Like many cities these days, Boston has a program in place to incentivize the conversion of office buildings to residential. Here is generally how it works:

• City to provide an average tax abatement of up to 75% of the fair market assessed residential value for up to 29 years.

• City to fast track the development review process (only 1 community meeting). Zoning would be considered as-of-right.

• Construction must start before October 2025.

• Per the city's inclusionary zoning policies, 17% of all newly created residential suites must be restricted to households making up to 60% of AMI (Area Median Income), and another 3% of the suites must be reserved for voucher holders.

• Projects cannot be ground-up construction. Adaptive re-use only. Though additional height/FAR is a possibility.

• Program is not intended to create micro-units (I'm not sure how firm this restriction is).

• Any ground-floor retail and public uses must be maintained.

• Transaction charge of 2% on any future gross sale of the property.

And here is one example project that is using the program. It is interesting to look at how different cities are approaching this vacancy problem.