With the increasing exodus of businesses from blue cities, the landscape of those cities is beginning to change in significant ways.
Take, for example, a vacant 68,000-square-foot office building on Van Nuys Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. That property might become the site of 30 new electric vehicle charging stations, according to a report by CoStar news.
At the very least, the owner of that building, presumably wanting to make some profit from his property, is seeking approval from the city to make this suggestion a reality.
The proposal for the project has already been filed under the state of California as the “Van Nuys Property EV Hub Project.”
As described in the proposal, the land is the site of a six-story office building and a one-story addition. Now unoccupied, it was once mainly used for medical offices.
These developers propose to install about 30 EV chargers for the public to use.
The plans call for installation of the necessary electrical equipment to power such a venture, including power cabinets and electrical power transformers, a security booth, waiting room, security closet, a battery energy storage system and a solar panel canopy.
The project is being planned to meet the anticipated demand for increased numbers of EV drivers in the LA area, according to CoStar News.
It’s no secret that, since the pandemic drove more and more office workers to work from home, the office buildings once used to house them no longer serve much of a function.
Should buildings be razed to make room for EV infrastructure?
Even Elon Musk, when he first bought social media platform X (then called Twitter), was baffled at online outrage over discontinuing free food for employees when hardly any of them showed up to work.
Triple Net Investor on X reflected on this phenomenon, sharing the CoStar article with the caption, “I don’t know what’s crazier … this headline or seeing office properties drop 80-90 percent in just a few years. The commercial real estate recession (primarily office) has gone from scary to a meltdown in many cities across the US and it seems as though the damage is permanent.”
This is absolutely crazy…
An owner of an office building in LA is seeking approval to tear down the building and construct 30 EV charging stations
I don’t know what’s crazier…this headline or seeing office properties drop 80-90% in just a few years
The commercial real… pic.twitter.com/kTDv4dCb8h
— Triple Net Investor (@TripleNetInvest) February 22, 2024
The existence of this massive unused office building highlights a greater trend in American real estate.
With more workers taking the work-from-home option and the general downturn of enthusiasm of business interest in blue states like California and New York, projects like this will probably become a lot more common.
Still, you can’t help but wonder how many people could have been housed on this land instead, or even employed here?
Maybe an office building in that location isn’t necessary anymore, but maybe they could have created some blue-collar jobs that will almost always be needed.
With the lack of affordable housing and the lousy job market in Los Angeles, you’d think at least one person would have suggested it.
But now, this land will only be used to benefit a handful of EV drivers, rather than hundreds or more people who might have benefited from employment or affordable housing.
Of course, what did we expect from a leftist dystopia like California?
