[digitaltrees]

Or convert offices to housing. That would actually increase local service businesses. Companies could then have a smaller office for meetings and their team could be closer to the office. Give current office owners an incentive to do it in a staggered set of waves, let them retain some units as rentals but incentivize them to flood the market to bring prices down and watch the city benefit.

[m463]

I wonder why the common pattern in europe isn't more common in the US - businesses on first floor, apartments/residences above.

[digitaltrees]

Zoning. And people complaining about smells and sounds.

[hindsightbias]

As long as you want to live in an open office plan and share bathrooms. Modern buildings are optimized one way, redoing plumbing and all is possible but will be very expensive and still result in a $1000 sqft.

Why even bother if everyone wants to move away?

[digitaltrees]

People repurposed New York factories and lofts in earlier eras to some of the coolest living spaces we have. Don’t under estimate creative people’s adaptation of infrastructure.