Conversions from business to mixed or residential have happened so it's not an impossible thing either e.g. 70 Pine Street.
And while business buildings are not internally designed for 24/7 occupancy, their accesses are scoped for much higher occupancy as businesses tend to have denser occupancies than residential.
So most of the problem is the interior setting, which has to be retrofit anyway.
> Also, when some natural disaster hits and the city loses power? You can't go home. Your home is 50 floors up. Nobody is walking that.
Residential towers exist all over the world. And that's literally what Billionaire's Row is.
And while business buildings are not internally designed for 24/7 occupancy, their accesses are scoped for much higher occupancy as businesses tend to have denser occupancies than residential.
So most of the problem is the interior setting, which has to be retrofit anyway.
> Also, when some natural disaster hits and the city loses power? You can't go home. Your home is 50 floors up. Nobody is walking that.
Residential towers exist all over the world. And that's literally what Billionaire's Row is.