Of course Manhattan and other downtowns will never be the same. Things are always changing. You just have to learn to adapt.
In SF, Facebook is going to reopen at 10% in May, then 50% by September, as long as everything goes well. There's a subset that will be allowed to work remotely permanently, and they can even relocate, but their compensation will be adjusted accordingly. Wells Fargo isn't going to reopen until September as well. Peak population during work hours may eventually get 90%(?) perhaps back to the original baseline, but for the time being, this is the new normal. Office space will likely consolidate like Salesforce is doing, and while others may eventually come in to take those spaces, the pandora's box of remote work has now been opened, and as a result, CBDs, and even suburban offices, are likely to be less busy, even if vacancy is at baseline.
I'm not buying that Manhattan is unique in this regard, as they themselves, have been a big benefactor of the tech boom, and remote work culture.
Quote:
JPMorgan started marketing 700,000 square feet of office space in lower Manhattan earlier this year. That is the largest block of space available for sublease in Manhattan, according to real-estate services firm Savills Inc.
PricewaterhouseCoopers and Yelp Inc. have also listed space in New York for sublease, brokers say.
Salesforce has listed space for rent in one of its San Francisco office buildings. Uber Technologies Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. are also adding to sublease availability in that city, though the companies have indicated that decision was unrelated to work-from-home policies, say people familiar with the matter.
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Big financial companies and law firms, both popular tenants because they are willing to pay high rents, are also ditching office space, brokers say. And the suburbs aren't immune either. A number of companies are looking to get rid of call centers and other back-office facilities in cheap locations, Mr. Ryan said.
In the Chicago suburbs, healthcare provider AMITA Health recently put up its headquarters for sublease. Like Dropbox, the company surveyed its employees and found that many liked working from home, said the company's chief operating officer, Thor Thordarson. "Our associates' desire to work remotely and our ability to provide alternate work environments, in turn, requires less physical office space," he said.
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https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/...h-office-space