“The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has hit the commercial real estate sector hard. Containment measures implemented in response to the pandemic severely affected economic activity and reduced the demand for commercial property,” states the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) April 2021 Global Financial Stability Report: Preempting a Legacy of Vulnerabilities. “Part of the adverse impact — particularly on the retail, office, and hotel segments — could be permanent, as some activities may continue to take place virtually in the future and others may relocate outside of large cities.” The impacts of the pandemic on commercial real estate could be permanent, forever reshaping our cities and the economy as a whole. The vacancy rate for retail space increased to 10.6% in the first three months of 2021 as more and more consumers convert to online shopping as a standard for many forms of purchasing. In fact, the percentage of retail purchases made online nearly doubled to 20% […]