Almost 9,100 people lived downtown in 2010, twice as many as in 1990. It looks like that number is about to rise again: 96 percent of apartments in downtown Cleveland are occupied, and some buildings boast waitlists into the hundreds.

“Young people want to work in a vibrant downtown,” says Michael Deemer, vice president of business development at the Cleveland Downtown Alliance. “What we’re witnessing is a real generation shift in where people want to live and work.”

Offices in three buildings are being converted into living space, and new housing is under construction near Cleveland State University to keep up with high demand for urban living. Here are the details on each.

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Company: MRN Ltd.
Location: Rosetta Center Building, 629 Euclid Ave.
Five floors are being converted into 85 apartments, tentatively expected to go on the market next summer. Stanley Saitowitz, the San Francisco-based architect behind the new Uptown apartments in University Circle, designed the units. Joe Del Re, chief operating officer of Rosetta Bulding developer MRN Ltd., says they’ll appeal to “creative types, lovers of modern design and folks looking for something a little bit different.”

Company: The K&D Group
Locations: The Hanna Building Annex, Prospect Avenue and East 14th Street; the East Ohio Gas Building, East Ninth Street and Superior Avenue
The Hanna Building Annex at East 14th Street and Prospect Avenue is set to rent 105 units by summer 2013. Tom Einhouse, vice president of real estate services at PlayhouseSquare, says the target market includes college-educated adults age 20 to 35. The K&D Group’s planned conversion of the East Ohio Gas Building on East Ninth Street is expected to create more than 200 apartments by early 2014.

Company: Polaris Real Estate Equities
Location: North Campus Neighborhood, Chester Avenue between East 21st and East 24th streets
When completed, this development near Cleveland State University will be home to 300 apartments, 100 of which will go on the market in August. Guy Totino, founder of Polaris Real Estate Equities, says the apartments are aimed at young professionals, students and health care employees. “With the injection of youth and college students moving into the area,” says Deemer, of the DCA, “we’re going to continue to see a strong demand for this vibrant, urban neighborhood.”

- NEONow

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