The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley released two papers this week on the conversion of commercial properties into residential developments.  Both papers were funded by the California Department of Real Estate.

The first paper, Adaptive Reuse Challenges and Opportunities in California, includes architectural case studies and looks at the likelihood of adaptive reuse of commercial buildings for residential purposes. It identifies specific architectural, financial, and policy factors that are most likely to be predictive of adaptive reuse being a viable strategy for sites with existing commercial buildings.  Additionally, AIA CA Members Michael Malinowski, FAIA, Ric. Abramson, FAIA, Wade Killefer, FAIA, and Chelsea Johnson, AIA contributed to the development of this paper.

The second paper, Strip Malls to Homes: An analysis of Commercial to Residential Conversions in California, finds that over the five-year period of 2014 to 2019 about 38,000 homes were built on commercially zoned land across the state’s four major metro areas—Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Sacramento, and San Diego—and only slightly more housing can be expected to be built over the next five years, absent policy changes. Notably, not all California regions are equally positioned to see commercial lands play a significant contributing role to new housing supply going forward. Locally variable land use policies drive much of the difference between regions; for example, the Los Angeles region substantially surpasses the rest of the state in terms of its rate of conversion.

Trusted Advisor: that is a role that the architectural profession embraces in many dimensions.  At the state level, AIA California engages with key state agencies as they consider how policy, code and regulation can both support and impede critical objectives.  In our state there is no shortage of critical challenges: a massive housing crisis; increasingly disastrous consequences of climate deterioration; and increasing disconnects in affordability, equity and inclusion.   All these issues intersect with architecture.

Photo credit: Rick Lopes, Department of Real Estate
In the photo is (left) Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez (Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency)

AIA California was invited to provide feedback and insight on how the intersection of architecture and adaptive reuse can help us move forward in all these areas.  An in depth workshop was held on November 1^st at Sacramento’s Warehouse Artist Lofts – an Historic Adaptive Reuse project.  This proved a perfect backdrop given its role in revitalization of Sacramento’s blooming R Street Corridor while supporting artist housing with 116 affordable units ranging from studio lofts to 3 bedroom 2 bath family housing.

Invited parties to this in-depth conversation included

• Lourdes Castro Ramirez, Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
• Douglas McCauley, Commissioner California Department of Real Estate
• Michael F. Malinowski FAIA AIA California Consultant and Architect of the WAL
• James Kinloch, CFY Development Manager of WAL
• A number of residents of the WAL, and key staffers from State Agencies.

Among the discussion points:

• California must find ways to increasingly support adaptive reuse of commercial and historic buildings for much needed urban and infill housing throughout the state. Terner Center research indicates this can be feasible, with case study examples showing paths to success, and challenges that can be overcome with shifts in policy and law. Projects which repurpose existing infrastructure can provide well-paying jobs, while also being important to addressing climate deterioration, since even the best performing new buildings can take between 20 and 80 years to recoup in operational savings the embodied carbon impacts of their original construction.
• Architects can play a key role in disseminating the information needed for these retrofit and reuse projects to be more widely utilized and successful.
• Support of the AIACA initiative to expand California’s Existing Building Code. This effort would bring to California Six now missing ICC chapters providing design professionals with new and powerful optional tools applicable to repurposing existing building.  This effort is slated for major progress in the next code cycle which begins in early 2022.

AIA CA was there, represented by Michael F. Malinowski FAIA at this key working session, which is the initial step in an emerging state emphasis on this path toward.  Retrofitting existing buildings provides the proverbial win-win-win when well done: huge embodied carbon benefits; increased urban and infill housing;  economic revitalization of our cities and well-paying jobs; and increased equity, affordability and inclusion.

These new Terner Reports announced at this event are available here:

https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Adaptive-Reuse-November-2021.pdf

https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Commercial-Zoning-Quantitative-November-2021.pdf