-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The Chicago developer that turned a historic Michigan Avenue building into the LondonHouse hotel — and sold it for a record high price several years ago — has surrendered the ground-floor retail portion of the property to its lender. The retail space adds to a long list of distressed commercial properties downtown in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many retailers in the central business district have shuttered because of a lack of regular foot traffic from office users, given the rise of remote work.
With $162 billion more from taxpayers, couldn’t you deliver a few bond upgrades, too
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Summary and audio linked here.
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Audio and summary
Vacant Michigan Avenue Retail Building To Be Sold At Fire Sale Price – Crain’s Chicago Business
Harris Poll: Remote Work Continues To Threaten The Downtown Economy, But Could Spur Growth In Chicago’s Suburbs – Crain’s Chicago Business
Michigan Avenue is on life support
— historic high vacancies
— empty storefronts
— foreclosures, lender takeovers, bankruptcies
All thanks to
— insane COVID lockdowns
— BLM riots, looting, arson, and
— CTA/Loop crime
that now has former downtown employees working from home for good
Suburban folk, for the most part, have abandoned the city. I live in Cook County and the suburbanites I meet on a daily basis have nothing but derogatory things to say about Chicago. The city residents will lie and gaslight you, tell you everything is just fine, you’re a suburban whiner, we don’t want you here anyways, and mock businesses for leaving the city, like Bella Notte, but the proof is in the vacancies all over the city.
City dwellers are also leery of downtown — if they work remote, they haven’t been to the Loop in years
My wife’s federal employees who live in Chicago-n-the-burbs commute to their downtown Chicago regional office only because they’re forced to, and that’s only one day per week right now.
Lots of them burn personal days, sick days, and accrued vacation to avoid even the current ‘one day per week’ requirement.
They are entirely, 100%, capable of doing their work remotely, and taxpayers are forking over God knows how much money to pay for empty guvmn’t office space.