Downtown Detroit
In 2016, mortgage mogul Dan Gilbert predicted a shortage of office space in Detroit that might one day force him to house some employees in the suburbs, J.C. Reindl of the Detroit Free Press reports.
Now, after a pandemic that changed the world, there’s a glut of space, Reindl reports:
The office vacancy rate, which was 12.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019 just before the pandemic, was up to 19.7% in the first quarter of this year, according to data from Newmark.
Commercial brokers continue to see many businesses downsizing their offices when leases come up for renewal. This is partly because of fewer staffers in the office every day, and other reasons such as law firms needing fewer conference rooms with so many meetings now happening virtually over ZOOM.
