Cities and states across the country are looking to transform vacant office buildings into housing — a solution for both empty downtowns and housing shortages.

• Adaptive reuse of existing buildings also is gaining popularity for environmental benefits, Kate Marino writes for Axios Markets.

Why it matters: Commercial districts with little to no residential presence turned into near ghost towns during the pandemic, becoming a blight on the cityscape and a detriment to surviving businesses.

Reality check: Even though offices are still only half-full in many cities, these types of conversions have yet to really pick up steam. They're expensive, and loads of red tape and zoning laws usually get in the way.

What's happening: A few big cities are creating new incentives they hope will unleash a wave of housing conversions in the decade ahead.

• Chicago this week proposed an initiative to repurpose high-vacancy buildings in its downtown financial district into homes, offering tax credits and incentives along with financing tools.
• In New York City, real estate trade association REBNY estimates that a "conservative" conversion rate of 10% of NYC's lower-tier office buildings could generate approximately 14,000 new residential units.
• The L.A. City Council is expected to consider an updated ordinance that would provide financial incentives to convert downtown office buildings. A Rand study in L.A. found underutilized commercial properties that could collectively produce 92,000 housing units.

California's 2023 budget allocates $400 million in incentive grants for office-to-residential conversions.

• Denver is also funding studies.
• D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pitched a 20-year tax abatement tied to these kinds of conversions.

The bottom line: Saying goodbye to concentrated office districts and 9-to-5 downtowns is a process that probably will play out for decades — part of the pandemic’s lasting impact on our lifestyles and communities.

• Share this story.

This was Hurricane Ian over the Gulf of Mexico at 12:41 a.m. EDT.

• Here's our latest reporting from Axios Tampa Bay's Ben Montgomery and Selene San Felice + severe-weather expert Andrew Freedman:

⚡ Ian — declared a Category 4 storm at 5 a.m. EDT — is expected to make landfall this afternoon along Florida's southwest coast.

• Gov. Ron DeSantis warned of "catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge" and widespread power outages.

Hurricane warnings include Fort Myers + Tampa and St. Petersburg, which braced for their first direct hit from a big hurricane since 1921.

🌧️ Rain in some areas could hit 18 inches or more (above).

🛥️ Axios Local dispatch from Ben Montgomery after boating along the Hillsborough River, which was void of boat traffic:

• A few of the newer homes along the river were shuttered, but most sat unprotected. Several residents worked to tarp or secure their boats and haul patio furniture inside.

🇨🇺 Cuba (pop. 11 million) is entirely without power after Ian caused the grid to collapse, Reuters reports:

• Cuba's electrical grid — decades-old and in desperate need of modernization — has been faltering for months, with blackouts an everyday event across much of the island.
• The storm was too much for the system, provoking a failure that shut off the lights.

Get the latest.

Americans' satisfaction with the way things are going is back to where it was in April, before gas prices pushed the measure to near-record lows this summer, Gallup reports.

• Why it matters: That helps President Biden and Democrats ahead of midterms, 41 days away. A Washington Post headline on Sept. 11, noting easing inflation, said: 'Economic despair starts to fade."

🥊 Reality check: Even with the recent brightening, satisfaction has averaged 18% so far this year, putting it on pace to rank among the lowest yearly averages along with 1979 (19%), 2008 (15%) and 2011 (17%).

• The historical average since Gallup first asked the question in 1979 is 36%. But it has been significantly less than that — 25% — since 2006.

Go deeper: Graph of U.S. satisfaction, 1980 to 2022.

Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, is in Tokyo for his annual "State of the World" speech, including "The three decouplings":

1. Russia from the West: "It’s the most abrupt of the three. It’s also the most severe — and the most irreversible."
2. The West and Global South (developing countries): "[P]oorer countries are less well prepared to limit the harm done by erratic weather patterns ... That’s especially true in South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East ... and in Central America, a region already plagued with poverty and violent crime."
3. China and the U.S.: "[T]he pragmatism that allowed both China and America to profit enormously from globalization has broken down into acrimony and deep-seated distrust."

Watch the video.

It's 33 days till Halloween ... and I spotted this display last night at my Safeway in Arlington, Va.

Above: This large disturbance in the sea was seen off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm yesterday.

• Mysterious leaks from the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 underwater natural-gas pipelines — running from Russia, under the Baltic Sea to Germany — triggered fears of attack or sabotage.

Why it matters: The sudden drops in pressure prompted new worry about the security of Europe's energy infrastructure, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription).

• Western officials say that the Kremlin weaponized "gas deliveries to Europe to punish governments for their support for Ukraine."

What's happening: Seismologists reported that explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before the leaks were discovered, AP reports.

🔮 What's next: The pipelines currently aren't delivering fuel to Europe. But the damage means they're unlikely to be able to carry gas to Europe this winter even if the political will to bring them online emerges.

Hamilton Place Strategies, one of D.C.'s top public-affairs consulting firms, at 5 a.m. today became Penta, "the world's first comprehensive stakeholder solutions firm."

• Penta, which wraps in several other firms, will be led by President Matt McDonald, a partner at Hamilton Place for over a decade.

Senior partners are Tony Fratto, Alberto Lopez-Valenzuela, and Mike Berland + Kevin Madden, returning to the firm after three years as executive vice president at Arnold Ventures.

• Penta has 200+ professionals in D.C., New York, London and San Francisco.

Read the release.

Ford unveiled its next-generation 2023 F-Series Super Duty truck, seen here on the historic track at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

• Why it matters: This hulking warhorse is the antithesis of an electric vehicle — but is critical to funding the automaker’s electric future, writes Bloomberg's Keith Naughton.

The massive 7.3-liter V8 gas engine has been called "Godzilla."

• Watch a video.