Vacant storefronts and empty downtown office buildings aren’t the only ways the pandemic-accelerated, technology-stimulated move to remote work has negatively impacted community cohesiveness, commitment to place, and economic opportunity resulting from aggregation. According to a newly released analysis of university campuses, the disconnection and under-utilization problem extends deeper into regions than many may realize.
Looking at more than 100 institutions of higher education, Occuspace found that the average utilization of campus building space dropped 8 points to 45% in one year. Declining enrollment, aging facilities, deferred maintenance and desire for online courses will likely extend and expand the issues, the authors point out. Overcapacity extends across most types of academic buildings:
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Classroom utilization at peak instruction hours: 40% (28% on Fridays)
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Office peak utilization fell to 52% for a weekly average, a staggering 19% drop from the year prior. Occupace points out offices typically account for 30% of total office real estate.
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Conference rooms are occupied less than 50% of the time; inefficiency for small- and medium-sized rooms was better at 69%.
The exception of dining halls, which the firm says “continue to see heavy traffic,” might be good news for food processing companies and, when coupled with the 17% drop in use of university recreation spaces, may bring a lift to the eyes and wallets of weight-loss medication manufacturers. The report is available for download from Occuspace here.
A nod to AURP’s Brian Darmody for pointing us to the report.
This page was prepared by SSTI using Federal funds under award ED22HDQ3070129 from the Economic Development Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce.