I was pleased to be quoted in two excellent articles in Bloomberg and Bisnow this week. Links to both articles are below.

First, I have been writing about the bifurcated market between trophy buildings, and all the rest for many years, John Gittelsohn’s meticulously researched piece in Bloomberg provides a more nuanced theme as it clearly shows the dichotomy between downtown business districts which have suffered a greater drop in property values than outlying areas across the United States. I explained the reason for this disparity in the article as follows:

“Downtown districts that for decades have been the center of business tend to have older buildings. Landlords of aging properties are often unable to compete because costs for renovations, insurance and energy have soared while lenders have pulled the plug on office financing, according to Ruth Colp-Haber, chief executive officer of Wharton Property Advisors, a New York brokerage.

“What we have left are older buildings, many in AAA locations, but facing a tsunami of trouble,” she said. “It used to be there was plenty of business to go around. Now it’s a zero-sum game.”

Second, Sasha Jones wrote a detailed piece in Bisnow about the impact of the WeWork bankruptcy on both landlords who leased space to WeWork as well as other coworking operators. I provided my two cents on WeWork’s improved prospects in this comment:

“Let’s face it, they’ve been out of bankruptcy now for four months, and there’s a perception [issue],” Colp-Haber said. “But everything’s been reworked, and their financials are going to be attractive now.”

From the perspective of prospective tenants, the issues discussed above mean excellent values are on offer in today’s protenant environment. Please contact us at Wharton Property Advisors so we can put our market insight and thought leadership to work on your company’s behalf.

Bloomberg “A $557 Billion Drop in Office Values Eclipses a Revival of Cities”

BISNOW “The Ghost Of Office Past, Present And Future: How Landlords Are Managing After WeWork’s Bankruptcy “