Remodel, Replace or Reinvent: When Full Occupancy Is No Longer Enough

In Reforma and Polanco, some buildings are changing before the market forces them to.

Alexis Patjane leads 99 Minutos, a transportation and logistics company with offices at Masaryk 29. Photo: SiiLA.

By: SiiLA News

06/09/2026

Office buildings do not age when they get older. They age when they stop competing. And in that context, competitive pressure is pushing some properties to reinvent themselves in different ways: some are being renovated, others replaced, and some are even exploring entirely different uses from those they originally had.

On Paseo de la Reforma, at Londres 40, a Class B office building delivered in 2016 that until recently maintained full occupancy, could completely abandon its office use. Personnel involved in the renovations say the property is being prepared for conversion into Airbnb spaces. A few blocks away, Torre Valburmex appears to be heading in the opposite direction. According to construction personnel, the building, completed in 1991, would be demolished to make way for a new office tower up to 36 stories tall. Meanwhile, in Polanco, Masaryk 29 is pursuing a third path: modernization. The property, whose original façade dates back to 1975, is currently being renovated to remain competitive within the corridor.

These moves are taking place in a premium market where demand has become increasingly selective.

In Reforma and Polanco, seven out of every ten office buildings are Class A+ or A. Together, they account for 83% of the gross leasable area across both submarkets and, over the past six years, captured 91% of total absorption. By contrast, Class B buildings represent just 17% of the combined inventory in Reforma and Polanco—about 500,000 square meters—and during the same period absorbed fewer than one out of every ten square meters demanded by the market.

Since 2022, lower A+ participation has often coincided with a greater share for Class B.

Competition, therefore, is no longer simply about attracting new tenants. It is about remaining relevant in the face of increasingly modern supply and companies with rising standards for location, efficiency, and space quality. In this environment, although Class B buildings remain an important part of the business landscape, they are also the assets where that pressure most often translates into deeper transformations, not always associated with a building’s age.

In that regard, SiiLA data indicate that the relationship between age and performance is less straightforward than it might appear.

In Reforma and Polanco, nearly 69% of office buildings are more than 10 years old, while almost half of the gross leasable area is concentrated in properties built between 11 and 25 years ago. Occupancy levels, however, tell a different story. On average, buildings 10 years old or newer post occupancy levels near 84%, while those between 11 and more than 50 years old maintain rates above 90%.

The trend holds even within the Class B segment. Buildings more than 25 years old post occupancy rates above 90%, while those delivered during the past two decades remain near 70%.

Older Class B buildings post higher occupancy levels than newer ones.

This shows that, rather than representing an automatic disadvantage, age is, in many cases, associated with established locations, long-term tenant relationships, and a presence in some of the city’s most sought-after office corridors.

If age alone does not determine a building’s performance, then it does not determine its future either. Londres 40, Torre Valburmex, and Masaryk 29 not only exemplify that reality but also reflect how, in a market where relevance must be constantly renewed, the key is not always to react to change but to anticipate it. The three properties belong to different generations of the office market and maintained high occupancy levels. Even so, their owners chose to transform them. Because obsolescence does not appear to begin when a building gets older, but when it stops competing.

Want to know which trends are shaping the office real estate market? Visit SiiLA Market Analytics or contact us at contacto@siila.com.mx.

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