Why the Central Business District may become a thing of the past

ORLANDO, Fla. — Editor’s note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

Monikers like “central business district” and “financial district” have long described places of business and key sources of revenue in America’s downtowns.

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But with less frequent in-office work in a post-pandemic world that embraces hybrid work, and with a growing number of downtown office towers sitting vacant, stakeholder groups focused on city centers are starting to deemphasize those terms in favor of promoting a more diverse, and active, downtown.

Topping the list of downtowns that’ve recovered the fastest since the Covid-19 pandemic is Las Vegas, according to cellphone tracking research by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. As of the fall, it was the only downtown tracked in the study that had surpassed foot traffic levels in 2019, before the pandemic’s onset.

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