Just a quick reminder that Phoenix’s vacant hotels and underused offices are turning into rentals faster than ever. The metro area boasts the 20th biggest pipeline of adaptive reuse apartments, according to RentCafe.com’s latest report.
LOCAL NEWS: Phoenix housing market outpaces national trends again in 2025
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Here’s a quick breakdown:
• The Valley is set to deliver 2,463 apartments through adaptive reuse projects in the years to come.
• The vast majority (70%) are expected from former office spaces. Across the metro area, seven former office buildings will be repurposed into 1,706 apartments, including 1,183 units in Phoenix.
• The 3 largest projects are Kierland Sky with 420 apartments; the Canyon Corporate Center redevelopment with 376 units; and the Punchcard Building’s transformation into a mixed-use property with 245 new units.
Zooming out, a record 181,000 adaptive reuse apartments are in various stages of development across the nation.
Key takeaways nationally:
- Close to 25,000 apartments were completed in 2024 from adaptive reuse projects across the U.S., up a staggering 50% compared to 2023.
- Hotels were, once again, the top category for adaptive reuse projects last year while office conversions accounted for nearly one quarter of all new units.
- Chicago replaced Manhattan as the top city for apartments from repurposed buildings, but the New York City borough leads in office conversions.
- A record-breaking 181,000 apartments are now in various stages of development across the nation, mostly from office spaces — up 19% compared to last year.
Looking ahead, conversion projects seem to gather momentum even further as nearly 181,000 apartments are now being converted, mostly from office spaces. Specifically, our analysis of Yardi Matrix data as of July shows that roughly 78,500 units are expected from the makeovers of former offices, followed by hotels with 35,800 apartments and industrial buildings with more than 31,000 units.
