How would you compare US cities' recovery from COVID vs. Great Recession?

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

some of you have probably never heard of this major old sf store either, but its in the news as it just closed too —



Nordstrom closes San Francisco store on grim note amid naked mannequins, empty display cases

Jessica Garrison
Sun, August 27, 2023


Nordstrom’s San Francisco flagship, which for decades occupied crucial real estate at the San Francisco Centre mall on Market Street, closed its doors Sunday.

The last days of the high-end store known for its shoes and its service were grim; ABC7 on a recent visit captured images of empty display cases and stacks of naked mannequins and interviewed an employee — whose worn black sneakers were the only part of him in the shot to protect his identity — speaking darkly about crime in the city’s once-vibrant shopping district.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/nordstrom...224242182.html


Nordstrom's flagship store at the San Francisco Centre mall has closed its doors. (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

I was in that Nordstrom last summer and it felt very deserted. A tumbleweed could've rolled down the middle of the floor and not touched anyone.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by jmecklenborg

No comparison. The 2008-09 collapse was far, far worse. Crews walked away from construction projects all over the United States. We had a brand-new condo tower in my city that only had two occupied condos for several years. Another one was only 1/3 filled until about 2015 and the most expensive 5~ units didn't sell until about 10 years after the building opened.

2008 would have been a lot better if the government halted foreclosures the way they did in the pandemic.

[downtownpdx]

Just read that SF's retail vacancy rate is 6%, the worst since 2006... that doesn't seem to doom loopy to me. I know things are not good but that kinda made me laugh in the face of all this apocalyptic talk.

[streetscaper]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Just read that SF's retail vacancy rate is 6%, the worst since 2006... that doesn't seem to doom loopy to me. I know things are not good but that kinda made me laugh in the face of all this apocalyptic talk.

What's the retail vacancy rate of the downtown though? That's the doom loopy area that people are talking about, not necessarily the other dozens of still functional neighborhoods in SF

[mhays]

Nobody really reports retail leasing with accuracy. Certainly not CoStar (I'm cancelling soon!). They rely on landlords reporting to them, and some centers refuse to do it. They're also extremely sketchy with the millions of small mixed-use buildings with retail storefronts.

[mrnyc]

looks like the new boosters coming in sept cover the biggest variant, but not the latest — also, tracking data shows the unvax’d continue to lead hospitalizations and running up your insurance rates:



New COVID variant detected in NYC wastewater: What is BA.2.86?

By Betsy Ladyzhets
Published Aug 31, 2023 


…
“As the wastewater testing has gotten better, the patient surveillance has decreased,” Johnson said. Several variants have been found in sewage before cases were confirmed, he said.

That list now includes BA.2.86, in New York City as well as Ohio and other countries. The CDC publishes variant data from about 400 wastewater testing sites, including the city’s.


more:
https://gothamist.com/news/new-covid...cases-vaccines

[JManc]

Originally Posted by downtownpdx

Just read that SF's retail vacancy rate is 6%, the worst since 2006... that doesn't seem to doom loopy to me. I know things are not good but that kinda made me laugh in the face of all this apocalyptic talk.

It's really evident in the Market St./ Civic Center area and to a lesser extent near the Fisherman's Wharf (i.e., Jefferson St).

[homebucket]

Following the closure of an SF Asian grocery store earlier this year, a new market plans to move in
By Madeline Wells
Aug 31, 2023

Following the closure of the Outer Mission's Pacific Market earlier this year, another Asian grocery store has its sights set on the space. Island Pacific, a Filipino American supermarket chain, plans to open its first San Francisco location at 2900 Alemany Blvd., as first reported by the San Francisco Business Times.

The Southern California-based grocery chain filed planning applications and a formula retail use request Monday. This would be Island Pacific's fifth Bay Area location, with others in Hayward, Pittsburg, Vallejo and Union City. The chain also has stores in Southern California and Nevada.

The proposed San Francisco Island Pacific would feature a food court with options such as San Honoré Panadería, Bobba Opa Tea, Max Fried Chicken, Crab Mentality and Philhouse, according to planning documents. The 33,910-square-foot store would also offer a meat and seafood section, alcoholic beverages, produce, health and beauty items, and a seating area for customers ordering from the food court.

