Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F

Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by reaperducer on Sunday October 25, 2020 @07:35PM (#24891178)

Developers in Chicago are building as fast as they can right now. It's counterintuitive to people on the outside, but from what I read, it's because labor, material, and capital are dirt cheap. So the developers are putting up new skyscrapers and other mega-developments so they're in a good position to take advantage of the recovery.

A new 57-story office tower opened just last week: https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2020/10/18/a-new-skyscra...

Dozens of new residential towers have been announced, and at least a dozen are under construction, including one that's almost finished at 101 stories tall.

https://www.chicagoarchitecture.org/2020/10/05/sit-back-brea...

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by jonahbenton on Sunday October 25, 2020 @08:07PM (#24891386)

Exactly the same in NYC. Real estate investment is planned on 50-100 year basis. We're in for a 3-5 year blip from a utilization perspective, but on longer timeframes, now is really just a great time to add to the capital base.

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by jtbayly on Sunday October 25, 2020 @08:03PM (#24891366)

I was under the impression that building materials are very expensive right now.

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by lotsofpulp on Sunday October 25, 2020 @08:07PM (#24891385)

You are correct, metal prices are up 3x and wood at least 2x. Building might be happening due to demand, but not because the materials are cheap. It might be possible that labor in big cities might be cheaper, but I doubt it.

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by swsh on Sunday October 25, 2020 @08:25PM (#24891498)

I think you will find that material prices are <20% of the capital cost.

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by mariojv on Sunday October 25, 2020 @11:45PM (#24892657)

Absolutely. Check out the price of lumber: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-07/timber-to...

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by pbourke on Sunday October 25, 2020 @11:38PM (#24892621)

Money is cheap now.

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by scurvy on Sunday October 25, 2020 @09:13PM (#24891847)

Yep, soft wood prices are up 20-25% right now.

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Re:Nearly 12M Square Feet of Vacant Office Space in S.F by madeofpalk on Monday October 26, 2020 @08:20AM (#24895311)

> A new 57-story office tower opened just last week

Surely this didnt start or finish as a result of the last 6 months?

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