how many retail storefronts do you think Phil Levin and Ben Southwood have started?

how many retailers do you think they've talked to? rents could drop to zero, and people would still be buying more shit off amazon than from stores. i can't comprehend how they can go from talking about amazon being the cause of foot traffic reductions, and then the non sequiter comes, "We risk losing something that makes cities what they are, because we don’t have a good model for letting retail capture the value it creates."

hospitality is a different thing entirely. rents could drop to zero, and restaurants and hotels will still be going out of business due to reduced conference tourism. and anyway, they are alcohol (drugs) businesses. they make profit from alcohol. the food, the concept, all that stuff is a hook for alcohol.

Destroy the businesses, rental prices go down, land value tax rates punish land owner for keeping land empty, so either land owner sells the property to someone who can make the numbers work, or land owner accepts lower profits.

Obviously, there is pain for the current players, but long term, the landowner should not be able to extract so much profit margin without also providing sufficient utility, such as operating an in demand business.