An office-to-apartment conversion is planned for two downtown Denver office buildings — a major move forward for a burgeoning multifamily trend.

The Luzzatto Co., a national real estate investment firm and developer, acquired two towers at 621 and 633 17th St. for $3.2M, with plans to convert them into as many as 750 apartments marketed as affordable. The firm expects to spend $150M to $200M on the redevelopment, which will overhaul more than 973K SF of office space just off the 16th Street Mall, KDVR reported.

The project adds momentum to Denver’s growing office-to-residential pipeline, which is having a record year. Bisnow reported in February that the city is expected to deliver 1,398 apartments via office conversions in 2025 — a 55% increase from last year — making Denver the 15th-largest adaptive reuse market nationally, according to a RentCafe report.

In addition to housing, the Luzzato development plans public amenities like a daycare, market, theater, coworking and a café that may open before residential construction wraps.

Luzzato aims to break ground within the year, with delivery expected in about two years.

Full details on the rent structure are still in flux, but the project joins a growing list of adaptive reuse efforts downtown. Revesco Properties is planning a 210-unit conversion at 475 17th St., while Apartment Investment & Management Co. is working on a 585-unit project at the Kistler Stationery Building.

Roughly 2,741 adaptive reuse units are in the pipeline across Denver, about half of which come from office-to-apartment conversions. With office availability still hovering around 30% and nearly 24M SF flagged as viable for residential, developers are betting that residential conversions can fill gaps left by shrinking demand for office space.

Challenges persist — from evolving building codes to the economics of affordability — and conversions make up only a small fraction of overall multifamily development.