creativity.
The Gild
Dallas, Texas
The Campbell Centre towers have been repositioned into The Gild, featuring modern, flexible, desirable amenities that attract new tenants.
Esperson 17th Level Amenity Space
Houston, Texas
Cameron Management enlisted Gensler to convert the 17th level of the Esperson building, an iconic Houston office tower, into an indoor-outdoor amenity space for both future residents and current office tenants.
The Post Office
Chicago, Illinois
Through historically minded restoration and repositioning, the long-vacant Post Office has been brought back to life as a hub for business and commerce.
110 The Queen’s Walk
London, United Kingdom
Gensler has partnered with St Martin’s Property Investments Limited to develop plans to revitalise the former City Hall building at 110 The Queen’s Walk.
10 Gresham Street
London, United Kingdom
Gensler partnered with CBRE IM to reimagine 10 Gresham Street, an office building transformation that will usher in a new sustainable future in London.
1735 N Lynn St Repositioning
Arlington, Virginia
The repositioned office building at 1735 N. Lynn aims to be a sought-after hub for burgeoning tech companies located in the Rosslyn Innovation District.
100 North Tampa Building Lobby Renovations
Tampa, Florida
100 North Tampa is a premier Class A office building in downtown, with exceptional views and a grandiose scale unmatched in the market.
Gateway
Newark, New Jersey
In an effort to propel Newark’s revitalization, Onyx Equities partnered with Gensler to reimagine Gateway, a tired office complex built in the 1970s.
Marshside at Nowell Creek Village
Daniel Island, South Carolina
The repositioned Marshside at Nowell Creek Village transforms a headquarters building in Daniel Island, South Carolina into a multi-tenant office destination.
146 Nav
San Antonio, Texas
146 Nav, originally a single-tenant property that had not been updated in decades, features three levels of office space atop a parking garage with prime access to the River Walk in San Antonio.
the Ion
Houston, Texas
Located in the former Midtown Sears building, the Ion supports a tenant-driven collective of entrepreneurial, corporate, and academic collaborative communities.
Charlotte Plaza Repositioning
Charlotte, North Carolina
Gensler’s interior renovation of the Charlotte Plaza property is designed to project a new sense of light, with open spaces and gathering places that spark creativity and focused collaboration.
Tabor Center Amenity Suite
Denver, Colorado
Gensler created a multi-modal amenity space to serve and support the tenants of the Tabor Center office building located in the heart of downtown Denver.
633 Folsom
San Francisco, California
Embodying a dynamic building reuse story, the reimagined 633 Folsom reduces both embodied and operational carbon and breathes new life into the Folsom Street corridor.
The Amp
Denver, Colorado
1580 Logan Street, now named The Amp, highlights the unique identities of Denver’s Uptown neighborhood in a building with vibrant, hospitality-focused amenities
The Book Depository
Detroit, Michigan
Ford returned to its roots in Detroit as a launchpad for shaping the future of mobility with the adaptive reuse of The Book Depository as a new Mobility Center.
730 Third Avenue
New York, New York
Nuveen Real Estate and development advisor Taconic Partners enlisted Gensler to transform 730 Third Avenue—TIAA’s headquarters since the 1950s—into a sophisticated Class A office and retail building.
The Peak Sapporo New Office Building
Hokkaido, Japan
Located in the central district of Sapporo, The Peak is an office building that offers communal lounges and a top floor terrace space for people to relax.
15 Laight Street
New York, New York
Vanbarton Group enlisted Gensler to transform 15 Laight Street — the former home of the Tribeca Film Festival — into a vibrant Class-A office building with ground floor retail.
550 Madison
New York, New York
Gensler’s reimagining of 550 Madison’s lobby breathes new life into the grand entry hall of this iconic skyscraper with a luminous design that is distinctive yet harmonious with the landmark building’s original architecture.
INSIGHTS
Blog
What We’ve Learned by Assessing More Than 1,000 Potential Office-to-Residential Conversions
We’ve developed a process for evaluating existing office buildings to determine if they are candidates for multifamily residential conversions.
Blog
From Pilots to Policy: Exploring Office-to-Residential Conversions in Boston
There are clear steps that can be taken to address the housing shortage, and we believe there is huge opportunity in office-to-residential conversion.
Blog
How Office-to-Residential Conversions Could Revitalize Downtown San Francisco
One of the easiest ways to create diversity in office-centric downtowns is to convert existing office buildings to other uses. Residential is an obvious choice.
