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Conversion of office property to residential also requires a lot of capital which seems forgotten by a lot of the folks championing this kind of conversion. It's not as simple as building some interior walls and calling it a day

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It is not more costly than having Hoovervilles and desperate people living hand to mouth in a world of rapidly advancing technology which was the promise of this whole societal endeavor to begin with. The governments of this world already subsidize the production costs of corporations to the tune of billions of dollars a year so they can continue to "make profit" from their productive efforts they would otherwise be failing at in spectacular fashion.

- Autos - Airlines - Banks - Farming

They all require massive injections of liquidity for the purpose of subsidizing poor stewardship. "Costs" is not a feasible excuse for continued economic oppression.

Having remodeled commercial buildings I can say adding plumbing to a finished commercial building is a nightmare.

Most major conversions will require gutting out drywall, ceilings, etc back to the main architectural structure, making new electrical and plumbing much easier to accomplish versus a finished space.

Not if it is a slab. You have to saw cut the slab and run new plumbing and pour back.

And if it is a tension slab, you absolutely cannot cut into it.

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