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There are several such buildings in NYC in prime real estate areas that are kept empty in order to prioritize billboard revenue.

ianm218 2mo ago
Source? My understanding is this is no longer true
- dylan604 2mo ago
  TFA as exhibit 1?
  - ianm218 2mo ago
    He said there are several others like this which I think is false, TFA wouldn’t be relevant.
    - wahnfrieden 2mo ago
      There are several that are either nearly or partly (several floors) empty
      - ianm218 2mo ago
        I mean yeah its vacancy rate is like 20% in NYC… I asked for a source on buildings that are purposely vacant for advertising and it seems like that doesn’t actually exist
        wahnfrieden 2mo ago
        Buildings with mandated signage in Times Square keep the floors they cover vacant. You can look up sources yourself
- wahnfrieden 2mo ago
  One Times Square is no longer fully empty (besides ground floor retail) you’re right that it is now just almost entirely empty as they’ve added an observation deck and a small visitors center/museum about the building as of January this year. Some other buildings in Times Square keep several floors empty to use for signage instead, a minimum of which is actually mandated by the city.
  - smelendez 2mo ago
    A lot of the buildings along Canal Street in New Orleans, with souvenir and liquor stores on the ground floor, are empty upstairs as well. I can think of buildings in other cities in seemingly premium real estate, including the Chicago Loop, that are notably underutilized. Old, cramped upstairs spaces in crowded, touristy commercial districts just aren’t that useful. A small business would rather just get an office in WeWork. Converting to housing is going to be expensive and probably also not worth it. Tourist lodging might work, but the licensing can also be an issue and tourists can be weird — no matter how much you tell people a place like that is noisy and on one of the busiest corners in the world, you’ll get reviews complaining about the noise and chaos.

ianm218 2mo ago

Source? My understanding is this is no longer true

dylan604 2mo ago
TFA as exhibit 1?
- ianm218 2mo ago
  He said there are several others like this which I think is false, TFA wouldn’t be relevant.
  - wahnfrieden 2mo ago
    There are several that are either nearly or partly (several floors) empty
    - ianm218 2mo ago
      I mean yeah its vacancy rate is like 20% in NYC… I asked for a source on buildings that are purposely vacant for advertising and it seems like that doesn’t actually exist
      - wahnfrieden 2mo ago
        Buildings with mandated signage in Times Square keep the floors they cover vacant. You can look up sources yourself
wahnfrieden 2mo ago
One Times Square is no longer fully empty (besides ground floor retail) you’re right that it is now just almost entirely empty as they’ve added an observation deck and a small visitors center/museum about the building as of January this year. Some other buildings in Times Square keep several floors empty to use for signage instead, a minimum of which is actually mandated by the city.
- smelendez 2mo ago
  A lot of the buildings along Canal Street in New Orleans, with souvenir and liquor stores on the ground floor, are empty upstairs as well. I can think of buildings in other cities in seemingly premium real estate, including the Chicago Loop, that are notably underutilized. Old, cramped upstairs spaces in crowded, touristy commercial districts just aren’t that useful. A small business would rather just get an office in WeWork. Converting to housing is going to be expensive and probably also not worth it. Tourist lodging might work, but the licensing can also be an issue and tourists can be weird — no matter how much you tell people a place like that is noisy and on one of the busiest corners in the world, you’ll get reviews complaining about the noise and chaos.