A lot of offices are still empty — and it's becoming a major risk for the economy

[torbee]

I actually think both CR and Davenport have done a fairly good job with this stuff.

I do too.

And the Davenport "warehouse district" lofts, last I heard from the Downtown Davenport head, are at 98% occupancy.

They've actually played a huge role in returning foot traffic and commerce to downtown Davenport. Downtown is literally the city's fastest-growing neighborhood now in terms of new residents. More than 2,000 over the past 5 years or so.

 

[bhawk24bob]

The problem with that is if you let a facility go south you're talking some serious $$$ to bring it back up to standard.

That's the building owner's responsibility (or subsequent owners after the buildings make their way through bankruptcy court and into their eventual tax sales)

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

That's the building owner's responsibility (or subsequent owners after the buildings make their way through bankruptcy court and into their eventual tax sales)

True…but it doesn’t do anyone good having derelict/unused buildings in these cities.

Saw that in Detroit back in the day.

 

[bhawk24bob]

True…but it doesn’t do anyone good having derelict/unused buildings in these cities.

Saw that in Detroit back in the day.

Which cities? I can think of a handful of unused large office buildings and half are in Baltimore.

Regardless, we shouldn't subsidize private owners' conversion of these buildings.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

Which cities? I can think of a handful of unused large office buildings and half are in Baltimore.

Regardless, we shouldn't subsidize private owners' conversion of these buildings.

Ok.

 

[gamedayron01]

I think in regards to telework and companies not needing office space....we were headed that way eventually.

COVID just expedited it. Instead of a gradual shift and maybe a gradual shift of these properties to residential buildings we have this massive expedited shift.

COVID F'd up a lot of things and we'll be dealing with all the ramifications for the foreseeable future.

Because idiots like you didn’t take covid seriously. You clowns allowed it to **** everything up.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

Because idiots like you didn’t take covid seriously. You clowns allowed it to **** everything up

 

[Rifler]

Because idiots like you didn’t take covid seriously. You clowns allowed it to **** everything up.

Suspicion confirmed...

 

[hawkmart]

Some professions can't "telework." Can't do autopsies in your kitchen, emergency operations, cure diseases and such. I have worked in my lab and office pre and post covid without skipping a beat.

One nice thing though, is that the IT/Wity companies are all remote now and if you drive by the NL/Coralville corridor, there are brand new buildings that are totally empty. For now, IDT snags them all. But eventually, they will also offload and there in lies a huge problem for the tax base for Coralville. Our bonds will then be rated stinky peeu junk from just junk, which is where they're at, currently.

What's with IDT snagging them all? Expanding quickly? I noticed they now had a IDT sign in front of a building on Oakdale that used to be General Dynamics. My employer has started to lease out space in our underutilized buildings in downtown CR and thus far not having issues finding tenants looking for office space. HR repeatedly says there is no intention of forcing anyone back into the office on our end. I went in one day a couple weeks back, 380 was as crazy as usual but downtown CR still seems pretty empty compared to precovid times.

 

[onlyTheObvious]

Because idiots like you didn’t take covid seriously. You clowns allowed it to **** everything up.

Agreed. 3 weeks and we would be at zero cases.

 

[GOHOX69]

What's with IDT snagging them all? Expanding quickly? I noticed they now had a IDT sign in front of a building on Oakdale that used to be General Dynamics. My employer has started to lease out space in our underutilized buildings in downtown CR and thus far not having issues finding tenants looking for office space. HR repeatedly says there is no intention of forcing anyone back into the office on our end. I went in one day a couple weeks back, 380 was as crazy as usual but downtown CR still seems pretty empty compared to precovid times.

IDT, now, is actually a brand name. The parent company that bought them out is called Danaher. I believe that transaction was in the range of 2.3 to 2.8 billion dollars. Danaher is a large biotech holding company out in Connecticut. I assume the parent company likes the cheap cost of real estate in the midwest compared to their other locations. They (formerly IDT) have a large location in San Diego and a location (new one) in North Carolina and a few places abroad. Anyways, the sooner it gets vacant, the quicker IDT is there Good for them. Job growth in Iowa is always welcome.