As retail bankruptcies pile up during the coronavirus pandemic, vacancies across the country are rising and don’t look like they’re going to stop. CoStar estimates upward of 100 million square feet of retail space will go dark over the course of the next one to two years as a result of store closings and bankruptcy filings. The situation is likely to worsen because some retailers are dependent on nearby offices that might not be filled with workers for some time

As a growing number of firms such as Amazon, Facebook and Google announce plans to allow employees to work from home for the medium term or even indefinitely, Corbett expects an increasing number of restaurants and retail shops to close that relied predominantly on day-time, office-using employee traffic.

By Jennifer Waters. Costar News. 8/10/2020