147 Milk St
147 Milk St is a 10-story building in Downtown Boston with 100% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 259 homes and scores it 100 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
MA-7 & MA-8 · Screened 2026-10-04 · Strong candidate
Also addressed as 2 Oliver St: Boston’s address records place both on this one footprint.
Where 147 Milk St is
Its block in Downtown Boston, drawn from Boston's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 147 Milk St
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
This footprint has no windowless core at all: every point on the floor plate is within 35 ft of a facade, which is unusual and is the main reason it scores as well as it does.
Modeled conversion metrics for 147 Milk St, 2026-10-04.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 100 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 124 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 10 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 26,983 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 100% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 32 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 0 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 259 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 242,850 sq ft | $87.4M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$26.9M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltBoston's own record of the construction year | 1920 |
| ZoningDowntown Boston | SKY |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
38 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 1,108 ft of exterior wall, and across 9 residential floors the building carries 9,970 ft of it in total, divided among the 259 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is elongated at 0.28: a slab or an L, which is why so much of the floor lies within reach of a window: the outline buys daylight that a square plan of the same area would not. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 28.8 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 147 Milk St scores 100 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 100, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 147 Milk St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency100% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 32 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 100 | 25% | 25.0 |
| Scale259 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 42% to spare, which tops out the component | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
Every component scores at or near full marks, so nothing in the geometry or the pro-forma is holding this one back — daylight efficiency carries the most weight of the four.
Built in 1920
Boston records this building as going up in 1920, which puts it in the interwar stock.
As a rule, steel or concrete frames with punched windows and plates still narrow enough for daylight to reach the middle, often with high ceilings. Among the most convertible stock there is, and the reason so many early conversions were of buildings this age. 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 100% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 242,850 sq ft of converted floor, or $87.4M in total — about $338K for each of the 259 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 147 Milk 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 circulation and service area that earns nothing directly. Against it the model sets a completed value of $442K a home, which for 259 homes is $114.4M.
What would have to be true
This one already clears the bar. The question is how much room it has before it stops.
At $442K a home, completed value covers the $87.4M of work with $26.9M to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $338K — 24% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $360 to $471 per square foot. Neither is a wide margin in a market that moves, but this building does not need a grant to work.
Each of these, moved on its own, would be enough to undo that for 147 Milk St:
Single-assumption flip points for 147 Milk St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 32% downto 54% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 32% downto $299K |
| Average unit size | 47% upto 1,104 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 58% upto $412/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 147 Milk St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown Boston
147 Milk St ranks 1st of the 96 buildings screened here, against a median score of 89.
Its floor plate is better lit than 100% of them, and shallower than 88% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 37th 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 SKY zone
1st of 52 zoned SKY — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
52 of the screened buildings are zoned SKY. 147 Milk St ranks 1st of them against a median score of 88, the top score in the group. 40 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 51 ft from a facade against this building’s 32 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 19,019 homes.
Its nearest match in size: 36-44 Broad St
The screened building closest to 147 Milk St in converted floor area is 36-44 Broad St: 243,317 sq ft over 10 stories, against 242,850 sq ft over 10 here.
The two land within a few points of each other — 100 here, 100 there — so at this size the screen reads them as much the same prospect. On the money they sit in the same place: each pencils without a subsidy. The two stand about 400 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 147 Milk 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 147 Milk St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 160 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 260 Franklin St26 stories · 81% daylit · 358 estimated homes · scores 84/100 (Strong candidate)about 160 ft away
- 55-61 Batterymarch St7 stories · 100% daylit · 38 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 200 ft away
- 1 Liberty Sq13 stories · 84% daylit · 156 estimated homes · scores 87/100 (Strong candidate)about 220 ft away
- 20 Custom House St12 stories · 98% daylit · 119 estimated homes · scores 97/100 (Strong candidate)about 360 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.