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Suzki t1_jcmbngi wrote

I wonder who the hell is going to buy those spaces now? Would be nice to see some repurposed for more affordable living in the city.

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forestapee t1_jcmjgqg wrote

That and converting into malls or multipurpose offices for startups are probably some of the options that'll be used. Hopefully they go to good use one way or another

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[deleted] t1_jcncsju wrote

[deleted]

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HaMMeReD t1_jcnoytz wrote

Yeah, think of the building and the layout. I.e. in apartments, everyone has a bathroom, plumbing etc. In an office, there MAY be one kitchen per floor, a two bathrooms right next to each other, etc. Shared HVAC systems, etc.

Converting it means gutting everything from electrical to plumbing.

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No_Demand7741 t1_jcoj4td wrote

I have heard the same but I think moving forward if this conversion is to succeed it will need to be cheaper.

Why not just add a false floorboard to the entire floor and run plumbing and electrical in that space?

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UrbanGhost114 t1_jcomsg4 wrote

Same reason you don't generally do it at home.

Edit: water pressure.

More edit:. There is a LOT of engineering that goes into water pressure.

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No_Demand7741 t1_jcomuwp wrote

I would 100% do this at home

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UrbanGhost114 t1_jconb9w wrote

Have fun with not understanding water pressure!

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millertime1419 t1_jcoyrw5 wrote

I’m an engineer who understands water pressure and have no idea what your concern about it is…

Water service is the easiest thing in a building, the pressurized system means you can make vertical bends, use flexible tubing, etc. sanitary is the tricky one since it drains by gravity.

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Hardass_McBadCop t1_jcpc7zj wrote

I'm guessing that he's mostly concerned with, and talking about, skyscrapers where they're so tall that the water pressure can be a problem for the higher floors.

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tiredofmyownself t1_jcpt3n6 wrote

Most of these campuses in the original article do not have any skyscrapers so if the concern is based on that, it’s not really applicable.

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No_Demand7741 t1_jcondck wrote

What?

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UrbanGhost114 t1_jconj8d wrote

Exactly! Water pressure is a gigantic issue.

Also, when your done with that, remind yourself why water and electricity don't go well together.

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No_Demand7741 t1_jconks8 wrote

What the fuck are you talking about

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UrbanGhost114 t1_jconrzf wrote

You would put your plumbing, and electricity under your floor boards, without understanding why they don't do that now?

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No_Demand7741 t1_jcontt0 wrote

They do do that now what the fuck are you talking about

Make a point

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InternetUser007 t1_jcp1e16 wrote

Both water and electricity run through my walls. Do you think they are just mixing around in there together? Lmao.

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crazylilrikki t1_jco7sbk wrote

> multipurpose offices for startups

This is purely anecdotal but I haven’t seen a startup offer anything other than full remote roles with the occasional option to be hybrid in the past couple of years so I’m thinking they’re mostly not interested in investing in real estate. But I guess maybe they could be massive coworking spaces?

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suztown t1_jcp5ol4 wrote

Certain industries like biotech require physical workspaces though, so maybe those?

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NefariousnessNo484 t1_jcpktgd wrote

Those need special permitting and they usually can't be in spaces designed for offices without a ton of construction. So yes it could be done, but it would be super expensive in an already ass expensive area. It's why a ton of biotechs are moving to Texas.

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werepat t1_jcon7pb wrote

Malls and offices? Aren't those two specifically noted as casualties of e-commerce and work-from-home jobs?

It needs to be housing and green space.

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voidvector t1_jcomre8 wrote

Startups are going full remote at a higher rate than big tech. Two startups I previously worked at are now full remote.

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Stiv_b t1_jcpdhu1 wrote

And, if you are launching a new startup you’re no longer gonna commit to big leases when you could use that money for R&D.

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jdbrew t1_jcpp1uo wrote

Malls? What is this, 1983? Even out here in the Midwest where you need indoor shopping with heating when it’s under 20° and AC when it’s over 100°, malls are dead. We had so many, now we’re down to 3, and only 1 of them ever has any people at it. The other two are half vacant units too

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yond001 t1_jcnz47b wrote

Probably crazy zoning laws that would somehow block that

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DevAway22314 t1_jcoivnc wrote

Zoning laws would block most anything you wanted to do with them. The bay area has some of the most restrictive zoming in the world. That's why despite the lack of housing and insane rent proces, the vast majority of land is still dedicated to single-family homes. They loterally are not allowed to do anything else with it

The bay will be forced to redo their zoning eventually. It's already stunted the growth the area could have had to become a large diversified metro area

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yond001 t1_jcpe9db wrote

The residents that ensure these zoning laws care more about their home prices being elevated then the growth of the area.

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Adventurous_Ideal849 t1_jcne3bw wrote

The next cycle of big tech will buy them.

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Uncertn_Laaife t1_jcnfpt5 wrote

They are all wfh. Gone are the days when you could attract a top talent to drop into work every day. The top talent nowadays is working remote.

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Hawk13424 t1_jcphp74 wrote

For software. For hardware, I have to go to work. I can’t properly bring up and debug hardware at home. Just don’t have the required equipment.

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bluePostItNote t1_jco6094 wrote

I give it a few years till the pendulum swings back. I don’t see full in office work but expect a hybrid model of plan in person, execute remote, to become much more standard.

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xvandamagex t1_jcor0sa wrote

I don’t know if I agree. I worked for a company that forced people back in for 2-3 days of the week (your choice on which day). Most days I commute over an hour just to sit in an empty conference room and zoom with people who are now in different cities or working remote and didn’t come in that day. Massive waste of energy and time.

