Boston Mayor Michelle Wu extended the city’s Office to Residential Conversion Program through the end of this year. Since its launch in 2023, the program has received 22 applications to convert 1.2 million square feet of office space into 1,517 units of housing.

Currently, 236 units are under construction, and residents have already moved in at 281 Franklin St., one of the first buildings to take advantage of the adaptive-reuse program.

The conversion program offers developers a 75% tax abatement for 29 years to convert vacant office space into residential units. “This program has proven to be extremely successful in removing vacant office space from the market and breathing new life into older, pre-war office buildings,” said Chief of Planning Kairos Shen in a press release. “By extending the program, we hope to attract another 1,000 units to the program in the next year, and continue to catalyze a more vibrant, residential community in our downtown with thousands of new residents in the heart of our city.”