Incentivize Return to Office

I propose that we offer a tax incentive, grant, or other financial benefit to companies that occupy office space downtown and require 100% in-person work.

Office space is expensive. It is much cheaper for these companies to let employees work from home and reduce the amount of real estate they pay for. But with a 22.1% office vacancy rate, and most companies allowing hybrid or remote work, much of this "occupied" office actually ends up sitting empty.

With over 200 office buildings, one would (and should) expect local shops and restaurants to be thriving. But during the weekday, downtown looks like a ghost town. The streets are lined with empty storefronts, shuttered restaurants, and the foot traffic is minimal.

If you want to bring people downtown, building new apartment buildings isn't going to do it. There isn't enough life downtown to attract people to these expensive new apartment buildings when they can find cheaper rents in more lively parts of the city.

If you incentivize companies to utilize the office space they occupy and reward them for injecting life back into downtown, you will see the effects ripple through the local economy.

• Coffee shops will fill with people grabbing a latte on the way to a morning meeting.
• Restaurants will be packed with coworkers walking over from their office to grab a bite.
• Bars will see locals stopping in for happy hours.
• Shops will attract lunchtime shoppers and commuters doing a few last-minute pickups before heading out of the city.

When more people start to spend time there, businesses will thrive, people will start to move closer to where they work, and we would see the renewal of Downtown St. Louis.