If current trends continue, many workers in cities like Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) will return to their workplaces full-time or operate on a hybrid schedule as organizations of all sizes continue to recover from the pandemic's impacts. Some people will continue remote work for the rest of 2021, others permanently. With these impending shifts, many of us are wondering what the future will hold for office buildings and commercial spaces.

Cities like Los Angeles and urban centers like DTLA are home to high concentrations of commercial and office spaces, and DTLA has over 66M square feet of office space. The evolution of the office will shape urban centers for years to come, and one way to better accommodate this evolution is through adaptive reuse, or the repurposing of existing, vacant or underutilized buildings for different uses. Yet, adaptive reuse is a development tool that predates the pandemic and provides property owners more flexibility to make decisions about how their buildings can best be used regardless of whether office demand changes over the long term.

We know urban centers are historically resilient and have evolved to meet changes in demand, and while the future of office spaces continues to be debated, this discussion provides an opportunity to consider new, innovative ways that existing buildings could be used. For instance, if just five to 10 percent of the City of Los Angeles' estimated total 155M square feet of office space was converted to housing, it could yield roughly 8,000 to 16,000 new housing units.

CCA recently published a white paper on how adaptive reuse would create more flexibility in land use and development, further sustainability goals, spur economic recovery and create new housing, a critical need in our city. We provide a framework of recommendations for how the City of Los Angeles can update its adaptive reuse ordinance to apply citywide and to a greater variety of buildings and uses. We believe that expanding adaptive reuse development is one important tool to help cities tackle today's challenges.

Pictured here is Highbury Square in London, a professional soccer stadium reused as apartments. Adaptive reuse has produced some of the most unique and cherished urban spaces around the world and provides vital housing and community-serving amenities. (Image Source: joe.co.uk)

Adaptive reuse has a proven track record of delivering housing in DTLA. After the City implemented a streamlined adaptive reuse policy for DTLA in 1999, the heart of the city transformed from an office park to a mixed-use, vibrant neighborhood in just over two decades. This policy created the necessary zoning flexibility to deliver over 12,000 new housing units, more than 30 percent of the total units added in Downtown over this time period.

Expanding building reuse for in-demand uses would help sustain our local economies and provide a means to convert vacant and underutilized commercial and other buildings into much-needed housing and other uses. It can also help reduce carbon emissions and promote developments that create walkable neighborhoods by locating housing, commercial spaces and community amenities in close proximity.

For instance, Para Los Niños Charter Elementary School provides quality education and additional services to families, and is located in an adaptively reused historic industrial building in DTLA. Adaptive reuse is one way we can help meet the future demand for early childhood education (ECE) and school facilities online as we advocate for DTLA and our city to be more inclusive and accessible.

Los Angeles' existing adaptive reuse policy only applies to buildings constructed before 1975 in a few areas of the city. We believe this impactful and effective tool should be updated citywide and to a broader array of buildings. We are encouraged that the City and our elected leaders have also seen the potential for expanding adaptive reuse to provide more flexibility and ensure our buildings and spaces can take on new uses that meet communities' needs. There are three proposals currently being considered via the DTLA Community Plan Update and two motions from Councilmember Cedillo and Koretz, respectively.

CCA recommends implementing an updated ordinance that applies citywide quickly to encourage recovery from the pandemic. Los Angeles should be the city to proactively leverage this moment of uncertainty to create opportunities for existing buildings to be repurposed according to future demands. We look forward to continued partnership with our City leaders to achieve this goal.