PERSPECTIVE
Urban Sprawl
THE PANDEMIC TORPEDOED CBD BUSINESS AND WAS A QUASI-BOON FOR THE SUBURBS . FIVE YEARS LATER , IS IT STILL THE SAME ?
Contributed by JACK CORGEL , PH . D ., CBRE CONSULTANT
D
uring the pandemic , residential and commercial property prices in the central business districts ( CBDs ) of large metropolitan areas ( MSAs ) declined while prices generally increased in suburban areas . Many businesses located in CBDs that were dependent on residents , commuters and tourists either ceased operations or relocated to the suburbs , often within the same MSA .
Despite the reports of business closures and relocations away from the centers of large U . S . cities , hard empirical evidence is scarce regarding CBD business conditions before and after the office occupancy weakness caused by work-from-home policies and an increase in frequency of headlines about retail crimes .
Hotels , restaurants , bars and retail stores comprise most of the current downtown business activity . For hotels , the CBD submarket has long been the most important MSA lodging submarket , due to strong demand from business travel and tourism in these areas . The pressures on both these demand segments since 2020 have likely affected CBD hotel performance more negatively than suburban hotels .
Data from CBRE Hotels Research and Kalibri Labs allowed for a comparative analysis of hotel financial performance before and after the pandemic in CBD submarkets , adjacent submarkets and outlying submarkets of large MSAs . The
24 hotelsmag . com Mar / Apr 2025