200 State St
200 State St is a 18-story building in Downtown Boston with 80% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 547 homes and scores it 75 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
MA-7 & MA-8 · Screened 2026-10-04 · Strong candidate
Where 200 State St is
Its block in Downtown Boston, drawn from Boston's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 200 State St
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
Across its 17 residential floors this building carries 129,377 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment.
Modeled conversion metrics for 200 State St, 2026-10-04.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 75 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 222 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 18 |
| Height bandsfloor plate by floor range, from the city's roof outlines | Floors 1–4: 57,927 sq ft · Floors 5–14: 40,816 sq ft · Floors 15–18: 15,131 sq ft |
| Floor platetypical floor, from the city outlines | 40,816 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 80% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 65 ft |
| Windowless coretypical floor; the building-wide total is in the text above | 6,147 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 547 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 642,469 sq ft | $231.3M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$10.2M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltBoston's own record of the construction year | 1984 |
| ZoningDowntown Boston | MARKETS PROTECTION AREA |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
44 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 1,811 ft of exterior wall, and across 17 residential floors the building carries 24,038 ft of it in total, divided among the 547 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is highly articulated at 0.16: a long, notched or wing-shaped outline with far more facade than its area needs — wasteful as an office envelope, and close to ideal for apartments. How window line and plate shape are measured.
At the model’s 750 sq ft average, the plan works out at about 32.2 homes per floor. Its floors are not alike, though: the typical floor's deepest interior point is 65 ft from a facade, while its worst floor reaches 103 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 200 State St scores 75 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 80, Interior depth 37, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 200 State St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency80% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 80 | 45% | 35.9 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 65 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 37 | 25% | 9.2 |
| Scale547 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 9% 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 37 out of 100: deepest interior point 65 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
Built in 1984
Boston records this building as going up in 1984, which puts it in the late-modern stock.
As a rule, typically the hardest to convert: the deepest plates of any era, large central cores, and floor-to-floor heights tight enough that running residential drainage under a ceiling can be the thing that ends a project. 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 80% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 642,469 sq ft of converted floor, or $231.3M in total — about $423K for each of the 547 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 200 State 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 129,377 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 547 homes is $241.5M.
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 $231.3M of work with $10.2M to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $423K — 4% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $360 to $376 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 200 State St:
Single-assumption flip points for 200 State St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 8% downto 73% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 8% downto $405K |
| Average unit size | 9% upto 818 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 12% upto $291/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 200 State St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown Boston
200 State St ranks 70th of the 96 buildings screened here, against a median score of 89.
Its floor plate is better lit than 30% of them, and shallower than 20% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 26th 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.
Its nearest match in size: 20 Rowes Whf
The screened building closest to 200 State St in converted floor area is 20 Rowes Whf: 718,946 sq ft over 18 stories, against 642,469 sq ft over 18 here.
200 State St scores 75 to its 86, and with the size held roughly equal most of that shortfall comes from interior depth: 37 out of 100 here, 64 there (deepest interior point 54 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft). On the money they sit in the same place: each pencils without a subsidy. The two stand about 1,500 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 200 State 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 200 State St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 260 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 150-152 State St8 stories · 100% daylit · 131 estimated homes · scores 98/100 (Strong candidate)about 260 ft away
- 255 State St11 stories · 74% daylit · 162 estimated homes · scores 68/100 (Worth a feasibility study)about 560 ft away
- 36-44 Broad St10 stories · 96% daylit · 248 estimated homes · scores 100/100 (Strong candidate)about 560 ft away
- 177 Milk St10 stories · 90% daylit · 96 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 590 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.