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The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated some real estate trends and threw new ones into the mix. Housing prices are a workforce issue, many office buildings are destined for new uses, and downtowns and retail properties remain in flux. How are communities responding to these dynamics? IEDC invites you to take Economic Development Research Partners (EDRP)’s Real Estate in 2022 survey to help shed light on today’s real estate dynamics and how they impact economic development. After two years of the pandemic, how is the real estate market in your community different? What are the challenges and opportunities? What new strategies or tools, learnings, or innovations are out there? Do you have a successful project to suggest for a case ...

As the pandemic enters its third year, white-collar work has changed, with some workers looking to remain remote full-time while others are itching to get back to the office. The pandemic has shown that the hybrid work model and the option to work remotely are here to stay. According to Forbes, at the height of the pandemic half of the workforce was working remotely, and currently around 15 to 18 percent of those workers plan to work from home permanently. What this has created is a surplus of available commercial office space as companies change their work landscape. From early 2020 to summer 2021, vacancies in high-end office buildings climbed from 13 percent to 17 percent; this rate is expected to surpass 20 percent this year. Rents ...

Even before the pandemic, America’s smaller nonprofit colleges were experiencing a shrinking pool of applicants, falling tuition revenue, rising operating expenses, and emerging student preferences for larger institutions. Since 2016, more than 60 such institutions have closed, merged, or announced firm dates for closure. There are two parts to college closures for economic developers to address: preserving workforce pipelines and finding ways to repurpose the campus.

Environmentally-contaminated properties known as brownfields are common in many communities. These sites can include closed dry cleaners and abandoned gas stations. Both of these industries are in a precarious position, but there are a number of creative ways businesses can pivot to protect themselves and the environment.

Most houses of worship in the United States are in trouble, physically, financially, and administratively. The continued decline of houses of worship—especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic—will have a profound effect on our communities. Economic developers can play an important role in the reimagining and repurposing of houses of worship, but dealing with them can be tricky.

As suburban malls continue to flounder, some are investing millions in new amenities such as recreation and other services while many mid-tier malls struggle to stay afloat. After dozens of closures over the past decade, there are about 1,100 malls left in the United States. A quarter of these are expected to close by 2022 as online shopping continues to grow and brick-and-mortar retailers continue to close. More than 10,600 retail stores nationwide have announced closures this year, which is almost double the number of stores announcing closures in 2018. The malls that are still thriving have worked to reinvent themselves with new lifestyle amenities such as medical clinics, yoga studios, gyms, and microbreweries. These upgrades are ...

As transportation options proliferate and walkability improves, personal car ownership has declined in many U.S. cities. That has left some communities with a glut of parking spaces, a situation that will likely worsen when autonomous vehicles become commonplace. According to a recent study by the Rocky Mountain Institute, a transportation think tank, “peak car ownership in the United States will occur around 2020 and will drop quickly after that.” But as older parking garages fall into disrepair, some are finding new life (Governing). In Wichita, Kan., Knightley’s Parking Garage, which opened in 1950 as the Midwest’s most modern parking facility, has been repurposed as Broadway Autopark, a 44-unit apartment ...

Even the busiest downtowns usually have a few vacant buildings or lots. Just one blighted building or trash-strewn lot can put a damper on an otherwise healthy block. A number of communities have pioneered creative solutions to permanently or temporarily reuse vacant places. Ideally, vacant downtown properties can be filled by a local business. But in the meantime, why not use empty front windows as advertising space (Small Biz Survival)? It’s far more aesthetically pleasing than covering them with plywood, and it supports other community businesses at the same time. This will require cooperative landlords, which the prospect of advertising revenue can help in convincing. In downtown Buena Vista, Colo., several vacant lots were ...