Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
The pandemic is pummeling New York City’s commercial real estate industry, one of its main economic engines, threatening the future of the nation’s largest business districts as well as the city’s finances.
The damage caused by the emptying of office towers and the permanent closure of many stores is far more significant than many experts had predicted early in the crisis.
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Nearly 14 percent of office space in Midtown Manhattan is vacant, the highest rate since 2009. On Madison Avenue in Midtown, one of the most affluent retail stretches in the country, more than a third of all storefronts are empty, double the rate from five years ago.
As of late October, only 10 percent of Manhattan’s one million office workers were reporting to the office...
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New York City’s finances — money to pick up trash, repair parks and police streets — rely heavily on the health of the industry.
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The lack of workers is having a ripple effect on rents.
The industry’s troubles, initially sparked by the exodus of office workers during the state’s stay-at-home orders in the spring, have persisted as many commuters have settled into long-term or permanent remote-work arrangements.
“Anyone that thinks the way that people used the workplace in the past isn’t going to change postpandemic is fooling themselves"...
An empty Times Square
