人們對完全面對面工作能否恢復到疫情前水平的預期很低,這反過來又降低了面對面工作空間的需求。事實上,根據(jù)全球房地產(chǎn)公司戴德梁行在2023年初發(fā)布的一份報告,由于遠程辦公和混合辦公模式,到下一個十年,美國可能會有多達3.3億平方英尺的辦公空間空置。此外,戴德梁行的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,到2030年,將有7.4億平方英尺(0.69億平方米)的辦公空間因“自然原因”而空置,閑置辦公空間累計將達到約10億平方英尺(0.93億平方米)。
與此同時,美國的住房建設仍然不足。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,美國“結構性短缺”約200萬套住房。這是保守估計。當摩根士丹利的研究人員作出“激進”假設時,他們計算出美國住房建設不足達到了驚人的600萬套。
住房存量不足加上寫字樓供過于求,導致開發(fā)商開始質疑如何重新規(guī)劃商業(yè)空間。但是,寫字樓改住宅項目能否真正成為一種既經(jīng)濟又快捷的方式,來提供更多的住房單元呢?
房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商、房地產(chǎn)技術公司Form Developers的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人鮑比·菲揚大約十年前就開始涉足寫字樓改住宅領域。其中一個項目是將費城市中心一棟20世紀20年代的裝飾藝術風格寫字樓改成200套住宅單元,打破了該市當時的租金紀錄。
他在接受《財富》雜志采訪時表示:“歷史性建筑改建的表現(xiàn)遠遠超出了它們應有的水平。改建成本與新建成本大致相同。只是速度稍快而已。”利用他在樓層規(guī)劃、公寓開發(fā)和物業(yè)技術方面的專業(yè)知識,菲揚繼續(xù)在美國各地尋求寫字樓改住宅項目。
《財富》雜志采訪了菲揚,詳細了解了寫字樓改住宅的過程,以及這是不是一種可行的替代方案。為了便于理解,本文略有刪減。
寫字樓改住宅項目需要滿足哪些條件?
在任何類型的改建中,都有幾種不同的情況。其中之一是購買房產(chǎn),然后基本上買斷所有租戶的租約——我認為這是人們在考慮改建時需要認識到的關鍵部分之一。這不僅僅是滿足基本條件的問題。
改建需要對所有建筑設施進行徹底改造——基本上,電氣、暖通空調和管道系統(tǒng)都要改造。這在很大程度上與空間劃分或空氣流動(各獨立空間)有關,而且顯然,你需要規(guī)劃新浴室的位置。你必須進行大量的拆除工作。改建和新建的成本差不多。只是速度稍快而已。
在費城的項目中,我們必須買下大樓,然后向租戶支付一筆額外的費用,因為大樓必須空置。在大樓空置之前,你確實無法開始改建,因為很顯然,大樓里的每個人都有權用水。在大樓全部空置之前,你無法開始真正的拆除工作。
聯(lián)邦補貼如何促進寫字樓改住宅項目?獲得歷史性建筑物相關稅收抵免是否容易?
我認為這是非常有趣的,非常重要的一點,但在關于寫字樓改住宅項目的討論中卻被忽略了。真正復雜的是,歷史性建筑物相關稅收抵免是由美國國家公園管理局(National Park Service)管理的,該管理局隸屬于內政部(Department of the Interior)。這是一項旨在保護歷史性建筑物的計劃,極其復雜。
第一部分是建筑必須被列入或公認列入《國家歷史名勝古跡名錄》(National Register of Historic Places)。你可以說它是歷史性建筑物,因為它是一座富麗堂皇的裝飾藝術風格建筑,是由這個人建造的;你也可以說它是歷史性建筑物,因為某個名人在這里上過學、住過,或者曾在重大歷史事件中出現(xiàn)過。你必須向政府內部的自然保護機構提出申請。
這項福利適用于那些被列入《國家歷史名勝古跡名錄》的建筑。然后,你的建筑師會根據(jù)你要做的改動繪制完整的圖紙。毋庸置疑,你要與歷史顧問合作。
沒有具體的指導方針,因為這更多地取決于改建目標。人們通常會認識到,你必須保留外墻的幾乎所有東西。幾乎不可能在外部添加任何東西。如果你要更換窗戶或類似的東西,毋庸置疑,必須在可能的范圍內使用與當時完全相同的材料。如果需要符合現(xiàn)代建筑標準,比如無障礙設施,那么可另行安排。
寫字樓改住宅項目有什么好處?
