Center City is preparing to add more than 1,100 new apartments as countless office-to-residential conversion projects continue to take place throughout the area, writes Paul Schwedelson for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
Through these projects, Philadelphia gets to address the dropping office vacancy rate while also increasing the city’s tight housing supply simultaneously.
“In some cases, there will be a full redevelopment into residential, which is something that’s actually occurring at quite a clip right now,” said Clint Randall, vice president of economic development at Center City District.
Center City’s population is seeing growth that coincides with these office-to-residential conversion projects.
According to anonymized cell phone data from Placer.ai, the core Center City area saw a 3 percent increase in 2024. This is compared to 0.9 percent in 2023 and 4 percent in 2022, respectively.
Center City’s foot traffic is also now back to 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
As the conversion projects continue, it will help offset some of the decrease in downtown office workers.
With a 92 percent occupancy rate in Center City, developers are confident that the demand for more downtown housing is still prevalent.
Read more about the many office-to-residential projects currently under development and how it will impact Center City in the Philadelphia Business Journal.
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA Today in May 2025.
