Remote work is here to stay: Manhattan may never be the same

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Originally Posted by eschaton

One thing people I think are not considering is that to the degree some WFH becomes permanent, it will affect suburban knowledge jobs just as much as urban ones. I mean, I don't believe office workers post-COVID will be anywhere near as "transit averse" as they have been over the last year. Thus you sort of return to the pre-COVID norm - where urban offices are just more desirable due to having other convenience surrounding them (restaurants for lunch rather than a corporate cafeteria, after-work nightlife, etc.)

Of course, suburbs do not rely on tax revenue from office parks to the degree that a city like Chicago or NYC relies upon tax revenue from its office areas. On the other hand, repurposing commercial highrises into office space isn't anywhere near as difficult as transforming a suburban office park into something more attractive.

I agree with that; it just seems like if there is any impact it would be more of a general decrease in the need to commute and less desire to be in an office. When I look at it like that what I see as the candidate for most impact after covid are the corporate office parks. Cities with established walkable downtowns with a mix of things to do will continue to be attractive, as well as the suburbs that are less office-park focused and more main street focused. I might be a bit biased since that's the work environment I enjoy. I suppose there are some people that like to drive to a parking lot and just stay in an office building all day.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by twister244

I like the previous post discussing office patterns. It's safe to assume that suburban office parks may suffer greatly, but inner city areas may bounce back with younger people wanting to be around people. Instead of seeing companies with a large presence in any given building, you may see large chunks of co-working spaces that companies can fill in when necessary for their employees that may come in a few times a week. Or, you will also see co working spaces for those of us (like myself) that just want a place to go and socialize with other professionals.

It's still very hard to see how exactly this plays out, but it's super interesting to see how companies are evolving right now as it's becoming very obvious we are weeks away from entering the post-pandemic era.

I was thinking the same thing recently about co-working. A lot of the ones I've seen are large and spacious, kind of exactly what I would want in a post-covid world. Plus, I'm assuming companies can save money this way.