Select MSAs; Working from Home vs Public Transit, 2019 & 2021

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

Naming random foods from random countries doesn't make you worldly, and looking down on basic American Food doesn't make you superior. I grew up in Manhattan and have had more Jamaican Patties than I can count, and they are ok, but give me a burger from Shake Shack any day of the week.
I've never had that Nigerian thing, but certainly would rather have a good burger any day of the week.

I'd rather be in a neighborhood with home grown restaurants than one filled with chains that you can find in a mall or airport terminal.

[Investing In Chicago]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I'd rather be in a neighborhood with home grown restaurants than one filled with chains that you can find in a mall or airport terminal.

Generally speaking, so would I, but I'm also well aware that small business doesn't always mean better quality/service. Not sure how that is related to preferring to eat a burger over Jamaican Patties.

[jd3189]

Instead of focusing on bringing commuters back the the downtowns, why not more downtowns convert to being more residential? The commuting culture is a time waster( especially when a high % of a metro’s working population has to do it), clogging the roads every rush hour. It’s also environmentally unfriendly and cost a shit ton of money year round.


I’m not saying that commuting has to be completely eliminated, but we should be less dependent on it.

[ChrisLA]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Oh mah gah the food at Chipotle is really salty. Like my experience with Shake Shack, I TRIED to give it a chance, but I figured after 3 times and I get the same result, I'm not gonna go to one ever again.

I was a big fan of the habit a few years ago, but I have them at Shake shack having much better quality burger, and the buns taste better. I will admit it took me several times to really win me over. Had it not been for those very rare specials on their app a few times , buy one get one free at Shake Shack I probably would’ve given them a chance and still stuck with The Habit Burger, or even the Dog Haus. My wife didn’t like Shake Shack for a long time, it took her a while and much longer than me. I kept sharing the extra burger with her and now it’s the only place she will purchase a fast food burger from.

I’m with you on the tempura green beans that The Habit Burger serves, I do wish Shake Shack would make them.

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by jd3189

Instead of focusing on bringing commuters back the the downtowns, why not more downtowns convert to being more residential? The commuting culture is a time waster( especially when a high % of a metro’s working population has to do it), clogging the roads every rush hour. It’s also environmentally unfriendly and cost a shit ton of money year round.


I’m not saying that commuting has to be completely eliminated, but we should be less dependent on it.

In theory that should happen as there is fewer demand for office space. The land would become cheaper and residential would fill the space of un-used office buildings if there is a demand for it. Like how residential lofts replaced un-used industrial place in the 1970's-80's when industry left many cities.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by jd3189

Instead of focusing on bringing commuters back the the downtowns, why not more downtowns convert to being more residential? The commuting culture is a time waster( especially when a high % of a metro’s working population has to do it), clogging the roads every rush hour. It’s also environmentally unfriendly and cost a shit ton of money year round.

Exactly, since urbanists are now supporting this wasteful practice of commuting into the city when previously wanting people to move there. Commuting via transit is still ok, so maybe it's more related to transit enthusiasts than other reasons. I get the love of foot traffic, but many of these places were abandoned after 5:30 already. I mentioned in another thread that the State of California is looking to convert a few buildings they own in Downtown Sacramento to condos or apartments.
-I'm a rural urbanist and a transit supporter, fyi, especially trains.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Investing In Chicago

Naming random foods from random countries doesn't make you worldly, and looking down on basic American Food doesn't make you superior. I grew up in Manhattan and have had more Jamaican Patties than I can count, and they are ok, but give me a burger from Shake Shack any day of the week.
I've never had that Nigerian thing, but certainly would rather have a good burger any day of the week.

I wasn't naming random foods from random countries; I was going by iheartted's quote:

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The block where Chipotle is going up has a lot of west African and West Indian restaurants.

So, I chose Nigerian and Jamaican west African and West Indian examples. And I guess if most people would rather go to Chipotle over those other options, oh well.

I wasn't claiming to be worldly or superior, hellz no. That's one of the last things I would do, because it isn't true. There are still plenty of things for me to learn about the world, and I'm open to it. I am far from being worldly and superior. And I don't look down on basic American food, but I do know what I like and don't like, and Chipotle and Shake Shack, I don't like. Food is subjective.

Originally Posted by ChrisLA

I was a big fan of the habit a few years ago, but I have them at Shake shack having much better quality burger, and the buns taste better. I will admit it took me several times to really win me over. Had it not been for those very rare specials on their app a few times , buy one get one free at Shake Shack I probably would’ve given them a chance and still stuck with The Habit Burger, or even the Dog Haus. My wife didn’t like Shake Shack for a long time, it took her a while and much longer than me. I kept sharing the extra burger with her and now it’s the only place she will purchase a fast food burger from.

I’m with you on the tempura green beans that The Habit Burger serves, I do wish Shake Shack would make them.

I really don't eat burgers much anymore; I can't even think of the last time I had a burger, so I'll probably not even bother with Shake Shack anymore. And like I said, when I go to The Habit, I get a salad or the grilled ahi tuna with the tempura green beans---aren't they the bomb?

[Trae]

Originally Posted by dchan

Unless I knew the quality of the burger I was getting from a local place, I would go to Shake Shack the vast majority of the time. Their quality and consistency is just incredible for chain restaurant. My only issues are that they tend to be a tad expensive (around $10+ for a normal cheeseburger), and I don't really love their fries (tend to be too dry in order to be crisp, and I prefer a nice crisp shoestring over a crinkle cut fry).

