Tenants move into first downtown apartment in Wu's office-residential conversion program

"Having that tax incentive is what made this project possible,"

"You're talking about historically high office vacancy rates - more than one out of every five square feet of office space in Boston is empty,"

"It's going to require just an awful lot more resources and thinking and kind of coming together to overcome that."

"I support retail conversion, but we need a bolder, broader strategy rooted in the creativity of public-private partnerships,"

Mayor Michelle Wu launched a residential conversion program in October 2023 and expanded it in June 2024 with an additional $15 million in state funding. The first completed project at 281 Franklin St. converted five floors of offices into 15 apartments, developed by Adam Burns' Boston Pinnacle Properties. New tenants are moving into the reworked downtown units. Burns said the tax incentive made the project possible. The city aims to convert nearly 700,000 square feet of office space into over 800 new units. Observers including Greg Maynard and Josh Kraft warned that high vacancy rates require more resources and broader public-private strategies.

Read at Boston.com