New York City's Empty Offices Reveal a Global Property Dilemma (bloomberg.com) 134
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: In the heart of midtown Manhattan lies a multibillion-dollar problem for building owners, the city and thousands of workers. Blocks of decades-old office towers sit partially empty, in an awkward position: too outdated to attract tenants seeking the latest amenities, too new to be demolished or converted for another purpose. It's a situation playing out around the globe as employers adapt to flexible work after the Covid-19 pandemic and rethink how much space they need. Even as people are increasingly called back to offices for at least some of the week, vacancy rates have soared in cities from Hong Kong to London and Toronto.
"There's no part of the world that is untouched by the growth of hybrid working," said Richard Barkham, global chief economist for commercial real estate firm CBRE Group Inc. In some cases, companies are simply cutting back on space to reduce their real estate costs. Others are relocating to shiny new towers with top-of-the-line amenities to attract talent and employees who may be reluctant to leave the comforts of working from home. Left behind are older buildings outside of prime locations. The US is likely to have a slower office-market recovery than Asia and Europe because it began the pandemic with a higher vacancy rate, and long-term demand is expected to drop around 10% or more, Barkham said. New York, America's biggest office real estate market, is at the center of the issue.
A study this year by professors at Columbia University and New York University estimated that lower tenant demand because of remote work may cut 28%, or $456 billion, off the value of offices across the US. About 10% of that would be in New York City alone. The implications of obsolete buildings stretch across the local economy. Empty offices have led to a cascade of shuttered restaurants and other street-level businesses that depended on daytime worker traffic. And falling building values mean less property-tax revenue for city coffers. A strip on Manhattan's Third Avenue, from 42nd to 59th streets, shows the problem of older properties in stark terms. While New York leasing demand has bounced back toward pre-pandemic levels, the corridor has 29% of office space available for tenants, nearly double the amount four years ago and above the city's overall rate of 19%, according to research from brokerage firm Savills. "There's no easy fix for landlords, who rely on rental income to pay down debt," notes the report. "Some cities are exploring options to turn downtown offices to residential buildings: Calgary, for instance, has an incentive program for such redevelopments. While New York has had some conversions, the hefty costs and zoning and architectural restrictions make it a difficult proposition."
"There's no part of the world that is untouched by the growth of hybrid working," said Richard Barkham, global chief economist for commercial real estate firm CBRE Group Inc. In some cases, companies are simply cutting back on space to reduce their real estate costs. Others are relocating to shiny new towers with top-of-the-line amenities to attract talent and employees who may be reluctant to leave the comforts of working from home. Left behind are older buildings outside of prime locations. The US is likely to have a slower office-market recovery than Asia and Europe because it began the pandemic with a higher vacancy rate, and long-term demand is expected to drop around 10% or more, Barkham said. New York, America's biggest office real estate market, is at the center of the issue.
A study this year by professors at Columbia University and New York University estimated that lower tenant demand because of remote work may cut 28%, or $456 billion, off the value of offices across the US. About 10% of that would be in New York City alone. The implications of obsolete buildings stretch across the local economy. Empty offices have led to a cascade of shuttered restaurants and other street-level businesses that depended on daytime worker traffic. And falling building values mean less property-tax revenue for city coffers. A strip on Manhattan's Third Avenue, from 42nd to 59th streets, shows the problem of older properties in stark terms. While New York leasing demand has bounced back toward pre-pandemic levels, the corridor has 29% of office space available for tenants, nearly double the amount four years ago and above the city's overall rate of 19%, according to research from brokerage firm Savills. "There's no easy fix for landlords, who rely on rental income to pay down debt," notes the report. "Some cities are exploring options to turn downtown offices to residential buildings: Calgary, for instance, has an incentive program for such redevelopments. While New York has had some conversions, the hefty costs and zoning and architectural restrictions make it a difficult proposition."
too new to be demolished or converted (Score:5, Insightful)
"too new to be demolished or converted for another purpose" is slang for "if developers start doing this the real estate values will crash and a lot of money people will lose their shirts and start jumping out of windows"
Re: (Score:3)
Or convert to housing. *gasp* Even low cost housing.
Re:too new to be demolished or converted (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Shared toilet and private shower would make the re-plumbing easier. At the right price, I can see that working.
Re: (Score:3)
Maybe if you are a college student...
