What's Old Is New - The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse

Urban Land Institute (ULI) published What’s Old Is New: The Business Case for Adaptive Reuse (2025), a report produced with the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate and in partnership with Built Buildings Lab. The lead author is Lori Ferriss, with a research and project team including Billie Faircloth, Elizabeth Rowe, and ULI staff (Kara Kokernak, August Williams‑Eynon, Shraeya Madhu), alongside additional contributors and acknowledgments listed in the report.

The report frames adaptive reuse—modifying existing structures to increase value under new urban, economic, social, and environmental conditions—as a strategy that can simultaneously address emissions, aging building stock, shifting real estate demand, and urban revitalization needs. It highlights that by 2050 around 80% of the global population is expected to live in cities, and about 80% of the buildings they will occupy already exist today—making the performance and adaptability of existing buildings central to climate and housing agendas.

The analysis points to misalignment between existing commercial space and current needs, accelerated by COVID-era shifts. Cited data include U.S. office vacancy rates of 20.4% at the end of 2024 (Moody’s) with no expectation of decline in 2025, and estimates of 5.9 million U.S. commercial buildings totaling 96 billion square feet. The report also notes buildings’ large emissions share (C40 Cities reporting an average of 60% and up to 80% of member-city emissions) and the IPCC’s emphasis on renovation/retrofit, suggesting retrofit rates need to increase from roughly 1% today to 2.5–5% (and potentially up to 10%) annually to meet climate targets.

Rather than presenting reuse as a single-issue case, the report argues that the business case depends on “triple bottom line” outcomes: economic returns reinforced by environmental and social value creation. It proposes that adaptive reuse can catalyze urban revitalization—job creation, increased property values, and local economic regeneration—which in turn further boosts real estate value and demand. Success is therefore framed as a spectrum of qualitative and quantitative indicators, not only short-term ROI.

The report examines three adaptive reuse projects in different contexts: West Bottoms Flats (Kansas City), Congress Square/40 Water Street (Boston), and Oriente Green Campus (Lisbon). West Bottoms Flats redeveloped historic warehouse buildings into apartments and microretail; the report cites a total redevelopment cost of $65 million, 359 housing units added, and strong leasing (94% leased) with neighborhood land value shifts (from roughly $7.50–$8.00 per sq ft to more than $40 per sq ft unimproved). Congress Square retained 77% of its structure and added a seven-story, 120,000-sq-ft rooftop addition; the report cites a 105% increase in market value from 2019 to 2024 and capacity to support up to 1,100 permanent jobs, alongside LEED Gold certification. Oriente Green Campus repurposes an unfinished mall into a mixed university and commercial campus; it anticipates more than 2,500 corporate occupants and up to 3,500 people on site, targets LEED/WELL/WiredScore Platinum, and uses all-electric systems with a 100% renewable energy contract.

Across cases, reuse is associated with substantial embodied-carbon reductions versus new construction (reported reductions: 60% for West Bottoms Flats and Congress Square; 58% for Oriente Green Campus). Over a 10-year horizon, the report presents whole-life carbon reductions of 37% (West Bottoms Flats), 35% (Congress Square), and 70% (Oriente Green Campus, driven by net-zero operating emissions). The report also emphasizes neighborhood-scale co-benefits such as stormwater management and flood mitigation (e.g., green infrastructure and biofiltration at West Bottoms Flats; green roofs/terraces and rainwater retention at Oriente Green Campus) and heat-island reduction measures (e.g., reflective roofs and terraces at Congress Square).

The conclusions stress: building experienced interdisciplinary teams early; using due diligence to manage unknowns; leveraging incentives (tax credits, abatements, green finance); working with—rather than against—existing structures; and improving messaging and data so the full set of co-benefits (including avoided embodied carbon) can be communicated credibly to investors, tenants, and communities.