SAN FRANCISCO—Restaurants are re-thinking real estate in the slow-reopening phase of the pandemic recovery, driven by a 50 to 75% reduction on interior customer capacity that will last months longer than many had expected. One trend, the push to allow table service on more outdoor sidewalks, plazas and even streets, is likely to be more permanent, according to Linda Gates, co-founder of Gates + Associates landscape architects.
"With the pandemic forcing a lot of the reasons and demand for change, we are seeing cities and public agencies speed up approvals for utilizing outdoor spaces, creating new parklets, and giving businesses more options to thrive amid challenging times," Gates tells GlobeSt.com. "And we think it will have lasting impact on neighborhood retail and shopping center design."
With 3% of the nation's restaurants already permanently closed and 11% expecting to close, according to the National Restaurant Association, the "creative energy for solutions is palpable," she adds.
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Lisa Brown
Lisa Brown is an editor for the south and west regions of GlobeSt.com. She has 25-plus years of real estate experience, with a regional PR role at Grubb & Ellis and a national communications position at MMI. Brown also spent 10 years as executive director at NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area chapter, where she led the organization to achieving its first national award honors and recognition on Capitol Hill. She has written extensively on commercial real estate topics and edited numerous pieces on the subject.
