Quote Originally Posted by JBMcB View Post
Residences maybe. Converting a high-rise into apartments is pricey, you have to redo the water, fire, and HVAC systems, and possibly the electrical as well. My brother-in-law worked on a small-scale conversion, and he said they gutted everything inside and completely redid the entire building. It was a huge, expensive project, and the building was a fraction of the size of one of the renaissance center towers. It wouldn't be impossible, just an enormous, expensive undertaking.

I doubt the lease the Mariott has with the building would allow the building to rent out space to a competing hotel.



Not quite. The Hudson site tower is smaller than GM's office space in the Renaissance Center. They shed quite a few people in the buyouts last year, and a good chunk of the workforce is still working hybrid, a couple days in the office and a couple days at home.
You can probably also add windows to the list of complexities/costs you've already mentioned. I think it's pretty rare to have an apartment where you can't open the windows... imagine how much it would cost to replace a few windows for every unit? I'm guessing they'd all have to be custom made too.