Housing Advisory Board hears expertise, obstacles on converting vacant offices to housing

The Housing Advisory Board met Jan. 22, 2025, and devoted an hourlong panel to the prospects and limits of converting vacant office buildings into housing in Boulder.

The discussion, moderated by Holly Hendrickson, senior project manager in the city’s Department of Housing and Human Services, emphasized that office-to-residential conversions can add units in the near term but are usually ‘‘market tinkering’’ rather than a market‑shaping solution. “I consider this concept…a market tinkering solution,” Hendrickson said, urging the board to treat conversions as one tool among many.

Panelists pulled from recent local and regional projects to show how results vary by building type and program. Pete Weber, principal at Coburn/COBRA Architects, described a conversion of the Geological Society of America building for Boulder Housing Partners, saying office buildings “are designed with an office user in mind. They are not designed with the idea of living there.” He showed how design features such as deep floor plates, circulation areas and light wells can be reconfigured to put bedrooms and living areas on exterior walls while re-using the building’s robust structural frame.

Nonprofit-operated programs were described as a different use case. Weber and others described Bridge House’s Ready to Work conversions in Aurora and Englewood:…