> ...seems like a very easy task.
Talk to an architect. Even ignoring zoning and fire codes, new-ish small storefronts tend to be long and narrow, with windows only on the street end. That's not a popular footprint for residential.
Talk to an architect. Even ignoring zoning and fire codes, new-ish small storefronts tend to be long and narrow, with windows only on the street end. That's not a popular footprint for residential.
Take a look at the picture of the boarded up storefronts in the article. Those storefronts share the widths almost exactly of the apartments directly above them, all of which seem to show signs of being occupied.
This would be an easy re-purpose and a good idea, but finance isn't incentivized to do so.
And it seems the entirety of non-luxury apartments in Manhattan also are long and narrow.