Charging it forward

Throwing sand in the gears appears to be working, plus other decisions that may have seemed like good ideas at the time

It’s a great time to be looking for office space in NYC. That’s the good news. Otherwise, Random Walk is sorry to report that everything is going according to plan.

Things we think

2nd Avenue Freezeout

Space for rent

Bloomberg took a closer look at the (mostly) sad state of NYC’s commercial real estate market. It’s an absolute clinic in design and “scrollytelling” data viz and ought to be read in full. In terms of substance, Bloomberg generally confirms what the eyes are telling ye’: it’s rough out there. Vacancy rates have doubled, from ~8% to ~15%. That means it’s a great time to be looking for new office space, and a less great time to be leasing it out:

If you were hoping things would get better with the Labor Day “back to work” surge, you will have to keep on hoping because office utilization in NYC is flatlining at ~43.5% (erasing its small Labor Day gains).¹ Hybrid WFH is very much here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Anyways, more vacancy isn’t by itself all that interesting.…