Power Reads: 5 Interesting Articles That Will Help You This Week

Each week, I select a few articles that rise above the fray and hopefully help you on your journey in leadership and the CRE world. They pull from one of four "corners": corporate real estate, technology, management science and anything positive. Each day we can become a better version of ourselves.

1. The great big (and confusing) return to the office is beginning

Headquarters are a thing of the past. Employees must be in-person. It doesn’t matter where anyone works anymore. Large meeting rooms, not offices, are our future.

The predictions are dizzying, conflicting—and confusing. Imagine the plight of workers trying to make decisions about homes, commutes, childcare and school districts right now. Even doctors and dentists, butchers and beauticians are chosen based on proximity and convenience to the office. Life basically happens on the way to work. But you are not alone if you still don’t know how often you will actually be there.

“The pandemic taught us there isn’t a rulebook on where employees can work. We can grow a company and operate together regardless of location. However, we know there are also many benefits to being in the same location. ...We believe physical office space is important for high-growth companies,” said Chrissy Hand, senior vice president of operations at CoverMyMeds, a Columbus, Ohio, company that just spent $240 million on a new campus.

2. ‘We Have To Rip The Band-Aid Off’: The Great NYC Hotel Reawakening Is On

More than a year ago, hundreds of New York City’s hotels shut their doors, putting thousands out of work and plunging the sector into an acute crisis. But many are taking their first steps toward reopening after months of dormancy as cautious optimism overshadows lagging rates and desperately low occupancy.

“At some point, we have to rip the Band-Aid off,” said Loews Regency New York Managing Director John Maibach, whose Midtown hotel has been closed for 13 months — but plans to open in May. "We've got to get the hotel open."

There are 116 hotels still temporarily closed in New York City, according to lodging research firm STR, and six have officially shut forever. Some 144 have reopened after closing at some point in the crisis, a number that is slowly growing each day as the city shuffles back to some form of normality.

3. To recover from COVID-19, downtowns must adapt

The COVID-19 pandemic has magnified the many inequities between people and places in the United States, largely heaping health, social, and economic harms on the most vulnerable and least able to bear it.

As we contemplate the staggering number of people lost to COVID-19, city-watchers are also starting to ask if we are going to lose some places as well. Across the U.S., the pandemic has left downtowns “cratered,” “devastated,” and “abandoned.” In downtown Washington, D.C., for instance, daytime population plummeted 82% from February 2020 to February 2021, and only 9% of office space was occupied as of February 2021.

Much like the suburbanization wave of the previous century, the pandemic pivot to telework has flatlined downtown activity and raised existential questions about its future. However, an examination of how downtowns weathered the Great Recession as well as post-recession job trends suggests that downtowns that creatively adapt can come back stronger than ever.

4. Fitness Tenants Show Signs Of Life As People Trickle Back To The Gym

Fitness concepts and gyms are beginning to see their clientele return as the vaccine rollout in the U.S. gathers steam, and that is starting to translate into real estate interest, according to retail landlords, brokers and tenants.

It's a healthy sign for the sector, which has been forced to navigate a series of major challenges, including lockdowns, revenue depletion, membership cancellations, loan applications, rent deferrals, difficulty making payments and ongoing capacity limitations.

The growing intensity of the health crisis, coupled with lockdowns, had a powerful effect on fitness concepts and gym memberships around the country. People chose to freeze or cancel their memberships, opting to work out at home instead. Multiple consumer surveys have since found that in some cases, home workout routines are now preferred.

5. Jobless Claims Fell to a New Pandemic Low Last Week

Unemployment claims declined to the lowest level since the coronavirus pandemic struck last spring, adding to signs the U.S. economic revival is picking up speed.

Jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 576,000 last week from 769,000 a week earlier. That is the lowest weekly figure since March 2020. Claims remain higher than the pre-pandemic levels of around 220,000, but economists expect they will continue to drop as the recovery accelerates.

“We are seeing both a strong reopening and rehiring in the economy at this time,” said Kathy Bostjancic, economist at Oxford Economics. “It’s been faster than most economists expected.”

Your success blesses others. I wish you a great a hugely impactful week!

Ken Ashley