There have been a lot of changes in how US businesses operate since the pandemic hit in March. Office workers have stayed at home, and retailers have closed their doors.
But if widespread vaccinations happen in the first half of 2021, one observer doesn’t see dramatic changes to urban offices.
“We probably can get through this pandemic without a major impact to urban office,” says Paul Fried, head of equity capital markets at Greystone Capital Advisors. “Most tenants have continued to pay and have not picked up stakes and left.”
Instead, Fried sees mainly modest changes from the pandemic. “The long-term effect of the pandemic is the adoption of some fairly modest technologies—touchless stuff, a lot more cleaning and some design changes with the individual spaces,” Fried says. “Maybe we go to a little more use of remote work from home on a more regular basis. But no one I’m talking to is talking about abandoning their office or abandoning their urban office. It may happen, but it’s on the margins.”
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