At local places, the overall burger quality is all over the place. This is especially true for diner burgers. I've basically stopped ordering burgers from diners. My go-to at a diner is a Reuben sandwich nowadays.

As for Chipotle, it's very meh to me. It's good quality, but nothing mindblowing for me. I remember a college classmate from Colorado raving about how good Chipotle was back in 2004, but I have never been impressed. Also, it always gives me certain post-digestion problems the next day.

if the food passes the picture test and the recent reviews are good, then I'll take my chance. my family makes it a point to go to local restaurants/local chains no matter where we are at over the national chains unless the (good) local restaurants are closed. over the years we've found the food quality to just be better doing by doing this. there's a couple national chains we like though (chick fil a, in n out, whataburger)

wfh definitely is the reason this has happened because it is when we really started to explore more local restaurants to support them vs the national chains who had money

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Okay? I would think fake Mexican street food and Ore-ida crinkle fries wouldn't cut it.

Speaking of Lucky Boy's, compare the customers here: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1346...4!8i8192?hl=en

To this, literally a block away: https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1328...4!8i8192?hl=en

and there you go!

[homebucket]

Facebook parent company Meta to drastically reduce San Francisco office space
Sam Moore, SFGATE
Jan. 19, 2023

Meta confirmed Thursday it's doing away with 435,000 square feet of office space in a downtown San Francisco high-rise, the San Francisco Business Times first reported.

A spokesperson for Meta confirmed with SFGATE that the company listed the space, located inside a mixed-use high-rise at 181 Fremont St., for sublease. The tech giant will keep its office at 250 Howard St., which will now be its only office in San Francisco.

The decision was made in an effort to embrace the remote work experience, the spokesperson shared in a statement.

“The past few years have brought new possibilities around the role of the office, and we are prioritizing making focused, balanced investments to support our most strategic long-term priorities and lead the way in creating the workplace of the future. Our aim is to build a best-in-class remote work experience to help everyone do the best work of their careers no matter where they are," the statement said.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/artic...e-17729056.php

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

Damn. Pretty soon it's just gonna be tourist's and a few residents walking around downtown SF

[homebucket]

181 Fremont is the building to the right of Salesforce Tower.

For reference, Meta occupied all ~430k sq ft of office space (floors 2-34) at $80/sq ft. The top 15 floors (~100k sq ft) are residential (condos) at $1.7-46 million.


PC: homebucket

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Damn. Pretty soon it's just gonna be tourist's and a few residents walking around downtown SF

The article does state Meta is planning on keeping its office at 250 Howard St (Park Tower). That one has ~750k sq ft of office space, all of which is leased by Meta. Not to mention their main offices in Menlo Park as well as tons of other office space in Burlingame, Fremont, and Sunnyvale. This was likely just another cost cutting move.

[mhays]

This might not mean fewer workers in DTSF, just aligning space with the actual worker count.

The big techs are all announcing layoffs but the percentages are small.

[Trae]

Originally Posted by homebucket

The article does state Meta is planning on keeping its office at 250 Howard St (Park Tower). That one has ~750k sq ft of office space, all of which is leased by Meta. Not to mention their main offices in Menlo Park as well as tons of other office space in Burlingame, Fremont, and Sunnyvale. This was likely just another cost cutting move.

for now until those leases expire next, esp the SF one. Their HQ campus will be the last one standing until they repurpose part of it for mixed-use/residential. that's what comes next for corporate campuses once downtown office conversions are done

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by mhays

This might not mean fewer workers in DTSF, just aligning space with the actual worker count.

The big techs are all announcing layoffs but the percentages are small.

I think San Francisco and Seattle are in for a shock. Close to 100k jobs have been eliminated from Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft in the past 3 months. Tech hasn't seen anything like this in 20 years. The press releases say "global" but it does seem that a lot of these cuts happened in the US.

[bossabreezes]

Downtown SF is beyond dead and it's actually really really sad. They need to shove the 83,000 new residential units mandated by law in downtown and SOMA in order for that part of the city to ever have any sort of vitality in the next decade or two. It's in a sad state right now.

[jd3189]

^^^ Perfect time for SF to fill the core with housing. More specifically, luxury, average market rate, and low income housing so that it's not just rich millionaires living next to tent cities as it is right now.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by jd3189

^^^ Perfect time for SF to fill the core with housing. More specifically, luxury, average market rate, and low income housing so that it's not just rich millionaires living next to tent cities as it is right now.

The problem is that now developers and lenders are hesitant to start construction given the market conditions.

We have a 55 story tower with 1012 units that has been approved but the approval is getting an extension since the lender is requiring an entitlement extension in order to close a loan. I imagine this is largely dictated by market conditions with the tech layoffs. Perhaps they are finding that construction such a tower is not as financially sound as it was when tech was booming.

[Trae]

^^^that's not really a problem. you don't need to build new towers right now. more than enough empty office space to convert to residential first

[mhays]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I think San Francisco and Seattle are in for a shock. Close to 100k jobs have been eliminated from Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft in the past 3 months. Tech hasn't seen anything like this in 20 years. The press releases say "global" but it does seem that a lot of these cuts happened in the US.

The cuts are maybe five percent. Only a fraction of what's been added during Covid.

Of course even 0% would be a hit vs. continuous heavy growth, so it's significant, but it's still not that massive.

One upside is that other firms can finally find people if they still want them. And some grads will start new businesses. Layoffs are a gold mine long-term.

Office space might be a problem though. Especially since we keep starting new buildings.