if the office spaces remain empty, that’s exactly what will happen.
or
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Yep. Tried to get two deals together to do just this in Canberra 10 years ago - where the office market is driven by the Cth govt demanding ‘A grade’ offices and almost all non ‘A grade’ office space quickly becomes vacant at lease end so there is a ready supply of such property and short term market arbitrage opportunities can exist. Basically the only thing that was cost effective in the ST were pop-up retail/restaurants on ground floor and leaving rest empty; the regulations around residential occupancy meant that the retrofitting costs blew out such that it was more cost effective to start over. The buildings remained vacant for over 3 and 7 years before being demolished and replaced.
the hardest part of it, is the water situation. Office buildings are set up differently, often with shared bathrooms with other tenants. When it comes to towers, most are done in concrete with PT cables spanning the floor so you cannot just core through the slab to run more drains.
That said, with ingenuity anything is possible.
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True. Even something like dorm accom for uni students - these buildings were 500m away from Australia’s top ranked uni and CBR has long had very tight rental market - was nixed. Some basic ventilation upgrades, new windows and partitioning to code could have been achieved for just under AuD 100/m2 and provide a very cost competitive studio alternative. In recognition it was outside existing code we even pitched it as a trial on just one floor and committed to numerous extra upgrades across the building. Unfortunately no dice and instead building stayed empty for 3 years.
that’s where you need a progressive thinking city council who can recognize the value of these kinds of changes in the market and work towards a sustainable plan
Indeed. In the case of the ACT it is actually a territory government that regulates the planning. At the risk of inviting @Klopptimist type musing about hypocrisy, it was (and is) ironically a fairly progressive Labor/Green one…
so the greens instead of opting to re-designate a building for a different purpose, opted to demolish them and re-build
not very “Green” thinking
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To be fair they were/are only the minor coalition partner; they didn’t own the building so weren’t directly involved in its demolition and at the time the planning minister was the labor MP (and now longstanding Chief Minister) Andrew Barr.
What I see of how the housing market is that the type of place I lived in when I first moved to downtown Orlando as an underpaid early 20s academic (read, double underpaid) dont exist anymore. Those places have been knocked down and rebuilt into objectively nicer places, but with much higher price tags, but ones that don’t reflect the earning power of the people who live here.
These sorts of conversions definitely have challenges and wouldn’t be quick to implement. I also appreciate the risk in spending the money to start the initiative and then seeing the market move in a way that makes them less viable. But as of today, the demand is absolutely there. If you take young professionals here, maybe ones who wait tables or serve at a bar a couple of nights a week to top up a poor 40 hr/wk salary, and give the opportunity to live in the community they want to live in at a downscale, basic apartment complex, even one with some communal facilities, rather than trying to find $2k a month for the cheapest of studios, they would be snapped up in a day.
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To bed, bath and beyond
I don’t understand financial and fiscal things that well. Would appreciate if someone explains in simpler terms. Also, what’s the credibility of Caspian Report?
Didnt watch it past the first advert yet. These countries were part of the French Empire. They still retain links to France and i’m guessing the video is about how France manipulates that relationship through it’s financial support or levers.
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No, it’s not about aid or supports. It’s about how France is controlling/manipulating the forex of its former colonies.