Might work!

Wolf continues covering the bust in office buildings. Among the usual mix of daytraders talking like ticker tapes and partisan politicians, this comment is especially interesting:

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Converting office space to traditional apartments is very complex, yes. But what about dorm-style living like what we have at colleges? A bunch of private bedrooms/suites with a shared bathroom/kitchen/etc at the end of the hall. That way there’s less plumbing to retrofit, and you just turn the breakroom into the kitchen.

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This was the usual setup for downtown apts before 1960. A dozen apts along one hall on the second floor of a store, with a large bathroom at the end.

Downtowners expected to eat in cafes, and every block had at least one little cafe, which was often in the same building with the apts.

Downtowners are still cafe and restaurant eaters, not home cooks, so the shared kitchen/breakroom would be enough. The shared bath wouldn’t work now. Before 1960 most people lived in extended families, and most people took a bath once a week. Now most people shower every day and expect privacy in the bathroom.

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Sidenote: Once before I tried to locate a reliable answer to the shower timeline. Google still doesn’t give a satisfactory answer. In the ’50s weekly bathing was the norm for everyone I knew, and sometime in the 70s I switched to daily, which seemed to be the norm by then. Most of the online answers are also self-centered. Everyone thinks their own pattern is the norm. Surprisingly no polls or surveys of habits are available.

The Census does discuss the presence of plumbing in housing units, which might be most of the explanation.

1940: 1/2 of homes lacked complete plumbing.
1950: 1/3 lacked complete plumbing.
1960: 1/6.
1990: only 1% lack full plumbing.

The census doesn’t separate showers from tubs, but second baths and ‘en suite’ baths became much more common after 1960, and most of them had showers instead of tubs.