The pandemic and the economy have partnered to deal American cities the most transformative blow since the 1960s when urban renewal policies tore through urban neighborhoods with freeway construction. Workers today are abandoning their in-town offices and despite employers’ best efforts to encourage them back, the emerging reality is that, at best, we may see a 50% to 70% long-term occupancy rate in downtown office buildings.
The magnitude of this change will be devastating to our city centers as we have known them. Consider retail, for example. Downtown retail has always been a questionable proposition in the District. Unlike other cities that typically have many dozens of floors with office workers supporting a single story of ground-floor retail, Washington typically has fewer than 10 office floors supporting the same ground-floor retail. With those 10 office floors now only 50% occupied during the week, it’s unlikely many retailers will survive or be rushing to renew their leases…
Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.
