An ALTA survey is the first honest look at what a buyer is actually purchasing when an office tower goes up for conversion. The building is easy to see. The rights around it are not. A tower built in the 1970s or 1980s usually sits inside a web of agreements that nobody has read in years. Parking may be shared with a neighbor. A canopy may hang over a public sidewalk under an old permit. Utility easements may run right where a developer wants to add balconies. All of that surfaces on the survey, and it surfaces before closing.

Confirming the Tower’s Relationship to the Property Boundary

The survey establishes the boundary first, then measures the building against it. Crews locate the exterior walls at ground level, along with the foundation where it’s visible, plus canopies, awnings, planters, steps and any projection that extends past the wall line. Each of those gets a dimension to the property line.

Older towers were often built right to the line. Some were built slightly past it. A wall sitting four inches into the public right of way has probably been there for forty years without complaint, but it becomes a live issue during a sale. Lenders and title companies want it identified, and buyers want to know before they own it.

Vertical projections raise separate questions. A canopy that hangs eight feet over the sidewalk usually depends on a permit or a license from the city. Those documents can be revocable, and some carry conditions that a conversion would violate. The survey shows the physical extent and flags the encroachment, which sends the buyer looking for the paperwork behind it.

Reviewing Access Rights for New Residential or Mixed Uses

Access that works for an office building may not work for apartments. An office tower runs on one main lobby entrance and a service dock used during business hours. A residential building needs resident entries, a leasing entrance, package delivery, move-in access and trash service that runs every day.

The survey locates all existing access points. That includes driveways, curb cuts, loading dock aprons, service doors and pedestrian entrances. It also shows the right of way line, which determines how much of the approach sits on private ground and how much belongs to the city.

Recorded rights come next. Some towers depend on a driveway that crosses a neighboring parcel under an easement. Others share a loading dock or an alley with the building next door. Those agreements often set limits on hours, vehicle types and volume. A conversion that triples the traffic through a shared entrance needs to know that before design starts.

Identifying Easements That Limit Exterior Alterations

Conversions change the outside of a building, and easements decide how much change is possible. Utility easements along the perimeter can prevent new footings for an entrance canopy. Sidewalk vault agreements can limit excavation. Support easements between adjoining buildings can restrict work on a shared wall.

The surveyor plots each recorded interest from the actual document and shows its width and position. Crews then locate the physical evidence in the field, including vaults, grates, transformers, manholes and meter locations. Comparing the two shows whether equipment sits where its easement says it should.

Air and light agreements deserve a look on tall buildings. Some downtown properties carry recorded rights limiting how a neighbor may build, or limiting what this building may add. Those affect balcony additions, rooftop amenities and setback changes, all of which are common in conversions.

Documenting Parking and Shared-Site Rights

Parking arrangements are where office conversions get complicated. Many towers park in a garage they don’t own, under a lease or a reciprocal agreement written decades ago. Others own a garage that serves several buildings under a shared arrangement.

The survey documents what exists on the ground. Crews show the garage structure, its entrances, the drive aisles and the connections between properties. Where the buyer requests it, they count the spaces by type and show the striping as it exists.

The paper side matters just as much. A reciprocal easement agreement may allocate a fixed number of spaces to this building, or a percentage of a shared field. A residential conversion often needs a different ratio than an office use, and some agreements cap what a single owner may claim. Showing the agreement boundaries on the survey lets the buyer compare the rights against the plan.

Updating the Survey After Exterior Site Modifications

Surveys go stale as sites change. A tower that added a plaza, replaced its entrance, relocated a transformer or rebuilt its loading area since the last survey no longer matches its drawing. Those changes affect encroachments, easement compliance and access, which are exactly the items a lender reviews.

An update costs far less than a new survey. The surveyor reviews a current title commitment, returns to the field for anything that changed, and reissues the drawing with a new date and certification. On a property that’s been held for years, that update often reveals work done without a permit or without amending an easement.

Timing tends to favor doing it early. Conversion projects generate their own exterior changes, and each round of design revisions raises new questions about what’s allowed at the property edge. A current survey answers those questions instead of delaying them.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is a new ALTA survey needed for an existing office tower?

Whenever a sale, a refinance or a major redevelopment is underway, and whenever the exterior of the site has changed since the last one. Lenders and title companies generally require a current survey certified to them. Even without that requirement, a conversion changes enough about how a building is used to justify a fresh look.

Can an older commercial survey be reused during a conversion?

Sometimes as background, rarely as the certified document. An older survey shows conditions on the date it was made, and it names the parties it was certified to. New lenders and title companies usually aren’t on that list. Updating the existing survey is often the fastest path.

Does an ALTA survey show parking and access rights?

It shows the physical parking and access features, and it plots the recorded agreements that govern them. Space counts and striping details are optional items a client requests. The survey maps what those rights cover, while interpreting the terms of an agreement remains work for an attorney.