Offices, hotels, and malls were emptied by the coronavirus. While some are reopening, the disruption has created a new normal.
Big firms are rethinking office needs — and some commercial real-estate deals are being put on ice as financing dries up.
A surge in e-commerce, meanwhile, is fueling demand for warehouse space from companies like Amazon.
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The coronavirus threw the real-estate world into disarray, as people emptied out of offices, hotels, and malls and worked from their homes. The disruption is transforming how people and companies finance, operate, and occupy real estate.
Big firms are rethinking office needs — and some commercial real-estate deals are being put on ice as financing dries up. Coworking and flex-office firms are struggling under big rent obligations after years of rapid growth. A surge in e-commerce, meanwhile, is fueling demand for warehouse space as companies look for new ways to reach customers.
Here's the latest news on how commercial and residential real estate is being upended, and how experts think these markets will play out in the long run.
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Here's everything we know right now:
Latest news and deals
WeWork is looking to fill 2 million square feet of vacancies in New York City, its biggest market. Here's what's sitting empty.
Top management consulting salaries, revealed: how much Bain, BCG, and McKinsey consultants make, from entry-level through partner roles
WeWork rival Knotel just told staff it's looking to raise $100 million as it faces a turbulent office market and a host of unpaid bills
How commercial real-estate giant JLL is revamping its trainee program to help early-career brokers land deals virtually and navigate big disruptions in the market
Office-rental startup Knotel bragged it was a nearly profitable anti-WeWork. Now lawsuits are stacking up. 12 insiders reveal what happened to the $400 million Knotel said it raised last year.
WeWork is leasing a big new office in Jersey City to house the headquarters of a planned spin-off from pharma giant Merck. Here's how the deal will work, and why it's a big win for the struggling coworking giant.
Co-living is the real-estate industry's big bet on dorm-like housing for young professionals. Here's why players like Nuveen and Cushman & Wakefield remain bullish even during the pandemic.
Women-focused coworking startup The Wing is almost $270,000 behind on rent and other charges at its Bryant Park location in New York, according to lawsuit
The short-term rental market is consolidating in big cities as demand surges in rural areas. Here's how startups like Sonder are taking advantage of the shakeout.
A growing group of lenders are looking to unload hundreds of millions of dollars of souring hotel loans. Teams hired to sell the portfolios say it's just the beginning of a surge in activity.
A top Americas exec at commercial real-estate giant Cushman & Wakefield is out
Billions of dollars of Las Vegas development hang in the balance right now, but the owner of Caesars Palace sees the city's crisis as an opportunity to imagine its next mega-project.
Warehouse space is heating up
Amazon just signed its largest-ever warehouse lease in NYC. Here's how it's been making deals left and right to grow its massive storage and distribution network.
Amazon just signed a lease on a huge NYC warehouse used by one-time rival Jet.com. The e-commerce giant has been gobbling up industrial space as demand for deliveries surges.
Warehouses are the new darling of commercial real-estate thanks to a surge in e-commerce, with firms like Macy's and Boeing selling while Amazon snaps space up
A surge in grocery deliveries is creating a huge opportunity for industrial real-estate developers. Here's how the coronavirus is transforming retail and warehousing.
Office sublease deals adding supply to the market
Companies from banks to tech giants are looking to shed huge chunks of office space. Here's a look at 8 key sublease offers — and what they mean for rents in big-city markets.
Macy's is slashing the size of its brand-new global headquarters by nearly 40% in another drastic step to cut costs
How retail is faring
Commercial real-estate hiring is heating back up. From strategy-focused exec jobs to the red-hot industrial space, 4 recruiters lay out roles they're trying to fill.
Brookfield CEO Bruce Flatt lays out how retail and office space can still thrive and why private infrastructure is the next big opportunity
Bankrupt Neiman Marcus's $80 million flagship store in the glitzy Hudson Yards mega-mall is now being marketed as office space. It's another black eye for the city's retail market.
Burning through cash and nothing coming in: We talked to 7 VC investors about what's keeping them up at night in their proptech portfolios
Inside a 'big short' bet against malls: Investors are claiming wins, and a research analyst who said the wagers were misguided is out
Lease obligations are 'suffocating' retailers — and a potential court fight over a Victoria's Secret flagship NYC store highlights a wider battle between tenants and landlords
State of the commercial real-estate market
Lenders are balking at financing mega commercial real-estate deals — and that's leaving buyers for buildings like the Transamerica Pyramid in limbo
Big investors poured billions into student housing — thinking it was a recession-proof bet. Then the pandemic emptied campuses and turned that thesis on its head.
Facebook is eyeing offices in cities like Dallas, Atlanta, and Denver to act as 'hubs' to support 50% of its workers staying remote — and it's a move that could upend Silicon Valley and NYC real estate
Global firms are cutting down on their real-estate footprint as CEOs across industries are considering a permanent switch to remote work
Meet the 4 dealmakers driving Blackstone's $325 billion commercial real estate portfolio. They walked us through how they're thinking about opportunities in the downturn.
A blockbuster Facebook office deal is a make-or-break moment for the future of commercial real estate. 3 leasing experts lay out the stakes.
Neiman Marcus just filed for bankruptcy, and it could mark a major blow to NYC's glitzy Hudson Yards — one of the most expensive mega-malls in US history. Here's why.
