16-18 Kingston St
16-18 Kingston St is a 22-story building in Downtown Boston with 88% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 313 homes and scores it 93 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
MA-7 & MA-8 · Screened 2026-10-04 · Strong candidate
Where 16-18 Kingston St is
Its block in Downtown Boston, drawn from Boston's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 16-18 Kingston St
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
Every floor carries 1,828 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 21 residential floors that is 38,384 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 16-18 Kingston St, 2026-10-04.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 93 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 262 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 22 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 15,815 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 88% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 49 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 1,828 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 313 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 332,112 sq ft | $119.6M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$18.6M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltBoston publishes construction years, but none matched this footprint | — |
| ZoningDowntown Boston | SKY |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
37 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 555 ft of exterior wall, and across 21 residential floors the building carries 11,651 ft of it in total, divided among the 313 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is moderately compact at 0.65: 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 14.9 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 16-18 Kingston St scores 93 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 97, Interior depth 77, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 16-18 Kingston St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency88% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 97 | 45% | 43.6 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 49 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 77 | 25% | 19.2 |
| Scale313 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 24% 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 77 out of 100: deepest interior point 49 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 332,112 sq ft of converted floor, or $119.6M in total — about $382K for each of the 313 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 16-18 Kingston 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 38,384 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 313 homes is $138.2M.
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 $119.6M of work with $18.6M to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $382K — 13% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $360 to $416 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 16-18 Kingston St:
Single-assumption flip points for 16-18 Kingston St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 21% downto 64% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 21% downto $350K |
| Average unit size | 26% upto 944 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 33% upto $346/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 16-18 Kingston St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown Boston
16-18 Kingston St ranks 20th of the 96 buildings screened here, against a median score of 89.
Its floor plate is better lit than 48% of them, and shallower than 50% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 31st 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
10th of 52 zoned SKY — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
52 of the screened buildings are zoned SKY. 16-18 Kingston St ranks 10th of them against a median score of 88. 40 score 70 or more, their median deepest interior point is 51 ft from a facade against this building’s 49 ft, and together they would hold an estimated 19,019 homes. The group’s top scorer is 147 Milk St, at 100.
Its nearest match in size: 50 Milk St
The screened building closest to 16-18 Kingston St in converted floor area is 50 Milk St: 326,405 sq ft over 23 stories, against 332,112 sq ft over 22 here.
16-18 Kingston St scores 93 to its 85, and with the size held roughly equal most of that lead comes from daylight efficiency: 97 out of 100 here, 86 there (83% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90%). On the money they sit in the same place: each pencils without a subsidy. The two stand about 1,300 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 16-18 Kingston 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 16-18 Kingston St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 100 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 83-87 Summer St6 stories · 90% daylit · 92 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 100 ft away
- 89-103 Bedford St8 stories · 93% daylit · 300 estimated homes · scores 91/100 (Strong candidate)about 170 ft away
- 105-111 Summer St6 stories · 100% daylit · 33 estimated homes · scores 88/100 (Strong candidate)about 170 ft away
- 1 Lincoln St41 stories · 77% daylit · 945 estimated homes · scores 73/100 (Strong candidate)about 290 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.