{"id":109756,"date":"2020-12-08T00:00:40","date_gmt":"2020-12-08T08:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rentcafe.com\/blog\/?p=109756"},"modified":"2026-04-17T01:33:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T08:33:06","slug":"90-converted-apartment-buildings-in-7-decades-make-chicago-the-u-s-adaptive-reuse-champ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rentcafe.com\/blog\/rental-market\/market-snapshots\/90-converted-apartment-buildings-in-7-decades-make-chicago-the-u-s-adaptive-reuse-champ\/","title":{"rendered":"90+ Converted Apartment Buildings in 7 Decades Make Chicago the U.S. Adaptive Reuse Champ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adaptive reuse can be a strong tool for both developers and communities looking to redesign cities while paying homage to their past. Chicago, in particular, is no stranger to reinventing itself, and a recent study from RentCafe<\/a> put it at the top of the list of U.S. cities with the most apartment conversions. Specifically, the study found that, since the 1950s, nearly 2,000 old buildings have been transformed into apartment complexes in the U.S. <\/strong>\u2014 an all-time high. Of these, around 800 were repurposed in the last decade alone with efficiency and sustainability in mind.<\/p>\n

Returning old buildings to their former glory while giving them a new meaning is no easy feat. Nevertheless, with 91 conversion projects, Chicago boasts the highest number of adaptive reuse apartment buildings \u2014 81% of which are aimed at renters on a budget. What\u2019s more, its total number of converted apartments follows only New York City (14,167). To find out more about how Chicago breathes new life into its old buildings, we dug into Yardi Matrix data.<\/p>\n

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