today, the number of people returning to in-person work is less than 50% in ten major metro areas, forcing companies to rethink physical office space. half of the biggest global companies say they ll need more real estate in the next five years. if there s no tenant, you re not making money, what do you? there s no recouping lost income for down time. reporter: steven durel runs the leasing at sl green, new york city s largest commercial landlord, with more than 30 million square feet of space to rent, the collapsing demand for office space means their tenant vacancy rate shot up from 3% pre-pandemic to 10% today. that calls for some creativity. you can build the set in here, you can have a fight scene in here. sl green is now working with back lot, a company that connects landlords at 332 buildings across new york and new jersey with film and tv companies.
this episode of law & order was filmed in this vacant office in mid-town manhattan, the watcher on netflix, in these east side offices. i think people are starting to look at holistically about how they can support a revenue stream. reporter: this year, sl green says it will earn $3 million from film and tv shoots. it s really helped mitigate the loss of income during the downtime periods. reporter: empty office buildings could be turned into residential, a big need. this project in washington, d.c., once an office pibuilding is being turned into apartments. but that s not an easy quick fix process. less than 1% of apartments nationwide are converted from commercial properties. and across the river in arlington, virginia, the city is trying to get ahead of its empty office space problem at 22%. i m sitting right today in northeastern s d.c. campus.
was filmed in this vacant office in midtown manhattan. the watcher on netflix in these east side offices. i think people are starting to look holistically how they can support a revenue stream. reporter: this year sl green says it will earn $3 million from film and tv shoots. it s really helped mitigate the loss of income during the down time periods. reporter: empty office buildings could be turned into resident deposition. a big kneeled. this project in washington, d.c., once an office building is being turned into apartments. but that s not an easy quick fix process. less than 1% of apartments nationwide are converted from commercial properties. and across the river in arlington, virginia, the city is trying to get ahead of the empty office space problem at 22%. i am sitting today in northeastern d.c. campus. last year a university was not
country. today the number of people returning to in person work is less than 50% forcing companies companies to rethink office space. half say they need less real estate in the next three years leaving landlords with loans to pay in a bind. the tenant, not making money, what do you do? there is no recouping lost income for down time. reporter: stephen durrell runs the leasing at sl green. more than 30 million square feet of space to represent, the collapsing department for office means the vacancy rate shop up to 10% today. that calls for some creativity. you can build a set here. sl grown is now working with back lot, a company that connects landlords at 332 buildings in new york and new jersey with film and tv companies. this episode of law & order