Top 10 U.S. Cities With the Most Empty Office Buildings
Atlanta - 14.1%
Los Angeles - 14.4%
Denver - 14.6%
Phoenix - 15%
Chicago - 15.1%
Washington, D.C. - 15.5%
San Francisco - 16.4%
Dallas-Fort Worth - 17.2%
Houston - 18.8%
San Rafael, California - 19.3%
The amount of office space available for lease in Manhattan climbed to a record high during the first four months of 2023, according to the real estate firm Colliers.
The group said that the total square footage of office space in Manhattan available for lease — roughly 94 million — has set a record. The vacancy rate of 17.4 percent, however, matched the rate from February 2022, which was the highest since Colliers started tracking the New York City office market in 2000.
The vacancy rate has grown more than 70 percent since the start of the pandemic.
There does not seem to be a statistical correlation between occupancy rate and Shiny vs “woke”. NYC’s rate is between that of DFW and Houston. What is the takeaway? Shiny vs “woke” actually has no impact on business conditions?
There’s doesn’t seem to be any correlation between your uses of “shiny”! You just used “shiny” to describe the sad state of acceptance of brutish behavior on BART in the other post.
I heard an interview with a smart real estate guy who explained that occupancy rate shouldn’t be looked at as a monolithic number because there apparently are different classes of buildings and they will tend to have vastly different occupancy rates and different issues. Seems like there are “class A” buildings and “class B” buildings. Class A buildings, usually newer, with better amenities, fewer columns, etc will do a lot better than class B buildings that are usually older, with more columns, and less easily usable space. He says you would expect a place like NYC with many older buildings to have substantial vacancy because “nobody wants class B anymore when they can get class A for nearly the same rent”. And you would expect a place like SF with mostly newer buildings to have less vacancy because most of their buildings are more attractive to business. But, it seems that the WFH has taken stronger hold in SF than in NYC. And that makes all the difference.
Sorry to be confusing. “Shiny-land” refers to the US in general, as a place increasingly tolerant, if not promoting, thuggish attitudes and behavior. Some parts are Shinier than others. DFW and Houston are in a part of the country that is much Shinier than the part were SFO is.
And the rent for class A space is not exorbitant due to an abundance.
Either way, I am glad my personal income is no longer dependent on companies buying new office furniture.
However, as I suspect you know, there is a strong dominance of one party in city governance. Of the 20 largest cities in the US, only two are governed by one of the parties. If you want to point to municipal problems, woke wins.
Those “emptiness” numbers aren’t complete. I think they are “not paying rent” numbers. There are still lots of buildings where rent is being paid (maybe not for long) because many employees are WFH.