Convenience Big Store: Houston wants to do something about all those empty offices downtown

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Exterior of the Great Jones Building at 708 Main Street, on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 in Houston. WeWork, a coworking giant once valued at $47 billion and lauded as innovator disrupting the real estate industry has been attempting to recover billions of dollars of losses after years of ferociously unsustainable growth. The company is reportedly veering toward bankruptcy and last week told landlords it's going to try to renegotiate all leases and close underperforming locations. WeWork quietly close one of its largest locations in Houston earlier this year, with no coverage or announcement.

Photo by: Staff photographer

Houston wants to do something about all those empty offices downtown

Cities across North America are grappling with what to do with empty offices in a post-pandemic world, with metros like San Francisco and New York offering a slew of initiatives to entice real estate developers to breathe new life into vacant office spaces. Soon, Houston could be joining those efforts too as the area's top economic development officials study the possibility of tax incentives tied to office conversions in downtown.

Downtown Houston - the umbrella organization for Central Houston, Downtown Redevelopment Authority and Houston Downtown Management District - recently released a feasibility study conducted by the consultancy AECOM about how tax incentives could spark more conversions in the city center, which has an office vacancy rate around 25%. The study comes after city of Houston officials asked the economic development group to study challenges and opportunities around office-to-residential conversions.

Any potential incentives could be a long ways out, and would have to approved by city council. A lot hinges on the priorities of the new mayor, but the study offers an early look at the baseline of what kinds of incentives could be discussed in the future.

Marissa Luck, Senior reporter, Real estate

Marissa.Luck@houstonchronicle.com

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