Alexandria Cracks the Code in Office to Residential Conversions

As cities all over the nation look at the benefits of real estate conversion projects, it seems Alexandria may already be well ahead of the rest. You might say that Alexandria has already cracked the code in terms of office-to-residential conversions.  

Just last year, RentCafe reported that Alexandria had the second most office-to-residential conversions in the entire nation, behind only Los Angeles. You’ll find many of these conversion projects in the Old Town section of Alexandria.

The trend is one that’s been in progress for the past few years. RentCafe credits 2019 and 2020 as being peak years for adaptive reuse. The website points to adaptive reuse as a solution of sorts to not only help with increased housing demand, but also perhaps help rejuvenate downtown areas. 

In terms of Alexandria, one such example is the former Chamber of Commerce building at 801 North Fairfax that was recently converted into dozens of condos. Also called 801 North, the boutique property is almost sold out now, with one- and two-bedroom units in the building, as well as some penthouse residences.

Another example in Alexandria is TownGate North. In this case, two office buildings were turned into around 80 condominium homes. This Old Town property sits along the Potomac River with a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom possibilities.

Three existing office buildings were turned into hundreds of luxury apartments and office space called Park + Ford. The apartment property additionally includes a fitness room, clubroom, and a pet spa

These likely won’t be the only examples of office-to-residential conversion projects in Alexandria. There are several other projects that could be planned or considered for the future.

So, why Alexandria? Some real estate experts point to the standalone buildings that already exist in this part of the DC area, which oftentimes have smaller floorplans which make conversion projects easier. Alexandria also offers some incentives to developers.