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What Seattle’s first office-to-housing complex may look like

The challenges and opportunities associated with sucha conversion has made it a hot topic.

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Maybe they’ll make this building a little more colorful in the renovation process.

Photo by SEAtoday Staff

The prospect of taking vacant office buildings and transforming them into housing has its first taker in Seattle.

Stream Real Estate recently purchased a five-story former office building at 201 Queen Anne Ave. N with plans for 68 apartments, 66 parking spaces, and indoor + outdoor community spaces. Design company Board & Vellum has been hired as the architect, but no timeline was given for construction.

Office-to-housing projects can be a logistical challenge due to factors like a lack of rooms with windows. Seattle organized a competition last year for local design firms to think about those obstacles. The Queen Anne building may be prime real estate to give actual conversion a whirl since it has a small floor plan.

ICYMI, we also asked you to weigh in on the hot topic: Which local office buildings do you think might be best converted into residences? There might be more attempts soon.

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