Over the past few years, the urban decay in liberal cities such as San Francisco has never been more apparent. Self-destructive woke policies in working concert with the impact of the pandemic have had consumers and businesses fleeing for red states.
The left will seemingly turn a blind eye to the effects of the policies they voted for, often claiming the right has sensationalized the state of urban America. However, the real estate market in San Francisco begs to differ at a time when the city should be booming with activity after pandemic restrictions subsided.
Data provided by Trepp, a reporter of commercial real estate analytics, highlighted the example of a once highly valued apartment building that saw a massive reduction in value compared to just a few years ago. The newspaper reported that the Crescent Heights-owned NEMA experienced a decline in value of approximately $265 million, a nearly 50 percent decline from a 2018 valuation of $544 million.
“#TreppWire Trading Alert: Value of NEMA #SanFrancisco Collateral Slashed🚨 The 754-unit apartment complex backing the $384 million #CMBS loan was cut to $279 million. In 2018 the value was $543.6 million,” Trepp posted on X (formerly Twitter).
#TreppWire Trading Alert: Value of NEMA #SanFrancisco Collateral Slashed🚨
The 754-unit apartment complex backing the $384 million #CMBS loan was cut to $279 million. In 2018 the value was $543.6 million.
Learn about #Trepp: https://t.co/hezyw9iFbh https://t.co/FThMuFcQnA pic.twitter.com/66esH0jGiA
— Trepp (@TreppWire) October 18, 2023
San Francisco, once a shining beacon of American prosperity and urban beauty, by all means should be recovering from the impact of the pandemic. However, the city is seeing vacant office space as employees continue to work remotely, creating an almost 30 percent office vacancy rate. As downtown foot traffic is reduced and consumer shopping habits have been altered, many businesses are closing their doors and leaving San Francisco.
John Chachas, owner of iconic San Francisco department store Gump’s, recently wrote an open letter to California leadership that called out the consequences of their policies and demanded change. Gump’s has been in business for nearly 166 years in the Bay Area but faces an existential threat as the city crumbles.
“It’s it’s every small, medium size. Every large office in the city of San Francisco is doing the same thing,” Chachas explained how virtually all businesses are being impacted in the city. The business owner continued illustrating the scale of the real estate vacancy, stating, “We have 25 million square feet of empty office space. Government buildings are the worst. So federal office buildings and state office buildings are at 30% occupancy because for some strange reason, even though the pandemic ended months and months ago, they’re still being directed to work at home.”
Chachas then slammed San Francisco’s leadership for not holding those accountable who pollute the streets, making them unsafe and unsanitary. This undeniably impacts consumer foot traffic, where people will likely avoid an area if it deteriorates to such a degree as Chachas describes. “And then the the bad side of it, which is San Francisco has focused on what I call a minority of people who are making it an almost livable and unworkable environment with human waste and debris. That’s not a sustainable thing. Our door counts are down. I don’t know probably 30% from 2019, but we have a good loyal customer and we want to we want to find a way to fix the problem and stay in San Francisco if we can,” he said.
"*" indicates required fields