Office Space: Not the movie
Coronavirus set to usher in big changes at U.S. offices
... LANDLORDS NOT IN DRIVERS SEAT
Publicly traded owners of office buildings have been challenged in New York for some time.
The share prices of SL Green Realty Corp (SLG.N) and Vornado Realty Trust (VNO.N), two of the city’s largest landlords, slid about 20% in the five years through the end of 2019 when the S&P 500 index rose 57%. Their stock fell twice as fast in the recent downturn on concerns some tenants would be unable to pay their rent.
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Scott Nelson, chief executive of occupier services at Atlanta-based brokerage Colliers International, said that while office space demand overall will slacken as companies accommodate a workforce that chooses to work from home, some will rent the same amount of space, but design it less densely for fewer workers to maintain social distancing.
Elevators get complicated. Maintaining six feet of distance means long ground-floor lines to get to the office, a certain discouragement for commuters, unless more elevator banks are installed.
Social distancing in elevators would be a neat hack. Personal body bags? Return of the Paternoster?