Blog
Unlocking Hidden Value: How Cities and Developers Are Partnering to Turn Vacant Offices into Residential
Vacant office spaces are a burden for cities and developers. Here’s how to convert vacant office buildings into new housing.
Blog
10 Workplace Trends for 2024: What’s In and What’s Out?
To evolve with changing demands and earn people’s commutes, the workplace will undergo key shifts. Here are 10 emerging workplace trends to watch in 2024.
Blog
Open or Private? It’s Time for a New Workplace Model.
The debate of open versus private workspace has resurfaced. But today we work differently, it’s time for a new workplace model.
Blog
Office-to-Everything: A New Path for Revitalizing Downtowns
In the local New York City market, there is huge potential to return stranded assets back to their highest and best use by embracing diverse conversion types.
Blog
Unlocking the Value of ESG
Buildings that can show environmental responsibility and positive impacts in our community will have a competitive advantage among tenants and investors.
Blog
Why We Need Bold Change to Revitalize Our Cities
While there are points of concern for the current state of our city centers, this is also a unique opportunity to create meaningful and lasting change.
Blog
Adapting Big Box Retail Stores to Healthcare Clinics
Transforming abandoned storefronts into dynamic healthcare clinics can be a cost-effective and efficient way to deliver medical services to communities.
Blog
A Viable Future for L.A. Starts With Public-Private Partnerships
By partnering with the private sector, the City of L.A. can avoid a downward spiral of disinvestment and flight from Downtown L.A.
Podcast
Office-to-Residential Conversions: Mandates, Myths, and Possibilities
Experts weigh the opportunities, myths, and challenges of converting increasingly vacant office buildings into much needed housing.
Blog
How to Reposition Office Space for Market Differentiation
We must shift our thinking to focus less on workplace density and more on the experience and quality of space the office can deliver.
Blog
Resuscitating Buildings for Life Sciences and Healthcare
By reusing existing buildings, such as empty retail stores and office buildings, architects can bring health, sciences, and wellness services closer to communities.
Blog
Transforming a Generational Asset Into a Class A Tower
The reinvestment in 633 Folsom transformed a 1960s asset to reduce carbon and reanimate a vital urban corridor.
Blog
Old to Bold: How Hotel Adaptive Reuse Transforms Communities
Adaptive reuse has become a key strategy for revitalizing economically obsolete structures and breathing new life into urban centers.
Blog
Book Depository Jump-Starts Ford’s Detroit Innovation District
As Ford continues to evolve its business for a new century, the company has returned to its roots in the Motor City.
Podcast
How is Decarbonization Changing Architecture and Design?
We define embodied vs. operating carbon, address net carbon impact, discuss how we approach resilience with clients, and weigh carbon impact in interior design.
BUILDING TRANSFORMATION & ADAPTIVE REUSE TRENDS TO WATCH
Cities continue to amend regulations to meet the demand for building conversions.
As city and local governments recognize the opportunity to add more housing while also addressing stranded office building assets, they are amending local building codes and change-of-use regulations to support the demand for a more varied mix of uses in CBDs. The changes will also open the door to conversions for many types of spaces.
Public-private partnerships and government incentives are driving building and neighborhood transformation.
Cities have realized that single-function central business districts no longer serve them. To drive investment and encourage a new mix of uses, cities are creating public-private partnerships or offering other government incentives that can help ease the approvals process and tight margins on attainable housing projects.
The demand for sustainable, high-performing retrofits intensifies.
ESG goals, decarbonization targets, and emerging policies and regulations are increasing demand for adapted or retrofitted buildings that can be modified into high-performing assets at much lower carbon costs to comply with emerging policy requirements around lifecycle carbon analysis.
BUILDING TRANSFORMATION & ADAPTIVE REUSE LEADERSHIP
Matthew Holt
Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader
Matt is a Global Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader based in Gensler’s London office. His particular interest lies in solving complex repositioning projects...
Steven Paynter
Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader, Principal
Embodying the philosophy that diversity fosters innovation, Steven is widely recognized as an industry leader and an invaluable resource for market expertise to developers...
Sheryl Schulze
Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader, Studio Director, Principal
Sheryl is a Global Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader. A trusted advisor to many, Sheryl is a client advocate who is known for being able to clearly capture and...