Inside the drama over control of the iconic Chrysler Building: A real-estate tycoon and a prestigious college are renegotiating a critical $150 million deal
The CEO of real estate heavy-hitter Eastdil explains the types of deals that are must-do right now — and warns that a 'de-retailing' trend is set to accelerate
The lender to a trendy Brooklyn hotel is looking to offload an $80 million mortgage as the hospitality sector craters — and it's the type of deal distressed-debt investors have been waiting for
Real-estate tycoon Aby Rosen is abandoning $600 million worth of acquisitions as the coronavirus slams New York City's multibillion-dollar sales market
Major tenants are delaying big leases in NYC as they re-think their office space needs for the post-coronavirus world
Blackstone bet big on 4 huge Las Vegas casinos. Then the coronavirus brought Sin City to a halt, right as the PE giant was trying to unload one of its multi-billion-dollar jewels.
7 charts show how the coronavirus could clobber real estate, from retail vacancies of nearly 15% to plunging office rents in Texas cities
Coworking and short-term rentals
WeWork is ditching a major Manhattan office it hasn't even moved into yet — and it's the first big step in a turnaround that's put its entire real-estate portfolio under review
Vacancy rates are soaring above 15% in Washington DC's normally recession-proof office market. Here's how industry players think this downturn will shape up — and why some are still optimistic.
Leaked financials from WeWork rival Knotel show huge pre-pandemic losses and a shrinking cash pile. It's a grim sign for the flex-office space.
After 2 layoff rounds, a valuation nosedive, and chaotic landlord negotiations, Airbnb-backed Zeus Living is shifting its business model. Here's how the corporate-housing startup is moving forward.
WeWork's US head of real estate is leaving the coworking giant as the firm works through a major turnaround attempt
WeWork is rolling out global layoffs over Zoom and has kicked off talks to slash jobs in the UK as the coworking giant struggles to cope with coronavirus fallout
IBM is ditching a big WeWork office it has been renting in NYC — showing risks for the flex-space model as the pandemic prompts big companies to rethink real-estate needs
Knotel and insurance startup Rhino didn't disclose its CEOs were brothers when it struck a complex financial deal. Now a key partner could be on the hook as Knotel scrambles to pay bills, slashes staff, and plans to shed portions of its portfolio.
WeWork's revenue growth rate was cut in half in Q1, as the company burned through nearly $500 million in 'free cash outflow'
As WeWork and flex-space rivals stumble, 18 million square feet of space in NYC is at risk. Here's what that means for the real-estate market.
Airbnb and RXR Realty are scrapping a partnership at Rockefeller Center that the home-sharing giant had touted as a '21st-century hospitality model'
Airbnb-backed corporate housing startup Zeus Living is asking landlords to renegotiate their leases and withholding April and May rent until they sign
Knotel is scrambling to pay millions in bills that started stacking up before the coronavirus hit, and hasn't paid April rent at some locations
Leaked documents from Knotel show the WeWork competitor struggled to hit financial targets well before the coronavirus hit
'This is the day of reckoning' for companies like WeWork. 10 real-estate insiders lay out the future of flex-offices, and how employers are preparing now.
Hospitality startup Sonder is pushing ahead with plans to open its largest NYC apartment hotel yet as coronavirus cripples the travel industry
The future of real estate
WeWork is bringing corporate staff back to New York offices in 3 waves as the city enters the next stage of reopening. Here are the details the coworking giant just gave workers.
Home-financing startup EasyKnock just raised $20 million. Its CEO lays out plans for new launches including a marketplace to match investors with homeowners looking for equity.
Construction firms that get tech right could see Silicon Valley-like valuations. Here's how an old-school industry can transform itself.
Silver Lake just added to a string of recent travel bets by leading a $108 million investment in vacation property startup Vacasa
Companies need to add contactless-entry tech to safely reopen offices. Here are 7 firms ranging from startups to huge conglomerates that are set for a surge in business.
Robots, remote hires, and insourcing: A top UBS exec lays out how the Swiss bank is tackling the future of work and thinking about real-estate needs
A smart home startup that raised $41 million from Amazon and Bain just launched an app that lets landlords and residents give remote access for deliveries, guests, and self-guided tours
Zillow tapped a former US surgeon general for advice as it restarts its iBuyer business. She laid out how the company will get home-flipping up and running safely.
Here's which real-estate tech startups will soar and which will flop in the new normal of how we occupy space, according to 7 top proptech VCs
10 CEOs from Coldwell Banker, JLL, Cushman Wakefield, and more lay out a post-pandemic future of how we'll buy, build, and use real estate
The office as we knew it is dead
Mandatory temperature-taking is largely seen as a critical way to return workers to offices. But some big NYC landlords are worried about its effectiveness.
The future of real estate could be virtual open houses on Facebook. Coldwell Banker's CEO explains why the in-person industry needs to embrace going digital.
'We should be prepared for a new normal': 3 real estate experts on how the coronavirus is transforming offices and accelerating the rise of industrial property
What to expect when you're back in the office: 7 real-estate experts break down what the transition will look like, and why the workplace may never be the same
Virtual tours are being hyped as a way for commercial real estate giants like CBRE and JLL to keep deals flowing. Here's a look at how they work — and what factors they can't replace.
Real-estate services giant JLL explains how the coronavirus could usher in a permanent 'paradigm shift' towards more remote work
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