Before buying a new guitar, trying tuning a half step down (to the flat) and capo at the first fret. The capo puts you back into standard tuning.
That approximates a similar tension drop, probably 10-12% or so guessed, and a shorter scale/shorter neck.
See if you like it.
I also entertained a crossover nylon. They are a really nice choice, but I also wanted to keep a steel string and am playing classical nylon already.
There is a set of strings, John Pearse Folk Finger-style, which are made for classical or crossover guitars and sound more like steel. They probably wouldn’t work well in a steel string acoustic as the tension is too low (85lbs), but could give a crossover a more steel like sound and feel with low tension of nylon.