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In the early hours of the morning, through a wooden revolving door, the Pittsfield Cafe bustles in downtown Chicago. If you look up from your plate of flapjacks, you\u2019ll notice that much of its historic home, the 38-story Pittsfield Building, is vacant office space.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n That could change soon, however, as the Chicago City Council recently approved the Art Deco skyscraper built in 1927 to be <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>converted into 214 residential apartments<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, adding to the 228 apartments previously approved.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As the nation reels from a housing crisis, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>office-to-housing conversions<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> are taking off in cities across the country. New York City, for example, saw annual office conversions surge from 1.6 million square feet in 2023 to <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>3.3 million square feet last year<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Illinois Policy, a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>nonpartisan advocacy organization<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>, says Chicago \u2014 which faces an affordable <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>housing shortfall<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> of roughly 100,000 homes \u2014 could do more to follow New York\u2019s lead.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cChicago\u2019s commercial vacancies could help its residential shortage if policymakers are willing to make it a priority,\u201d the organization said in <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>a recent analysis<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Chicago currently has a greater proportion of vacant downtown office space than New York City \u2014 estimated at 28% compared with New York\u2019s 13%.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Unlike New <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>York, Chicago takes \u201ca more narrow, case-by-case approach\u201d to financial assistance for office-to-residential conversion projects, IP stated.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n There are currently at least <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>11 planned office conversion<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> projects in the works in Chicago, many part of the city\u2019s plans to revitalize the LaSalle Street corridor, bringing <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>1,765 units of mixed-income housing to its downtown and repurposing <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>2 million square feet of vacant space<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Illinois Policy provided three recommendations for how the city could encourage more office-to-housing conversions downtown:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cConverting empty office space into housing won\u2019t solve Chicago\u2019s housing shortage overnight, but it can make a meaningful dent while revitalizing the city\u2019s commercial core,\u201d Illinois Policy stated.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The new apartments in the Pittsfield Building will be a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units, Block Club Chicago reported. Per the Affordable Requirements Ordinance, 20% will be affordable.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n