WORCESTER, Mass. — A new state program is supporting the redevelopment of commercial properties into housing.

Gov. Maura Healey announced the commercial conversion initiative Friday at One Chestnut Place in Worcester, which was once an office building. It's slated to be redeveloped into nearly 200 market rate apartments. The buildings anchor tenant will relocate to a new space in the city.

Healey said one of the most effective ways to make housing more affordable is to convert vacant or underutilized office space. The initiative will also offer new planning resources to accelerate the redevelopment of these buildings.

“It's an investment in Worcester with homes for residents, talent for employers, and customers for downtown business,” said Gov. Healey. "It’s why cities across the country are looking at what we do with our office space and here you see Worcester leading. This building could have sat vacant. As we know more companies are looking to shrink their office space, there's remote work opportunities. Things have changed but what we don't want to see is infrastructure sitting empty when we know it could be turned into housing for so many people who so desperately need and want that in our state."

State leaders said with more people working from home, office buildings aren't as busy as they used to be.

MassHousing has allocated up to $1 million in planning funds for technical assistance funding under the program.