I wanted to disagree with you at first, because I love the idea of repurposing old structures instead of building yet another soulless, "modern" apartment building, but yeah, they're clearly doing this with the intent of turning a profit when it could have been another example of non-market housing, where the cost of rent simply covers the cost of building maintenance and actually helps to stabilize rent costs in an area.
TL;DR: Once again, a cool thing is made less cool by the profit motive.
"Hey, I just wanted you to know you can't just say the word 'bankruptcy' and expect anything to happen."