5 ms·
How does lack of housing cause high rents for restaurants?
by rdouble 13y ago
How does lack of housing cause high rents for restaurants?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Scaevolus 13y agoReal estate is at a premium, and it's reflected in both high apartment rents and high commercial rents. It's largely driven by the city's height limits-- there are only so many square feet of usable housing you can fit within a given volume of space.
- rdouble 13y agoThe rents of restaurant and residential properties seem like orthogonal issues. I have never read that San Francisco has a shortage of retail or restaurant space. In other cities where I've lived, when a restaurant loses a lease in this manner, it's because the landlord has lined up a different tenant which they consider much higher value.
- mhjacobson 13y agoSpace is space is space. Think about it this way: if more high-rise apartments were built, then some rowhouses (or other inefficient [in terms of people per square foot of land] housing) could be torn down. Restaurants could be built in their places. Thus the supply of restaurant space would increase, and the average price would accordingly decrease.
- timr 13y ago"Space is space is space." Blah blah blah. This isn't Econ 101. We have zoning laws, so no, all space is not the same. I haven't checked, but I'm fairly certain that the Grove's location isn't zoned for residential use. In any case, I can guarantee that isn't what the owners are planning to do with the space, given its prime location on a high-foot-traffic, retail strip.
- mhjacobson 13y agoThe zoning restricts the market somewhat, but it like anything else can be changed. Didn't mean to come across as patronizing above — sorry if I did. One more thing... you may have misinterpreted my comment. The situation I'm imagining is not the case where The Grove is turned into a residential development. It's the opposite — some residential areas are razed and rezoned for business, driving down The Grove's rent.
- _stephan 13y agoAt some point city planners should ask themselves how many billions of dollars of higher rents per year the benefits of a flat city skyline are worth to its residents (and how to fairly balance the interests of property owners and renters).
- JPKab 13y agoGasp You mean you want a bunch of NIMBY idiots to quantify their issue? If they did that, there would be a big problem, because it would plainly illustrate how absurdly greedy they are being.