Mostly because those buildings are not yet financially distressed enough to get new owners that would consider conversion.
How expensive is it to not build a single-purpose building like an office or housing condo in the first place, but a true multipurpose building that can do both well with manageable retooling costs?
Multipurpose anything tends to not work out well. Different use cases have different requirements. Specialization is everywhere, both in nature and in human creations.
Really? They often convert into really nice loft style apartments.
Depends on how big (long x wide) the floors are. Older, smaller buildings can be good conversion candidates, but true skyscrapers generally aren’t. For example, in the Woolworth building only the smaller tower section was converted. The full size floors wouldn’t have made for good residential space.
Could be neat to have communal space in the middle. Apartments around the windows, a small Amazon Go grocery in the middle. Maybe different things on different floors. Put hallways so that you're not just walking out of an apartment into a mall.
d
a major issue is that commercial land owners don't want to be residential land owners. You're talking completely different requirements. Many owners would rather a property sit empty for 5 years before selling than convert and try and make a profit back over the next decade.
You see the ones that convert well, and therefore that someone thought was a good investment. Many don't convert well. People with expertise point to a lack of window access because office floors can be too large.
I lived in one for a while. It was nice.
Im told by all sorts of people online that this sort of thing just doesnt happen.