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Dallas faced an oversupply of commercial offices long before the pandemic normalized working from home. New offices built between 1978 and 1989 created the inventory glut<\/a>, according to D Magazine.<\/p>\n Converting unoccupied office space into housing can address housing shortages while breathing new life into the city. Public funding may be involved, with Downtown Dallas Inc. Vice President Evan Sheets referring to it as “an opportunity” to create “more of a 24-hour vibrancy to the properties themselves,” when speaking with D Magazine.<\/p>\n Don’t Miss:<\/p>\n Commercial office woes<\/a> accelerated during the pandemic, as more people worked from home, making extra office space less valuable. It’s been a problem in Dallas for years, but recent developments have created more urgency to find a solution.<\/p>\n Rumors suggest that AT&T (NYSE:<\/a>T<\/a>) may pull out of the city and turn to the suburbs for its new headquarters, D Magazine says. The Dallas Stars are also considering a move, and Fox affiliate KDFW-TV and KDFI-TV has already departed for nearby Irving.<\/p>\n A lot of vacant office spaces don\u2019t give the “24-hour vibrancy” Sheets discussed. That’s why the city is leaning heavily into converting office spaces into homes, he said.<\/p>\n “Office-to-residential and hotel conversions are enhancing Dallas’s standing as a model for other cities to adapt to new styles of working,” PwC and the Urban Land Institute said in their “Emerging Trends in Real Estate” report<\/a>.<\/p>\n