政府規(guī)定,它是所謂合理費用的20%。這些費用包括建筑物附屬物和支付給總承包商的費用。我認為估算這些費用的簡便方法是,約四分之一的建筑成本可以進行抵免。美國國稅局以直線折舊的方式來管理這項抵免。因此,如果你花費了4000萬美元,而稅收抵免額為1000萬美元,這意味著你可以在五年內每年扣除200萬美元。
通常情況下,你會引入稅收抵免投資者——可能是保險公司,有時也可能是高凈值個人,或是其他銀行——希望獲得這筆收入的人。他們先投入資金,然后通常以88美分到92美分不等的價格購買折舊或稅收抵免。
歷史性建筑物相關稅收抵免的另一大優(yōu)勢是,如今的貸款環(huán)境雖然嚴峻,但如果你考慮到項目的整體資本堆棧,通常建筑貸款機構會貸出60%到70%的資金。在此基礎上,允許使用稅收抵免,可以讓一些改建項目在開發(fā)商的現(xiàn)金資金上獲得略高的杠桿。
后疫情時代更多地向遠程或混合工作模式轉變是否為這些類項目提供了更多的閑置辦公空間?
新冠肺炎疫情后并沒有出現(xiàn)巨大變化,部分原因是我之前提到的一些復雜因素。新業(yè)主仍然需要買斷租約,并且仍然需要讓大樓完全空置。
坦率地說,另一件復雜的事情是,我曾考察過一些符合條件的項目,但寫字樓的基礎價格下跌得太快,以至于項目的實際所有者無法真正控制。跌幅如此之大,以至于基本上所有貸款機構和股權合伙人都意識到,沒有人會得到補償。這使得交易變得非常復雜,因為存在大量不確定性。
在某些市場,我們是否有望看到更多寫字樓改住宅項目?例如,波士頓最近推出了一項試點計劃,為市中心閑置寫字樓的改建提供稅收優(yōu)惠。
但這并非易事,因為這項優(yōu)惠政策附帶租金限制。你必須遵守包容性分區(qū)租金比例。我認為,房地產(chǎn)稅收優(yōu)惠的價值高于限制收入的價值。但是,總體而言,我覺得這一舉措大有助益。
我聯(lián)系了一位較大的開發(fā)商朋友(在全美開展業(yè)務),他說因為這是一個試點項目,而且有項目啟動的最后期限,所以他們更傾向于認為——我想我也有同感——這可能只適用于那些即將啟動的項目。這可能會促使一些項目開始實施,但由于這只是最初的試點項目,似乎還沒有足夠的時間來影響很多其他事情。如果擴大試點范圍,情況可能會有所不同,但我認為你必須在2024年底之前開始施工,時間相當緊迫了。
寫字樓改住宅項目租金會更高嗎?
這很難說。我公司主要負責提供平面圖數(shù)據(jù)。盡管我知道這是事實,但我沒有辦法明確地對一棟建筑進行分類(該建筑價值是否高)。
在任何市場中,表現(xiàn)最好的單元通常都是新建的,因為他們總是能設計出盡可能小的單元,這樣每平方英尺的租金總是最高的。即使在邁阿密,周圍很多高檔建筑都是改建而成的,比如在南海灘。
這是一個極其復雜的問題。我個人喜歡投資那些歷史悠久的建筑。比起現(xiàn)代建筑師的作品,我更信賴歷經(jīng)歲月滄桑的建筑物的設計和細節(jié)。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
人們對完全面對面工作能否恢復到疫情前水平的預期很低,這反過來又降低了面對面工作空間的需求。事實上,根據(jù)全球房地產(chǎn)公司戴德梁行在2023年初發(fā)布的一份報告,由于遠程辦公和混合辦公模式,到下一個十年,美國可能會有多達3.3億平方英尺的辦公空間空置。此外,戴德梁行的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,到2030年,將有7.4億平方英尺(0.69億平方米)的辦公空間因“自然原因”而空置,閑置辦公空間累計將達到約10億平方英尺(0.93億平方米)。
與此同時,美國的住房建設仍然不足。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,美國“結構性短缺”約200萬套住房。這是保守估計。當摩根士丹利的研究人員作出“激進”假設時,他們計算出美國住房建設不足達到了驚人的600萬套。
住房存量不足加上寫字樓供過于求,導致開發(fā)商開始質疑如何重新規(guī)劃商業(yè)空間。但是,寫字樓改住宅項目能否真正成為一種既經(jīng)濟又快捷的方式,來提供更多的住房單元呢?
