In cities across America, commercial spaces sit underutilized. Some floors are vacant. Others are leased but lifeless—used a few days a week or not at all. What were once hubs of daily energy are now quiet for long stretches of time. Not everywhere, and not always. But often enough to matter.
This isn’t just about the shift to remote work—though that’s real and persistent. And it’s not just a post-pandemic hangover. It’s about incentives. Or more accurately, the lack of them.
In too many cases, owners of underused buildings have no reason to act. Banks allow pre-pandemic valuations to remain on the books. Cities, still reliant on legacy tax assessments, look the other way. Everyone waits. But while we wait, value drains out of our urban cores.
Because make no mistake—every underutilized floor is a missed opportunity to generate activity. Not just for the building owner, but for the entire ecosystem around them.
Those spaces could house startups, studios, job training programs, community health hubs, or co-working collectives. Each of those creates economic motion—wages, rent, sales tax, transit use. That activity builds the base we rely on to fund schools, roads, first responders, clean water, and public safety. The whole system depends on whether space is being used—or not.
Let’s be honest. If you’re holding out for yesterday’s rent rates before you lease again, you’re not just waiting—you’re holding back the future. When our tax base erodes, public services suffer. Communities lose faith. And the promise of urban life—that density leads to opportunity—starts to unravel.
This isn’t just a commercial real estate issue. It’s a civic issue wearing a market disguise.
But we can fix it. Not with blame. Not with sticks. With smart, bold, capitalist incentives.
We need to reward activation. Cities should offer time-bound tax benefits to any owner who gets their space working—quickly, flexibly, and with community value in mind. Lease a floor to a startup at below-market rate? Tax abatement. Open it up to artists or freelancers? Same. Partner with a nonprofit or host a job-training center? That counts too. If you’re creating activity, you’re supporting the economy. You’re helping the city function.
This isn’t charity. It’s arithmetic.
Utilized space produces revenue. Empty space doesn’t. It’s that simple.
We also need transparency. Require commercial property owners to publicly report vacancy and usage rates. Let cities plan. Let entrepreneurs find opportunity. Let the public see where potential is sitting idle. Transparency unlocks momentum.
And banks need to step up. Many continue to carry commercial loans based on outdated valuations. Why? Because acknowledging reality means absorbing losses. But by propping up a version of the market that no longer exists, they’re freezing the one that could.
We need new financial instruments—public-private tools that support adaptive reuse, flexible leasing, and community-first reactivation. If we can de-risk development, we can de-risk revitalization. Banks should be incentivized not just to build—but to help reimagine.
Because what’s at stake isn’t just commercial occupancy. It’s belief—in the future of our cities, in the logic of smart capitalism, in the idea that economic ecosystems thrive when space is put to work.
Let’s go even further. Turn underutilized buildings into startup zones. Fast-track permits. Offer fiber internet and shared resources. Let new ideas take root, floor by floor, project by project. These spaces can become launchpads for the next chapter of growth.
Because every underused square foot is a square foot not generating tax revenue. And we can’t afford that—not when we’re fighting to fund public safety, housing, transit, and education.
We debate endlessly how to fund the things we care about. Meanwhile, the solution might be hiding in plain sight—in buildings already built, already connected to infrastructure, waiting for a reason to come alive.
If you own space, put it to work. If you write policy, rethink the incentives. If you control capital, direct it toward activation.
We don’t need to punish the slow movers. We need to reward the bold ones. Capitalism doesn’t die when it adapts. It dies when it refuses to.
The buildings are already here. The space is waiting. The only thing missing is the will to say yes—right now—instead of holding out for someday.
Let’s fix that.
Let’s fill the space.
Let’s broaden the base.
Let’s fund the future.
If this episode challenged your thinking, send it to someone who’s ready to be part of the solution. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen—and for more of my work, head over to justinmlewis.com.
Our cities already have the bones. The question now is whether we have the courage to use them—to turn what’s idle into something active, productive, and shared.
Until next time.
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