PostCOVID retail slump is fueling a quiet housing fix across California

"In a five-story, 204-unit apartment building in downtown Los Angeles, around 5,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor sat vacant for more than a decade. Decals covered the windows, showcasing racks of clothing and a cartoon woman drinking coffee. City code incentivized these types of commercial spaces, and typically, a coffee shop or a boutique opened up. But the years ticked by and no project ever materialized at this building, known as Canvas LA."

"No city wants vacant retail spaces lining its streets, but walk through downtowns and neighborhood corridors in any California city these days, and you'd be hard-pressed not to find unleased storefronts dotting the landscape. City zoning codes, which historically prized or outright required retail when permitting new buildings, don't seem to have caught up with the country's shrinking retail landscape."

"Now, under the pressure of state housing mandates, some cities are beginning to embrace more creative solutions. Converting these streetside storefronts into housing is difficult - and it won't work for every building, just as it won't work to turn every vacant office building into housing. But anecdotally, there's been an uptick in new proposals for retail space conversions that could make these formerly unfillable spaces into residences - and put a tiny dent in the state's housing crisis."

A five-story, 204-unit downtown Los Angeles building left roughly 5,000 square feet of ground-floor retail vacant for more than a decade despite incentives for commercial space. Unleased storefronts are common across California as the national retail market contracts and historic zoning requirements for retail remain out of step. Under state housing mandates, some cities are exploring conversions of street-level retail into residences. Such conversions are complex and not feasible for every building, but examples show mixed outcomes: large retail pads can languish while smaller live-work units lease quickly. Conversions could modestly expand housing supply.

Read at SFGATE