房地產(chǎn)開發(fā)商、房地產(chǎn)技術公司Form Developers的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人鮑比·菲揚大約十年前就開始涉足寫字樓改住宅領域。其中一個項目是將費城市中心一棟20世紀20年代的裝飾藝術風格寫字樓改成200套住宅單元,打破了該市當時的租金紀錄。
他在接受《財富》雜志采訪時表示:“歷史性建筑改建的表現(xiàn)遠遠超出了它們應有的水平。改建成本與新建成本大致相同。只是速度稍快而已。”利用他在樓層規(guī)劃、公寓開發(fā)和物業(yè)技術方面的專業(yè)知識,菲揚繼續(xù)在美國各地尋求寫字樓改住宅項目。
《財富》雜志采訪了菲揚,詳細了解了寫字樓改住宅的過程,以及這是不是一種可行的替代方案。為了便于理解,本文略有刪減。
寫字樓改住宅項目需要滿足哪些條件?
在任何類型的改建中,都有幾種不同的情況。其中之一是購買房產(chǎn),然后基本上買斷所有租戶的租約——我認為這是人們在考慮改建時需要認識到的關鍵部分之一。這不僅僅是滿足基本條件的問題。
改建需要對所有建筑設施進行徹底改造——基本上,電氣、暖通空調和管道系統(tǒng)都要改造。這在很大程度上與空間劃分或空氣流動(各獨立空間)有關,而且顯然,你需要規(guī)劃新浴室的位置。你必須進行大量的拆除工作。改建和新建的成本差不多。只是速度稍快而已。
在費城的項目中,我們必須買下大樓,然后向租戶支付一筆額外的費用,因為大樓必須空置。在大樓空置之前,你確實無法開始改建,因為很顯然,大樓里的每個人都有權用水。在大樓全部空置之前,你無法開始真正的拆除工作。
聯(lián)邦補貼如何促進寫字樓改住宅項目?獲得歷史性建筑物相關稅收抵免是否容易?
我認為這是非常有趣的,非常重要的一點,但在關于寫字樓改住宅項目的討論中卻被忽略了。真正復雜的是,歷史性建筑物相關稅收抵免是由美國國家公園管理局(National Park Service)管理的,該管理局隸屬于內政部(Department of the Interior)。這是一項旨在保護歷史性建筑物的計劃,極其復雜。
第一部分是建筑必須被列入或公認列入《國家歷史名勝古跡名錄》(National Register of Historic Places)。你可以說它是歷史性建筑物,因為它是一座富麗堂皇的裝飾藝術風格建筑,是由這個人建造的;你也可以說它是歷史性建筑物,因為某個名人在這里上過學、住過,或者曾在重大歷史事件中出現(xiàn)過。你必須向政府內部的自然保護機構提出申請。
這項福利適用于那些被列入《國家歷史名勝古跡名錄》的建筑。然后,你的建筑師會根據(jù)你要做的改動繪制完整的圖紙。毋庸置疑,你要與歷史顧問合作。
沒有具體的指導方針,因為這更多地取決于改建目標。人們通常會認識到,你必須保留外墻的幾乎所有東西。幾乎不可能在外部添加任何東西。如果你要更換窗戶或類似的東西,毋庸置疑,必須在可能的范圍內使用與當時完全相同的材料。如果需要符合現(xiàn)代建筑標準,比如無障礙設施,那么可另行安排。
寫字樓改住宅項目有什么好處?
政府規(guī)定,它是所謂合理費用的20%。這些費用包括建筑物附屬物和支付給總承包商的費用。我認為估算這些費用的簡便方法是,約四分之一的建筑成本可以進行抵免。美國國稅局以直線折舊的方式來管理這項抵免。因此,如果你花費了4000萬美元,而稅收抵免額為1000萬美元,這意味著你可以在五年內每年扣除200萬美元。
通常情況下,你會引入稅收抵免投資者——可能是保險公司,有時也可能是高凈值個人,或是其他銀行——希望獲得這筆收入的人。他們先投入資金,然后通常以88美分到92美分不等的價格購買折舊或稅收抵免。
歷史性建筑物相關稅收抵免的另一大優(yōu)勢是,如今的貸款環(huán)境雖然嚴峻,但如果你考慮到項目的整體資本堆棧,通常建筑貸款機構會貸出60%到70%的資金。在此基礎上,允許使用稅收抵免,可以讓一些改建項目在開發(fā)商的現(xiàn)金資金上獲得略高的杠桿。
后疫情時代更多地向遠程或混合工作模式轉變是否為這些類項目提供了更多的閑置辦公空間?
