Quoting a single citywide vacancy figure hides the only thing that matters right now, which is that the top of the market and the middle of it are moving in opposite directions.
Class A towers with recent capital behind them are absorbing space and holding rate. Class B product without that investment is competing almost entirely on price, and price alone is a race nobody wins twice.
The owners doing well in the middle of the market have stopped trying to beat the towers on amenity. They are winning on speed instead: faster answers, cleaner information, space that can be shown the same week it is asked about.
That is a far cheaper renovation than a lobby. It also happens to be the one improvement a tenant notices before they ever walk through the door.
