Atlanta Commercial to Residential Conversion Study
Central Atlanta Progress
HR&A positioned Central Atlanta Progress (CAP) to advance office and hotel conversions as a strategy for Downtown Atlanta’s future. Our feasibility study analyzed market conditions, developed building typologies with Lord Aeck Sargent and Palacio, modeled financial scenarios, and created an evaluation framework identifying conversion opportunities and required subsidies.
Downtown Atlanta’s office market faces declining performance, creating opportunities for residential conversions but a lack of clarity about which buildings might serve as strong candidates. HR&A analyzed performance of office, hotel, and residential markets in Downtown Atlanta, Midtown, and Buckhead to assess Downtown’s current and projected position relative to surrounding submarkets. Working with Lord Aeck Sargent and Palacio, we developed four representative office building typologies and estimated conversion costs for each. HR&A built a financial model testing feasibility under current market conditions and scenarios of continued office performance decline, generating subsidy estimates combining grants and tax abatements based on building typology and projected vacancy.
These subsidy estimates informed evaluation of over 100 potential conversion candidates in Downtown Atlanta. The resulting evaluation matrix provides CAP with tools to identify priority conversion targets and advocate for incentive programs that could transform underperforming office assets into residential supply, repositioning Downtown Atlanta’s real estate market for changing demand patterns.
