Challenger Cities EP24: Reinventing Cities, through Office to Residential Conversions with Steven Paynter

What if your city’s most underused asset wasn’t a park or a waterfront—but an office tower?

In this episode, I talk with Steven Paynter, Global Lead for Building Transformation and Adaptive Reuse at Gensler, who’s made it his mission to turn tired, half-vacant office blocks into vibrant places to live. Before "Is Downtown Dead?" became a post-pandemic cliché, Steven and his team were building the model that could help bring it back to life.

From Calgary to Baton Rouge, they’ve studied over 2,000 buildings in 150 cities, mapping which ones are ripe for conversion—and which aren’t worth the effort. But this isn't just about fixing vacancy stats. It’s about redesigning downtowns around people, not just companies.

Steven explains why:

• Cities need to treat buildings like living systems, not museum pieces
• We should stop waiting for perfect and start building for someone
• Urban reinvention is more likely in overlooked places than poster cities
• Conversions can be beautiful—if you know what to reveal, not just what to add
• The best results come when cities concentrate effort, not spread it like butter

We dig into why Toronto is still dragging its feet, how Calgary is showing what’s possible, and what lessons Detroit offers on how to rebuild after hitting rock bottom. We also get into his next big obsession: what happens when even conversion isn’t an option?

KEY QUOTES:

“We get so worried about protecting what we have that we forget cities are supposed to evolve.”

“If a building doesn’t work as an office and doesn’t work as housing—then what do you do? That’s the next problem I want to solve.”

“Let’s stop letting perfect get in the way of actually achieving anything.”

“You don’t need billionaires to revitalize a city. Cities can do that if they choose to.”

“Wouldn’t it be cool if downtown was completely different and better?”

FEATURED PROJECTS:

• Rivermark Centre, Baton Rouge
• Pearl House, NYC Financial District
• Gensler’s national office-to-residential model
• Sidewalk Labs prefab and mass timber R&D (getting a second wind)

LISTEN IF YOU’RE INTO: 🏙️ Adaptive reuse and city transformation 📉 Fixing office vacancy with actual humans 🏗️ Data-driven design that isn’t soul-crushing 📦 Prefab, mass timber, and the next urban frontier ⚡ Starting before the market’s ready