> but some things that otherwise might never have been done/resolved got handled
This is a fallacy. If something really needs resolving, the setting is not relevant.
It may be fallacy to you because you haven't experienced it, but it has happened in my experience.
Sometimes on person describes an annoyance they have, and one of the other people in the room feels motivated to resolve that issue. Or a couple of people start talking about something, and a third person has a new idea that improves thing. There are endless scenarios that can result in something happening that otherwise might never have happened without the meeting.
We had one guy who had a nice house with a big dining room, and once a month we'd work from there in one room. Less work got done, but some things that otherwise might never have been done/resolved got handled. Plus it was "kind of" fun.
So unless you're geographically too far from colleagues, there's no reason why you can't have meetups (and I would advocate for them... occasionally).