LA Ranks No. 2 as Adaptive Reuse Adds 5,640 Units

A surge in LA adaptive reuse development is turning vacant commercial buildings into thousands of new apartments, with 5,640 residential units now underway across Los Angeles. The volume places Los Angeles second in the nation for commercial-to-residential conversions, behind only Manhattan.

Rental housing platform RentCafe, citing data from Yardi Matrix, reports that LA currently has 5,640 units in active adaptive reuse projects. Manhattan leads the nation with about 11,000 units in progress.

About half of LA’s conversions involve office buildings. As of July, 11 office-to-apartment projects were in development, accounting for 2,843 upcoming units. Nationally, 24,735 units were delivered through adaptive reuse last year, and another 181,000 units are in the pipeline.

The trend has accelerated in LA since the pandemic, as rising downtown office vacancies combined with a deep housing shortage. The city first introduced its adaptive reuse ordinance in 1999 and eased regulations again in 2024 to encourage more redevelopment. City officials now treat these projects as a central strategy for expanding the housing supply.

According to CBRE, converting existing office buildings can significantly cut both time and costs by avoiding the need for new zoning approvals in Downtown LA. “The benefit of adaptive reuse is that you don’t need new zoning entitlements in Downtown LA, which saves both time and money,” said Philip Sample of CBRE.

Ground-up construction typically requires 18 to 24 months of build time, while interior office conversions can be completed faster and at lower cost. One Downtown LA property marketed by Sample, located at 811 Wilshire Blvd, is being sold for 43 million dollars—or 130 dollars per square foot—with a residential conversion in mind. He emphasized that new construction in LA cannot be built today at that price point. The property recently entered a maturity default, triggered when its loan reached its term without previous payment delinquencies.

CBRE notes that buildings most suitable for conversion generally offer ceiling heights of at least nine feet in finished units, floor plates near 8,000 square feet in a rectangular layout, strong walkability, and on-site parking.

Among the most active developers in LA is Jamison Services, the largest Korean American–owned real estate firm in the region. The company has already delivered 1,500 units across seven adaptive reuse projects and is advancing three more office conversions in the city.

Jamison Services is transforming the 33-story ARCO Building at 1055 W. 7th St into 691 apartments. In Koreatown, it is converting the 19-story LA County Superior Court building at 600 S. Commonwealth Ave into 428 units and an 18-story tower at 695 S. Vermont Ave into 255 units. Together, these projects reflect how adaptive reuse continues to reshape the city’s aging commercial properties into much-needed housing.

BY HOONSIK WOO [woo.hoonsik@koreadaily.com]