there's an “existential crisis” facing the office market, as the one-two punch of rising vacancy rates and declining property values squeeze building owners.
So the laws of supply and demand are working as it usual? I mean, that's what they tell us market rates are for, why should I care if some rich guys don't understand how the market works, that's their problem.
For conversions [to apartments] to start making sense financially, the government needs to provide a 20% cost subsidy
Oh, fuck you! You overextended yourself, don't see an easy way out, and now you want someone else to bail you out so you don't lose any money. The only way this should be allowed is if: the ground floor is reserved for a variety of mostly small shops, a certain percentage of which have to be locally owned and run, and maybe the second floor is small office space. The new apartments are mostly reserved for low-income people, and are rent-controlled. To get around the issue of the floors being so large that you either cluster apartments around the edge and have a big empty space in the center, or you have long thin narrow (and very unappealing) apartments, you go for the cluster around the edges approach, and turn the center into into a variety of things: maybe every floor has a laundry room, every third floor has some storage space for the tenants, every fifth floor has a gym, every few floors has a few community rooms where people can meet and play games or kids can hang out, with one or two floor's community rooms specifically set aside as quiet space for reading and studying, etc. And ffs, put in really good sound insulation between the floors, and between apartments.