Photo courtesy of Synergy

Following the Wu’s administration extension of Boston’s office-to-residential conversion incentive program, Boston-based developer Synergy submitted plans for the largest project to date: 255 apartments in a Downtown Crossing office building.

Gensler is architect for the project at 294 Washington St., which sold in 2016 for $94.5 million to an entity registered to Goldman Sachs Investment Management.

The 11-story, 220,000 square-foot office building “is predominantly vacant today, reflecting broader shifts in downtown office demand, and is well positioned for adaptive reuse,” according to a submission to the Boston Planning Department.

Office vacancies in Boston range from 16.5 percent for class A properties to 23.2 percent at class B properties, according to Hunneman’s REAL insights 2025 year-end report.

Scheduled to begin in late 2026 and conclude in early 2028, the project would convert the upper floors into over 200,000 square feet of residential space, while retaining 12,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space fronting on Washington Street. The building consists of a pair of wings, including a section fronting on Milk Street, wrapping around the Old South Meetinghouse.

In December, the Boston Planning & Development Agency approved a one-year extension of the program offering tax incentives for office-to-residential conversions in the urban core. Developers receive a 75 percent property tax abatement for 29 years.

Four projects are under construction and one has been completed, totaling 251 units.

Since its launch in 2023, the program has received 21 applications for 1,264 housing units in 26 buildings, totaling over 1 million square feet of vacant or underutilized office space.