NEWS
In The Media
![]()
The Architect’s Newspaper
Pearl House is the Largest Office-to-Residential Conversion in New York History
Principal Robert Fuller shared how Gensler’s transformation “harnesses the strengths of the existing architecture to create unique and elegant homes.”
December 14, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Smart Cities Dive
Factors To Examine in Order To Determine a Building’s Suitability for Adaptive Reuse Into Housing
Smart Cities Dive spotlighted analysis by Gensler, which found that office-to-residential conversion costs can be 30% lower than new construction.
November 21, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Fast Company
How Calgary ‘Blazed the Trail’ for Office-to-Residential Conversions
The city’s economic development agency began working with Gensler in fall 2020, as the firm began “looking at an approach where we could start analyzing buildings en masse,” says Gensler’s Steven Paynter.
November 18, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Urban Land Institute
Urban Land Institute Shared Insights From Gensler’s Steven Paynter on Office-to-Residential Conversions
Steven Paynter discussed his work to assess office-to-residential conversions and the firm’s conversion projects including Franklin Tower, The Residences at Rivermark, and 1 St Clair West.
November 14, 2023
In The Media
![]()
City A.M.
Gensler and CBRE IM Are Reimagining 10 Gresham Street As a Sustainable, Low-Carbon Refurbishment
Gensler London Co-Managing Director Richard Harrison explained the building will be transformed into a high-performance, sustainable future office environment.
November 14, 2023
In The Media
![]()
NY1
NY1 Interviewed Gensler Principal Robert Fuller About Transforming Stranded Assets in New York
Fuller shared the firm’s holistic approach for implementing conversion strategies and detailed the results of Gensler’s assessment of 125 potential NYC office-to-residential conversions.
November 10, 2023
In The Media
![]()
The Boston Globe
The Latest Developments in Office-to-Residential Conversions in Boston
Gensler Principal Todd Dundon shared how Boston’s pilot program offers tax breaks for conversion projects and why it’s “a step in making office conversions economically viable.”
November 06, 2023
In The Media
![]()
The Wall Street Journal
The Challenges Developers Face in Converting Empty Offices Into Apartments
The Wall Street Journal quoted Gensler Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader Steven Paynter about challenges such as higher interest rates and long approval times for permits.
November 06, 2023
In The Media
![]()
CTV News
CTV News Interviewed Steven Paynter About Gensler’s Office-to-Residential Scorecard
Building Transformation & Adaptive Reuse Leader Steven Paynter discussed how he created an algorithm with his colleagues to calculate the viability of converting offices into housing to address the crisis.
September 27, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Business Insider
Strategies for Office-to-Residential Conversions in New York
Gensler Principal Robert Fuller, who is leading the transformation of 160 Water Street, discussed cost-benefit analyses that clients should consider during the design stage.
September 10, 2023
In The Media
![]()
The Dallas Business Journal
How Gensler Transformed the Historic Dallas County Records Building and Complex
Gensler Principal Paul Manno discussed the preservation and renovation of the Dallas County Records Building and Complex, which blends a sense of legacy and modernization.
August 28, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Business Insider
There’s Growing Demand for Office Conversions as Cities Seek to Address Multiple Crises and Create Housing
Steven Paynter discussed Gensler’s work on office-to-residential conversions, including advising HUD and developing an algorithm, which has been used to assess over 950 buildings.
August 27, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Urban Land Institute
Urban Land Institute Tours 888 Douglas, an Adaptive Reuse Project in El Segundo, Calif.
Gensler reimagined a former aerospace research and manufacturing facility as a creative office campus.
August 18, 2023
In The Media
![]()
CoStar
Denver Joins Other Major U.S. Cities in Office-to-Residential Conversion Push
The city and county of Denver is working with Gensler to assess the feasibility of converting 16 office buildings into housing to address needs and create a central neighborhood district.
August 17, 2023
In The Media
![]()
PBS NewsHour
How U.S. Cities Are Converting Underperforming Office Buildings To Address Housing Shortages
Steven Paynter discussed how Gensler is assessing building conversions and our work at 160 Water Street, which will add nearly 600 apartments in Manhattan.
August 08, 2023
In The Media
![]()
Green Builder Media
How Conversions Can Return Life to Downtowns and Help Curb the Housing Crisis
Gensler has completed several successful office-to-residential conversions in Manhattan and identified office buildings in S.F.’s financial district that are good candidates for adaptive reuse.
August 06, 2023