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A mostly-vacant office building in Boston’s Financial District is the latest to join the city’s incentive program encouraging residential conversions.
The 7-story office building at 4 Liberty Square would be converted into 42 apartments, with market-rate units renting for $2,200 to $2,700 a month, according to an application submitted to city officials.
Developer Gregory McCarthy of Charlestown submitted the plans for his latest office-to-residential conversion in Boston, after receiving approval last month for two similar projects totaling 49 apartments in South End and the Bulfinch Triangle.
The current owners of the 4 Liberty Square property, Abromson Brothers of New York City, acquired the property in June 2016 for $12.25 million, according to property records.
The building currently has two office tenants, according to the application. The building also contains 5,200 square feet of ground-floor restaurant space, for which a new tenant will be sought.
“The mostly vacant office building is a prime candidate for residential conversion and presents a perfect opportunity to bring housing to a neighborhood with a large housing shortage,” the application states.
The estimated $4.8 million project would include eight income-restricted units.
The proposal is the 12th submitted under Boston’s downtown office to residential conversion program, which offers tax breaks to developers to create housing in underutilized office buildings. Projects also qualify for a fast-track review by the Boston Planning Department.
To date, 546 units have been approved or proposed under the program, occupying 492,000 square feet.
More than 70 million square feet of office conversions to other uses were under way nationwide in early 2024, according to CBRE data.
A recent study by architecture firm Gensler concluded that up to 5 million square feet of office space in Boston has potential to be converted into housing.
Other cities have experimented with additional incentives for conversions, ranging from reduced affordable housing requirements in San Francisco to density bonuses in New York City.
