LOS ANGELES: HOWARD AND IRENE LEVINE SENIOR COMMUNITY

In West Los Angeles, an underused parking lot owned by the city’s Department of Transportation has been turned into apartments for low-income or homeless seniors. The six-story building, designed by KFA Architecture for Mercy Housing of California, has open, light-filled corridors and community spaces, including a deck with a view of the Hollywood Hills. It’s within walking distance of stores, transit, and medical clinics, but also has underground parking.

[Photo: Craig Cozart/courtesy David Baker Architects]

SAN FRANCISCO: MASON ON MARIPOSA

Built on a sprawling 3.4-acre parking lot at the base of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, this development includes a mixed-use building and two apartment buildings, with a total of nearly 300 market-rate units. A publicly accessible green space runs through the middle of the buildings, and the site also includes repair and makerspaces for the neighborhood.

[Photo: Olivier Koning/courtesy WCIT Architecture]

HONOLULU: NOHONA HALE

A tiny, underutilized parking lot in Honolulu’s Kaka’ako neighborhood is now a 16-story high-rise with 111 studio apartments, each with private outdoor space. It’s designed to provide affordable housing in an area that’s quickly gentrifying, with units available to residents earning between 30% and 60% of the area’s median income.

[Image: courtesy Panoramic Interests]

BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA: 1752 SHATTUCK

While buildings on former parking lots often add new underground parking, this 68-unit apartment building in Berkeley will be car free, with parking only for bikes. (The neighborhood, next to the university campus, has a Walk Score of 98 out of 100; with multiple grocery stores, restaurants, and a subway station nearby, it’s easy to survive without a car.) The seven-story building, designed by Panoramic Interests, replaces both a parking lot and a former car service station.

[Image: courtesy Passero Associates]

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: CENTER CITY COURTYARD

In downtown Rochester, a parking lot that covered an entire block will be replaced by a five-story affordable apartment building with 161 units designed for residents who are low-income or were recently homeless. A courtyard will have raised beds for growing vegetables, picnic areas, a dog park, and other outdoor amenities. Construction is expected to begin later this year after the project gets final funding from the state.

Image: courtesy GGLO]

SHORELINE, WASHINGTON: SHORELINE PLACE

In the Seattle suburb of Shoreline, a former mall surrounded by a sea of parking is being converted into a walkable new neighborhood with stores, restaurants, more than 1,300 housing units, and new community space.

[Photo: Anice Hoachlander/courtesy Hickok Cole]

WASHINGTON, D.C.: THE CORCORAN

Built on a former ZipCar parking lot, this six-story mixed-use building is designed to fit in with historic brick buildings nearby. There’s commercial space on the ground floor and 35 apartments above.

[Image: Montgomery Sisam Architects]

HAMILTON, ONTARIO: PASSIVE HOUSE MODULAR HOUSING

This modular building is being built in an off-site factory and will soon be assembled at the location—a tight parking lot squeezed between two other buildings in Hamilton, a city near Toronto. Despite the area’s freezing winters, the building will use little heat (and almost no air-conditioning in the summer), thanks to Passive House construction.

The number of projects like these will likely keep growing, says Etienne Lefebvre, communications coordinator for Parking Reform Network, a nonprofit that advocates for better parking policy. “I think we’re on the precipice of a sea change,” he says. “There’s a huge interest in walkability. We’re in a housing crisis. There’s multiple factors putting pressure on cities to do something with their parking lots.”