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Comment by andrewlevine | Hacker News Reader

I'm still skeptical (tell me what I'm missing) - are commercial real estate prices in NYC really going up 10% / year?

Certainly as a residential renter for ~12 years (in the same areas that have high vacancies) I haven't seen a rent increase like that.

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It's not necessarily a market price increase that they're waiting for, but rather a higher bidder. Why rent now to a (price-sensitive) local pizza parlor if you have a chance to land a national bank that can afford double the rent without a second thought?

That makes sense to me if I saw properties lying fallow for a year or two... but there are tons of properties that just sit unused for many many years. I honestly don't remember the last time there was something in the amazingly-located spot next door to the Apple store in downtown Santa Barbara. I frankly bet it was longer than ten years ago! What are they waiting for? Bankruptcy?! I just don't get it :(. There are also lots of businesses that would be willing to sign on for just a year or two instead of for ten years. Hell: the average life expectancy of many businesses isn't even ten years, so you are essentially just refusing to sell your wasting good (minutes of building) to people who would love to pay you for it due to "I guess this is how people normally do it", which is insane.

> I honestly don't remember the last time there was something in the amazingly-located spot next door to the Apple store in downtown Santa Barbara. I frankly bet it was longer than ten years ago! What are they waiting for?

The answer is probably that Apple has a clause in the contract that says that if you give another client a better price than you gave Apple, Apple gets to renegotiate.

If you got a particularly good rent from Apple, it's probably better to leave the place beside completely empty.

You may be interested to know that spot next to the Apple Store was recently filled and is a furniture / interior decorating shop now.

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