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I'd be interested in knowing how Chicago is doing both the Loop proper and the more extended loop. I know that Mag Mile was hit pretty hard in regards to shopping with fewer visitors and petty thefts and other issues, but I don't know if that still holds now and to what extent. The Loop is also an office-heavy downtown what with all its commercial skyscrapers so this would likely be hit hard, but on the other there has been quite a bit of construction going on including quite a few high-rises whether from the ground up or as renovations. It also would seem that the Loop's past two decades of expanding its residential population has either accelerated or declined over the course of the last year.
I have not been to Chicago in quite a few years, but my company's main team works out of our office in the loop there. All of our team is always mainly remote since the pandemic, but 1-2 folks in Chicago go into the office about once a week.
They always mention how quiet it is down there on the whole, compared to what it used to be, at least from their perspective.
I think it took a pretty hard hit from covid, from what they've been saying, but parts are coming back--just not to the extent everyone had hoped, since it's so office heavy.
I think a realistic prediction can be made that any city with way too much office space for its weight will come out better than before the pandemic because a large majority of it will probably be converted to residential out of necessity creating thousands upon thousands of new units.
Now would be an interesting time to post office space counts downtown and compare them to the size of the city to predict what will happen moving forward. This is moving to a capacity discussion. What is your downtown residential capacity/potential right now?
The "no signs of coming back" is just a straight up falsehood. If anything, Downtown is showing more signs of life than ever in my lifetime and is where the momentum will be in terms of 2020s development in Atlanta. Centennial Yards is being built out, Newport is restoring old buildings, businesses are moving in to Underground, offices are being turned into residential, and the neighborhood is becoming more connected.
I have not been to Chicago in quite a few years, but my company's main team works out of our office in the loop there. All of our team is always mainly remote since the pandemic, but 1-2 folks in Chicago go into the office about once a week.
They always mention how quiet it is down there on the whole, compared to what it used to be, at least from their perspective.
I think it took a pretty hard hit from covid, from what they've been saying, but parts are coming back--just not to the extent everyone had hoped, since it's so office heavy.
Has Chicago announced any office-to-residential conversion for the loop? I don’t have any experience with that type of construction, but I have heard it’s difficult and I wonder if skyscrapers are harder to convert to residential once they are built as office buildings compared to shorter buildings?
The office-to-residential conversions in DC have been either taken down to the second or third floor and built back up, cut holes into the building to make courtyards, or taken down to the columns and reskinned completely.
Which cities in the US (let's say over 100,000) were least impacted and affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?
In other words, which cities in present day have robust foot traffic, residents who have mostly all returned, stores that are no longer vacant, and a return of office-white collar related workers (although the remote factor is still largely a consideration)?
I've not been able to travel around as I used to, in order to visit a lot of cities after the pandemic.
But I have been to these, and I'll separate them out based on my visits:
Seems to have mostly bounced back:
Miami
Nashville
downtown Brooklyn
Some areas good, some struggling:
Manhattan
Austin
Los Angeles
Slower to come back, still struggling a bit:
Minneapolis
Charlotte
What other cities would you include in these above categories?
Out of the 50 largest cities, Austin was literally #4 for largest percent of population teleworking in 2021.
I think most every city is going to bounce back around the same pace. Most cities are surpassing their airline passenger volumes from pre-pandemic, lots of cities are booming more than ever, lots of cities are coming back, lots of cities have large ambitious plans, etc.
It’s hard to think of which cities aren’t booming more than ever in construction/development pre-pandemic
Has Chicago announced any office-to-residential conversion for the loop? I don’t have any experience with that type of construction, but I have heard it’s difficult and I wonder if skyscrapers are harder to convert to residential once they are built as office buildings compared to shorter buildings?
The office-to-residential conversions in DC have been either taken down to the second or third floor and built back up, cut holes into the building to make courtyards, or taken down to the columns and reskinned completely.
