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Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

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81–90 of 388 posts

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#82

I live in SF and spend a fair amount of time thinking about its poor 5-year economic outlook. It's not great, but I am curious how it compares to other metros? If I were to move from SF, wanted to live in a metro area, and was uncomfortable living in a very red state - where should I consider? Where is thriving? I have a good amount of friends in Portland, but Portland is adjacent SF in terms of poor economic recover…

Miami is booming but I do fear the Californian migrants there will just turn it into another San Francisco in due time.

It's booming in the sense that wealthy people are buying up property.

That isn't the same as being a new hub for a lot of business creation and frankly haven't seen a lot of evidence established companies are eager to make it into a new hub or that there's a bunch of growing startups there with real traction.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe not, but if office rents are really going to be way down, it's possible to give developers private offices again.

I can only speak for myself but I would never work non-remote again, even if I had my own private office.

I wouldn't mind working remote if my commute is walkable. I purposely live in Boston to have access to the T, but many companies in Boston are opening up offices in Seaport which is the most awkward place to get to using public transit.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#85

Isn't there a housing shortage? Rezone these buildings for apartments on the upper floors. Edit: Even if it costs a lot to convert (that is where tax incentives would usually help if done correctly). Having them sit empty costs more eventually.

Renovating commercial office space for residential use would be very expensive. Just re-plumbing alone would not be cheep. Probably cheaper than building a brand new building, but I don't know the numbers on that.

It's still far cheaper than the land value alone in any place that has skyscrapers and disused commercial property inside them.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learned that I prefer mini-metro areas with population on the order of 250k people... you get most of the upsides of a city without many of the downsides, while also retaining advantages of smaller areas like more green spaces and lower cost of living.

Yup, that's the sweet spot. Richmond VA is a great example of such a mid sized city - housing is affordable, traffic is manageable, and it's big enough to have things to do and find like-minded hobbyists.

DC is it for me. I don't want to own a car or drive, I want to ride a bike or take the train everywhere I go, and DC has the infrastructure to support that lifestyle.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#87
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most cities don't seem to be having the same problem (it's almost uniquely SF that has this problem). NYC for example is booming.

The problem everyone seems to miss is that SF is one of the few places that had a recession due to COVID (not necessarily a GDP recessions, but definitely a weak businesses closed en masse recession) and a lot of other places (illogically) boomed during COVID. Given recent history (Phoenix MSA’s 2011 GDP was lower than 2007 GDP, whereas SF never went below 2007 levels), it’s not unreasonable to think that other citie…

The recession was caused by fake tech startups built on ZIRP policies running into IPO difficulties after a bunch of them dumped on the market.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#88
post #78

I live in SF and spend a fair amount of time thinking about its poor 5-year economic outlook. It's not great, but I am curious how it compares to other metros? If I were to move from SF, wanted to live in a metro area, and was uncomfortable living in a very red state - where should I consider? Where is thriving? I have a good amount of friends in Portland, but Portland is adjacent SF in terms of poor economic recover…

Personal politics, IMO, is not a good reason to avoid living in certain areas. I'm a liberal-leaning moderate but many of my favorite people (friends and family) are conservative, and many of my hobbies tend to be populated mainly by the conservative demographic. You'll always find people here and there who won't give you the time of day if you're not on Team Blue or Team Red, but my take on it is, if I can't make fr…

>> if I can't make friends with people who hold beliefs different from my own, then maybe I'm the asshole.

Well said...and true.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#89

I live in SF and spend a fair amount of time thinking about its poor 5-year economic outlook. It's not great, but I am curious how it compares to other metros? If I were to move from SF, wanted to live in a metro area, and was uncomfortable living in a very red state - where should I consider? Where is thriving? I have a good amount of friends in Portland, but Portland is adjacent SF in terms of poor economic recover…

LA...albeit housing is still expensive. The other thing is...SF downtown at least in real estate is having a downturn, but I have to imagine, the region in and of itself isn't doing too badly.

Re: Downtown SF has 18.4M square feet of empty office space. We mapped every vacancy

#90

How is this possible lol? Do offices not want to locate in SF. I for one make the 1 hour commute daily from SF to my office in the Bay, I honestly think a large number of employees would prefer offices in SF

I love being in the city and working side by side with my coworkers. But I absolutely do not want to commute two hours daily. I have kids, so I must be home by 5pm and also must help get them ready for drop off at 8am. That leaves no time for work + commuting.

Mass transit in the bay area sucks. Bart is packed, loud, and uncomfortable. I feel unsafe at my station (Fruitvale). So my only other option is to take the bus which is an hour each way because of traffic.

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