Downtown DC is a storefront ghost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never understood why landlords do this; presumably there is benefit they get from letting these storefronts sit empty than from lowering the rent to at least get something, but I'm not sure what it is (maybe a tax loss thing?). Seems like something the city should take action to combat.

Commercial real estate is valued at some multiple of annual rent. I forgot the exact figure since I'm not in this space. But that is unlike how residential real estate is valued

So a landlord could value a property at X based on current rent. However if he lowers the rent he will immediately lower the value of the property. The mortgages on these properties are also for much shorter terms than the 30 year for residential. So you can see how lowering rents could quickly escalate to them losing the property

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm glad I own a modest row house in DC because I need to know that I'll always be able to afford the property taxes. I think a decade from now the people who own the Milion+ homes are going to feel the pain of property taxes like NY and NJ.

Property taxes are truly the last tax frontier in DC that has not been breached. Watching the latest city budget shenanigans, it’s only a matter of time before they raise that too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never understood why landlords do this; presumably there is benefit they get from letting these storefronts sit empty than from lowering the rent to at least get something, but I'm not sure what it is (maybe a tax loss thing?). Seems like something the city should take action to combat.

Commercial real estate is valued at some multiple of annual rent. I forgot the exact figure since I'm not in this space. But that is unlike how residential real estate is valued

So a landlord could value a property at X based on current rent. However if he lowers the rent he will immediately lower the value of the property. The mortgages on these properties are also for much shorter terms than the 30 year for residential. So you can see how lowering rents could quickly escalate to them losing the property

There is also the issue that as an illiquid asset, lowering the rent would require the owners to mark to market the new value that they has ripple effects for investment value and returns.

[Anonymous]

Crime and homelessness are why

[Anonymous]

This is all republicans fault. If they had just run the place....oh....wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

There is no "ASAP" with what you propose. Any meaningful residential conversions will take decades. In the case of most office buildings, it would be more cost-effective to tear them down and build residential in its place. You can't just snap your fingers and convert an office building into apartments.

This one at 20th & L seems to have taken under two years:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/first-large-scale-office-to-residential-conversion-in-dcs-downtown-nears-completion-302085578.html

Your one data point isn't very convincing.

"It’s hard to do a conversion. Office buildings weren’t constructed to be lived in.

"They don’t have the plumbing and electrical guts that homes require. Ceilings need to be high enough that these additions won’t drop them below regulation height, which is typically at least seven feet.

"There’s also the issue of windows. If the building is very wide, apartments or rooms near the center won’t have any.

"Even if building suitability were not an issue, the financial challenges are daunting. Developers are hesitant to take loans with mortgage rates at a 20-year high. Banks are wary of financing new projects. But the largest hurdle is that office towers remain too expensive. The market has changed post-pandemic, but many sellers aren’t prepared to slash prices enough — or to take a loss."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2023/city-downtown-conversion-office-building/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

There is no "ASAP" with what you propose. Any meaningful residential conversions will take decades. In the case of most office buildings, it would be more cost-effective to tear them down and build residential in its place. You can't just snap your fingers and convert an office building into apartments.

As soon as possible could mean decades. Hence the "possible." They need to start now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

There is no "ASAP" with what you propose. Any meaningful residential conversions will take decades. In the case of most office buildings, it would be more cost-effective to tear them down and build residential in its place. You can't just snap your fingers and convert an office building into apartments.

not only is there no ASAP, there is no "they". Just WHO is "they" and what are they to do? Tell us precisely and legally what "they" shoulf do. Ignorant PPs who make these naive, sweeping statements have no idea the complexity of such a situation. are the builfings privately owned? Then "they" can do nothing.What is the property zoned at? etc etc

They = the city government and private companies can work together to figure out a solution. So naive! Gasp!

The DMV is leading the country in office to condo conversions. https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dc-metro-area-leads-nation-in-converting-empty-offices-into-apartments

"They" must be doing something!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

Yeah, no thanks. I like my quiet yard and my trees and my front porch swing and my fishpond in the backyard. You can keep the living downtown, with the teenage carjackers, free range crazy homeless, tent encampments and urine and fecal stench. That’s all you.

I also do not want to live downtown, but the popularity of neighborhoods like Navy Yard and the Wharf for residential (largely for young professionals, most of whom appear to have a lot of money to burn) indicate that there is absolutely a market for this kind of housing. You have to invest in making it nice, which means being willing to clear out homeless encampments and prosecute crime. Which we should be doing anyway.

Even if I don't want to live in the downtown core, I think we'd all benefit from having a downtown that was economically healthy. I do not want to live in a dying city -- I don't want DC to become Baltimore with sky high taxes paired with terrible city services, and struggling to get economic investment. For this reason I'm very much in favor of revitalizing downtown with an eye towards residential, entertainment, and public spaces. And I will happy come in from my house and spend money in a neighborhood like that (as I presently do in Navy Yard, the Wharf, Union Market, Georgetown, etc.) provided I can feel safe and it's actually got something to offer me.

