There’s been discussion recently of combining two problems – New York’s never-ending housing shortage, and the current glut of office space because of the Covid-inspired push towards working from home and hybrid work – into one solution. Convert offices to apartments and in theory each problems solves the other. It’s not that easy, of course, because of the different requirements for apartment space and office space, as well as the cost of conversion, but it’s been done in the past and should be examined now.
“A Housing Plan for Manhattan’s Empty Spaces” by Mihir Zaveri looks at one current plan. The picture above shows 90 West Street circa 1910, when it was an office building and across the street from the Hudson River; it’s now an apartment house across the street from Battery Park City.
