3 Adaptive Reuse Projects That Pop
Reframing the past for higher and better commercial uses.
Adaptive reuse is one of the hottest architectural trends today. Aging structures, environmental concerns and limited free space in urban centers and smaller cities are driving an increase in the number of projects that find a future in the past.
These conversions challenge architects to blend innovation with heritage, and to find higher and better purposes for commercial buildings that don’t serve their communities like they once did.
Reusing an old structure doesn’t come without potential setbacks, however, and these projects give designers an opportunity to showcase their flair for problem-solving. Supply-chain issues; surprise details and damage; and insufficient natural lighting are some of the problems that architects have learned how to overcome. Today, more architects are advocating for adaptive reuse as opposed to new construction, and investors are in tune with this trend.
“Our clients always want to hear about value-adds for their projects, and adaptive reuse has that ability to improve their return on investment,” said Joshua Zinder, managing partner of integrated design firm JZA+D.
The following projects are stellar examples of turning old bones into new and higher uses.
20 Mass is a LEED Gold and WELL-certified property, featuring a new glass curtain wall façade and 10-story atrium cut into the existing structure. Image by Ron Blunt Photography 
The property has integrated drought-resistant planting with a shaded streetscape. Image by Ron Blunt Photography 
20 Mass in Washington, D.C., includes 13,800 square feet of retail, a 274-key luxury Royal Sonesta hotel, 183,000 square feet of office space and a 14,500-square-foot penthouse amenity space. Image by Ron Blunt Photography
A Makeover Steps From the US Capitol Building
20 Mass
BEFORE: D.C. government office building completed in 1973
AFTER: Class A office and hotel mixed-use destination
ARCHITECT: Leo A. Daly
Occupied by a government agency for most of its 50-year life, the trapezoidal structure at 20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., in Washington, D.C., wasn’t unique in any way. Most locals perceived it as just another blunt, federal building. But after Office Properties Income Trust and The RMR Group poured $200 million into its renovation, not only did they infuse new life into this old structure but they also gave it a new purpose.
A team of architects from Leo A. Daly completely changed the building’s vibe and its relationship with the surrounding area. The original seven-story structure was converted into a 10-story, 427,690-square-foot mixed-use property known as 20 Mass. Designed to harmonize with the historic avenues of D.C., the project rejuvenated the streetscape with retail spaces, a four-star Royal Sonesta hotel and Class A office accommodations, all tied together with shared amenities and crowned with a green roof and penthouse.
“Ensuring a viable return on investment for the owner was a challenge,” said Irena Savakova, vice president at design firm Leo A. Daly. “The key was creating the correct ratio of office-to-hotel space, paired with perfectly planned amenities.”
The original floorplate was shaped as a deep trapezoid that wasn’t appropriate for modern workplace and hospitality needs because it made it difficult for natural light to reach the interior. In response, the design team introduced a new skylight that illuminates most of the building, with a secondary atrium space providing simulated sunlight.
Though challenging, such adaptive-reuse projects come with a lot of benefits. “The most sustainable buildings are the ones that exist,” noted Savakova. In many urban centers across the country, more than half the office buildings are currently empty or unattractive to prospective tenants, so the potential for more office conversions is immense.
“I’d like to see transformative placemaking conversions, where the utilization of these structures becomes more and more popular, especially in those cities with abundant empty building stock,” she added.
We see adaptive reuse as a more efficient use of economic and material resources.
—Joel Fuoss, Principal, Trivers
Today, the former hotel serves as permanent housing for those transitioning out of homelessness. Image by Patrik Argast 
The black and white tile floor and the double-volume lobby on the main level were among the original elements retained at the redeveloped St. Clare at Capitol Park Image by Bruce Damonte 
Originally constructed as a pair of hotels in the 1910s and later connected, Capitol Park Hotel also served as a women’s college and a furniture store. Image courtesy of California State Library
Housing Sacramento’s Unhoused
St. Clare at Capitol Park, Sacramento
BEFORE: 180-key hotel in Sacramento, Calif.
