Adaptive Reuse Event Recap

Five Rafn team members attended the NAIOP Change Makers event on August 21, 2025. The topic was Adaptive Reuse, and the panel was comprised of experts from Stream Real Estate, Gensler, Delta E Consulting, and Coughlin Porter Lundeen. Rafn is a proud sponsor of the NAIOP Washington Sustainable Development Committee, which hosted this event.

“As cities across the country seek to meet housing demands, reduce carbon impact, and revitalize their downtown cores, adaptive reuse can be a powerful tool in the transformation of the built environment.”

Here are our top five hot takes from the discussion.

1. Adaptive reuse projects are, or may be, exempt from the following: MHA fees, sales tax (if 10% of units will be affordable), street improvements, stormwater improvements, green factor requirements, and envelope revisions could be “like for like”. You could also qualify for historic tax credits depending on the age of the building.
2. With the City of Seattle’s push for affordable housing, there is broad support to explore every possible way to create more units, especially in the urban core where most candidate buildings for adaptive reuse are located. Based on your project’s location, it is important to engage your local political representative to get the project moving.
3. Early design time is critical. Go into your permit pre-application meeting with your plan, along with where and why you are requesting deviations from current regulations to get the project to pencil.
4. A thorough audit of the existing building’s structure will pay dividends down the road. A laser scan and/or survey can be money well spent. If possible, demo anything that does not need to stay prior to requesting subcontractor pricing. A blank and open building interior goes a long way toward tighter subcontractor pricing and more interest in the project.
5. Overall, the Schematic Design phase of an Adaptive Reuse project is more vital compared to new construction. Take advantage of your time getting to the permit to prepare for hitting the ground running, as the construction phase will be faster than for a standard construction project.

A final bonus takeaway is that you will probably have to look at 25 potential buildings to find one that might work!

Get in touch with us and we can help you evaluate the buildings you are considering for an adaptive reuse project.

King County's New Public Health Permit Center

Coming Soon: New Plumbing/Gas Permitting Portal!

King County Public Health, which handles plumbing and gas permits, is launching a new permitting system, The Public Health Permit Center.

What is the Public Health Permit Center?

The Permit Center will be the new online services portal for permits and plan review applications for food businesses, water recreation facilities, pet businesses, solid and medical waste facilities, plumbing and gas piping, on-site sewage systems, and schools. This new Public Health Permit Center will replace the current Environmental Health online services portal.

The new Permit Center is designed to better serve customers by streamlining the permitting process and making it easier to get information about your application. The system will be used for new permits, permit renewals, plan reviews, online inspection requests, and more. For the construction industry, the main permits handled by this system relate to plumbing and gas piping.

The new Public Health Permit Center is planning to launch in October 2025. Hopefully, this is a step in the right direction toward reducing the permit review process durations so that we can start projects on time, or earlier!

https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dph/health-safety/environmental-health/permits