^^^ To add to this, it's important to emphasize that 2008 was NOT about greed. That's a total mental shortcut for those who don't want to or are incapable of understanding what really happened. Greed is a fact of life fundamental to the human condition. It's literally our natural instincts of self preservation and reproduction manifested in modern Life. All humans are "greedy" or we wouldn't exist as a species after dying off in a hard winter Because we weren't "greedily" gathering as much food and firewood as we needed to survive.
The problem is that we now live in a complex society where the rules aren't as simple as "collect enough resources for your family to survive". Instead we have a wildly complex society of specialization and numeric scorecards (i.e. money) to keep track of how much resources each individual is entitled too. Our system is designed to harness each individuals natural instincts to "get theirs" by rewarding them with money for their specialized efforts. It relies on the assumption that we are all "greedy" to some extent. But look at how successful it has been at bettering the lot of the entire species.
So the problem in 2008 was not "greed" because each of us is and has always been for all of human history greedy. It is that the complex system of rules harnessing that greed broke down and failed in a catastrophic manner. The system stopped rewarding productive greedy behavior and started over allocating resources to one sector (housing) causing a massive collapse. The reasons the system failed are legion and ranged from outright fraud to slight tweaks in the rules with unintended consequences to a 5 decade long federal government obsession with "the American dream" of homeownership that was simply taken way too far. But one thing is absolutely certain, bankers were greedy in 1800, they were greedy in 1850, they were greedy in 1900, in 1920, in 1935, in 1950, in 1970, in 1980, in 2000, in 2008 and still are to this day. That never changed and never will change and therefore is not a cause because it is nothing new. It's the rules and abuse of the system that changed causing catastrophic systematic failure by channeling that greed into unproductive or outright illegal activity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bhawk66
The leasing part is common, no doubt. The building of a million plus SF commercial towers? Not so much. Last time was 2008 if I recall. Haha. No I just didn't.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steely Dan
150 N Riverside & River Point were completed in 2017.
151 N Franklin was completed in 2018.
110 N Wacker will open in 2020.
BMO Tower will likely open in 2021.
Salesforce Tower will likely open in 2022.
a major office tower opening once a year on average is not some crazy overbuilding frenzy.
|
To add to Steelys response, before the latest crop of towers there was 300 N LaSalle, Hyatt, 111 Wacker, UBS, etc etc etc. Not only are 1 million+ SF towers common, they almost always break ground partially leased. Furthermore the vast majority of class A towers are 1 million + SF with only the little class B+ econoboxes you see in the West Loop or union station area bucking the trend.
So not only is the construction of these latest towers not surprising or indicative of a crash, it's literally a sign that we have a totally normally functioning, if not high functioning, downtown office market right now and through the early 2020s. There may be an economic correction, but that's also a sign of a normally functioning economy and might actually do the economy some good as it will clear out some of the joker's and allow more resources to be allocated to those with true skill and good business models. It does not mean we are staring down the barrel of catastrophic systematic collapse as we were in 2007.
Prev
Linear Mode
