Commercial property values are cratering across Virginia. That's creating a crisis for local governments trying to balance their books.
"Because you know I'm all about that bass..."
Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson has a message for his constituents. It's all about that *tax* base. That's the headline in his latest newsletter warning about declining commercial property values and a slowdown in new construction.
"We're not approving anything right now. And you won't feel that until three or four years from now," Wilson says. "And so, we're going to reach a period three or four years from now where nothing’s happening. And that's going to have consequences for the tax base."
Consequences like $11 million in lost revenue this year in his city because of declining commercial real estate values.
It's a problem that's happening all over Virginia says executive director for Virginia Tech's Center for Economic and Community Engagement John Provo.
“Our local governments need to be thinking as flexibly as they can about some of these conversions because I think that is going to be the story of the next few years," explains Provo. "If they’re getting business in real estate, it's not going to be the traditional types of projects. It's going to be more creative reuse."
But adaptive reuse and creative conversions of vacant office space is not easy, and many local governments are trying to figure out next steps while they're watching their commercial tax base fade away.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
