Thousands of apartments set to take over empty office buildings with new L.A. ordinance

"This is monumental for the city."

"When you take that risk off the table, it materially improves the feasibility of conversions," he said."

""It addresses both the housing shortage and the long-term office vacancy issue," said Lee, president of Jamison Properties."

Los Angeles adopted a Citywide Adaptive Reuse Ordinance allowing commercial buildings 15 years old or older to be converted to housing with city staff approval. The ordinance expands conversion eligibility beyond the 1999 guidelines that applied mainly to pre-1975 downtown buildings. Streamlined approvals remove lengthy review processes and reduce timing uncertainty for developers, improving project feasibility. Developer Garrett Lee has begun converting an office high-rise into nearly 700 apartments. The policy change targets conversion opportunities across the city amid more than 50 million square feet of vacant office space, addressing both housing shortages and long-term office vacancy.

Read at Los Angeles Times