it's not 8,000 sf and even if it were, you're going to lose a lot of square footage by chopping it up into separate apartments, building firewalls, wasted space with new hallways or separate stairways.

 

No matter how big the spaces are, you're limited in what you can get for rent there.  It's not in a great area, sort of a limbo between Ohio City and Gordon Square.  Either one is walkable, but it's a LONG walk.

It's pretty close to that.  I've measured it from aerial photos and it's pretty close to 30'x70'x4 floors.  That's over 8,000 sq ft.  You'll lose some space converting it, but not necessarily a lot.  It depends how it lays out internally, but if you break it up by floor, you only lose room for an elevator and one staircase.  You could gain back space from removing other staircases that are no longer needed.  I think the neighborhood is decent, as it is along Franklin which is a mostly gentrified street. And I don't think it is at all "in limbo" between Ohio City and anything else.  It is directly in Ohio City.

 

Buildings of similar magnitude as the Franklin Castle are divided into apartments all the time. Just look at Chicago 3-flats and NYC brownstones. In Chicago I have seen similar buildings divided into 3 to 6 apartments units, and that does not include the carriage house.

Does anyone know why the apartment building across the street was demolished?