新冠肺炎疫情后并沒有出現(xiàn)巨大變化,部分原因是我之前提到的一些復雜因素。新業(yè)主仍然需要買斷租約,并且仍然需要讓大樓完全空置。
坦率地說,另一件復雜的事情是,我曾考察過一些符合條件的項目,但寫字樓的基礎價格下跌得太快,以至于項目的實際所有者無法真正控制。跌幅如此之大,以至于基本上所有貸款機構和股權合伙人都意識到,沒有人會得到補償。這使得交易變得非常復雜,因為存在大量不確定性。
在某些市場,我們是否有望看到更多寫字樓改住宅項目?例如,波士頓最近推出了一項試點計劃,為市中心閑置寫字樓的改建提供稅收優(yōu)惠。
但這并非易事,因為這項優(yōu)惠政策附帶租金限制。你必須遵守包容性分區(qū)租金比例。我認為,房地產(chǎn)稅收優(yōu)惠的價值高于限制收入的價值。但是,總體而言,我覺得這一舉措大有助益。
我聯(lián)系了一位較大的開發(fā)商朋友(在全美開展業(yè)務),他說因為這是一個試點項目,而且有項目啟動的最后期限,所以他們更傾向于認為——我想我也有同感——這可能只適用于那些即將啟動的項目。這可能會促使一些項目開始實施,但由于這只是最初的試點項目,似乎還沒有足夠的時間來影響很多其他事情。如果擴大試點范圍,情況可能會有所不同,但我認為你必須在2024年底之前開始施工,時間相當緊迫了。
寫字樓改住宅項目租金會更高嗎?
這很難說。我公司主要負責提供平面圖數(shù)據(jù)。盡管我知道這是事實,但我沒有辦法明確地對一棟建筑進行分類(該建筑價值是否高)。
在任何市場中,表現(xiàn)最好的單元通常都是新建的,因為他們總是能設計出盡可能小的單元,這樣每平方英尺的租金總是最高的。即使在邁阿密,周圍很多高檔建筑都是改建而成的,比如在南海灘。
這是一個極其復雜的問題。我個人喜歡投資那些歷史悠久的建筑。比起現(xiàn)代建筑師的作品,我更信賴歷經(jīng)歲月滄桑的建筑物的設計和細節(jié)。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:中慧言-王芳
There are low expectations that fully in-person work will ever return to pre-pandemic levels, which in turn has lessened the need for in-person workspaces. In fact, as much as 330 million square feet of U.S. office space could become vacant by the turn of the new decade, owing to remote and hybrid work, according to a report released in early 2023 by global real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. Plus, an additional 740 million square feet of office space will become vacant from “natural causes” by 2030, leaving about 1 billion square feet of unused office space, Cushman & Wakefield data shows.
Meanwhile, housing in the U.S. continues to be underbuilt. According to Morgan Stanley, the U.S. is “structurally short” an estimated 2 million housing units. That’s based on conservative assumptions. When Morgan Stanley researchers plug in “aggressive” assumptions, they calculate the U.S. is underbuilt by a staggering 6 million housing units.
The housing stock shortage plus a glut in office space is leading developers to question how commercial spaces can be reimagined. But can office-to-residential conversion projects actually serve as both a cost-effective and speedy way to make more housing units available?
Bobby Fijan, a real estate developer and cofounder of Form Developers, a property technology company, got into office-to-residential conversions about a decade ago with a project that converted an old 1920s Art Deco office building in downtown Philadelphia into 200 residential units that broke the record for rent prices in the city at the time.
“Historic conversion buildings do way better than they ought to do,” he tells Fortune. “It’s about the same cost to do a conversion as it is to build new construction. It’s just slightly faster.” Using his expertise in floor planning, apartment development, and property technology, Fijan has continued to pursue office-to-residential projects across the U.S.
Fortune sat down with Fijan to learn more about the process of office-to-residential conversions and whether it could be a viable alternative. Portions of this Q&A have been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.
What is required for office-to-residential conversion projects?
In any kind of conversion, there’s a few different things. One involves buying the property, and then basically buying out the leases of all the individual tenants—which is, I think, one of the key parts in thinking about conversions that people need to realize. It isn’t just about getting the basis correct.
A conversion requires a complete restructuring of all building utilities—basically the electrical, certainly the HVAC, and plumbing are going to go. That largely has to do with units, or [those] individually air-controlled, and obviously you need to add new bathroom locations. You have to do a tremendous amount of demo [demolition]. It’s about the same cost to do a conversion as it is new construction. It’s just slightly faster.
