Have Empty Commercial Space in 2024? Consider 10 of 2023’s Most Notable Alternative Uses

With a potential commercial real estate market crash looming over the industry, the past year has felt long, and 2024 is possibly just as foreboding.

But amid the uncertainty, resourceful players found alternative uses for idle space. Where did all of these out-of-the-box uses like eatertainment, pickleball and urban laboratories come from?

By looking at some creative space conversions that were on LoopNet’s radar this past year, one could either follow these trends’ potential future or use them as inspiration for new inventive possibilities.

Pickleball was widely documented as the U.S.’ fastest-growing sport in 2023, and businesses ranging from big “sportstainment” chains backed by deep pockets to mom-and-pop entrepreneurs helped provide spaces for it.

Camp Pickle, of the former category, requires between 50,000 and 75,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space, but in an interview with its proprietor, Robert Thompson, the restaurateur said he wants to bring pickleball to more suburban, infill and repurposed big-box buildout profiles — similar to what an unrelated pair of Thompsons did in Virginia by converting a vacant furniture store into an indoor pickleball center.

One cross-section of a Venn diagram those pickleball facilities fit into between restaurants and entertainment is “eatertainment,” which combines elements of sports or other social activities with food and beverage.

A $15 million conversion of a former creative office space to eatertainment destination in North Carolina is a great example of using a big space — 200,000 square feet, in this case — to capitalize on the demand for more active light industrial-type spaces that support crowds gathering for social activities. Think music venues, breweries, food hubs, coffee roasteries and alternative recreation activities like axe throwing.

In that same spirit, several concepts captured demand in big ways last year, such as the Illuminarium venture, which specializes in immersive, multi-sensory and interactive art shows that transport customers to faraway locales and fantasy environments within their own branded venues.

In its rapid expansion throughout North America, the company has considered shopping centers and malls and has set up shop with long-term leases in locations that include the adaptive reuse of a warehouse in Atlanta and a 150-year-old, 13,500-square-foot heritage building in Toronto.

Also in the imaginative realm, the company Zero Empty Spaces has a creative solution to real estate’s vacancy problem: filling unoccupied spaces with short-term artist studios.

With the vacancy rate for malls at 9% and property owners losing money by the day, any use — even if it’s pop-up or temporary — that brings in rent revenue can help. Most artists occupy the space for about a year on average, the company co-founder said, with the goal being that the owner eventually finds a permanent tenant.

It's meant to be a win-win for everyone — the artists get more exposure in better locations for an affordable price compared to what they could rent through traditional means (often a warehouse on the outskirts of town), and property owners mitigate balance sheet losses and get more visibility on their property as a marketing tool while they’re looking for long-term tenants.

Here’s another example of a use that brings people together. This time, it’s a Japanese, jazz café-meets-speakeasy-inspired bar in a space that was formerly a storage room.

Demand for spaces that suit the life sciences industry is on the rise, and rather than building them from scratch, offices were widely seen as potentials for adaptive reuse.

LoopNet covered some of the costs involved in office-to-lab conversions; some of the main considerations for embarking on such a project, and some examples of successful life science conversions.

When a beauty supply store signaled its intent to move out of its 45,000-square-foot space, it could have just left another vacancy on the south side of Chicago.

Instead, the former store became a new medical office led by Friend Health, with exam rooms, a pharmacy and other vital community services previously lacking in the area.

It’s a great example of medtail, a consumer health-focused niche that brings the convenience of retail — and thus, works in many former retail locations — to medical practices.

But what about the great outdoors? With outdoor recreation hitting record numbers, there’s a commercial real estate opportunity in unused land.

AutoCamp is one example of a company with a business model that offers a compelling alternative concept for owners of rural land. The founders wanted to make camping more approachable to people who perhaps didn’t have a lot of experience or lacked the supplies.

The sites, all with a few different types of accommodations, are strategically located within a half-day’s drive of a city with a major airport. They also include on-site activities like yoga and amenities such as a main pavilion, dubbed the “Clubhouse,” and pools at some locations.

This list has included examples of converting all types of spaces, from small storage rooms to massive big box stores and industrial sites. It’s even included outdoor spaces not confined to walls at all. But there’s also cases to be made for existing assets’ rooftops.

Take this company, for example, that wants to turn industrial rooftops into solar power plants.

If 2023 proved anything about adaptive reuse and conversions of empty space into ones fitted for alternative uses, it’s that creativity goes a long way in commercial real estate.

It’s not just developers, business owners and the general public’s demand for new types of spaces that nudges those decisions, it’s also municipal zoning boards, who are actively trying to encourage property owners to think differently about the way space is used.

Arlington, Viriginia, is a great example. The Washington, D.C., suburb is enacting zoning changes that will allow vacant offices to be occupied by breweries, makerspaces, arcades, laboratories, vertical farms and more.