89-103 Bedford St
89-103 Bedford St is a 8-story building in Downtown Boston with 93% of its floor area within daylight reach of a facade. This screen estimates 300 homes and scores it 91 out of 100 for office-to-residential conversion suitability.
MA-7 & MA-8 · Screened 2026-10-04 · Strong candidate
Where 89-103 Bedford St is
Its block in Downtown Boston, drawn from Boston's own building outlines and street centerlines.
- Already housing
- Not screened
- 89-103 Bedford St
This building's conversion pencils at default assumptions without any subsidy.
Every floor carries 2,901 sq ft of windowless core — area that must be gutted, re-plumbed and sprinklered but can never be rented as an apartment. Across 7 residential floors that is 20,306 sq ft of cost carrying no revenue.
Modeled conversion metrics for 89-103 Bedford St, 2026-10-04.
| Suitability scoreStrong candidate | 91 / 100 |
|---|---|
| Storiesfrom 100 ft aerial-survey height ÷ 12 ft floor-to-floor | 8 |
| Floor plateper floor, from the city footprint | 43,126 sq ft |
| Daylight efficiencyshare within 35 ft of a facade | 93% |
| Deepest interior pointviability threshold is 80 ft | 55 ft |
| Windowless coreper floor — renovated but never rentable | 2,901 sq ft |
| Estimated homesat 750 sq ft average | 300 |
| Conversion cost$360/sq ft all-in on 301,885 sq ft | $108.7M |
| Gap before grantpencils unsubsidized | -$23.8M |
| Modeled RESIDE grantat the statutory per-award cap | $10.0M |
| BuiltBoston's own record of the construction year | 1899 |
| ZoningDowntown Boston | SKY |
| Opportunity Zonenot in a 2018 designated tract | No |
The plan: window line, shape and floor rhythm
47 ft of exterior wall for each home the screen estimates — enough for two- and three-bedroom homes across the plan.
The typical floor has 2,034 ft of exterior wall, and across 7 residential floors the building carries 14,240 ft of it in total, divided among the 300 homes this screen estimates.
Its plate is highly articulated at 0.13: 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 42.9 homes per floor, repeated on every residential floor, since this building's outline does not change as it rises.
Why 89-103 Bedford St scores 91 out of 100
Daylight efficiency 100, Interior depth 62, Scale 100, Finance 100 — each out of 100, then weighted.
Score components for 89-103 Bedford St. Points are the subscore times its weight.
| Component | Subscore | Weight | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight efficiency93% of the floor area within 35 ft of a facade, scored from 40% up to 90% | 100 | 45% | 45.0 |
| Interior depthdeepest interior point 55 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft | 62 | 25% | 15.5 |
| Scale300 estimated homes, scored from 0 up to 150 | 100 | 15% | 15.0 |
| Financecompleted value covers conversion cost with 31% 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 62 out of 100: deepest interior point 55 ft from a facade, scored from 80 ft down to 40 ft.
Built in 1899
Boston records this building as going up in 1899, which puts it in the pre-1920 stock.
As a rule, the era that converts most readily: load-bearing masonry, small floor plates laid out before deep-plan offices were possible, operable windows and generous floor-to-floor heights. The usual obstacles are not daylight but hazardous materials, lifts and bringing structure up to current code. 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 93% daylight figure above deserves.
What the conversion would cost
$360 per square foot all-in across 301,885 sq ft of converted floor, or $108.7M in total — about $362K for each of the 300 homes.
All-in cost per square foot for 89-103 Bedford 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 20,306 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 300 homes is $132.5M.
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 $108.7M of work with $23.8M to spare. Value per home would have to fall to $362K — 18% below the assumption — before the conversion stopped penciling, or all-in cost would have to rise from $360 to $439 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 89-103 Bedford St:
Single-assumption flip points for 89-103 Bedford St, each holding the other three at their defaults.
| Circulation efficiencythe binding constraint — the least this building would need | 25% downto 60% |
|---|---|
| Completed value per home | 25% downto $329K |
| Average unit size | 34% upto 1,006 sq ft |
| Conversion cost per square foot | 43% upto $372/sq ft |
All four are sliders in the survey, where 89-103 Bedford St re-scores against your own numbers.
How it compares in Downtown Boston
89-103 Bedford St ranks 32nd of the 96 buildings screened here, against a median score of 89.
Its floor plate is better lit than 60% of them, and shallower than 33% of them at its deepest interior point. On size it is the 33rd 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
15th of 52 zoned SKY — the comparison that shares its rules, rents and streets.
52 of the screened buildings are zoned SKY. 89-103 Bedford St ranks 15th 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 55 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: 30-40 Court St
The screened building closest to 89-103 Bedford St in converted floor area is 30-40 Court St: 290,962 sq ft over 7 stories, against 301,885 sq ft over 8 here.
The two land within a few points of each other — 91 here, 92 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 2,000 ft apart.
Would it qualify for a RESIDE Act grant?
The model awards 89-103 Bedford 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 89-103 Bedford St
The 4 closest the screen also covers, from 120 ft away. They are the colored outlines on the plan at the top of this page.
- 1 Lincoln St41 stories · 77% daylit · 945 estimated homes · scores 73/100 (Strong candidate)about 120 ft away
- 16-18 Kingston St22 stories · 88% daylit · 313 estimated homes · scores 93/100 (Strong candidate)about 170 ft away
- 105-111 Summer St6 stories · 100% daylit · 33 estimated homes · scores 88/100 (Strong candidate)about 220 ft away
- 83-87 Summer St6 stories · 90% daylit · 92 estimated homes · scores 89/100 (Strong candidate)about 240 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.