It is like that old adage that goes along the lines "Tell me the incentives and I will tell you the outcomes"
You are implying most companies really think that much about long-term unquantifiable effects.
I can see a better argument being made about executive with big ego likes sitting at the top of his ivory tower (his top-level corner-office) looking over the masses below him.
That is not what I am implying. The owner/investor class have portfolios that depend on commercial and prime real estate holding, and continuing to increase in, value. They might not personally own buildings themselves, but they own companies and financial instruments that do.
Maybe execs themselves are lucky enough to be that asset rich, maybe they aren't, but it's their jobs to call the shots based on the desires of their respective boards.
Raised, because the property owner has other investments that are affected by the presence of people, such as nearby restaurants and stores?
Or is a valuation of the office property itself affected by how many people are physically in the building or area?
1. They're paying a lot in rent.
2. if they don't have workers in the office, then, adjacent spaces for ex. food service is less valuable.
3. If adjacent space is less valuable, the landlord is motivated to raise Amazon's rent to compensate
4. Therefore, they're making people go back to work to avoid rent increases
4 years on, and it seems a little bit odd it took that long for it to play it. But it seems (much) cheaper and sensible to find somewhere else to rent than give in to a threatening landlord who sees you as responsible for any shortfalls in adjacent revenue, instead of the anchor tenent you are.
Real estate is very much driven by supply and demand. Moreso than many other industries. If the adjacent space is less valuable, it gives Amazon leverage to lower its rent.
In Santa Clara county we have our local behemoths trying to get their property valuations dropped. https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2024/11/08/tech-goo...
The way commercial real estate lending is tied to lease rates usually means its almost impossible for them to go down unless you operate at these scales.
Most commercial landlords around me would rather have prime main street spots stay empty than refinance because of lower lease rates.
Low occupancy means balance sheet write downs, and higher cost of capital.