If you’ve spent time in downtown Cincinnati lately, you’ve probably noticed something changing. Office to residential conversions are happening at a rapid pace — adding more affordable housing to our City.
While many cities are struggling with empty office buildings and a shortage of affordable housing, Cincinnati is turning one challenge into an opportunity.
Nationally recognized as one of the country’s leaders in office to residential conversions, our community is giving new purpose to vacant buildings while creating much-needed homes for current and future residents.
Buildings that once housed offices, department stores, and businesses are beginning to serve a new purpose.
Across the city, developers and community leaders are transforming vacant and underused commercial properties into apartments–adding much-needed housing while breathing new life into historic buildings.
National & Local Standing in Office to Residential Conversions
- Cincinnati ranks second in the U.S. for office-to-residential conversions, behind only Cleveland.
- More than 9% of the city’s office space is currently being or planned for conversion, with 3.2 million square feet of space under conversion
Recent Projects
- The redevelopment of the former Macy’s building in downtown Cincinnati into hundreds of apartments and continued investment in converting historic office buildings into mixed-use residential communities.
- Atrium One (201 East Fourth Street): Announced just this week, a $76M adaptive reuse plan to convert part of this 20-story office tower into about 190 apartments, including a rare on-site childcare center. Construction is expected to start this summer, with completion in late 2028.
These office to residential projects are part of a broader effort to increase the city’s housing supply while revitalizing underused properties. It’s an encouraging trend, and one that reflects the creativity required to address one of our region’s most pressing challenges: the shortage of affordable housing.
The lack of affordable housing remains the primary driver of homelessness in Greater Cincinnati.
While homelessness is often associated with individual circumstances, the reality is much broader. When rents rise faster than incomes, even families with steady jobs can find themselves at risk.
At Strategies to End Homelessness, we see the impact of this housing shortage every day.
That’s why our work focuses not only on responding to homelessness but preventing it whenever possible. Through coordinated services, landlord partnerships, housing navigation, and data-driven prevention strategies, we’re working alongside community partners to help families remain safely housed.
We need innovations like office to residential conversions. The affordable housing crisis wasn’t created overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight.
But the growing momentum behind housing innovation–including the thoughtful reuse of vacant commercial buildings–is an encouraging reminder. A reminder that communities can adapt, collaborate, and find creative solutions to complex challenges.