Rehab/Reuse vs New Construction Costs

[Jeff_in_Dayton]

This discussion has surfaced at a local blog/forum here in Dayton regarding adaptive re-use and renovations of downtown buildings of various sorts and how code compliance is adding to the cost.

The issue is that older buildings dont meet fire and ADA codes. Things like travel distances, exiting, sprinklers, area seperation (fire codes) and accessibility to multiple floor buildings and restroom renovations for the disabled are some examples.


There are also issues with renovation to meet historic preservation standards or compliance, and hazmat abatement.

I was curious as to what the cost differential would be (a range) over renovation of an older office building vs a spec building on a greenfield site in, say, a suburban office building, for equivilant square footages

I know this is a very general question, which would depend on the building. The thing I am getting at is the premium or additional cost that would be involved in compliance/remediation issues. So perhaps a range of how much more (in %) would rehab cost over new construction.

[Kelvin]

It really is a very open-ended question, that involves as many variables as you can think of. Sorry there is no rule of thumb or basic percentage to apply...