Finally, some of those empty NJ office buildings going to good use

If you drive down some of our major highways like Route 1 or past some of those huge office parks spread throughout the state, you may have noticed few cars in the parking lots. The few cars there might belong to the security company that's paid to monitor things there.

I've been saying for a few years now, why not convert those big modern spaces into living spaces?

It's been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many people in New Jersey and worldwide to work from home. You never heard of Zoom before that and now most meetings happen on platforms like Zoom or Teams, etc.

SEE MORE: Finally got to try one of New Jersey's hottest pizza joints

So these modern glass structures sit empty with commercial landlords losing leases and in some cases, their shirts in the process. Now comes the good news.

According to the website RentCafe.com, 4,808 future apartments are planned through adaptive reuse projects. With 32% of these (1,562 units) coming from office conversions.

Piscataway leads with 616 upcoming office-to-apartment conversions, followed by Newark with 495 units. Additional office conversions are happening in Trenton, Elizabeth and East Orange. The full report can be found here.

With open spaces in suburban towns all over New Jersey being gobbled up by apartment complexes, this trend may ease the pain of this overcrowding in our residential areas. Let's hope this trend continues to gain momentum.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

Report a correction 👈