AFIRE Podcast 2026.17: Success Story: How to Convert Office to Residential with Robert Seldin

Can office buildings from the 1970s and 80s–often dismissed as “garbage”—be the key to solving the US housing crisis?

While conventional wisdom says these deep-floor-plate structures are “useless” and that we need to “scrape” them all, Robert Seldin, Managing Principal of Madison Highland and developer of the Three Collective complex in Falls Church, Virginia, has proven the skeptics wrong. In this episode timed to appear before the AFIRE Winter Conference tours Three Collective, AFIRE CEO Gunnar Branson explores the right way to convert office to residential, and how one “impossible” asset became profitable.

LINKS

To hear the globe’s top experts discuss opportunities in US property markets, register for future AFIRE conferences:
Winter Conference 2026 in Washington, DC
https://www.afire.org/events/wc2026/
Summer Conference 2026 in Tokyo
https://www.afire.org/events/tokyo26/
Seldin is the Managing Principal of Madison Highland and developer of Three Collective:
https://www.threecollective.com/
Madison Highland is a developer of Three Collective:
https://www.threecollective.com/

KEY MOMENTS

00:00 – Are 1970s office buildings too “useless” to convert?
02:30 – What makes a mid-century office building a good “substrate” for housing?
04:37 – How do you solve deep floor plate issues in office-to-residential conversions?
07:02 – Why is converted office space higher quality than new wood-frame construction?
10:02 – How can you repurpose extra office elevators during a conversion?
13:43 – Do office-to-residential conversions have enough parking?
18:40 – How is remote work changing multifamily building requirements?
22:35 – What is the cost and timeline for an office-to-apartment conversion?
26:38 – How fast do converted office apartments lease up?
28:10 – Is the office conversion trend the new “Soho Loft” revolution using for today?

DISCLAIMER

The publisher of the AFIRE Podcast is not engaged in providing tax, accounting, or legal advice through this publication. No content published in the AFIRE Podcast is to be construed as a recommendation to buy or sell any asset. Some information included in the AFIRE Podcast has been obtained from third-party sources considered to be reliable, though the publisher is not responsible for guaranteeing the accuracy of third-party information. The opinions expressed in the AFIRE Podcast are those of its respective contributors and sources and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.

The AFIRE Podcast with Gunnar Branson is the official, multiple-award-winning podcast of AFIRE, the association for international real estate investors focused on commercial property in the United States.

Hosted by AFIRE CEO Gunnar Branson, the podcast features informative and in-depth conversations with experts across the full spectrum of real estate, investment, sustainability, economics, geopolitics, and urbanism with a focus on helping each other become Better Investors, Better Leaders, and Better Global Citizens. To learn more, visit afire.org/podcast