COVID-19 Not Responsible for Empty Office Blocks

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Liquor stores provincial government workers on strike in 2023.

They will write books about COVID-19 and its effect on social behaviour and the economy.

The economy books will have sections such as loss of jobs, decline in car sales, decline in first time home buyers, closure of ladies’ wear shops, absence of annual carnivals in Brazil, Argentina, Notting Hill in London, Toronto, New Orleans etc.

Commercial real estate and empty office space in particular, should not be part of these books because the FOR LEASE signs in downtown office towers pre-date 2020, the COVID-19 year. Some of them have been there for almost two years.

Therefore, saying the virus is a contributing factor to all these empty offices with no business tenants, would be distorting history. The reason is human error. We think we can never be wrong but the fact of the matter is, we cannot predict tomorrow, despite immaculate business plans.
 
Commercial property developers that build these blue office towers did not know that one day, we’ll have all the business files in a portable device called a computer.

They did not know that the coffee shop will overtake the boardroom as a meeting room. They did not know that the hotel shop will be redundant because guests prefer walking to the adjoining shopping mall now. The film Big Business starring Lily Tomlin and Bette Milder has a hilarious scene in a hotel shop.

Whatever we do, we must not blame the pandemic for empty office towers. It’s that laptop of yours, the mobile office.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

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