But, as a grown adult (especially with children) I could NOT picture any situation where I'd buy or rent a place with any type of shared bathroom/shower facilities.
Ick.
Re: (Score:2)
I completely agree for our demographic.
However, a large segment of the population are indeed single young-adults with no children, some of those not long out of college. A small apartment in the middle of the city with private washing facilities at a reasonable price with the only downside being a shared toilet, when you are going to be out most of the time anyway? It's not that bad a proposition, for the right price.
Re: (Score:2)
Since they would have to run pipes into every apartment anyway, would it save that much to omit the toilets? Doesn't seem like it would be worth it.
Re: (Score:2)
Might not be that bad with the plumbing. Commercial buildings are usually build with voids between floors designed to make running new cables and pipes easier. Unfortunately after installing the new stuff you have to replace the entire ceiling because nobody wants foam tiles in their home. Plasterboard over it all, basically.
Re: too new to be demolished or converted (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, if I built a house I'd want it wired like an office. Network everywhere, loads of power sockets, conduit in case I need more.
Re: (Score:2)
Conduit? I mean, sure, but — raised floor, drop ceiling...
Re: (Score:2)
Depending on the building size, it'd not be much of an added cost to add additional bathrooms. Most of these buildings have everything run down the center of the buildings - plumbing, electrical, elevators. You'd have to cut some holes for waste in the floor to get the necessary drop, but there's no reason why you couldn't run with a single 8" or so hole per apartment.
Since most offices are designed for nearly constant shitting around specific intervals (before, after lunch, in the morning), they have the u
Re: (Score:2)
The build out might not be that bad. In most commercial space, the interior walls outside of the core are not load bearing. You'd need thicker sound insulation, but the structure would only need to support itself.
It would be a hell of a lot cheaper than building a new apartment building in the city, assuming you could find open space for that.
Re: (Score:2)
its not cheap at all, but I can't imagine the cost of letting an asset that large fall into disrepair and eventually have to demolish it are any better. One is hard short term, the other is hard long term.... folks love pushing off the bad until later.
plus the tax credits you build up don't entirely suck.
Re: (Score:2)
Mmmmm. That’s thr sweet sweet taste of entitlement.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly this.
There is a shortage of housing in many places, and a surplus of office space. Convert these pointless offices into residential properties.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Yep. That's the plan. As many poor people as possible. Weird how us capitalists are fucking that up by creating more true millionaires every decade since the industrial revolution (recessions excluded).
Jesus H. Christ... If you're in the western world, you're already living better than about 80% of humanity.
Who would you rather be? John D. Rockefeller (net worth of $300+ billion (adjusted for inflation)) in 1900. Or middle-class you of today?
For all of that man's worth (possibly the greatest at the ti
Re: too new to be demolished or converted (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Im a landlord. If I can't get my place rented out at the rate I want then I have to lower my rate (hopefully not below my expenses but if so, that's on me)
I have a place that has 2 small 1br appartments next to each other. They make pretty good money rented separately. If they stopped renting for that I would have to lower the rent. If, even after lowering it, I can't rent the place because nobody wants a 1br anymore then I would need to look at combining them to make a larger apartment. Nobody wants t
Re: (Score:3)
"too new to be demolished or converted for another purpose" is slang for "if developers start doing this the real estate values will crash and a lot of money people will lose their shirts and start jumping out of windows"
Those people are wearing $2000 Supreme branded shirts after enjoying decades of ripping NY citizens off to such a degree that renting in NYC isn't just a meme. It's a religion you have to subscribe to as you pray for financial survival month to month. Wonder how many businesses would have made it post-COVID had they not been subjected to some of the worst kind of Greed.
Even a light crashing of that particular market, is well past due.
As far as repurposing the buildings, don't worry. When the recession ca
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
after enjoying decades of ripping NY citizens off to such a degree that renting in NYC isn't just a meme.
Oh yeah. It's not like demand has anything to do with the prices. There's so much space to go around that it's plainly obvious that there is collusion afoot.
The fact that NYC, during the entirety of the 2010's, added only one new housing unit for every 3 jobs probably has no correlation. The fact that NYC hasn't constructed even 20,000 units of housing in a year since the 1970s, while seeing population growth of about 40,000 people PER YEAR (roughly) almost every year since 1980....