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Iychee t1_jcoplwb wrote

Yes and no - I work for a big tech company yet half of my team is in one city, half in another. Neither are in California. I think a lot of companies hired talent outside of SF as well during COVID, so there's a lot of mixed location teams that couldn't plan together in office anyway

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favpetgoat t1_jcp4tzl wrote

I can see hybrid happening but not on the weekly basis everyone's trying RN. The whole "you need to be in office 2/5 days every week" is so bad IMO. Everyone picks different days so you don't actually get the desired productivity of everyone sitting down and working together. Having 2 work days different from the other 3 throws off a lot of routines resulting in a bunch of wasted time. Plus when people are actually in the office together they spend a lot of time socializing because they haven't seen each other in a week. (Which I guess isn't terrible from a team building perspective but there are better options)

It needs to be spaced out and concentrated to minimize the disruption from changing work locations while maximizing the benefits of working collaboratively. Something kind of like the annual shows/expos/conferences that a lot of industries have but at the company or team level (depending on company size) and a little more frequent (monthly, every few months etc). Ideally they have some well thought out goals/projects you need to work towards together and a couple social activities for team bonding while everyone's together.

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bluecifer7 t1_jcpuiaw wrote

Yep this is exactly what companies should do/are doing.

I go into the office once every 6 months for an entire week at a time, and so does my entire team

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Hawk13424 t1_jcpi4wd wrote

My team and coordinate when we will go into the office. And sometimes we go weeks without going in and sometimes we have to go in everyday for a few weeks. Really depends on where we are on a project. Go in during initial brainstorming. WFH doing the bulk of the early software development. Back to the office to do bring-up and debug on new hardware.

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favpetgoat t1_jcqde47 wrote

That sounds ideal TBH, doing whatever makes the most sense for the given situation instead of enforcing a bunch of rules just cause that's the way it's always been

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Adventurous_Ideal849 t1_jcrm9sn wrote

> the desired productivity of everyone sitting down and working together

Ah yes, the mythical productivity boost... that guts my productivity by making it impossible to prevent people interrupting me on a whim. My presence probably saves one hour a day of waiting for my online replies, between multiple people, a net loss overall.

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jeffyoulose t1_jcp2gbv wrote

Offices are nice. But cubicles open layouts and terrible commutes are what makes wfh better.

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caroIine t1_jcskuv5 wrote

Hybrid mode exclude traveling while working so for any high ranking employee it's a nono.

You have only one life better to spend it in e.g. on country side than in congested city.

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Uncertn_Laaife t1_jcnfihb wrote

Hotels and Condos, may be hospitals.

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jeffyoulose t1_jcp2quy wrote

Why not just demolish them all and convert it back into parkland, orchards, farm land, public execution squares? Like Detroit?

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Zalenka t1_jcnq84j wrote

Silicon valley really need greater residential density. They should teat them down and build high-rise apartments until rents drop by half.

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ekw88 t1_jcnrvwy wrote

That won’t happen, the Bay Area homeowners block all residential expansion and high rises so they can sustain their overpriced real estate.

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Zalenka t1_jcnwlew wrote

That feels really dumb and counterproductive, but I don't own a 2mm house that has bars in its windows, doesn't have curbs or sidewalks and is a block from El Camino Real, so....

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JeffreyMarsalek t1_jcokye7 wrote

The banks that have the 30 years lease/mortgage on their balance sheet and would be fucked if this buildings would be priced fairly as totally use- and worthless?

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sonic10158 t1_jcp1qz8 wrote

It certainly will not be going to help affordable housing

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cwesttheperson t1_jcp7ozk wrote

Were legit in the midst of a commercial real estate crisis. Much better than residential as it mostly effects people with a ton of money, but we’re about to witness it regardless unless they make people come back to office.

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BlazinAzn38 t1_jcpcg3l wrote

Downtown Dallas has started doing this recently. All those downtown office skyscrapers are being converted into housing which is definitely a nice step to reinvigorating downtown to a place people live instead of just commute to

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uselessadjective t1_jcpj70v wrote

**Someone already replied but I'll put it again, BayArea owners keep on voting against to put more residential buildings to protect their overpriced real estate.

This is the reality tbh.

So you might see these spaces mostly getting converted to some kind of mall or something else which doesn't effect the house prices**

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creepystepdad72 t1_jcpsc5b wrote

Residential conversion is a tough one - a vicious cycle is already well underway. The value of a business park condo is the proximity to work, but if work is trying to get out of the business park...

Coworking isn't completely unreasonable, but that's 1) a LOT of space; and 2) still in a business park - not sure it's worth an investment. There's companies that've dumped half that footage right in the middle of urban centers and the coworking companies won't touch it.

I figure it has to be REITs gobbling buildings up at steep discounts and doing a heck of a lot of work apportioning into smaller offices for leasing. Even though I think it's the most likely, it's still really tricky...

A company that would have killed for a 10K sqft. lease in 2018 (but were getting pushed out of the market in favour of the bigger guys willing to take 5-10x the footage) likely aren't interested at standard lease terms anymore.

A 10 year term isn't going to be attractive to 95% of companies, and with the amount of folks stuck with 5+ years left on a pre-COVID term trying to dump to a sublease it makes even less sense to be a primary lessee.

A valid alternative option might be hotels. Conversion costs aside, there's a good concentration of tech HQs in the area who (even with fewer on premise employees) will still have visitors. In my experience, the business park Omni's and Westin's seemed to do brisk business and I get it... There's not exactly a ton to do in Menlo Park or Redwood City, but sometimes you just want to get in and out of there.

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zorg1578 t1_jcr8jhv wrote

But prices may go lower. Old crooks won't let it happen

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yorfavmua t1_jcnkdgz wrote

I mean there’s so many homeless in the Bay Area on account of the tech industry

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pimpeachment t1_jcocw0y wrote

So stick them in a giant open concept structure with no guidance and no barriers and hope for the best?

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