Big city downtowns have taken a beating in the last five years. The great 20–25-year bull run of urban center growth had already been abating prior to the pandemic. Then COVID essentially boarded up downtowns for a year or more, and inaugurated a new trend toward remote and hybrid (part time in the office, part time at home) work that seemed set to permanently reduce the number of office workers making the commute to downtown. Post-George Floyd riots damaged many downtown storefronts, while the subsequent movement toward depolicing and other soft-on-crime measures, rising homelessness, and the migrant crisis created major issues of public disorder. Transit ridership remains down from pandemic levels, and some agencies face major fiscal issues. Many residents fled this chaos during the pandemic, with a resulting demographic shift to exurban or smaller city locations.
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