Originally published on August 15, 2022, by Patricia Kirk for UrbanLand Magazine.

Pandemic travel bans shut down many old, obsolete hotels for good. Now, investors are creating a new product—from temporary shelter to affordable and market-rate housing.

This article appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of Urban Land.

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 pandemic-induced travel shutdown and an oversupply of new hotels that includes 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The good news is that many of these outdated properties are being reborn as residences as multifamily developers and investors looking for a quick and cost-effective way to produce more housing snap them up for conversion to apartments.

While this idea is not new, the hot multifamily market has set in motion a new wave of this type of adaptive use to help meet the high demand for affordable and attainable housing in urban markets.