
Where is Commercial Real Estate Headed?
by Neil A. Dolgin Welcome to 2023 and the questions that are on everyone’s mind: Will we have recession? Will it hit hard? Will there be a soft landing? Economists expect economic growth to slow this year, and we will narrowly avoid a recession. Wherever I turn, however, everyone has their own point of view. … Read more »

This Time, Corporate Executives Mean Business On The Return To Office
Leaders at major companies across the U.S. want workers back this week, and they mean it this time. Labor Day 2022 is the latest, and starkest, line in the sand drawn yet by corporate executives who think their workers should be spending more time in the office. Companies have been trying to lure workers back… Read more »

Five Commercial Real Estate Trends to Watch in the Wake of COVID-19
It’s been a whirlwind 20 months for commercial real estate (CRE), which, like so many other areas, was hit particularly hard by COVID-19. According to a recent report, the pandemic created the worst recession the office sector has ever faced — leaving property owners to seek out new ways to entice tenants, navigate changing lease… Read more »

Challenges for New York City Tenants and Landlords in the Post-Pandemic Environment
By Neil A. Dolgin There has been considerable discussion about how commercial real estate has been transformed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, along with impacts on tenants and landlords. Both have faced challenges that I have covered in my prior post, Factors Shaping the Future of Commercial Real Estate in NYC. Emerging Trends… Read more »

New Yorkers brought NYC back despite hysteria over the Delta variant
If New York City is to be saved from COVID-19, it will be no thanks to the politicians, bureaucrats and big-business leaders who once upon a time we might have turned to for leadership. Instead, it will be entirely due to Big Apple residents and visitors who are loving the place with their growing presence… Read more »

The City is Coming Back
by Neil A. Dolgin Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak eighteen months ago, New Yorkers have become all too familiar with empty office buildings and store fronts on practically every block. It’s also true that the economic fallout has heightened some already-existing trends as companies and retailers continue to grapple with how to best… Read more »

As New York City Pushes Ahead With Reopening, The Restaurant Industry Remains Imperiled
New York City’s reopening plans have provided a lifeline for the city’s pummeled restaurant industry. But the slow return of patrons and now major staffing problems continue to vex operators still battling to make enough for expenses, including rent. “Many restaurants haven’t been able to pay rent or only paid partial rent over the past… Read more »

De Blasio to End Remote Working for NYC’s 80,000 Municipal Workers
The nation’s biggest municipal workforce is being called back from remote working a year after the coronavirus pandemic shut office doors. According to The New York Times, Mayor Bill de Blasio has decided that the 80,000 municipal office employees who have been working from home since last March will have to report back to the… Read more »

Landlords lead push to get city back to work
Some of New York’s leading commercial landlords are joining the campaign to get the city back to work. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that 21 city landlords are part of his New York Forward COVID-Safe Offices partnership to expand access to COVID-19 testing for employers. As part of the initiative, the landlords have committed to… Read more »

How Technology is Helping the Property Industry Understand Post-Pandemic Risk
Almost a year into a global health crisis that devastated the world and propelled the nation into an economic recession, the effects of the coronavirus pandemic continue to echo through businesses that thrive at the intersection of people, places, and experiences—an intersection that very much includes commercial real estate. COVID-19 accelerated already rapidly growing trends… Read more »

A Cloudy Crystal Ball For Commercial Real Estate And Office Space
As we pass the grim metric of 500,000 deaths due to Covid-19, analysts are grappling with the pandemic’s long term impacts, including its effect on cities and work. There’s disagreement about the degree of permanent increases in teleworking and homework. But if some office work is shifting permanently to homes, what will that do to commercial and residential real… Read more »
With offices still mostly empty, landlords amp up Covid tests
Creating testing centers for Covid-19 is all part of an effort to lure workers back to offices, which have been largely empty since the pandemic hit almost a year ago, shutting down Manhattan skyscrapers. Landlords are seeking ways to repopulate their buildings after earlier attempts—including beefing up virus safety measures and lobbying the city’s finance bosses—had… Read more »

Underpinning the Pandemic, Another Malady: Municipal Finances
COVID-19 and the resulting economic downturn made a considerable impact in many areas of the U.S. economy during 2020, but most certainly in municipal budgets. Taking a look at the nation’s 75 largest municipalities, Truth in Accounting found that most could ill afford a large-scale health crisis. The organization’s just-released 2021 Financial State of the… Read more »

Our 12 most 2020 COVID-19 stories reveal a year like no other
Here are a dozen of the best pandemic stories compiled by City&StateNY to highlight some of the lessons worth remembering in 2021 begins. City&StateNY
Flattening the City: How COVID-19 is Reshaping Commercial Real Estate
In the five-plus months that have passed since the U.S. declared a country-wide state of emergency due to COVID-19, we have all had to adapt in some way or another, to change our shape to match our new vessel. These changes were made rapidly, even under duress, and they were shaped and enabled by technology… Read more »
Optimizing Building Performance During a Crisis Requires Finding the Right Baseline
33 Nassau Ave, Brooklyn. Buildings are big, complicated structures. They have hundreds of pieces of equipment that work together in a symphony of heating and cooling, exhausts and intakes, switches and controllers, all firing up and shutting down in an intertwined daily rhythm. Normally, a building can count on the predictable consistency of its occupants… Read more »