I've seen quite a few of them on urbanize.city and remember seeing lists like this one where Chicago is in the top ten for number of units undergoing or having finished office to residential (or hotel) conversion. I believe a lot of the high-rise conversions are for older high-rises, including among them some of the earliest skyscrapers built, as their floorplates aren't generally as large as the more modern skyscrapers from the latter half of the 20th century onward so that there's generally not a massive window-less interior volume.
I think one of the notable things about Chicago aside from the conversion is also the large amount of ongoing construction in the "Greater Loop" area especially the Fulton market area to the west of the Loop. However, I also think going that far west from the Loop kind of stretches what downtown is especially with the pretty large physical barrier, though not impermeable, that the Kennedy expressway with its absurd number of on and off ramps presents.
I added in bold from cities I have been to recently
Love how you break Boston into 3 categories, because God forbit it performs poorly, but Philadelphia is a single category and lowly ranked (not shocking coming from you).
I spend a considerable amount of time in Philadelphia, Center City, University City, Northern Liberties/Fishtown feel completely fine and back to normal. There are pockets of problems here and there, but that is the case with any city. And Center City (downtown) naturally has a very high residential population, which has helped in bouncing back.
To be honest, most cities I've visited felt fine (besides usual big city issues). The only shaky ones per visits in 2022 were San Fran, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas. The issues in San Fran and New Orleans go beyond Covid, and downtown Dallas and downtown Houston are mostly desolate. I was also in LA, but didn't go DT.
The "no signs of coming back" is just a straight up falsehood. If anything, Downtown is showing more signs of life than ever in my lifetime and is where the momentum will be in terms of 2020s development in Atlanta. Centennial Yards is being built out, Newport is restoring old buildings, businesses are moving in to Underground, offices are being turned into residential, and the neighborhood is becoming more connected.
I sort of misunderstood the OP specifying that it was more about the foot traffic and opening of businesses, rather than issues such as crime.
Quote:
Originally Posted by masssachoicetts
I added in bold from cities I have been to recently
I visited Nashville in the Spring of 2021. It was my first and only time so I can't compare it to how it was pre-pandemic, but what I noticed was that Broadway was pretty packed and most people weren't wearing masks, so in a nutshell it had a "What's COVID?" type of vibe. During that time the bars there could only operate at 50% capacity so I was thinking that's why the lines were so long outside to get in, or is it normally like that?
Love how you break Boston into 3 categories, because God forbit it performs poorly, but Philadelphia is a single category and lowly ranked (not shocking coming from you).
I spend a considerable amount of time in Philadelphia, Center City, University City, Northern Liberties/Fishtown feel completely fine and back to normal. There are pockets of problems here and there, but that is the case with any city. And Center City (downtown) naturally has a very high residential population, which has helped in bouncing back.
To be honest, most cities I've visited felt fine (besides usual big city issues). The only shaky ones per visits in 2022 were San Fran, New Orleans, Houston, Dallas. The issues in San Fran and New Orleans go beyond Covid, and downtown Dallas and downtown Houston are mostly desolate. I was also in LA, but didn't go DT.
Yeah, NYC was broken into five. If you are more familiar with different nodes, then you would break it into 2+. Thats just common sense…. It also needs to be noted that the Back Bay is dead, and the Seaport is thriving? Both completely different nodes that have been competing with eachother for nightlife/venues etc.
Why did you single out Philadelphia? Why not DC? LA? SF? Chicago? Also, im not ranking Philadelphia in more than one category since ive been to one of its nodes, City Center. If you know areas that are more vibrant/back to normal in Philadelphia that you are familiar with.. add them? Just like jbradley added brooklyn and manhattan. Idk, I thiught that would be self evident.. didnt think I would have to spell that out for you. Come on cpomp, do better
Why would I put more than just downtown Philly if i dont go to those other areas? I havent been to University City since 2017. what is with the Philly homerism lol. Im sorry i havent been to much outside Center City
Last edited by masssachoicetts; 09-22-2022 at 11:39 AM..
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