It's not exactly news that the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown people out of work and shuttered businesses across the globe. Some might assume, and certainly everyone hopes, that most of these businesses will come back after it is over -- maybe, fingers crossed, one day soon.
But it seems that some businesses will be gone for good, even in the aftermath. In NYC some businesses that were already faces economic challenges appear to be headed for extinction. Some examples: the Tenement Museum, Upright Citizen's Brigade, Forbidden Planet, the Lucky Strike pub in Soho, Eleven Madison Park, and many others.
What's most mind-boggling of all, however, isn't that some famous NYC businesses might disapear (COVID-19 or no, that happens all the time) but that the commercial real estate market in this town might shrink dramatically -- forever. Many businesses, like my own company, have smoothly and successfully transitioned to work-from-home situations. Now many companies are wondering if they really need to have vast office spaces at all -- and the huge rents they incur -- in order to thrive. Some of these companies are thinking about having drastically smaller offices (just some meeting rooms and maybe some support staff) and otherwise keep their workers at home, toiling remotely. This would be a dramatic acceleration of a trend that's been going on for a long time -- people at home fully "plugged-in" to their companies and jobs. Obviously this could potentially reduce the cost of overhead for many businesses and boost profits -- and might even lead to more people getting jobs since there might be more money to hire. But all the ancillary businesses and people who depend on serving workers who come into office buildings each day would be absolutely devastated. That would be a tragedy.
Obviously the commercial landlords are FREAKING out! They insist that, oh no, this won't happen, but let me tell you -- it will. I'm working from home now and doing my job just fine, as are all of my colleagues. Honestly I'd prefer still going into the office but, if working from home is the price I have to pay for staying employed, I'll happily take it (plus I won't have to pay for a monthly Metro Card or spend almost 2 hours a day commuting). At the start of this quarantine thing, I was hating working from home -- but now I'm starting to dig (especially if I can do it in peace with the kids back in school).
And there will be lots and lots of (mostly) empty building populating the NYC skyline. This will be the new NYC normal.
What's most mind-boggling of all, however, isn't that some famous NYC businesses might disapear (COVID-19 or no, that happens all the time) but that the commercial real estate market in this town might shrink dramatically -- forever. Many businesses, like my own company, have smoothly and successfully transitioned to work-from-home situations. Now many companies are wondering if they really need to have vast office spaces at all -- and the huge rents they incur -- in order to thrive. Some of these companies are thinking about having drastically smaller offices (just some meeting rooms and maybe some support staff) and otherwise keep their workers at home, toiling remotely. This would be a dramatic acceleration of a trend that's been going on for a long time -- people at home fully "plugged-in" to their companies and jobs. Obviously this could potentially reduce the cost of overhead for many businesses and boost profits -- and might even lead to more people getting jobs since there might be more money to hire. But all the ancillary businesses and people who depend on serving workers who come into office buildings each day would be absolutely devastated. That would be a tragedy.
Obviously the commercial landlords are FREAKING out! They insist that, oh no, this won't happen, but let me tell you -- it will. I'm working from home now and doing my job just fine, as are all of my colleagues. Honestly I'd prefer still going into the office but, if working from home is the price I have to pay for staying employed, I'll happily take it (plus I won't have to pay for a monthly Metro Card or spend almost 2 hours a day commuting). At the start of this quarantine thing, I was hating working from home -- but now I'm starting to dig (especially if I can do it in peace with the kids back in school).
And there will be lots and lots of (mostly) empty building populating the NYC skyline. This will be the new NYC normal.
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