The Pandemic opened a door for workers remotely contributing as opposed to the drive to work. This may not have been an available option 15 years ago as technology had not reach that competency of function. Today it does so easily.
Working remotely offers huge advantages to workers, and employers. Time saved during commutes translates to a fresh worker not needed a wind down from the morning traffic joust. The end of the day disconnect from work is almost immediate. Giving workers more time to apply to balancing the work/life scale. Leading to happy and productive employees. The overhead costs for offices spaces could be lessened, saving valuable capital, creating cash flow positive while strengthening market leverage.
Real Estate Equities founder Joel Marcus shared with Business Analyst Maria Bartiromo.
“This would be an awfully good solutio
n,” Alexandria Real Estate Equities founder Joel Marcus told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo Thursday. “And I think a number of cities are beginning to look at this, and a number of private developers have certainly taken this on.”
According to the National Association of Realtors, Chicago, New York City, D.C., Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Philadelphia all reported an increase in available office buildings as of February. At the current recovery rate, it would take nearly three years to reabsorb pre-pandemic office space.
“There is a glut of older office buildings in the central business district of many big cities. And so we’re really looking at, I think, a historic opportunity,” Marcus explained. “And I think the cities, states and federal government need to do a lot more talking about this to see if we can really bring these two phenomena together.”
“Imagine if one was able to solve part of the housing crisis by turning many of these older, kind of obsolete buildings in the central business districts into housing,” the real estate investor continued. “It would be a wonderful opportunity.”
However, the transformation process will likely require complex collaboration between the cities and real estate conglomerates, Marcus noted.
“There’s economic efforts to do that, which won’t be cheap,” Marcus pointed out. “And that’s where cities, states and the federal government can provide appropriate incentives to allow that to happen.”
The potential growth of supply within the U.S. housing market could also help boost the hospitality and service industry, according to the real estate expert.
“We have to remember, you can’t just have residential buildings. You need services, you need groceries, you need cleaning establishments,” Marcus said. “So this is a great opportunity also to restore mom-and-pop businesses in some of these important locations.”
