Houston has a lot of empty office buildings, and city leaders want to turn them into homes. A company called AECOM suggested a plan to give tax breaks to encourage this change. Right now, 25% of offices in downtown Houston are empty.
The city already gives money to developers who build apartments in downtown through a program called the Downtown Living Initiative. They can get up to $15,000 in tax rebates for each apartment. But changing offices into homes is a bit trickier.
AECOM came up with two ideas for tax incentives. One idea is to give developers 75% of the extra money they make from property taxes over 15 years. The other idea is to give them 100% of the extra money, but only if the government helps out. This could make it possible to change old offices from the 1980s into homes, especially those that can't get regular historic tax credits.
AECOM picked 37 buildings that could be turned into homes based on things like how old they are, how empty they are, and their size. Two of them, 708 Main and 1021 Main (also called One City Center), seem like good options. The 1021 Main building is up for sale and could become homes, according to marketing materials from JLL.
Other cities like San Francisco, New York, and Calgary have already done similar things, giving money to turn offices into homes. In Houston, they don't care if the buildings become homes or something else, as long as people use them and make downtown more diverse.
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