Facts are so pesky..
Re:too new to be demolished or converted (Score:5, Insightful)
So is there in fact evidence that the city won't issue permits to build housing, or are developers choosing to build business units on the premise that they're worth more? Because you keep talking about NYC building housing, but that's not how anything works. Cities are just boundaries with cops, they don't build things. They only permit them, or don't.
Re: (Score:2)
after enjoying decades of ripping NY citizens off to such a degree that renting in NYC isn't just a meme.
Your scenario of rent control? 2 people sad, one person happy (you). Again, math wins.
If businesses want to try and keep up with corruption by being forced to pay their employees obscene salaries in order to come work for them, fine. Keep on feeding the fucking problem then.
The other few hundred million citizens and tens of thousands of business owners in America have a much better idea; don't move to NYC.
Reap what you sow. No one, has sympathy for a crashing market in NYC.
Re: (Score:2)
Im sure the invisible hand will take care of all these empty buildings being talked about. You know, the ones from the article that you ignore in your comment. It's nothing to worry about at all. They will be maintained as safe and habitable even as they fail to cover their own debt service.
If demand had everything to do with prices then prices would be plummeting right now but instead they are basically the same as they were before the pandemic when those buildings were full.
They don't jump out windows anymore (Score:2)
A few of their employees might jump though, having had their lives destroyed for the sin of mildly inconveniencing their masters.
Re:too new to be demolished or converted (Score:5, Insightful)
I like this take:
While New York has had some conversions, the hefty costs and zoning and architectural restrictions make it a difficult proposition.
Translation into non-New York Real Estate Mogul:
The crash in demand for high end office space by deep pocket multi-nationals with more cash than good investment opportunities means that those of us who bet on urban real estate prices climbing forever are not going to make a killing any more, and we hate to look at any other options.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Seems weird, yes, it would reduce residential property prices if a lot could be converted to residential housing, but as residential property prices keep going up in NYC, it'd reduce it to "No increase in prices", which wouldn't destroy any markets - nobody's going to end up with a mortgage worth more than their home again (unless they did it intentionally.)
BALONEY. If your liberal city government wanted to fix housing, it'd permit enough to be built that supply would outstrip demand. No landlord wants empty units. It'd be a race to equilibrium.
I'm in an area where high rents don't fly because SUPPLY is greater than demand. Landlords out here actually compete for renters. They aren't dirt cheap. But the prices are reasonable. Maintenance has to be done, profits have to be made, taxes have to be paid... There are natural costs that have to be borne, but
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No problem: "the market" will magically make everything come right in this best of all possible worlds.
Get rid of open floor plans (Score:5, Interesting)
Put the underused space to use by giving people real offices, not cubicles. People are more likely to go to an office if it's an office worth going to.
Re:Get rid of open floor plans (Score:5, Insightful)
Hell, just bring back the cubes tall enough that you can't groundhog over them, with the windows and whatnot.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Sorry, no way. If you live in a big city like Houston, the commute truly sucks. No closable door can overcome losing 2 hours a day on a stressful drive to and from work.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Zoning? Houston doesn't have zoning, at all.
Cycleways? It's 26 miles from my house to downtown, or most other places I'd want to work. That's not really practical on a bicycle.
But we do have the world's widest freeway, I-10 between downtown and Katy has 9 lanes in each direction, and it's still congested every day.
So what's a person to do? Yep, work remotely, thank you.
Re: (Score:2)
Damn right. It isn't an office if it doesn't have a door I can close to shut everyone out of it.
Re: (Score:2)
Nope, not a chance. It never was about the cubicles. Programmers are an introverted bunch, but a lot of people like the easy interaction between their coworkers. A door blocks that.
Re: (Score:2)
So? Convert half the space and give people a choice. Cubicle farm for the inveterate yakkers, offices for the people who like peace and quiet.
Re:Get rid of open floor plans (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not advocating for cube farms, I'm saying that it's not the office layout that makes people want to work from home. A much bigger factor for those in cities, is the commute.
Re: (Score:2)
I must be the exception then. I used to have a very short commute. I still wanted to WFH because we had an open-plan office and I couldn't stand the noise.
