We held off, and it quickly became obvious the pandemic was going to be a long term thing. So when our sublease expired in September 2020 we moved out and have been fully remote and distributed ever since. We lucked out and dodged a bullet by not signing a long term lease for more space than we needed at the absolute top of the market.
Granted, we were already 60% remote at the time so it wasn't a completely massive shift. But that's it, we're remote and distributed and we're never looking back. Good bye central office!!!
I suspect, but obviously don't know for sure, that merely making use of the real estate doesn't factor at all. It's more "come into the office because that's how I know how to manage people" and "somethings actually are hard to do remote."
We are productive remote for some things, but then get stuck on tricky issues that seem to get solved instantly when we are together. So we solved that by gathering twice a year at company retreats and having budget for more mini-gatherings. But our feeling is that going back to the office will never happen.