There’s about 998 million square feet of real estate across the US that’s available but desperately in search of a tenant. Conveniently, there are also tens of thousands of human beings in serious need of stable lodging in this country. In an ideal world, we’d simply put two and two together and provide housing for the unhoused!
Unfortunately, the open space in question is office real estate. That’s thousands of old cubicles, conference rooms, pantries and cafeterias sitting unused, quiet as a mouse. And that’s a huge amount of empty space — nearly 13% of the entire market — that could be turned into two-bedroom apartments, big-box retailers, boutique hotels, community college classrooms or studios for artists, anything would be an improvement over their current use, which is nonexistent.
What looks like a possible catastrophe for many building owners presents a unique opportunity, a catalyst for transitioning older office spaces to new uses and transforming downtown neighborhoods into areas where humans can actually live. The big challenge facing these building owners is converting office space into living space, which mostly seems a matter of lowering prices.
The median rent for apartments in a city like New York is $55 per square foot, which just 36% of office properties now fall at or below. If owners of these buildings committed to lowering the expected value they could extract from this space, we could start moving people in tomorrow. But if someone is renting a building out to businesses for use as office space, chances are they’re probably used to getting paid top dollar, which doesn’t necessarily translate to affordable housing. The age old story continues, once again the dream of making more money stands in the way of obvious beneficial change.
Side Items
WHO DARES CHALLENGE THE SAUSAGE KING?? Russian sausage tycoon Pavel Antov was found dead at an Indian hotel earlier this week, just two days after his friend died during the same trip (no word yet on whether they were staying at the Indian White Lotus). The weiner millionaire's death is the latest in a series of unexplained/sketchy deaths involving Russian tycoons since the start of the Russian invasion, many of whom have openly criticized the war. This opens the door for the next sausage king of Russia to defy Putin and challenge for the throne, for there can only be one true king of the sausages
WHO DARES CHALLENGE A FIRST-CLASS FLYER?? Honestly I wasn’t aware this type of person existed, someone so entitled and needy to demand comfort on airplanes that they wish to control who sits around them. This article offers the unneeded perspective of people flying first-class who are tired of babies annoying them as they perch in their premium cabin seating. Most of these people are probably hard at work, updated spreadsheets and finalizing deliverables to clients who won’t remember meeting them next month. But one such worker came right out and said, “I am not heartless and would never wish harm on a child, but, quite frankly, it’s not my job to watch a sleeping baby.” Although it’s true that crying babies take away from the enjoyable experience of being crammed into a flying vehicle for hours on end, it might be good to have some basic human decency and understand that this spinning globe isn’t revolving around each of us individually
WHO DARES CHALLENGE THE CONGRESSIONAL SCAM QUEEN??Professional Congressional Scammer George Santos will finally get the scrutiny he deserves, as prosecutors said yesterday that they would examine Mr. Santos, who has openly admitted lying about his work and educational history during his campaign for office. Questions remain about how Mr. Santos generated enough personal wealth to be able, as campaign finance filings show, to lend his campaign $700,000. Mr. Santos has said his money comes from his company, the shadowy Devolder Organization, but he has provided little information about its operations
5 Best/Worst Albums of Chwen’ee Chwen’ee Chew
Some of these are by popular demand, others are my personal taste and insight. If you disagree or have a song/album you’ve really enjoyed this year, let me know in the comments!
Top Albums of Chwen’ee Chwen’ee Chew
Un Verano Sin Ti - Gotta be Bad Bunny Benito
Cheat codes - Danger Mouse & blackthought (ft. MF Doom, A$AP, etc.)
The Forever Story - JID (ft. Mos Def/Yasiin, Lil Durkio, Earthgang, etc.)
Wood Tip - Zack Fox
Paradise Again - Swedish House Mafia
Worst of Chwen’ee Chwen’ee Chew
Whatever Jack Harlow’s album was called
Her Loss -Drake, safe to say we all lost on that one
Donda 2 - Ye, which I guess was released somewhere
Anything touched by DJ Khaled, look what God did indeed