Re: (Score:2)
I never had trouble chatting with anyone when I had my own office. I left the door open unless I needed privacy for a phone call or something, and so did most everyone else. In case anyone is thinking leaving the door open defeats the purpose of an office, it doesn't. Offices are much quieter than cubicles even with the door open.
Re: (Score:2)
So you like offices with doors, I get it. But if you had one, would that be enough motivation to want to work at the office instead of at home?
Re: (Score:2)
No, but I would like it better on the days when I'm in the office. There seem to be two things going on here though:
1) would private offices entice workers back to the office?
2) do offices with doors block interaction between employees?
I was responding to 2, not 1.
Re: (Score:2)
Louis Rossmann has covered part of this (Score:2)
Here's a relevant video from Louis Rossman on the empty buildings in NY and some of the reason behind it: owners may be unable to afford to lower rents to meet the market:
https://youtu.be/NdfmMB1E_qk?t... [youtu.be]
Re:Louis Rossmann has covered part of this (Score:5, Interesting)
Listening to some guy read Reddit posts is tedious. Read them yourself at your reading speed not someone else's slower talking speed. You want the two long comments by Laminar_flo
https://old.reddit.com/r/nyc/c... [reddit.com]
Re: (Score:3)
So basically, they started out cooking the books and then pulled so much financial slight of hand that nobody even cares that they're playing follow the queen with no queen on the table.
It's financial musical chairs and half the chairs went missing. A bunch of people figure if they can just keep the music playing a few more seconds maybe they can move and somebody else can land on their ass.
It would be best for everyone else to stop the music so the losers can go ahead and lose so we can get back to an econ
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's not just sleight of hand. It's a fundamental problem because 1) most buildings are purchased by mortgage 2) there is no "objective" rental property value, it's a function of how much rent the property can bring in 3) only one side of the mortgage contract is fully informed about how much rent can be brought in at a given time.
Re: (Score:2)
1. Naturally. Done sensibly, that is not the problem. But it's not done sensibly.
2. Obviously not. The apparent value of those empty buildings Rossmann showed is ZERO because that's how much rent they've actually brought in for the last 10 years. So any rent paid at all would represent an improvement. But the owner won't lower the rent because that would lower the lender's totally fictional valuation that is based on nothing and cause them to start screeching for money he obviously doesn't have.
If the len
Re: (Score:3)
I guess they'll have to declare bankruptcy and sell their buildings at a price to someone who can afford to handle lower rents.
Housing developers declaring bankruptcy, what a shame. I remember when Donald Trump had to declare bankruptcy, he was poor after that.
Convert to aparments (Score:2)
Start converting floors to apartments a few thousand new apartments will fill up quickly
Of course you lose that cushy corporate income but you can keep the building income generating.
Re:Convert to aparments (Score:5, Insightful)
It Aint' That Easy.
Apartments have much different and tougher fire regulations than commercial space. Apartment dwellers also want light (no-one wants to be in the centre of the floor away from the windows, better sound proofing, more toilets and bathrooms (i.e. more plumbing and not handily near the core of the building like in an office), kitchens with all their attendant need for ventilation and fire handling, and so on.
It is a major job and often the results are considered low-standard accommodation.
Re:Convert to aparments (Score:4, Funny)
I...often the results are considered low-standard accommodation.
This differs from a large share of urban accommodations in New York, how?
People fight over any sort of apartment at an affordable price in New York I understand.
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody is claiming that it's easy, but it sure beats sitting empty! Numerous high rise office buildings in Houston, where I live, have converted to apartments. It is certainly possible.
Re: (Score:3)
If you don't touch the walls and the plumbing you can get away with it, but when you start to tear wall you can get nasty and costly surprises.
Employer provided accomodation (Score:2)
Historically this was common in big cities like London. A return to the pattern of offering that for retail workers, junior office staff etc could be a very effective way to provide companies in NYC and elsewhere with such staff. VERY basic - own room shared bathrooms, limited cooking facilities. Would also work for grad students...
Who do we know who's really in trouble here? (Score:5, Informative)
Jared Kushner.
Remember his big plan to become one of the New York property elite was to sell up his family's apartment holdings off in New Jersey and change from being a successful slumlord to being one of those people who owns big tall buildings in Manhattan? He way overpaid for a midrange older building at 666 Fifth Ave and he was in trouble before now, and now he's utterly doomed trying to rent out such crappy office space.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Re: (Score:3)
The fact that he has no real clue what he's doing is one of the reasons why he fits in so well with the rest of the family he married into.
