office buildings news stories on Newser

Have You Seen Senator Udall's Stapler?

Gabriel Winant — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:34:19 CDT

The Senate is one of the most august bodies in the world, and it has the facilities to match. But its mahogany desks aren’t too familiar to 13 new senators, whose offices are temporarily in the basement—with the cockroaches. NPR follows freshman Sen. Tom Udall to his office—through...

Credit Freeze Hits High Fliers of Commercial Real Estate

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:20:40 CST

When the commercial real estate market was hot, the sky seemed to be the limit, and increasingly complicated financing arrangements were common. Now the combination of economic crisis and credit freeze has exposed the market's precarious underpinnings, which resemble the pitfalls that brought the residential real estate sector to its...

Fed Agency Battles Tough Post-9/11 Building Code

Matt Cantor — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:36:45 CDT

A federal agency is joining major landlords in fighting tough new building safety standards developed in the wake of 9/11, the New York Times reports. The requirements, added last year after a federal probe into the Twin Towers collapse, call for better fireproofing and extra stairwells. But the General Services...

Ground Zero Excavation Slow, Pricey

Matt Cantor — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:37:06 CST

Ground Zero in New York City is a magnet for patriotism, skepticicm and frustration; underground, it continues to be a very costly challenge. Excavation preparatory to rebuilding is moving so woefully slowly that New York's Port Authority has accrued late fees of $300,000 a day since Jan. 1, with...

Commercial Properties Squeezed

Jim O'Neill — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 08:05:38 CST

Add the once-solid commercial real estate market to the list of sectors felled by the subprime mortgage contagion, as owners of malls, apartment complexes and office buildings have seen financing disappear, prices plunge and the pace of sales dwindle 50%, reports the Wall Street Journal. Lenders, burned by the residential...

You're Right to Feel Abandoned If...

Sophie Goldstein — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 16:00:00 CDT

The office is oddly quiet, your favorite parking spot is always free and your boss isn't lurking in the usual matter. What's going on? Here, the Boston Globe's list of 10 signs that you've been abandoned. You've rearranged your manager's office furniture and made a chalk outline of a body—...

Office Rents Soar in US

Dustin Lushing — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:50:45 CDT

The price of office space has surged nationwide due to a dwindling store of vacant commercial property and picky landlords increasingly keen on attracting well-heeled tenants. Across the country, leases spiked an average of 3.1% in the second quarter, following an increase of 2.8% in the first.