conversion, ex-industrial building, loft, real estate development
Abstract
Industrial decline and a changing real estate market have led to large numbers of industrial buildings becoming outdated, redundant or obsolete, implicating social and economic problems. A solution may be found through the conversion of abandoned industrial buildings into housing, as it is an attractive adaptation option, given the tight housing market in Lithuania. Now that loft apartments have become a trendy style of living, there are also barriers to lofts development, which invariably concern cost. Therefore the loft conversion developers should perform complex analysis and versatile evaluation of ex-industrial building in order to determine the success of investment project. The objective of the research presented in this paper is to develop a complex assessment model for ex-industrial property conversion options. To that end, firstly a review of the literature is conducted to identify the existing lofts conversion practice and explore their social and economic feasibility. Afterwards, a model for the assessment of non-residential property conversion options is presented. Based to the theoretical assumptions and a study of the existing practice three alternatives are suggested and implicated in the multiple criteria evaluation: hard loft, new hard loft and soft loft. The findings of a certain case study investigation revealed the best option for ex-industrial building transformation into living space, providing the best financial benefit of investment project, - so-called new hard loft.
