The New “Second Place”
This is a downer of an article, but as I pointed out in a Governing magazine article two years ago, all those people working from ...
Central Portland’s Retail Scene Continues to Crumble
This store is in the Pearl District, one of the country's leading centers of urban revitalization. The neighborhood has thousands of lofts and condos built ...
At Last, Something New In “Experiential Retail”
This kind of thing may provide a short-term shot-in-the-arm for places like central Seattle that are struggling to come back. https://www.geekwire.com/2023/netflix-turning-a-seattle-warehouse-upside-down-with-interactive-stranger-things-the-experience/
Silicon Valley Bank’s Failure Exposes the Third Dinosaur of Real Estate
It took Covid to knock over the first two dinosaurs, department stores and regional malls. Now bank failure and consolidation will come for the third, ...
Contrary to Some Reports, Online’s Share of Retail Continues to Grow
Some people are saying that online's share has stalled out. But if you look at the relevant categories, its increased from 29 to 30% between ...
It’s Not Often That Special-Purpose Real Estate Can Find Such A Good New Use
The question in this country: will climbing take off? And what are the demographics of that appeal? We have one climbing gym here on Bainbridge ...
Seattle’s Effective Office Vacancy Rate is 30%
This article quotes stats from a recent Kidder Mathew report showing 12% vacancy for landlord-offered space plus an additional 18% vacancy in subleased space, for ...
Forget Tech and Streetscape: How A Small Island in the North Atlantic Used “Profound Hospitality”, Cod and Quilts To Create A New Place-Based Economy
I spent last week in Charlotte around urban designers and writers talking about the "urban form" of a place and truly "seeing" it. I'm so ...
Living At Home and Driving Their Parents’ Car…
Aggregate miles driven is probably the same as before. Parking costs (+$45,000/space) may keep car ownership down if and when they do move out. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-01/is-gen-z-really-done-with-driving-cars-don-t-bet-on-it?srnd=citylab
The Enduring Appeal of Midtowns
25 years ago I worked on the turnaround strategy of the Grand Arcade in Milwaukee ( a failed specialty center), and it was obvious then ...