Re: (Score:2)
He way overpaid for a midrange older building at 666 Fifth Ave
Hey now. No matter what you may think of Satan himself, everyone deserves a little real estate windfall now and then.
Personally, I don't think he should have sold. That's one Hell of a marketing gimmick.
Re:Who do we know who's really in trouble here? (Score:4, Interesting)
at 666 Fifth Ave
I find it hilarious that the Evangelicals who are always all over signs and portents of Satan's role in America today never, and I do mean never bring this up.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
You know if Obama lived at an address like that there'd be pedophiles in the basement all of a sudden.
Re: (Score:2)
The address was recently changed to 660 5th Ave. Re-branding solves everything?
666 5th Ave. used to have a somewhat exclusive club called the Grand Havana Room on the top floor and it was filled with many dignitaries as well as a few of the Evangelicals you refer to. I guess cigar smoking trumps the fear of numbers.
Regarding renting the space, they lost a very large hedge fund but are leasing 6 floors to large Australian financial services firm.
Start attracting high risk tenants (Score:2)
I wonder how long it will be before some landlords start looking at ... riskier tenants. "What's that, you say? You'd like to rent some office space for your oxygen and acetylene storage company. Go right ahead. And did you know, we've gone all trendy and replaced light bulbs with candles"
Accidents that still look like accidents will be insured, right?
Maybe allow companies to have mixed use? (Score:5, Interesting)
Allow them to provide "hotel rooms" near their offices so during the week some of their workers wouldn't have to commute.
Say on a Monday or Thursday night, where the worker had just spent the weekend with their family, or could look forward to on the following day, and so could just stay in the city, maybe go out for dinner, hit the gym, and get nine hours sleep while still getting up early enough to have a leisurely breakfast before walking to their office.
And allow to executives to have a full suite of rooms, with an adjacent office, or not, if they preferred to keep that separate.
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds horrible.
There's no easy fix (Score:5, Insightful)
"There's no easy fix for landlords, who rely on rental income to pay down debt,"
There's a very easy fix; let the banks foreclose on them and auction the properties off. The market will re-value the properties and force prices back in line with reality or they'll over-extend themselves and it end in another bankruptcy auction because the demand just isn't there to support the rents they want to charge. Eventually the properties will sell for a value that reflects the reduced demand.
These billionaires and hedge funds wouldn't give a shit if you or I went bankrupt and lost our houses. In fact, they would swoop in like vultures fighting over a carcass. Don't ask us to give a shit when they suffer the same fate.
Re:There's no easy fix (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd say a heart felt 'f*ck you!' is well earned.
Oh wait, you're serious? (Score:4, Insightful)
When you're high enough up the food chain that you own real estate in a major city you don't get your property auctioned off. That's for you and me when our homes are foreclosed on during one of the recessions caused by big property owners.
Re: (Score:3)
The rich are willing to eat each other.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Oh wait, you're serious? (Score:4, Insightful)
Think about it, it's not even unethical or illegal. If you have a chance to get a billion dollars from someone, leaving them with a mere hundred million dollars, would you do it? Think of how many people Trump has screwed over (including banks). He is not unique.
If only there were a solution! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
And what will you plant there to organically grow demand to go live in that corrupt shithole?
You realize that we're talking about New York City and not Oklahoma City, right?
Lower the rent (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm pretty sure they were laughing at the idea of market forces correcting anything in NYC, the American poster child for entrenched corruption.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, no - what we need here is clearly another bailout funded on the backs of the ever-diminishing working class.
Finally the math is in... (Score:3, Funny)
Not that hard of a problem to solve (Score:3)
Basically 10% of the office stock needs to be converted to residential. The logical type of program would be for the city to give grants to building owners to create deed-restricted affordable rental housing. That in turn brings more people into the city as their actual residence, adds back the foot traffic and backfills the balance of vacant office space.
The problem is the owners will need to take a significant haircut on valuation before it is viable-- around 10% would be my guess. Grants help offset the remainder of the value gap.
