Los Angeles is among the top markets in the US for apartment conversion projects. A recent report from Rent Café by Yardi analyzed the number of historic buildings that have been converted into apartment buildings since the 1950s. In Los Angeles, there have been 74 historic buildings converted into apartment buildings in the last seven decades. As a result, the market ranks third in the nation for apartment conversions like this.

"Conversions and adaptive reuse projects are nothing new, but decade-by-decade, developers kept embracing the residential potential of older buildings," Alexandra Ciuntu of Rent Café tells GlobeSt.com. "The reasons go from time and cost efficiency to more sentimental ones, like adding nostalgic value to a project or keeping communities grounded in their history. The overall redevelopment process for an existing building is easier than that for new construction, especially when it doesn't involve footprint or lot size changes."

Existing projects are also relatively easy, straightforward and faster than a ground-up project. "Underutilized and even abandoned buildings might prove easier to build upon and repurpose compared to starting a project from scratch," says Ciuntu. "And reducing the development time can lead to lower construction costs in the end. In addition, more and more cities have preservation programs that go hand in hand with conserving historic buildings while repurposing them according to current community needs—in this case, rental supply."