It would be just over a mile from H Mart, the popular Korean supermarket chain that opened in San Francisco in 2021.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/...f-18340682.php

[pdxtex]

Downtown Portland is like a stroke victim right now. Half of the CBD is very lively and half of it is a total horror show. The drug crisis is no joke. Usually crisis is used rhetorically but in this instance I think its really reached that point. People are experiencing complete psychosis in public now, right downtown. Two ppl were randomly stabbed by the same guy just this weekend and there was another double stabbing on the train two weeks ago. Things are good until the sun goes down, then they aren't. On the flip side, the city's unemployment rate is super low and lots of companies are bringing employees back. My megacorp employer ended its work from home policy too. They're beefing up security hardcore tho. Thats happening all over the area. Conversely on my week long vacation back to Michigan, things out there are looking great!

[mrnyc]

a more rounded view of sf these days —



The complicated truth about San Francisco

By Laura Kiniry, CNN
Updated 4:27 PM EDT, Sat September 9, 2023


more:
https://www.cnn.com/travel/san-franc...les/index.html

[chris08876]

Pretty good boom compared to other years. For apartments.











Credit: rentcafe

[iheartthed]

^Jacksonville building more units than Chicago seems wild.

[mhays]

Iirc, this omits buildings with fewer than 50 units. And condos.

Chicago might have actually exceeded Jacksonville. Urban cities tend to get a ton of small apartment buildings, which tend to be viable in particular when there can be little or no parking.

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by mhays

Iirc, this omits buildings with fewer than 50 units. And condos.

Chicago might have actually exceeded Jacksonville. Urban cities tend to get a ton of small apartment buildings, which tend to be viable in particular when there can be little or no parking.

I was gonna say this doesn't look right. Philadelphia County issued building permits for 22,000+ units in 2022 alone... the highest number on record.

Granted that was across all housing typologies but for sure 75% of them if not more were for multi-family

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by mhays

this omits buildings with fewer than 50 units. And condos.

That's dumb.

MFH is MFH.

Why should a single 300 unit development count for 300, but ten 30-unit developments count for zero?



Charts aren't apples-apples, and therefore pretty meaningless.

[mhays]

The commercial real estate industry tracks apartments but not really condos. They're looking at the end market, not the building process.

As for the <50 thing, it's a half-ass source, designed for clickbait and small developers who can't afford the paid services.

[homebucket]

One of San Francisco's largest rooftop bars will soar above Union Square
By Susana Guerrero
Sep 12, 2023

When Chotto Matte opens its doors next month, the newest addition to Union Square is expected to be one of the largest restaurants and rooftop bars in San Francisco.

Ahead of the grand opening slated for October, SFGATE was invited to a media preview of Chotto Matte, on the eighth floor of the former Macy’s men’s department store. The Japanese-Peruvian restaurant is expected to host 400 guests in a dining space that will feature a lava stone sushi counter, a DJ booth and a vast wine display.

San Francisco has been a huge focus for Chotto Matte ever since the international restaurant chain first announced its plans to debut the massive eatery back in 2021. Chotto Matte’s grand opening was proposed for September, but it has been pushed back to late October while crews complete construction and last-minute details. Once it opens, the San Francisco outpost will be the largest Chotto Matte site, larger than even its flagship restaurant in London.

“In the heart of Union Square, we hope to blend into its electric energy and vibrant culinary scene, bringing our innovative dining offerings to its discerning food lovers,” Chotto Matte founder Kurt Zdesar told SFGATE via email last month.

A private elevator lift will take guests to the top floor of 50 O'Farrell St., where they will first spot a robata grill before catching sweeping views of Union Square’s shopping district and the cityscape on the exterior dining terrace. The space features floor-to-ceiling windows that can be opened or closed to help keep guests warm during the evenings and the chilly winter months ahead.

General manager Adam Chapman told SFGATE that Chotto Matte aspires to add to San Francisco’s energetic nightlife, pointing to where the forthcoming DJ booth and sushi counter will eventually be. Specific operational hours have not been released, but Chapman said the restaurant will likely stay open until 1 a.m., which is later than neighboring rooftop bars Charmaine’s and Kaiyo.

https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/...P-CP-Spotlight

[chris08876]

Just want to highlight North/Northeast NJ has been doing quite well, especially Hudson County.

Granted a lot of stuff was going on pre-covid but the future looks bright for places like Newark and Jersey City.

As of recent and good news as the state needs much more housing...

On a side note, NJ has been going through a big boom housing wise. Multi-family that is. Granted not where it should be... but units are in the works across the state.

