Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure what you read there but the roughly $500B figure is a real loss in the commercial real-estate sector as leases some off the books. It’s a slow burn. There’s an additional expense to try to repurpose these building as residential but it’s a massive one that won’t come easily. You can’t just turn modern office buildings into residential building by reworking the interior. Most wouldn’t meet residential codes (…
It's easier to turn office buildings into luxury apartments than into affordable ones -- a single 3000 square foot apartment has more layout flexibility, fewer plumbing & parking requirements, fewer emergency exits than five 600 square foot ones, et cetera. Advocates aren't going to be happy about 3000 square foot luxury apartments rather than affordable ones...
Re: Remote work is gutting downtowns
#261This is a good point. Downtowns might easily move from drab office parks to unaffordable places for rich people.