AFTER: Affordable and permanent supportive housing
ARCHITECT: Page & Turnbull
Completed in the early 1900s, Capitol Park Hotel at 1125 Ninth St. in downtown Sacramento, Calif., has served multiple purposes over the years—from a business college to a furniture store and, more recently, a hotel. In fact, it was Sacramento’s largest historic downtown single-room occupancy residential hotel. Following a comprehensive restoration process led by Page & Turnbull architects, the property reopened as permanent housing for individuals transitioning out of homelessness.
“Recycling these buildings can help with our housing crisis,” said Peter Birkholz, president & principal of Page & Turnbull.
To make this complex project a reality, more than a dozen different grants and tax credits, including historic tax credits, were put together by Mercy Housing California and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency and their partners. The city of Sacramento contributed $20.3 million to the project.
The Capitol Park Hotel’s 180 rooms were converted into 134 studios, all with bathrooms and kitchens, with 64 units set aside for unhoused residents living with a serious mental illness.
Additionally, the refurbished building now includes ground-floor retail space, a shared dining hall, bike storage, laundry facilities, management offices and spaces reserved for individual counseling, all less than a block away from the State Capitol. The first-floor lobby—a double-height space that features the original black-and-white restored tile floor—acts as a popular gathering space for residents.
The rehabilitation preserved the exterior walls of the former hotel and its interior structure. Reusing original structures has undeniable benefits, particularly when factoring in environmental and financial aspects.
“Adaptive reuse—whether for residential or other uses—helps us meet climate change goals by preserving the embodied energy of the structures,” believes Birkholz.
Furthermore, the conversions maintain cultural connectivity by retaining elements of the past so that buildings can tell their stories to future generations.
Comprising 735,000 square feet, The Victor is just two blocks north of St. Louis Union Station, which was one of the busiest rail hubs in the country in the 1900s. Image by Sam Fentress 
Serving as lead architect, historic architect and interior designer on The Victor redevelopment project, Trivers moved its headquarters within the building shortly after its opening in 2024. Image courtesy of Trivers 
The original courtyard was designed to provide natural lighting, but some sections of the building were still too deep for feasible residential conversion, so the courtyard was expanded with two more bays to the east. Image by Sam Fentress 
Constructed in 1906 as a warehouse in the historic Washington Avenue garment district, a major source of fashion goods back then, The Victor is now a modern mixed-use destination. Image courtesy of Trivers
St. Louis Gem
The Victor
BEFORE: 735,000-square-foot warehouse in St. Louis
AFTER: Mixed-use property with apartments, retail and coworking
ARCHITECT: Trivers
With an expertise spanning roughly half a decade, St. Louis-based architecture studio Trivers has been working on adaptive-reuse projects across the city since its founding in 1975.
“With rising borrowing and construction costs and an excess of already-built square footage in the U.S., we see adaptive reuse as a more efficient use of economic and material resources,” said Joel Fuoss, principal at Trivers. He noted that conversions are faster, cheaper to build and have less of a negative environmental impact compared to new construction.
The firm is behind the transformation of the Butler Brothers Building, a historic, 735,000-square-foot multistory warehouse in the city’s Downtown West neighborhood. Dating back to more than a century ago, the building occupies an entire city block at 1717 Olive St. and served as a regional distribution center for a while, but for much of its existence, it was underutilized or even empty.
In 2020, Development Services Group acquired the building, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The firm invested $130 million in renovations. Dubbed The Victor, the property now includes 400 new apartments, amenities, retail spaces and parking. The Victor even has design and technology features that accommodate today’s hybrid work models, including common areas on each floor and a coworking space on the ground level.
With historically significant properties such as this one, the restoration of valuable architectural and design elements is crucial. For the Victor, the robust original structure featured reinforced concrete with a masonry perimeter and fire walls. Nearly all seven million bricks of the exterior masonry were restored, along with most of the original cast-in-place concrete structure.
