Developing Stories.

Our upper floor redevelopment experts will show you how!

The Upper Floor Opportunity

Millions of square feet of vacant spaces in the upper floors of buildings in downtowns of smaller cities in the United States starve our Main Streets of vitality.  This abundance of unused or underused space reduces property values and perpetuates an image of failure. Yet these are spaces with great attributes! With coveted architectural elements including tall ceilings, ornate trim, and large windows these spaces are centrally located in proximity to the best our towns have to offer in terms of dining, shopping, and civic life.

Already connected to infrastructure, and with much of their structures in place, these units are less costly to create, especially in an era of rising construction costs, and are better for the environment than new units on the edge of town. These vacant spaces are prime candidates for redevelopment.

Since 2005 downtown housing has become a dominant trend but barriers, especially in smaller communities, have keep some places from joining the wave. Buildings too small to interest real estate developers require a do-it-yourself approach that can benefit from tools provided by the award-winning UpstairsDowntown program.

The program was created to help Main Street programs, property owners, and others interested in turning vacant upper floor space into income-producing assets.

The UpstairsDowntown Approach

The UpstairsDowntown training program was initially developed by Dan Carmody and Mike Jackson for the Illinois State Main Street Conference in 2005. The conference was held in Rock Island where Dan led a community-based development non-profit that had developed deep capacity to build innovative forms of housing. Mike, from his position of Illinois State Architect, saw the need to help property owners tackle the buildings that were too small for developers to transform into the kind of housing that was beginning to drive demand in communities across the country.

The UpstairsDowntown approach generally targets two- to three-story buildings with footprints between 2,000-6,000 per floor. This size of a building isn’t generally big enough to attract the attention of professional developers leaving them as missed opportunities for many downtowns. Dan and Mike show Main Street organizations and other community-based development programs how to assemble a team that can help small property owners overcome common barriers to redeploying these wonderful assets — one story at a time. 

UpstairsDowntown Workshops

Dan and Mike have presented a variety of workshops on 22 separate occasions in 18 states. Currently, they offer a one-day and a one-and-a-half-day version of the UpstairsDowntown Workshop.

The one-day version comes with four modules:

Module 1:   Upstairs Downtown: Creating a market for downtown housing

Module 2:   Architectural Assessment: Key issues in evaluating current Inventory

Module 3:   Financial Feasibility: Identifying financial issues and understanding basic concepts

Module 4:   Case Studies and Incentives: How others got started

Commonly, two sessions are conducted before lunch and two sessions after lunch. Many communities choose to conduct an upper floor housing tour at the end of the one-day version. These tours highlight both completed units as well as prime candidates for conversion of vacant space into a compelling unit.

The second day is usually a half-day and offers that opportunity to go deep into two issues of particular interest to the community. Recent examples of additional modules include:

Module 5:   Advanced Financing: Identifying more ways to fill financial gaps

Module 6:   Building Code Roundtable: Many ways to improve building safety beyond sprinklers

Module 7:   Preliminary Design: Key issues to improve unit quality and control costs

 Workshop prices start at $6,000, plus travel expenses for Dan and Mike.

UpstairsDowntown Feasibility Studies

Antiquated upper floor space needs significant investment to increase its market appeal. Dan and Mike can help communities and property owners develop feasibility studies for units in buildings that seem the most prime for renovation. Drawing on existing conditions, they create a proposed floor plan that integrates the details that can improve a unit’s marketability and then provide early phase financial feasibility analysis that projects renovation costs, operating revenues/expenses, and sources of capital.

The UpstairsDowntown approach carefully assesses the architectural character found in historic buildings and matches these with contemporary amenities. High ceilings are a starting point for designs that also maximize natural lighting, vintage materials, and contemporary kitchens and baths. Other compelling amenities include full laundry facilities in each unit, a home office, and outdoor decks/terraces.

Property owners will need to assess their financing options and work with local professionals to move projects from these preliminary designs to more detailed construction documents for building permits and construction.

Here is a snapshot of today’s typical urban housing unit:

  • Unit size: 1 or 2 BR units of approx. 1,000 sq. ft.

  • Open-plan kitchen and living rooms

  • Retention or restoration of tall ceilings

  • Natural lighting for living and bedrooms

  • Laundry facilities in each unit

  • All new building systems - HVAC, electric, plumbing

  • Retain and enhance historic character-defining features

  • Safety upgrades based upon the International Existing Bldg. Code

To date Dan and Mike have done 16 feasibility studies for three communities:

  • Sydney, NE (9 units)

  • Bartlesville, OK (4 units)

  • Springfield, IL (3 units)

Prices for Feasibility Studies depend upon the number of units and whether a local architect or one our architects does field measurements and current conditions plan.

What the Program Has Achieved.

  • The community of Rock Island, IL, was the starting point for UpstairsDowntown. This community, with inspired leadership from the non-profit, city, and business sector, has developed more than a dozen different major mixed-use projects since 2000 that has added nearly 250 housing units and nearly 100,000 square feet of commercial space in their downtown, in a city of under 40,000. In addition, Rock Island assisted smaller property owners by providing forgivable loans funded by their Tax Increment Finance District (TIF) which helped create another 30 units in increments of five or fewer.

  • The UpstairsDowntown program has been showcased at three Town Meetings of the National Main Street Center. This training program has been hosted by state-wide and local Main Street organizations in Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin.

  • The success of this program is measured in terms of community capacity. This program enables local leaders to comprehend the complexity or real estate development as it applies to the small-scale properties along America’s Main Streets. This program is not aimed at "professional" developers but rather small building owners and local community leaders looking to improve main street one story at a time.