***Official Political Discussion Thread***

[RustyShackleford]

This gets discussed in the Seattle area. I was talking to a friend of mine today about this. He works for a contractor that does large scale buildings (malls, high rise apartments, condos, etc.). He said it's cheaper to tear the buildings down and start over. Converting commercial buildings to residential is a nightmare.

Cool

Then they should tear them down and build high rise apartments

 

[mplsdunk]

Wtf, commercial buildings get converted all the time into million dollar condos here.

Every rich bougie person wants to live in a 200 year old brick flour factory apparently.

Tear them down though for all I care, even more people on the job that way.

 

[IATT]

 

[Comparison Ford]

Dude on the left needs to stay away from the poker table.

 

[RustyShackleford]

This guy is a top-tier idiot good grief

 

[storm2006]

Microsoft just abandoned three large office towers near me (Bellevue, east of Seattle). They'll be empty for a loooooong time, if not forever. Amazon built four huge towers nearby and they won't even fill them. They're just finishing the exteriors and going to let them sit for awhile.

Only way I'm going back to the office

I was unsure at the start of the pandemic but after three years but as the older executives at the top continue to age out and are replaced by younger folks that hybrid or remote work is here to stay. I am all for it and love the idea of turning those lots into affordable housing. It ends up being much better for the employer, employees and the community.

 

[mplsdunk]

That headline is nuts btw.

“Remote work risks wiping out 800 billion in value from office buildings”

How about “office buildings are unnecessary now, what do we turn them into?”

Or something to that extent. F cnn.

 

[1995]

This is what Joe Rogan listeners sound like when they try to repeat things they hear on his show

 

[IATT]

 

[storm2006]

This dude talking about his favorite is "Earn" ridiculous in and of itself

 

[gry60]

He said it's cheaper to tear the buildings down and start over. Converting commercial buildings to residential is a nightmare.

This.

There are building standards (civil, electrical, fire, plumbing, hvac) that apply to commercial buildings but don't necessarily translate to residential dwellings. In order to do these conversions, they'll have to address these code discrepancies and they also have to make sure that the new modifications don't create unintended violations. It's just too much time, too much effort, which usually means too much extra money to spend.

Wtf, commercial buildings get converted all the time into million dollar condos here.

That's another thing: for private developers, the resources needed to make commercial buildings compliant with residential building codes may only be worth deploying if the resulting dwellings produce enough revenue to cover the loss of value of office buildings on top of the expected profit, which means they're only willing to renovate these spaces into luxury homes.

 

[IATT]

 

[Mark Antony]

That headline is nuts btw.

“Remote work risks wiping out 800 billion in value from office buildings”

How about “office buildings are unnecessary now, what do we turn them into?”

Or something to that extent. F cnn.

Framed it like they want people to go "save the office buildings" like save the trees.

 

[mplsdunk]

They really did. Save the landlords too who own them.

 

[elpablo21]

They need a promotion for this one

 

[elpablo21]

 

[dmbrhs]

They need a promotion for this one

That ad goes hard.

 

[chao7]

This is just like that fascist *** book banning stunt in Florida and other states. A handful of people can just do this without much recourse.

 

[RustyShackleford]

 

[IATT]

 

[IATT]

 

[whywesteppin]

Like many things, the fact that commercial buildings can't be easily repurposed just reflects how ****** the original construction must've been. Rows and rows of cubicles, etc, is the building equivalent of modern suburbs. Low quality, boring, unimaginative, and of course no other use for it.

i lived before in an old building that was remade into an apartment complex. high ceilings, big windows, thick walls. it was great.

 

[mplsdunk]

I never really go in offices but I just imagine they are like big open warehouses with carpet and cubicles.

Just tear them down if it’s easier. More GOOD jobs. Super in demand field that pays well.

 

[mplsdunk]

Apprentices who don’t know anything make 33 an hour with benefits. You’re not gonna be rich but you won’t stress about healthcare and retirement.

 

[whywesteppin]

I never really go in offices but I just imagine they are like big open warehouses with carpet and cubicles.

Just tear them down if it’s easier. More GOOD jobs. Super in demand field that pays well.

Traditional desks / offices became mostly obsolete with the invention of the laptop 30 years ago, and for sure after remote desktop became functional ~10 years ago.

New buildings with decent investment (I assume where they actually paid a good architect) have embraced some of this, with more multipurpose work areas, dynamic environments, etc. But I don't think they've really figured out how to keep up with the post-COVID reality. Ideally the office should be appealing enough that you want to go in to work even if you don't have to. The elephant in the room is of course the commute and the soul crusher that driving in traffic every day is.

You're right though. At least in cities where real estate is a premium, it'll be worth it to spend whatever it takes to rebuild. But in cities with sprawling "tech" parks, I imagine they'll rot away like many malls have been.