Word: overbuilt
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When the recession arrived, it triggered the kind of layoffs that occur in any slump. But it has also accelerated a wave of firings that can only be attributed to longer-term structural changes, including a drastic shakeout in industries that were overbuilt in the 1970s and '80s. Among the worst hit is retailing, which is undergoing a painful adjustment to the frugal '90s. Just last week Zale, the largest U.S. jewelry-store operator, said it would close 400 of its 2,000 stores and lay off 2,500 workers. "We are looking at the historic restructuring of the American...
...unsophisticated," says Gregg. "We overbuilt and overcommitted, and it's mostly our own fault. But it's rational for people to feel that the President isn't doing enough to help. We can't wait for the January State of the Union address to learn what the Administration's new economic-stimulus plan is; and I can't understand why we have...
...Star State, like the rest of America, is reeling from what many experts consider the most glutted commercial real estate market since the 1930s. The culprit: the 1980s, of course, during which U.S. office space doubled, to 5.38 billion sq. ft. In city after city the industry is overleveraged, overbuilt and underleased. At 540 million sq. ft., the unrented space across the country equals the total space available in 10 Bostons. That translates into an annual industry loss of $65 billion in lost property values. Downtown vacancy rates are at a record high 17% nationally, twice their historic levels...
...markets, such as Houston, got overbuilt so many years ago that demand is finally catching up with supply. An 18-story office building owned by Exxon's real estate subsidiary is rising from the ashes of the city's north side -- the first major new commercial structure in five years -- and it is already mostly rented. Other skyscrapers, long mothballed, report 70% to 90% occupancy, evidence that the economy is reviving, diversifying and depending less on swings in oil prices. But Houston's vacancy rate is still a painful 25%, with even heavier vacancies in lower-quality buildings...
...fresh wave of sobriety among many consumers is likely to speed the shrinking of overbuilt parts of the economy, including retailing, real estate and car dealerships. Pleading for more money last week, officials in charge of the S&L bailout warned the Senate Banking Committee that real estate values are in a "free fall" that makes a mockery of attempts to estimate the total cost of the rescue. Meanwhile, the National Automobile Dealers Association predicted that 1 out of 5 car dealers may go out of business in the next two years...