Some have called it the office apocalypse. As of January 2025, nearly 24 percent of NoVA office space was sitting empty. Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis says that at least some of those buildings should be converted to housing.
“We don’t have sufficient housing in the region,” and office-to-apartment conversions can help close the gap, Karantonis says. Building owners and investors benefit, too, when obsolete office towers can be repurposed.
Last year, Arlington approved an adaptive reuse policy that makes it easier for developers to win zoning approvals for office-to-residential conversions. “We want to be way more flexible,” Karantonis says. And that flexibility is yielding results, not just in Arlington, but across the region, where vacant offices are finding new life as vibrant residential spaces.
Three Collective, Falls Church
This mixed-use complex on Leesburg Pike was developed by the Charles Smith Company over a 30- to 40-year period, from the late 1960s through the early 2000s. Now, three vacant office buildings at 275,000 square feet each are on the way to becoming housing.
In those towers, “we’ve put in 675 live-work units,” says Rob Seldin, CEO of Madison Highland. Each of the amenity-rich, loft-style apartments can be occupied in multiple ways, “so the tenants can choose to use them either just as a place to live, a place to live and work, or just as a place to work.”
Initial occupancy began about a year ago. The first building is largely full, the second almost half full, and occupancy is just starting on the third. “Today, a supermajority of the tenants are both living and working there at least on a part-time basis,” Seldin says.
The conversion gives people access to a high-quality structure. Historically, “office buildings were the best buildings, in the best locations, made from the best materials,” Seldin says. “Office buildings were always concrete high-rise buildings with a ton of underground parking, big windows, tall ceilings.
“Now, with the office diaspora, you’re left with some of the highest-quality buildings, without a really profitable use,” he says, adding that housing seems like a natural fit. To that end, Highland has purchased two more towers in the complex that it also plans to convert.
3601 Wilson Blvd., Arlington
In Arlington, Gilbane Development Company has submitted a proposal to turn a 1990s-era office building known as One Virginia Square into a residential and retail space. It’s one of the first projects to take advantage of Arlington’s accelerated policy for redeveloping obsolete spaces.
A six-story building with more than 200 underground parking spaces, it was originally built for a single user, “and it was occupied by that tenant up until 2016,” says Robert Gilbane, senior vice president of development. The tenant left, and the structure sat vacant until Gilbane Development stepped up with a plan in 2024.
“Floors two through six will be converted to 94 apartment units — one-bedroom to three-bedroom units,” Gilbane says. “And there are two retail bays on the ground floor that make up roughly 5,400 square feet.”
Arlington’s fast-track policy was key to getting the wheels turning. “As a developer, you’re always taking on some level of risk with any project, but one of the biggest risks is the rezoning,” Gilbane says.
“What we absolutely needed was certainty from the county that this project would qualify for an expedited review and approval for change in use,” he says. “If we had to go through a full-blown entitlement process, you’re looking at possibly 16 months for approvals, and the economics just wouldn’t have made any sense.”
Under Arlington’s new policy, “it turns out this was exactly what they were looking for,” he says.
CityHouse Old Town
American Real Estate Partners is turning a 200,000-square-foot office building into a 200-unit apartment development called CityHouse Old Town at 1101 King St. in Alexandria.
“It tiers back like a wedding cake, and it’s seven stories tall. It was built before Alexandria changed the zoning code in the Old Town area. You could not build a building there with that height today,” says Mark Taylor, American Real Estate Partners’ managing director of residential.
Now under construction, with the first residents expected to move in late October, the building will include concierge service, retail, and a co-working space for the residents.
“On the first floor, there’s a library-type area with a fireplace and oversized couches. On the other side of that floor is an area with desks and private booths to make phone calls. It doesn’t look like an office, though. It is just a place where you can work outside your home,” Taylor says.
The residential spaces themselves will range from a 525-square-foot studio to a 1,500-square-foot, three-bedroom unit, “and 72 percent of the homes have their own private terraces,” Taylor says.
Converting office to residential is no small lift. “You’re tearing everything out,” Taylor says. “When we’re done, it will have new mechanical, new electrical, new roof. It’s all going to be brand new.”
Feature image of Three Collective, Falls Church courtesy Charles Smith Company
This story originally ran in our June Issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
