The COVID-19 pandemic brought a reckoning to office space, leaving large-scale vacancy in major cities, including Phoenix, where the vacancy rate reached 22.8% in the first quarter of 2026.
The move away from office space has left some buildings functionally obsolete, priming them to be converted to a different use, or razed and redeveloped. In Phoenix, about 1,500 apartment units are planned to be created through converting offices to residential use, according to a report from RentCafe, using data from Yardi Matrix.
Phoenix ranks 13th in the nation for units planned to be created by converting offices. New York City, which topped the list, has about 16,400 units planned to be created through conversions…