The death of the third place is far more important than any impact remote work has had.

Third place is a specific term for those who have not been familiarized:

"In sociology, the third place refers to the social surroundings that are separate from the two usual social environments of home ("first place") and the workplace ("second place")."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_place

Not sure i get your point

If all that existed in those now dead downtown neighbourhoods were offices then of course they’d be dead with a significant disruption to work. What’s missing are still third places, and probably first places too.