Houston is the seventh-largest city in the United States and leads Texas in adaptive reuse projects. Of these, 60% are repurposed office spaces while former hotels have also become increasingly popular as a conversion source with a 30% share. The old Houston Post Office was successfully converted to retail (see photo).
A Rentcafe survey revealed that 2,205 projects are lined up for future development in Houston; this means that the city’s backlog of projected conversions has more than doubled since 2021 when future projects totaled 890. Dallas follows closely behind with 1,912 planned apartment conversions.
85% of upcoming units – 1,881 apartments – will be located downtown within Harris County along zip code 77002; buildings such as the Houston Holiday Inn (an office building dating back to 1972), historic Exxon Mobil building and Sakowitz Department Store will all receive new life through adaptive reuse efforts.
Offices remain at the forefront of conversion efforts: 1,353 apartments are expected to be created by repurposing existing offices while 667 and 100 units respectively can be attributed to hotel and retail store transformations currently underway or planned for development soon after approval processes have been completed..
Only 20% of forthcoming projects in Houston have begun construction thus far; however many more remain firmly entrenched within planning stages at present time
