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It can work. University Campuses using up old downtown building isn't really new
The University of Houston -Downtown campus has been in Houston's old Merchant and Manufacturers building for 50 years. There are other examples, including medical and law schools occupying old office buildings.
I would imagine that vibrancy would go through the roof if office towers get converted into dorms.
It's going to depend on whether the university rents or buys the property. If it's rented then the tax revenues keep coming. If it's bought then it becomes tax exempt.
EDIT: I was going to delete this when I saw someone else had already raised the issue. But I'm going to leave it since it bears repeating for emphasis.
The benefits have got to outweigh tax revenue from empty buildings just sitting there.
Schools employs a ton of workers and have a local economic impact on the scale of a large corporation.
Those considerations should outweigh the few millions gained from taxes
Those empty buildings are still generating tax revenue. The impact if employees will vary. If they go out to local restaurants you would likely have an uptick in employment. How much impact that would have might depend where they live and how any personal income tax is divvied up. The same with sales tax.
In Maryland the way property taxes are set up causes an increase in every property owner's taxes when assessments go up. A (small) portion of personal income tax from resident employees is rebated back to municipalities. Sales tax all goes to the State (except for a couple jurisdictions that have a local meals and drinks tax).
Where is the money going to come from to pay the rent? Student loans? tax payers? we do not need more universities shutting down a location to move is not a money saving action. The cities problems are best left alone man is not smart enough to fix his messes.
Whose rent?
Any students who live in "on-campus" housing in these buildings will pay their rent as part of their tuition, room and board charges.
If the students, or the students' families, use student loans to pay those charges, then ultimately, the students themselves will pay it.
If this becomes widespread and the colleges and universities buy these buildings, expect to see a number of cities demand, and begin negotiations for, PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) from these schools.
The bigger problem at the moment is that Universities are dealing with a downturn. There was a population decline after the 2008 crash and is still ongoing. This means fewer students of college age students and the rise of online classes means fewer of those left need to be on campus. In the past this might have been a good move but at the moment this might not be a good choice for a downtown area.
Lots of universities and colleges are in financial trouble today............
The stark reality is that colleges have been using foreign students to make up for enrollment shortfalls of domestic students since the early 2000's. It was very profitable and hid the problem because foreign students have to pay full tuition without financial aid, grants or other discounts. Now the declining birthrates in foreign countries are becoming more severe. The cracks in the higher education system are becoming apparent and this higher education bubble could collapse spectacularly in the 2030's. At best, the premise presented in this thread is a very short term solution.
We have to face facts that most of these urban office skyscrapers are relics of 20th century real estate excesses and obsolete in the age of the internet.
Having a University downtown isn’t going to do squat to draw the suburban residents in. Without that support “downtowns” are going continue to decay. Most of us just don’t care if they thrive or die.
I haven't set foot on a college campus since I graduated from graduate school in 2007. Likewise I have only set foot in a downtown district a handful of times since 2007.
There are more universities than Taco Bell franchises in this country. You have to ask yourself, if half of these universities went away, would they be missed? Or lawyers for that matter. On the other hand, if you severed half the truck drivers, plumbers and electricians in this country, would they be missed? The answer is a quick yes.
If universities don't produce a skill that's in line with tangibility of today's current employment market, and the skill necessary, they will cease to exist. I don't think academia is saving downtowns, unless they adjust to the skills needed and desired by employers in the year 2023-2024.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mshultz
Yes, the colleges and universities thought the baby boom would never end.
Declining global birth rates will force a (potentially painful) downsizing of the higher education establishment in the next decade or so.
Can academia save our cities? Impossible!!!
Left-leaning, self-proclaimed gurus with their unions and ‘I have a job for life’ attitude have corrupted the thought processes of our youth, and those who do manage to find the sanity of our capitalistic society often become like sheep. They just follow along, not having been taught how to say, ‘enough is enough’ and then becoming a force that can save our cities.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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The colleges already have a campus, and most in less urban areas with ample parking for the students. With the current diminishing enrollment, moving into the big cities will greatly reduce the number of students commuting from the suburbs that are living at home with their parents. The only real downtown college in Seattle, the Art Institute, went under and closed up in 2019.
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The stark reality is that colleges have been using foreign students to make up for enrollment shortfalls of domestic students since the early 2000's. It was very profitable and hid the problem because foreign students have to pay full tuition without financial aid, grants or other discounts. Now the declining birthrates in foreign countries are becoming more severe. The cracks in the higher education system are becoming apparent and this higher education bubble could collapse spectacularly in the 2030's. At best, the premise presented in this thread is a very short term solution.
Can academia save our cities?