Re: (Score:3)
No, really it isn't that hard. You need a minimum number of contiguous floors for it to be economically viable-- usually around 5-6, and you stack the new plumbing risers. Exiting requirements are generally compatible as well-- an office plan needs a designated corridor path of egress as well. The only challenge is depth from core to window line; if it is over about 50' you will lose some rentable area (or have to get creative). That is generally only a problem on properties with over about 25,000 squar
I know this guy and his wife Rebekah (Score:3)
who can maybe solve this problem with a visionary vision for this problem.
Rich developer problems are not tech news. (Score:5, Insightful)
Office occupancy rates are not a problem for anyone but the rich assholes who own the properties so why should Slashdot viewers care even slightly?
Or pension funds / stock market shares (Score:2)
Because historically commercial property has been a successful, low risk investment, there's plenty of ordinary joes sitting on significant investments in the sector. They will be hurt, as will pensioners dependent on those funds; it would be interesting to know how much CALPERS or the NY equivalent has in commercial property. Yes, the moguls deserve all that happens to them, but it's not that simple.
Ha ha ha ha (Score:2)
Ha ha ha ha, errr, I mean, gosh, that's terrible!
Seriously though, if you're not smart enough to dump an unused or under-used property that's sucking your wallet dry, YOU are the problem, NOT the workers who got wise to the idea that they didn't have to drive through traffic everyday to sit in a box to work.
Accountancy rules kill here (Score:2)
As long as the owner can claim that the value is 'X', based on an expected rental of 'X / n', which they will surely get when it's let again, they can list it as an asset on their balance sheet as worth 'X'. Once they admit their loss, the bankers may start to twitch about their loans to the company, investors will panic etc. This tends not to end well for anyone...
A possible alternative use (Score:2)
There are many suggestions here that the space be converted to housing. That gets along very well with the other use I have in mind: vertical farming.
The retrofit costs would be high, and the ADM's and the transport companies of the world won't like it. But wouldn't it be great to have fruits and vegetables grown a few blocks away from home? Imagine produce that doesn't require nearly as much fossil fuel consumption to grow and transport it, and that ripens on the vine / stem / whatever instead of in trucks
Dystopian Ghost Town (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, the mayor and governor kinda take responsibility because they put out the mandates that shut the cities and businesses down.
That hard clamp is what did it....states and cities that did not do this, are recovering much better and quicker for the most part.
Re: (Score:2)
You're mixing correlation and causation. NYC's economic basis has doomed it to fail as technology advances, regardless of which policy it adopted in response to COVID, just as the smaller scale of every other city in the US gives them a leg up in recovering more quickly.
NYC, more than any other place in the US, has developed a gravitational that hinges on proximity as a driver for productivity: businesses came to NYC, productivity went up because they were in proximity to each other, other businesses saw th
Re: (Score:2)
I'd not thought of the proximity angle on it...
Re: Dystopian Ghost Town (Score:2)
Man, I'm going to visit New York City to see what the downtown looks like during a work day. Next time I'm there visiting my mother. I spend 20 years working in New York City about 12 years ago and I went through the first world trade Center bombing in 1991 and then the world trade Center 911 event in 2001 and remember what happened during both of those events, how the first event made? Everybody avoid the area around the world trade Center after the bombing even though I was still young. And then the secon
Re: (Score:2)
Detroit in the 90s and 2000s was a real dystopian ghost town. NYC has not even started to plumb the depths of how far it is possible for an American city to fall.
Too new?? (Score:2)
That sounds like quitter talk at best and elitism at worst! Plus it's New York, there's some serious demand for affordable housing. I've seen listings for converted closets and crawlspaces FFS...an empty floor of an office block is practically a blank canvas for conversion to apartments. If Reunion Center in Tulsa could turn that corner and have mixed office space and reasonably priced apartments mixed, a newer building definitely could.
Re: (Score:2)
It could also solve the commute problem for people.
Who wants to work/live in NYC anyway ? (Score:2)
Rent (Score:2)
So rents are falling, right? Right!?
The financial shell game. (Score:2)
The real problem is the financial shell game. Buildings are valued based on the rent they pull in. Bank loans are contingent on the building remaining as 'valuable' or more than when it is bought.
At the same time, banks only seem to look t the rent being asked once tenants move out. So even if everyone moves out and nobody can afford the rent being asked and stay in business, the lenders pretend all is well. If the owner lowers the rent, suddenly the lenders start screeching about the collateral not being s