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Any time somethings like this happens people rejoice and hope for affordable apartments. I think you are wrong on both accounts. Converting office buildings in

Any time somethings like this happens people rejoice and hope for affordable apartments. I think you are wrong on both accounts. Converting office buildings into housing is harder than tearing them down and building a apartments from the ground up. Every design of the office is wrong for living: the wall placements, windows, plumbing, hvac, stairs, elevators, etc. And I also think you are wrong in being happy that these buildings are losing tenants. This will have a significant economic on the investors (which could even be you through funds, pensions, etc), and locally on the area. Think about all the businesses and jobs that serve these offices. These areas are going to decay and that will last for decades until it will be economically viable to repurpose them. At least on the short term I am not happy to see this happening.

nxm 4y ago
Also property taxes that government can collect on the building would go down, which leads to budget deficits.
slaw 4y ago
> Converting office buildings into housing is harder than tearing them down So tear them down and build apartments. > This will have a significant economic on the investors Investors can invest in tearing down useless offices and build housing, instead of throwing good money after bad money.
- amarka 4y ago
  Ahh yes the "we'll rewrite this code from scratch" argument; known well to work every time!
  - slaw 4y ago
    If you don't like dead code, just remove it. In place of office building make a park.
esotericimpl 4y ago
[dead]
voisin 4y ago
Not to mention zoning often prevents these conversions!
fundad 4y ago
This sounds tough but capitalism is tough, investments go down all the time. It would be much worse if commercial real estate had no risk. Someone sold high before office buildings became obsolete. Funds and pensions should mitigate downside risk to be successful.

nxm 4y ago

Also property taxes that government can collect on the building would go down, which leads to budget deficits.

slaw 4y ago

> Converting office buildings into housing is harder than tearing them down So tear them down and build apartments. > This will have a significant economic on the investors Investors can invest in tearing down useless offices and build housing, instead of throwing good money after bad money.

amarka 4y ago
Ahh yes the "we'll rewrite this code from scratch" argument; known well to work every time!
- slaw 4y ago
  If you don't like dead code, just remove it. In place of office building make a park.

esotericimpl 4y ago

[dead]

voisin 4y ago

Not to mention zoning often prevents these conversions!

fundad 4y ago

This sounds tough but capitalism is tough, investments go down all the time. It would be much worse if commercial real estate had no risk. Someone sold high before office buildings became obsolete. Funds and pensions should mitigate downside risk to be successful.