America's prized office towers are facing a tough new reality: too storied to demolish, but too expensive to revive. Take the 26-story "Superman Building" in Providence, Rhode Island, long a local icon and skyline centerpiece, now sitting empty for more than a decade after Bank of America moved out. Efforts to transform the tower into apartments finally gained the city's OK, and a $308 million financing plan—until the developer, David Sweetser, died this summer, stalling the project once again. It's a dilemma unfolding in cities nationwide, reports the Wall Street Journal.
The legendary Chrysler Building in New York, for instance, saw ambitious overhaul plans unravel, hobbled by strict landmark protections and outdated infrastructure. Los Angeles' Times Mirror Square, Cincinnati's Carew Tower, and Detroit's Renaissance Center all face a similar limbo, with conversion costs climbing as inflation and high vacancy rates drag on. Some towers have found second lives: New York's Woolworth Building, for example, turned upper floors into luxury condos—the Flatiron Building is doing something similar, after a century as a commercial property—while Minneapolis' Foshay Tower is now a hotel. More commonly, however, historic offices languish, with owners unable to attract new tenants or justify pricey renovations without hefty public subsidies.
Nationally, office vacancy rates hover near record highs, and properties that sit idle rapidly deteriorate, gutting their neighborhoods' economies. Local governments are warming to office-to-residential conversions, but progress is slow and politically thorny. Public subsidies are often criticized as corporate welfare, leaving cities to weigh landmark preservation against more urgent matters. "We have other needs," Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall tells the Journal regarding a revised plan for Detroit's Renaissance Center. "We need to invest in roads and health care and public safety."
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Not everyone is shying away from these refurbishments. "Sometimes they're gifts and sometimes they're just challenges," Leo Addimando, managing partner of Alterra Property Group, tells the Philadelphia Business Journal of the "unexpected surprises" often found when redeveloping buildings in Philly. Learn to anticipate the unexpected, and prepare for it, Addimando notes, adding, "Really good buildings are like cats. They have nine lives. You just have to understand where one ends and [the next] begins."