Brandon Donnelly — Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly. — Page 1006

There’s an old saying that we shape our buildings and environments and then they in turn shape us. 

Here is a fascinating research report about “ the influence of physical elevation in buildings on risk preferences .” I discovered it through this MarketWatch article , which my friend John forwarded me this afternoon. 

Here is a quote from the article:

We then examined the correlation between hedge-fund volatility and office location in terms of number of stories above ground. We found that as the elevation of hedge-fund managers’ offices increased, they were more willing to take risks that resulted in more volatility. This was true even when statistically controlling for factors such as total assets, fund strategy and several other variables that could have led more resourceful hedge funds to occupy expensive offices that are often found on higher levels of buildings.

Does this mean taller cities are also more volatile cities? Assuming this is all true, it once again proves that we are maybe not the rational decision makers that many us probably think we are.

Photo by Hala AlGhanim on Unsplash

I find regional accents fascinating. 

I generally think that Toronto has a fairly neutral accent. But then again, when I lived in Philadelphia, I used to notice the accident every time I came home. Maybe it is because I had adopted a bit of the Philly accent. For the record, I never picked up “ youse .”

According to some classifications, most of Western and Central Canada would fall under “ General Canadian .” But I find that there are noticeable differences between the accents in Toronto and, say, Calgary. Really there are differences even within the Greater Toronto Area.

CityLab has a recent article up about  why city accents are fading in the US midwest . They chalk it up to two main factors: education and geographic mobility. But I also wonder if today’s online connectivity isn’t muting some of the local varietals.

That’s the interesting thing about accents, they – much like the language itself – are constantly changing and evolving. On that note, I’ll end with this classic parody of the Chicago accent:  Da Bulls!

The New York Post has some interesting articles, here and here , on the growing retail vacancy problem in NYC. (Thank you Michael for the link in the comments this week.)

The vacancy rate on Amsterdam Avenue in the Upper West Side is said to be around 27% and it is said to be around 20% on a stretch of Broadway in Soho. It has become such a problem that Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to implement some sort of retail vacancy tax :

“I am very interested in fighting for a vacancy fee or a vacancy tax that would penalize landlords who leave their storefronts vacant for long periods of time in neighborhoods because they are looking for some top-dollar rent but they blight neighborhoods by doing it,” he said on WNYC . “That is something we could get done through Albany.”

But this is based on the assumption that greedy landlords are simply holding out for exorbitant rents. It doesn’t consider the fact that, maybe, there is simply too much retail space :

Only a few grasp the true scope of the problem. Vornado Realty Trust titan Steven Roth said we can only cure the national plague through “the closing and evaporation” of up to 30 percent of the weakest space — which would take five years.

All of this, of course, has me thinking about the future of ground floor main street retail. What are your thoughts?