Why are some downtowns booming again?
Most downtowns across the United States are still struggling to recover from the pandemic. Remote work has turned the once-packed central business districts of Seattle and San Francisco into ghostly shells of their former selves. Office occupancy and foot traffic are still a fraction of what they were.
But some other downtowns are, well, kinda booming. This spring, foot traffic in downtown Salt Lake City reached 139% of pre-pandemic levels, according to cellphone data tracked by the University of Toronto. And what’s happening in Salt Lake City has some lessons for the rest of the country.
On Monday mornings there’s usually a line out the door for the kouign amanns and ham and cheese croissants at Eva’s Bakery in downtown Salt Lake City. Micay Sanchez has worked there for about five years.
“We are, like, way busier now post-pandemic than the store has ever been,” Sanchez said. “I mean, it is crazy now.”
Sanchez said a lot of the customers are people in finance, including lots of folks from Goldman Sachs. “A bunch of people transferring here because, you know, big cities like San Francisco and New York City are extremely expensive. Salt Lake City’s not that bad.”
A cheaper cost of living, beautiful scenery and a booming economy helped the Greater Salt Lake area grow by 51,000 people last year. Those new arrivals aren’t commuting downtown to work — office occupancy is still down about 40%, said Dee Brewer at the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance. More people are coming downtown for fun, he said.
“Our nighttime and social economy is really growing. Sports, arts entertainment is really driving regional visitation,” Brewer said.
Salt Lake City is also luring more young people to live downtown. New condos and office-to-apartment conversions are forecast to double the downtown population in two years.
Other cities should look to more housing as a tonic for empty downtown offices, said Tracy Hadden Loh with the Brookings Institution.
“Live-work downtowns where you can just walk to your job? These places are seeing higher levels of office utilization as well,” she said.
Sanchez said she just signed a new lease on a downtown apartment, just a five-minute walk from the bakery.