There’s no easy fix to Midtown’s post-COVID half-empty officesBy Nicole Gelinas
February 27, 2023
Is the Midtown office building half empty or half full?
With white-collar workers viewing the five-days-in-person week as optional, property investors terrified of losing billions are trying to persuade the city to let them do something else with their real estate, from casinos to housing. But a half-occupied office building may be worth more to New York.
As the city approaches the third anniversary of COVID lockdowns, Manhattan’s skyscrapers hover around the 50% occupancy mark.
Steven Roth, chief of Vornado, the commercial landlord, told investors this month that as far as the workweek goes, “Friday is dead forever. . . . Monday is touch and go.”
And with some smaller tenants giving up their office space altogether, or taking less space as leases expire, vacancy levels are high and rising. The amount of office space available for rent has increased by half since 2019.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/theres-no-easy-fix-to-midtowns-post-covid-half-empty-offices/