In the Philadelphia project, we had to buy the building and then pay an additional amount of money to the tenant because it has to be vacant. You really can’t start conversion until the building is empty because obviously everyone in the building has the right to have their water work, and you can’t really start doing the real demo until it’s all the way vacant.
How can federal subsidies help facilitate office-to-residential conversions? Is it easy to obtain a historic tax credit?
I think this is one of the really interesting, really important points that’s being missed a little bit in the conversation about office-to-residential conversions. What’s really complicated is that historic tax credits are administered by the National Park Service, which is in the Department of the Interior. It’s just a really convoluted thing. It was a program that’s designed to preserve historic buildings.
Part one is the building has to be listed, or accepted to be listed, on the actual National Register of Historic Places. You can either say it is historic because it’s a really beautiful Art Deco building that was built by this person, or you could say it’s historic because some famous person went to school here or lived here or there’s some important feature in history. You have to apply to a fundamental nature preservation agency within the government.
The benefit works for buildings that check that box and are on the National Register of Historic Places. Then your architect is going to do full drawings of the proposed changes you’re going to make. You’re almost always going to work with a historic consultant.
There are no specific guidelines, because it’s more about intent. People generally come to understand that you usually have to preserve almost everything about the facade. It’s almost impossible to add anything to the outside. If you’re replacing windows or things like that, it almost always has to be that the materials—to the extent that it’s possible—are identical to what they were at the time. The exceptions are if it needs to meet modern building standards, like accessibility.
What are the benefits of office-to-residential conversions?
The government says that it is 20% of what’s called qualified expenses. Those include some things that are attached to the building and some costs that are paid to the general contractor. The shorthand way that I think about valuing them is that about one-quarter of construction costs is going to be about the benefit of this credit. The credit is administered by the IRS as a straight-line depreciation. So, if you spend $40 million and the tax credit is $10 million, it means that you can write off $2 million every year for five years.
Usually what happens is you bring in a tax credit investor—that’s going to be an insurance company, sometimes a high-net-worth individual, or some other banks—someone who is looking to shield that amount of income. They put money upfront and then are usually buying that depreciation or that tax shield for some amount of cents on the dollar up from 88 cents to 92 cents, something like that.
The other advantage of historic tax credit projects is that today’s lending environment is tough, but if you think about the overall capital stack of a project, usually the construction lender lends about 60 to 70 cents on the dollar. That tax credit is allowed to go on top of that, which can allow some of these conversion projects to have slightly higher leverage on the developers’ cash dollars.
Has the shift to more remote or hybrid work post-COVID made more vacant office space available for these types of projects?
There hasn’t been a big shift post-COVID, partly due to some of these complicating factors that I mentioned before. A new owner still has to have the buyout leases and still has to get the building all the way vacant.
The other thing that’s frankly been complicated is that there are a number of projects that I’ve looked at to be eligible for it, but the basis on office buildings has fallen so low so quickly that the technical owners of the project aren’t really in control anymore. It’s fallen so far that basically every lender and equity partner is aware that no one’s going to get made whole. It makes it very complicated to transact just because there’s a whole lot of uncertainty.
Are there certain markets where we could expect to see more office-to-residential conversions? For instance, Boston recently launched a pilot program offering tax incentives to convert underused downtown office buildings.
It’s difficult because that particular benefit comes with rent restrictions. You have to comply with the inclusionary zoning rent percentages. I believe that the real estate tax benefit is worth more than the value of that income restriction. I think it’s a good thing to do, generally.
I pinged a larger national developer friend up there, and he said that because it was a pilot and because they have a deadline on when the project needs to start, it was more their opinion—and I guess it’s shared by mine, too—is that it’s probably just going to apply to projects that are very close to occurring. It might tip a few projects into happening, but it doesn’t seem like there’s enough time for it to affect lots of other things since it’s just the initial pilot program. If it got expanded that might be different, but I think you have to start construction by late 2024, which is just really fast.
Do office-to-resi units tend to come with a higher rent?
That’s really difficult to say. My company’s reason for existence is floor-plan data. I don’t have any way of cataloging specifically whether a building is cool or not, although I know that it’s true.
The top performing units in any market are usually going to be new construction because they can always design units as small as possible, which is always going to get the highest rent per square foot. Even in Miami, a lot of the nicest buildings around are conversions, like on South Beach.
It’s a very, very, very, very complicated question to answer. I personally like the idea of investing in something that’s already lasted for a long time. I trust the design and I trust the details more than a modern architect.