Can This Guy Get People to Live in America’s Emptiest Downtown?

May 26, 2026 - 08:19

Denver's downtown core has long been a symbol of the American urban boom, but the pandemic left it hollowed out. Office towers stand half-empty, foot traffic is a shadow of its former self, and the city is grappling with a housing crisis. Enter Asher Luzzatto, a developer with a bold and somewhat controversial plan. He wants to turn the emptiest parts of downtown Denver into a living, breathing neighborhood by converting vacant commercial skyscrapers into apartments.

Luzzatto's approach is not your typical luxury condo conversion. He is targeting older, underperforming office buildings that are functionally obsolete for modern work but structurally sound for residential life. The idea is radical because it challenges the economics of downtown real estate. Most developers shy away from these projects due to the high cost of retrofitting floor plates originally designed for cubicles, not kitchens and bedrooms. Plumbing, electrical, and window placement all require massive overhauls.

Yet Luzzatto argues that the alternative is worse: a dead downtown. He is betting that by creating hundreds of smaller, more affordable units in the city's core, he can attract a new wave of residents who want to live where they work, or at least where they used to work. The experiment is being watched closely by other cities facing similar downtown vacancies. If he succeeds, it could offer a blueprint for reviving urban centers across the country. If he fails, it will be a costly lesson in the limits of adaptive reuse. For now, Luzzatto is moving forward, one empty floor at a time.