A few years ago, I linked to the review of a photo book featuring dead and abandoned shopping malls, including one in Ohio that was once the largest mall in the country.
Changing tastes and demographics undercut the viability of many retail centers that had become common features of suburbia, and the photos convey the eerie reality that is normally out of public view.
Now I have to wonder whether the landscape is soon to be similarly littered with shuttered and abandoned hotels and motels whose owners or investors were unable or unwilling to wait out the current collapse of the travel market. With leisure travel virtually flatlining in less than two months, it is not at all clear how many properties with be able to resuscitate their businesses if and when the world starts traveling again.
And certainly some of those financially marginal property owners are likely to be asking for public assistance to stay afloat, citing their importance to their employees and the larger community. What’s the proper response going to be?
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Hi Ian,
FYI. I was curious about the abandoned mall link you provided, but when I went there, the site tried to install Flash Player, so I immediately killed it.
Thanks. Let me check for another version.
For the short term, they can be used to isolate and quarantine people who’ve been infected by or exposed to the coronavirus, or provide a way for healthcare workers exposed to coronavirus to isolate themselves from their families.
In the longer term, they could be converted to housing.
Hotel conversion is a sore point with hotel workers. But what’s the alternative? If Waikiki does convert to condos, maybe we screwed up building rail in the ‘burbs. Waikiki already has the D in TOD, and the westside don’t. In fact, the westside was never going to build upwards.
Do we even need rail with so many of us now permanently WFH? A vast amount of office space is now a dead zone and is not coming back. What’s going to happen to it? Storage space? Residences?
Not to mention many people won’t want to be crowded together with a bunch of other people.
I’m wondering if a lot of people who do need to commute will use personal means, not just cars, but also bikes, e-bikes, mopeds, e-scooters, etc, instead of public transport.
Until there is a vaccine or effective treatment for covid-19, I think a lot of people will choose not to use public transport, whether the rail or TheBus.
Hawaii is BANKRUPT….unlike 9/11 the market is not returning in 2020, nor quickly in mass in 2021 as viral flare ups continue. Back to the loi to pull weeds for $1,200 annual stimulus…the good old days?
The significant blue States reliance on tourism in HI, CA and NY may be the long term Looser’s as the farm belt will remain perpetually essential.
Hotels (in Honolulu) will probably NOT become abandoned ruins. It may become something other than a hotel though. The owner (if he/she is overextended) will most likely find a buyer since developed property still makes money for owners with business savvy and/or luck on their side. A remote neighbor island property is more likely to be abandoned if history tells us anything about what happens to resorts that get damaged by big storms.
YES, rail is needed and more people are paying attention to the related downsides of automobile use. Rail is part of transit, which is an essential public service. If society is going to no longer be fearful about school and church gatherings then there is no reason for people to be fearful about sharing space with others to get from here to there (perhaps spending less time with others as compared to that shared enclosed space for classes or services).
Hawaii is NOT bankrupt if you’re talking about financial health, which is RELATIVE to the global economy. The virus affected all countries, essentially, and it doesn’t look like there’s any major re-positioning of RELATIVE economic status.
Save that comment from “Lei” so it can be re-visited a couple of years from now.