Saturday, March 09, 2013

Repurposing and adaptive reuse of useless suburban office buildings?

It's a long story, one I'll relate in greater detail when there's time.

The topic goes something like this: 30-year-old suburban (inside the NA beltway) one-story office of typically mid-80s construction (read: cheap), circa 10,000 square feet, is by most accounts entirely useless in the current age.

Literally no one wants it, and everyone involved knows it. And yet the very existence of such an outmoded, useless building inflates the price of the property upon which it rests, frustrating what might otherwise be a conducive real estate deal.

What can be done, short of demolition ... and I hate to see landfills burdened?

Is there any precedent for creatively repurposing such a structure?

If you are reading this and have links to information sources, please get them to me. It's time for thinking outside the confining business-as-usual boxes ... but I need some research assistance.

No comments: