Aviator House opens as D.C.'s first completed Housing in Downtown conversion

Aviator House, a 157-unit conversion of the Air Line Pilots Association's former Washington headquarters, opened Wednesday, Multifamily Dive reported. It is the first project backed by the District's Housing in Downtown program to complete, according to the outlet. The eight-story, 1972-vintage building is owned by D.C.-based National Real Estate Advisors and was developed through its subsidiary, National Real Estate Development.

The apartments are studios, one- and two-bedrooms, per a press release the developer shared with Multifamily Dive. The building was "maybe 50% leased" after the pandemic, said Peter Epstein, managing director of development at National Real Estate Development and the project lead. "Every conversion project is such a puzzle," he said. "Financially, the project has to make sense, but physically, the building has to be able to convert."

Epstein said the developer worked the floor plate to avoid the awkward layouts common in office reuse, aiming to "minimize the super deep units that you can get sometimes in office conversions." Ground was broken in October 2024, with Clark Construction as general contractor and ECA as architect, per the release. Design was part of the pitch to renters, Epstein said: "We wanted it to have an actual identity and something that people would viscerally respond to and be drawn to."

Nationwide, the number of conversion projects rose 28% year over year at the start of 2026, Smart Cities Dive reported. RentCafe data cited by Multifamily Dive put 16,358 conversion units in progress in New York City and 8,479 in D.C., the second-highest total. The D.C. figure is about half of New York's.

D.C. launched Housing in Downtown in 2024, offering a 20-year tax break and other incentives, according to the program's website. Last October the city expanded the eligibility area, which Multifamily Dive said greatly increased the pool of potential conversion projects. Mayor Muriel Bowser has focused on residential conversions as a way to draw residents downtown amid excess office space and a housing shortage.

Multifamily Dive reported two more D.C. conversions in the works.