Back to ‘Abnormal’? Chicago Can Come Back After the Pandemic is Gone

Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on Jan 3, 2023

Kastle bases its statistics on security card swipes in its client companies’ 2,600 buildings and 41,000 businesses across 47 states, the company says.

Weekday foot traffic in downtowns and public transit ridership have been about a third less than pre-pandemic levels. Much of that is beginning to return, but much of it also isn’t, leading many city planners and businesses to see early signs of a shift away from urban centers as we know them.

In another signal of post-pandemic attitude changes, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday called on President Joe Biden to end work-from-home telework policies for federal employees — or turn over vacant government buildings for housing.

As one of the fastest gentrifying cities in the nation over the past couple of decades, Washington is short of affordable housing.

Since the federal government accounts for a third of properties owned or leased in Washington and a fourth of the city’s pre-pandemic jobs, the mayor’s office says, the city is using tax breaks to encourage conversion of vacant office buildings. Under her plan, up to 100,000 new residents could be housed in the city.

It’s not hard to imagine, as many do, that the pandemic, combined with innovations in communications and transportation, could lead to the biggest changes in housing and business patterns since the growth of modern suburbia after World War II.

Those who no longer want to brave long commutes from downtown could spark the startup of new urban centers, with the help of changes in tax codes and consumer habits.

D.C. Deputy Mayor John Falcicchio in December described the federal city’s downtown reimagination strategy in three key points: “Change the space, fill the space, and bring the people.”

Which brings to mind a line reminiscent of “Field of Dreams” that might be asked about potential development: If they build it, will they come?

Bold, sweeping changes like that may be hard for most of us to imagine, especially after the wrenching social changes we have been through in the past couple of years.

But while some companies and families have been moving out of Chicago for various reasons like urban crime and high rents, others see opportunities.

The availability of vaccines unleashed considerable pent-up demand and opened spaces for lease across the Chicago area. But the absence of office workers has made street-level businesses in the Loop long for more companies to call people back to the office.

As a longtime Chicagoan, I remain optimistic about the city’s post-pandemic recovery.

Zoom, like other technologies, is part of the new abnormal, but it won’t soon replace the advantages of meeting in-person.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)