How dour must be the outlook in a city if the owners of two major hotels are simply walking away from their mortgage, handing the keys to the lender, Morgan Stanley?
Here are the shocking numbers: In 2016, these hotels were appraised at more than $1.5 billion. Their current debt is $725 million, and the owners think the hotels aren’t worth that much. That is, the hotels lost half their value in seven years. That’s not false. The plague of crime, homelessness, and general disorder that has taken over San Francisco has been accelerated by the pandemic lockdowns. Shuttering downtown stores and hotels left the streets in the hands of the criminal element. Closing schools and banning Little League pushed hundreds of bored and shiftless youths toward shoplifting and carjacking.