Hotel-to-Housing Conversions Proliferate Pandemic travel bans shut down many old, obsolete hotels for good. Now, investors are creating new product-from temporary shelter to affordable and market-rate housing. PATRICIA KIRK Historically, older hotels have played an important role in the hospitality industry, providing a lower-rate alternative to four- and five-star hotels for families and business travelers on a budget. But many of these lodging facilities will not be around on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic because their owners are calling it quits. The fate of this older hospitality product was decided by the combined effect of the pandemicinduced travel shutdown and an oversupply of new hotels that include an abundance of modestly priced lodging that has rendered older hotels obsolete. The good news is that many of these outdated properties are being reborn as residences as multifamily MRK Partners' Hillside Senior Apartments in Gaithersburg, Maryland, featured a spacious common area that allowed the developer to create a variety of amenity spaces, like this community kitchen, where seniors can get together and establish relationships. SUMMER 2022 URBAN LAND 43 COURTESY OF MBK PARTNERS