14 Bowdoin St
14 Bowdoin St is a 25-story building in Downtown Boston with 75% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 633 homes and scores it 74 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
MA-7 & MA-8 · Screened 2026-10-04 · Strong candidate
Also addressed as 100 Cambridge St: Boston’s address records place both on this one footprint.
Where 14 Bowdoin St is
Its block in Downtown Boston, drawn from Boston's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 14 Bowdoin St
This building does not pencil on its own, but a modeled RESIDE Act grant would close the gap if the building qualified for one.
Across its 24 residential floors this building carries 202,257 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment.
Homes are recorded on a parcel this building shares. Boston's assessing records list 75 condominiums on a parcel it shares with other buildings, alongside 2 non-residential records. Which of those buildings has the homes is not recorded. The figures here treat the whole building as convertible, so read them as an upper bound and check whether any floors are already housing.
Modeled conversion metrics for 14 Bowdoin St, 2026-10-04.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 74 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 303 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 25 |
| Height bandsfloor plate by floor range, from the city's roof outlines | Floor 1: 79,347 sq ft · Floors 2–4: 61,971 sq ft · Floor 5: 50,769 sq ft · Floors 6–24: 28,654 sq ft · Floor 25: 15,021 sq ft |
| Floor platetypical floor, from the city outlines | 28,654 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 75% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 60 ft |
| Windowless coretypical floor; the building-wide total is in the text above | 8,439 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 633 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 796,129 sq ft | $286.6M |
| Gap before grantshortfall against completed value | $7.1M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltBoston's own record of the construction year | 2003 |
| ZoningDowntown Boston | PEMBERTON SQUARE PROTECTION AREA |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
35 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 718 ft of exterior wall, and across 24 residential floors the building carries 22,144 ft of it in total, divided among the 633 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.70: a squarish plan, with enough perimeter for a conventional double-loaded corridor. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 26.4 homes per floor. Its floors are not alike, though: the typical floor's deepest interior point is 60 ft from a facade, while its worst floor reaches 118 ft. The score follows the typical floor, so a podium that could not hold a bedroom does not by itself sink a slim tower above it — but it is there, and it is part of what would have to be drawn around.
Why 14 Bowdoin St scores 74 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 69, Interior depth 51, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 14 Bowdoin St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency75% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 69 | 45% | 31.1 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 60 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 51 | 25% | 12.6 |
| Scale633 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 1% to spare, which tops out the component | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
Most of what it earns comes from daylight efficiency, and what holds it back most is interior depth, at 51 out of 100: deepest interior point 60 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
Built in 2003
Boston records this building as going up in 2003, which puts it in the modern stock.
As a rule, newer systems and better structure, but usually built deep and sealed for office use, and rarely cheap enough to buy at a price that lets a conversion pencil. That is the era’s general tendency rather than a finding about this building — the model reads an outline and a height, and can see nothing inside — but it is the first thing an architect would want to know, and it colours how much confidence the 75% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 796,129 sq ft of converted floor, or $286.6M in total — about $453K for each of the 633 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 14 Bowdoin St: base cost plus the code work a change of use triggers.
| Base conversion cost | $260/sq ft |
|---|---|
| Plumbing risers to every unit | $40/sq ft |
| Operable windows and glazing | $30/sq ft |
| Additional egress stair | $18/sq ft |
| Fire sprinklers (NFPA 13R) | $12/sq ft |
| All-in | $360/sq ft |
That cost is charged across every converted square foot, including the 202,257 sq ft of windowless core, which has to be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered like the rest of the building and then earns nothing. Against it the model sets a completed value of $442K a home, which for 633 homes is $279.5M.
What would have to be true
A $7.1M gap before any grant, which the modeled $10.0M closes. What would reopen it soonest: circulation efficiency 1% down.
The shortfall before any grant is $7.1M. Closing it from the value side means each of the 633 homes finishing at $453K rather than the $442K the model assumes — 3% more. Closing it from the cost side means getting all-in cost down from $360 to $351 per square foot.
A modeled RESIDE grant of $10.0M moves that threshold to $437K a home. That is below the assumed value, which is why this building counts as unlocked by the grant — subject to it qualifying under the law's vacant-and-abandoned test, which this data cannot show.
Each of these, moved on its own, would be enough to undo that for 14 Bowdoin St:
Single-assumption flip points for 14 Bowdoin St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 1% downto 79% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 1% downto $437K |
| Average unit size | 1% upto 758 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 1% upto $264/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 14 Bowdoin St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown Boston
14 Bowdoin St ranks 71st of the 96 buildings screened here, against a median score of 89.
Its floor plate is better lit than 21% of them, and shallower than 29% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 17th largest by estimated homes. The full survey of all 96 buildings ranks and maps every one of them, and the list by address links each to its own page.
Within the PEMBERTON SQUARE PROTECTION AREA zone
5th of 7 zoned PEMBERTON SQUARE PROTECTION AREA — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
7 of the screened buildings are zoned PEMBERTON SQUARE PROTECTION AREA. 14 Bowdoin St ranks 5th of them against a median score of 79. 5 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 60 ft from a facade against this building’s 60 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 2,645 homes. The group’s top scorer is 6-6B Beacon St, at 94.
Its nearest match in size: 99 High St
The screened building closest to 14 Bowdoin St in converted floor area is 99 High St: 797,122 sq ft over 34 stories, against 796,129 sq ft over 25 here.
14 Bowdoin St scores 74 to its 61, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from interior depth: 51 out of 100 here, 21 there (deepest interior point 72 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they part ways: 99 High St falls short even with the modeled grant, while 14 Bowdoin St pencils only with the modeled RESIDE grant. The two stand about 3,100 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 14 Bowdoin St $10.0M, on the assumption it qualifies. Whether it does, no published dataset can say.
That figure assumes the building meets the Act’s vacant-and-abandoned test, which turns on code-enforcement and receivership records no city publishes.
It does not sit in a 2018 designated Opportunity Zone, so it would not draw that Section 201 priority.
Other buildings screened near 14 Bowdoin St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 440 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 15 New Chardon St12 stories · 82% daylit · 154 estimated homes · scores 79/100 (Strong candidate)about 440 ft away
- 25 New Chardon St7 stories · 78% daylit · 87 estimated homes · scores 67/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 560 ft away
- 1-3 Center Plz11 stories · 84% daylit · 549 estimated homes · scores 90/100 (Strong candidate)about 580 ft away
- 20 Ashburton Pl8 stories · 99% daylit · 78 estimated homes · scores 93/100 (Strong candidate)about 640 ft away
A screen, not a feasibility study, from outlines and heights rather than plans: the method and how to correct a figure. If you know this building’s interior, you know what this model cannot see.