NYC’s Bold Housing Strategy Targets High Rents

The promise behind New York City’s office-to-residential conversion push relies on simple supply-and-demand: Turn underused office buildings into homes at a time when rents remain high, and developers face high construction costs, limited land and a maze of regulatory requirements for new housing.

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For developers, the tax benefit can determine whether an otherwise marginal conversion works financially.

Adam Laver, a real estate partner at Blank Rome, described development incentives as potentially decisive for adaptive-reuse projects.

“The availability (or lack thereof) of development incentives can absolutely make or break the viability of potential adaptive reuse projects,” Laver told Patch in an email.

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The first question developers must ask, according to Laver:

“Does the Zoning Code permit multi-family residential use?”

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"NYC’s Bold Housing Strategy Targets High Rents," by Ainsley Martinez was published in Patch on August 21, 2026.