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marketrent OP t1_j97w1pe wrote

Excerpt from the linked content^1 by Aaron Elstein:

>Since the pandemic changed where people work, Manhattan’s office landlords have struggled to come to grips with the changed world.

>This week Vornado Realty Trust CEO Steven Roth reached Elizabeth Kubler Ross’s final stage of grief when he acknowledged the days of workers commuting to the office five days a week are, well, gone with the wind.

>“You can assume that Friday is dead forever,” Roth said. “Monday is touch and go.”

>His epiphany is shared by the CEOs of SL Green Realty and RXR Realty and even Mayor Eric Adams.

>The latest data from Kastle Systems shows 48.6% of New Yorkers have returned to the office.

>Let’s turn back the clock to September 2020, to an interview by Crain’s reporter Natalie Sachmechi with RXR’s Scott Rechler.

>“To me, it’s a civic duty to responsibly come back to work and actively engage in being part of the community,” Rechler said. “I make the analogy that, post-9/11, people didn’t flee and hide in fear of another act of terrorism, even though that risk existed.”

> 

>Roth of Vornado felt the same way in November 2020.

>“For sure, normalcy will return…And I believe return to normalcy will be the order of the day in months, not in years,” he said on an earnings call.

>“Most importantly, we are hearing from all our tenants that Zoom fatigue is real, productivity is now, and CEOs want their employees back in the office.”

>By the spring of 2021, the pandemic was a year old and new workplace habits were hardening into cement. Even so, SL Green’s Holliday said he didn’t see much of a future for hybrid work.

>By November 2021 Roth realized that something had changed.

>“I must admit that our tenants and we are a little frustrated by how long the return to work process is taking,” he said. But there's no doubt that work in office will win over work alone at the kitchen table.”

>Last December [in 2022], New York’s biggest commercial landlord effectively admitted his optimism about return-to-office had been misplaced. “The hybrid work model has persisted far longer than I expected it to,” Holliday said.

^1 Tracking stages of grief for city office landlords, Aaron Elstein for Crain Communications, 15 Feb. 2023, https://www.crainsnewyork.com/commercial-real-estate/tracking-stages-grief-new-york-city-office-landlords

Further reading:^2

>More than $16B in CMBS loans are coming due for New York City building owners this year, a 30% increase over last year’s $12.7B in mortgage-backed loan maturities, according to Trepp.

^2 NYC building owners face $16B in CMBS loans due in 2023 — The total is 30% higher than last year and some lenders are balking at extensions, Jack Rogers for EagleTree Capital’s GlobeSt., 26 Jan. 2023, https://www.globest.com/2023/01/26/nyc-building-owners-face-16b-in-cmbs-loans-due-in-2023/

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san_serifs t1_j9aay16 wrote

“It’s your Civic duty..” to make sure these commercial landlords make huge profits on rents while they pay little to nothing back in taxes.

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snowdrone t1_j9anite wrote

Hilarious.. people often fall for fake patriotism, but this is just too much

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kiklion t1_j9f2ond wrote

If it was a different context, I'd argue that the 'Civic Duty' was to work and provide value to your community, not to work 'in the office'. Which I can understand the first part, a society won't work where everyone stays at home all day and the government pays you not to work (as it was said in Sept 2020.)

But 'the market' had a solution to covid infection concerns, which was to enable work from home. So we all got back to contributing to our society while limiting our exposure to each other.

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JohnQP121 t1_j9ac3q5 wrote

>“To me, it’s a civic duty to responsibly come back to work and actively engage in being part of the community,” Rechler said. “I make the analogy that, post-9/11, people didn’t flee and hide in fear of another act of terrorism, even though that risk existed.”

This is so cringe-inducing and disingenuous I find it insulting. Vast majority of the people didn't flee because of apathy and it is not that simple if you don't already have a 2nd home somewhere else. Plus 9/11 was not something that we think would happen on a regular basis.

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