In recent weeks there have been more and more reports of Harley Davidson buildings either being sold, not being used or repurposed for other activities. These are company owned buildings and not any relating to dealerships, where many over the last couple of years have closed or have been sold.
Of course, repurposing of buildings is nothing new, however in the wake of the pandemic and the corporate response to it enabling employees to work from home, it should come as no surprise to know that companies like Harley Davidson have made efforts to offload unused properties or do something else with them…what exactly that is, nobody seems to know.
Even the HQ in Milwaukee it was announced a couple of months ago that a lot of the offices would not be used anymore as office staff could remain working from home. In business terms this is a good idea. It is a reduction in overheads for operating costs with the potential to release capital by the sale of properties too. For employees, many consider it a benefit as there is no longer the commute to and from work but there has alway been a question of productivity or whether the home environment is best suited from such toil, let alone the mental and social impact it has on some people that now work alone.
In the last couple of weeks alone, unused Harley Davidson buildings have been sold on to other businesses or for local, state & national government use. In my own area there is a regional HQ building that perhaps has one or two vehicles occupying space in the large car park on any working day. One has to wonder how many employees are actually working in these large buildings, and for how long too?
Many corporations have made the decision in the post pandemic world to reduce their business premises in favour of smaller offices or combined areas with hot desking and home working the new norm. The problem here is that many corporations are adopting the same philosophy, then that leaves a shortfall in the commercial market requiring office space at all.
So the early opportunity to make hay on commercial real estate, is now a hit and miss affair with many buildings remaining vacant, gathering dust and owners reducing some prices or bending over backwards to offer more inclusive services.
Dealerships have also started to look at their real estate burden too and rather than hold on until the bitter end in a tough automotive market, they have chosen to free up assets, sell the property to investors, but remain on site as tenants; see Orlando Harley Davidson as an example.
So whilst Harley Davidson motor company may be deflecting some vacant properties with a remodelling of the HQ car parks into a green space ahead of the 120th Homecoming celebrations, the question still remains what are they going to do with the unused real estate and does it make financial sense to hold onto it, repurpose it or sell it…if anyone wants to buy it of course.