Tuesday Is the Hot New Office Day in D.C. — Tacos or Not
By Keith Loria June 12, 2023 7:11 pm
reprints
It’s no secret that office workers have not returned to their workplaces in full force even as the COVID pandemic has subsided, putting a damper on some of the country’s biggest commercial hubs — including Downtown D.C.
Besides for the office landlords dealing with falling values, retail and restaurants rely on a full workforce to survive, while many cities count commercial properties as their primary tax base. The Biden administration even requested new workplace guidelines from federal agencies in April that would “substantially increase in-person work” in 2023 and beyond.
Perhaps, surprisingly, Washington, D.C. is actually showing the biggest influx of visitors back to offices as of May, according to Placer.ai’s most recent office index, which tracks office occupancy across 10 cities. And Tuesdays in D.C. seem to be a popular work-from-office day, with more District employees heading to their desks than any other day of the week, per the data. And it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Taco Tuesdays, or the fact that it’s one of the top restaurants in the region (sorry District Taco!)
Overall, office buildings nationwide have maintained a visit gap hovering around 40 percent of 2019 levels for the majority of weeks since the beginning of 2023.
Washington, D.C., saw a 29.6 percent drop in May when compared to May of 2019. In comparison, Miami displayed the next lowest drop for the month at 31.6 percent, followed by New York at 31.8 percent and Boston at 39 percent. Conversely, San Francisco has the least amount of people heading back to offices, registering 58 percent.
Tuesdays nationwide saw only a 37.4 percent difference from 2019 numbers, the lowest of all days, with D.C. again topping the list.
The days showing the least amount of people back in offices are not surprisingly Monday and Friday, as workers seem to want the days connected to the weekends as work-from-home days. Wednesday and Thursday are just behind Tuesdays in most cities.
Other cities in the index, which tracks 800 buildings, include Boston, Denver, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, and Chicago
Keith Loria can be reached at Kloria@commercialobserver.com.