[homebucket]

Amazon to invest up to $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic
By Ed Ludlow, Matt Day, Dina Bass, Bloomberg News
Sep 25, 2023

Amazon.com Inc. will invest as much as $4 billion in Anthropic, bagging a crucial partner in its effort to become a major player in generative artificial intelligence and offering a vote of confidence in the hot startup.

As part of the deal, Anthropic will move most of its software to Amazon Web Services data centers, and use the cloud computing company’s homegrown chips to train the models it uses to power chatbots and other applications. Besides getting access to Amazon’s computing power, Anthropic will gain a financial infusion that will help it pay the huge costs required to train and run massive AI models. Amazon will have a minority position in Anthropic, the companies said in a statement on Monday.

Amazon shares rose less than 1% as the market opened in New York.

The e-commerce and cloud computing giant has long taken stakes in partners in areas it deems a priority, including cargo airlines, a grocery distributor and an electric truck manufacturer. But if the investment in Anthropic lands anywhere near $4 billion, it would represent the largest known piece of corporate dealmaking directly related to AWS. The unit has tended to build its own products rather than relying on technology or businesses purchased from others, making relatively modest acquisitions in a market of hype-fueled, billion-dollar valuations. Amazon says its engineers, including those who work outside of AWS, will have access to Anthropic’s models.

AWS is the world’s largest seller of on-demand computing power and data storage. But it has been widely seen as a laggard in the emerging field of computer models trained to generate text, images and other content because it has lacked both a hit product and a high-profile exclusive partner in the arena. ChatGPT creator OpenAI runs its software on Microsoft Corp.’s data centers, a partnership based on a $13 billion investment that has sparked a renewal for Amazon’s Seattle-area neighbor.

“Amazon’s $4 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic may not move the financial needle for its cloud-services unit in the near term, but shows that it’s taking Microsoft’s perceived AI leadership seriously,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Poonam Goyal wrote in a note Monday.

...

The deal also represents a milestone moment for Amazon’s in-house chipmaking effort, which includes processors called Trainium and Inferentia that are designed to power machine-learning applications. Most cutting-edge artificial intelligence applications rely on pricey chips built by Nvidia Corp. that can be hard to come by. Anthropic will use AWS chips to build and train future foundational models, the companies said.

Founded by OpenAI veterans, Anthropic has raised more than $1 billion to date with a pitch to make a safer kind of chatbot for such tasks as summarizing, searching, answering questions and coding. The company’s backers include Alphabet Inc.’s Google, which invested almost $400 million in Anthropic, Bloomberg reported in February. Google is also an AWS cloud rival and builder of models used in generative AI.

“By significantly expanding our partnership, we can unlock new possibilities for organizations of all sizes, as they deploy Anthropic’s safe, state-of-the-art AI systems together with AWS’s leading cloud technology,” Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei said.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/...c-18387180.php

[chris08876]

Mayor Adams Announces NYC Hits All-Time High in Total Jobs, Recovery of Nearly 1 Million Jobs Lost During Pandemic

• Video Link

New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced that New York City has set a record high for the total number of both public and private sector jobs in city history, with 4,709,400 total jobs, according to new data released by the New York State Department of Labor. With this milestone, the city has regained all of the 946,000 private sector jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic — surpassing the previous record of 4,702,800 total jobs set in January 2020 — and marked a new phase in its economic recovery.

Just 22 months into Mayor Adams’ tenure, the landmark moment in New York City’s recovery comes more than a year ahead of Independent Budget Office estimates and just 17 months after the administration released its “Rebuild, Renew, Reinvent: A Blueprint for New York City’s Economic Recovery.” New Yorkers interested in taking the next step in their career through a new job, training, or education can visit the city's Jobs Ready NYC website.

“In the earliest days of this administration, our team was laser-focused on two connected goals: making New York City safer and accelerating our economic recovery. Today, not only do we continue to be the safest big city in America with overall crime continuing to trend down, but we have also fully recovered from a pandemic that left many counting New York City out by setting an all-time record for total jobs in the five boroughs — an achievement once predicted to take until 2025 or later,” said Mayor Adams.

“This was no accident. It was the result of smart investments in public safety, a dedication to our public spaces and streetscapes, policies to allow businesses to grow, a new approach to workforce and talent development, and an unwavering commitment to the working people of this city. But our work will never be complete until these employment opportunities are shared equitably by New Yorkers in every community. In the months ahead, we will be implementing even more policies to help our small businesses grow, attract major employers from around the world, and put more New Yorkers on the path to a family-sustaining career.”

===================
https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-ma...lion-jobs-lost