downtowns are picking up. With remote work my wife walks downtown and gets lunch etc.
Places like SF though may struggle because parts of Sf are not inviting - car gets broken into, have to lock bike going into stores etc
Remote work is gutting downtowns
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Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#22So, what is the solution? Force everyone back into the pointless office at enormous cost to employees and employers just to keep the status quo for landlords. The bottom line is downtown is a place where people work with information. Since it is possible to work with information anywhere, this place isn't needed (and hasn't been for a long time). Downtown obsolete.
Walkable cities with mixed use development. Change the use of downtown.
To what?
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#23Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#24So, what is the solution? Force everyone back into the pointless office at enormous cost to employees and employers just to keep the status quo for landlords. The bottom line is downtown is a place where people work with information. Since it is possible to work with information anywhere, this place isn't needed (and hasn't been for a long time). Downtown obsolete.
Convert offices to apartments to alleviate the housing supply shortage.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#25I was in Manhattan when the pandemic hit, now I am in suburbs and I kind of like it out here. I miss the city, but it seems rent has gone up, not down, since 2020. So I will be staying out here for a while.
New York rental vacancy rate is still pretty typical, but trending up[0]. I expect it will continue as leases expire and people move to WFH elsewhere. If that happens, rents should come down, unless RealPage and similar drive price spirals of higher prices for fewer occupied units.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#26That $453B had been greedily seized by the real estate owners, often by inheritance. Good that a portion is being released to some of the workers, who no longer pay exorbitant fees.
The fees won't be as big a change as businesses being able to pay higher salaries from the savings.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#27The headline relies on a definition of "cost" I do not accept.
Cities will get less tax income, sure, but their outlay is also less. Their actual costs could be radically reduced by changing zoning laws to enable residents to live near their place of employment.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#28So, what is the solution? Force everyone back into the pointless office at enormous cost to employees and employers just to keep the status quo for landlords. The bottom line is downtown is a place where people work with information. Since it is possible to work with information anywhere, this place isn't needed (and hasn't been for a long time). Downtown obsolete.
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Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#29So, what is the solution? Force everyone back into the pointless office at enormous cost to employees and employers just to keep the status quo for landlords. The bottom line is downtown is a place where people work with information. Since it is possible to work with information anywhere, this place isn't needed (and hasn't been for a long time). Downtown obsolete.
There isn’t a mechanism to “force” anyone. With few exceptions, companies lease their office space. A few companies may try to force employees to sit in a leased office to feed the sunk cost fallacy, but that won’t last. Only the most incompetent management will renew leases to support employees who don’t want to be there in the first place. The actual solution is large scale conversion of commercial real estate to r…
Hopefully!
Keep in mind that other alternatives are possible, including “St. Louis and Detroit in the 80s-2000s” style downward spiral into blight.
I have no interest in bailing out billion dollar property holding companies, but we need to do everything possible to encourage positive development. It does seem like many cities get it, the high line in particular seems to have spawned a dozen imitators which is awesome.
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#30So, what is the solution? Force everyone back into the pointless office at enormous cost to employees and employers just to keep the status quo for landlords. The bottom line is downtown is a place where people work with information. Since it is possible to work with information anywhere, this place isn't needed (and hasn't been for a long time). Downtown obsolete.
There is no need to "solve" every change.