Photo Courtesy of City of Chandler
By Ken Sain | SanTan Sun News
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how America works.
Many workers who never considered an alternative began figuring out how to do their tasks at home. Many of them liked it.
Many companies also that with so many working from home, they didn’t need as big an office, which meant saving money.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how America works.
Many workers who never considered an alternative began figuring out how to do their tasks at home. Many of them liked it.
Many companies also that with so many working from home, they didn’t need as big an office, which meant saving money.
Cities are now adjusting to that post-COVID world.
“Historically, our average office user was looking at 50,000 square feet of space,” said Micah Miranda, the city’s economic development director. “Now it’s smaller than that.”
Miranda said Chandler’s office vacancy rate increased 2% in May to 17.8%. That’s more than 5% higher than the five-year average of 12.1%.
Commercial real estate research firm CommercialEdge reported in May that office vacancy rates vary wildly across the country, but new rents still rose.
“The national office vacancy rate in May was 17%,” it said. “U.S. office vacancy rates have climbed more rapidly in tech markets in recent months, with some of the highest rates recorded in Austin (20.67%), Denver (20.24%), San Francisco (20.05%) and Seattle (19.53%).
“Nationally, 116.2 million square feet of new office inventory were under construction at the end of May, representing 1.8% of existing stock,” CommercialEdge continued.
In Chandler, Miranda said, there’s no reason to panic.
