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Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

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Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#111

Post by wing-_-nuts »

lotsoweiners wrote: post #104
wing-_-nuts wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>mixed residential/commertial/recreational can be very noisy. I'd rather live in a somewhat 'noisy' vibrant neighborhood where I can walk to shops or restaurants than an absolutely dead residential cul-de-sac where I have to literally drive miles to the nearest amenity. If the noise bothers you at night, get a sound machine or install triple pane windows. I understand having industrial separate from everything else,…

The good news for you is that you can live like this in almost any major city. Those of us that absolutely want to drive places and live in SFH zoned areas can also do that. Win win.

There may be scattered small neighborhoods in very large cities where this is possible, but it's largely illegal to build this way in most of the US

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#112

Post by cal_dent »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #110
cal_dent wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Playing devil's advocate a little bit (only just), but razing buildings will not do much for climate commitments either

Replacing unused office space with dense multifamily housing would benefit the climate long term as city dwellers have a much lower carbon footprint. Not to mention that they've gotten good enough building with engineered timber that they can safely build midrises with the stuff. No need for concrete.

but by demolishing you're releasing and generating a ton of embodied carbon for a likely relative limited output of residential homes on the other side (because the economics doesn't stack up). I'd contend that the trade off is as simple as you're suggesting.

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#113

Post by mixmastamyk »

Izikiel43 wrote: post #92
mixmastamyk wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Inflationary policy continues to exist, also it is rare to have a true overabundance of housing. But places like Detroit show prices can go down in the right conditions. Commercial leases have their own quirks and long timelines that encourage waiting on a better price. Perhaps a tax on vacant commercial units.

> Detroit show prices can go down in the right conditions. Those right conditions for rent going down are the wrong conditions for everything else.

Yes, meant to quote the word "right."

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#114

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

pixelatedindex wrote: post #89
renewiltord wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What size of home would you be willing to raise your children in? The average 3 br is 1000 sq. ft. in Berlin. US norms are for much larger homes.

How much space do you really need to raise a child? I’m genuinely curious because Americans act like you need a mansion to raise kids. A 3 bed with 1K sq ft still gives you like a 10x10 room - more than enough space for a crib and a queen bed. And you have two other bedrooms to spare. As they get older and need space to run around and stuff, there’s no shortage of parks / trails / fields.

> How much space do you really need to raise a child?

It definitely depends on climate. I live in Ireland (in a relatively small house in the suburbs) and in the summer, there's absolutely no problem as we can take the kids out pretty regularly. However, in the winter when it's dark at 5pm and wet and windy, I definitely feel like we don't have enough space.

I do think the US houses seem absurdly large to me, but then lots of the more recent houses built in ireland are of a similar size.

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#115

Post by nathanaldensr »

ottah wrote: post #81
bigstrat2003 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also live in Denver. The biggest problem with downtown isn't zoning (though that may be a part), it's the homeless people. Who's going to want to go hang out on 16th when there's a dude asking you for money on every street corner? I don't know what the solution is, but it seems clear to me that revitalizing downtown starts with removing the "I'm going to have to deal with vagrants" factor.

Homelessness is a choice that society has made. We have enough excess that we can feed and house these people. People are a lot less scary when they have some measure of security.

Oftentimes, the homeless themselves don't want to be fed or housed. In fact, they--especially the ones with mental health and/or addiction problems--often destroy public housing. Reality does not match the propaganda that all homeless are just down-on-their-luck unfortunate people who would otherwise fit into society.

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#116

Post by nathanaldensr »

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #65
f1shy wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything has pros and cons. I lived in both setups, and the mixed residential/commertial/recreational can be very noisy. Also big parks, if not well illuminated, become unsafe for the families around.

>mixed residential/commertial/recreational can be very noisy. I'd rather live in a somewhat 'noisy' vibrant neighborhood where I can walk to shops or restaurants than an absolutely dead residential cul-de-sac where I have to literally drive miles to the nearest amenity. If the noise bothers you at night, get a sound machine or install triple pane windows. I understand having industrial separate from everything else,…

I, for one, love my low-density agriculturally-rooted Massachusetts town founded in the eighteenth century.

Not everyone likes what you like.

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#117

Post by red-iron-pine »

renewiltord wrote: post #19
mattcantstop wrote: post #14

I think Denver (I live here) is an example of our horrible zoning. We have entirely focused our cities (especially Denver and RTD (Regional Transportation District)) around people commuting in for work. This is one of the main principles of BAD design, where you create an entire area around close to a single use (offices). That creates a very fragile city. This "single use" zoning that the US proliferated makes us re…

What size of home would you be willing to raise your children in? The average 3 br is 1000 sq. ft. in Berlin. US norms are for much larger homes.

why do I need a big home when the school is 3 blocks away or there is a park across the street? the mall is 10 minutes walking, as is the subway

do fatass americans just need more space to function?

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#118

Post by red-iron-pine »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #114
pixelatedindex wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much space do you really need to raise a child? I’m genuinely curious because Americans act like you need a mansion to raise kids. A 3 bed with 1K sq ft still gives you like a 10x10 room - more than enough space for a crib and a queen bed. And you have two other bedrooms to spare. As they get older and need space to run around and stuff, there’s no shortage of parks / trails / fields.

> How much space do you really need to raise a child? It definitely depends on climate. I live in Ireland (in a relatively small house in the suburbs) and in the summer, there's absolutely no problem as we can take the kids out pretty regularly. However, in the winter when it's dark at 5pm and wet and windy, I definitely feel like we don't have enough space. I do think the US houses seem absurdly large to me, but the…

i'm in a city in Canada and it's -18C today.

plenty of kids playing outside, just heavily bundled and for short stints.

and we still have 3rd Places nearby, like community centers

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#119

Post by red-iron-pine »

puppycodes wrote: post #79

Imagine if rent and housing costs were reflected the vacancy rate. I never really understood the economics of leaving spaces empty and not hemorrhaging money. My guess would be its a game of large numbers where private equity can own large swaths of properties and can afford to keep them vacant by controlling the market through manufactured scarcity? Is it like the diamond market?

they're playing the long game and it's better to hold and not hold.

plus keep rents high and the handful of folks that really need it will pay it.

several cities get around this by having under-utilization taxes -- e.g. slap an extra 30% on any property in X neighborhoods that are empty or otherwise cannot prove 50% occupancy

Re: Downtown Denver's office vacancy rate grows to 38.2%

#120

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #118
disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How much space do you really need to raise a child? It definitely depends on climate. I live in Ireland (in a relatively small house in the suburbs) and in the summer, there's absolutely no problem as we can take the kids out pretty regularly. However, in the winter when it's dark at 5pm and wet and windy, I definitely feel like we don't have enough space. I do think the US houses seem absurdly large to me, but the…

i'm in a city in Canada and it's -18C today. plenty of kids playing outside, just heavily bundled and for short stints. and we still have 3rd Places nearby, like community centers

Yeah, the cold would bother me less than the rain and darkness, tbh.

> for short stints.

This is the issue though, we have a 2.5 year old who's just super active, and it's much easier to tire him out when the weather is better and there's more light. Like, right now in Ireland it's still completely dark by 5.30 which means it's hard to tire him out in the winter.

> and we still have 3rd Places nearby, like community centers

That's cool, we have those too but they're mostly kid friendly in the mornings and afternoons and used for adult stuff in the evenings.

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