Minneapolis looks to study office conversions

Get ready Minneapolis, office conversions may start coming your way.

At Thursday’s meeting, the Minneapolis City Council will vote to direct the City Auditor’s Policy and Research Division to study policies and incentives surrounding the repurposing of office buildings for potential use in the city.

The request was introduced by Ward 7 Council Member Katie Cashman and was approved by the Business, Zoning and Housing Committee on June 4. The official directive says that the findings will be reported on “no later than Aug. 15, 2024.”

According to the Legislative Information Management Systems’ page on the directive, the goal is to bring vacant and deteriorated buildings back to “functional use.”

“This legislative directive is meant to provide City Council with an analysis of office space to residential housing conversion projects and strategies implemented by comparable municipalities.”

The topic of office conversions has been a hot one. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, along with Minneapolis Downtown Council President Adam Duininck both advocated in front of the Senate Taxes Committee passage of the Conversion of Underutilized Buildings Tax Credit, or CUB.

Rebecca Noecker, St. Paul City council member for the downtown area, also told Finance & Commerce in an interview she intends to introduce an ordinance that would relate to incentivizing conversions in St. Paul.

Cashman and Council Member Michael Rainville also gave notice that at the next meeting of the council, they intend to introduce an ordinance that would streamline the review of “nonresidential to residential building conversions.”

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