DC needs a mayor like Fenty, who understood that economic investment is central to a city's well being and was willing to go the distance to get companies to invest. Bowser sucks at this.

[Anonymous]

I've said this before but I think DC should also invest in making downtown more of a tourist destination. There are hotels downtown, but they are targeted much more at business/political travelers and not at tourists in town for pleasure. Many tourists who spend their days visiting the monuments and museums wind up staying in Rosslyn or Pentagon/Crystal city and coming in on buses.

DC should create an initiative to attract hotel developers to downtown, with incentives for anyone willing to re-develop existing office space. They should study what it would take to get tourists to stay downtown (I guarantee one need would be greater crime enforcement, but there are probably other things too -- I think some kind of shuttle that ran between downtown hotels and the mall would be a big selling point for families). More tourists will also make it possible to fill in more of the street-level retail, since tourists have to eat and drink and are more inclined to shop than the average office dweller anyway.

There should be federal money for this as well -- it's about bringing tourists into the nation's capitol. Including foreign tourists, there are diplomatic incentives!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

Yeah, no thanks. I like my quiet yard and my trees and my front porch swing and my fishpond in the backyard. You can keep the living downtown, with the teenage carjackers, free range crazy homeless, tent encampments and urine and fecal stench. That’s all you.

Not everything has to be for you, and you don't have to post your opinion on threads about topics you're not interested in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things are shifting, much of it as a result of cultural change driven by the pandemic, and there will be ramifications that aren't good. Urban spaces are going to see decline, the question is how much and how bad is it going to get; I think it might get really bad.

A lot of the buildings will be torn down and rebuilt as housing. People still want to live in center cities and with the theater, museums, art, music and sports, there are a lot of reasons to like downtown DC, but it will take time. This is all a result of the work shift to 3 days in the office that many are doing now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

Yeah, no thanks. I like my quiet yard and my trees and my front porch swing and my fishpond in the backyard. You can keep the living downtown, with the teenage carjackers, free range crazy homeless, tent encampments and urine and fecal stench. That’s all you.

What you describe is such a small part of downtown, it is sad but I guess your perception is 'reality"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

There is no "ASAP" with what you propose. Any meaningful residential conversions will take decades. In the case of most office buildings, it would be more cost-effective to tear them down and build residential in its place. You can't just snap your fingers and convert an office building into apartments.

not only is there no ASAP, there is no "they". Just WHO is "they" and what are they to do? Tell us precisely and legally what "they" shoulf do. Ignorant PPs who make these naive, sweeping statements have no idea the complexity of such a situation. are the builfings privately owned? Then "they" can do nothing.What is the property zoned at? etc etc

The city and federal government are providing incentives for these conversions. It has actually been in the works for decades, since Tony Williams and Marion Berry were mayors, to have a more functional, 24 hour downtown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out: storefronts and bricks and mortar stores

In: high density urban living and restaurants / eateries

Yes! They need to turn this vacant office space into housing ASAP. People would gladly live downtown and then some of the shops/restaurants/life will come back.

Yeah, no thanks. I like my quiet yard and my trees and my front porch swing and my fishpond in the backyard. You can keep the living downtown, with the teenage carjackers, free range crazy homeless, tent encampments and urine and fecal stench. That’s all you.

I also do not want to live downtown, but the popularity of neighborhoods like Navy Yard and the Wharf for residential (largely for young professionals, most of whom appear to have a lot of money to burn) indicate that there is absolutely a market for this kind of housing. You have to invest in making it nice, which means being willing to clear out homeless encampments and prosecute crime. Which we should be doing anyway.

Even if I don't want to live in the downtown core, I think we'd all benefit from having a downtown that was economically healthy. I do not want to live in a dying city -- I don't want DC to become Baltimore with sky high taxes paired with terrible city services, and struggling to get economic investment. For this reason I'm very much in favor of revitalizing downtown with an eye towards residential, entertainment, and public spaces. And I will happy come in from my house and spend money in a neighborhood like that (as I presently do in Navy Yard, the Wharf, Union Market, Georgetown, etc.) provided I can feel safe and it's actually got something to offer me.

DC needs a mayor like Fenty, who understood that economic investment is central to a city's well being and was willing to go the distance to get companies to invest. Bowser sucks at this.

Bowser is no different than Fenty. In this case, it was the people working for Fenty, some of whom were part of Bowser's early years. At this point, she has burned through that brain-power and is left with third-tier administrators. She should never have been elected to a third term. Fenty was no visionary, and neither is Bowser.