I was shocked by the vacancy rates for downtown Detroit office space last month

I was looking at the CoStar data for the CBD and saw that Class A vacancy hit like 28% in Q2. Thats way higher than I thought it would be even post pandemic. My buddy who brokers office space said "people arent coming back to the old buildings unless you drop rent to $12 a foot." Has anyone else noticed the older towers on Woodward just sitting empty for months?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayden_nelson8515d ago

Eight months isn't even that long for a big commercial space.

hannahm3916d ago

My coworker's dad owns a Woodward building. Been vacant eight months now.

carter.gavin15d ago

Honestly @hannahm39 the longer it sits vacant the more it costs them in taxes and insurance with zero income coming in. I'd tell your coworker to have their dad look into a short term lease for pop ups or events just to keep the lights on and foot traffic going. Tbh even a three month lease to a furniture store doing a clearance sale is better than eating eight months of overhead. If he's worried about long term tenants, a temporary lease usually has a clause where he can kick them out with 30 days notice if a real deal comes along.