Article source: ConstructConnect

• According to CBRE, there are seven major wholesale data center markets in the U.S. By far the biggest is in northern Virginia, with the community of Ashburn in Loudoun County (near Dulles Airport) at its core. The other six, from east to west, are Tri-state New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Phoenix and Silicon Valley. Prior to the pandemic, they were viewed as being recession-proof. That assertion is likely to be proven true many times over in this current coronavirus crisis.

• The same won’t be said for call centers, though. Data centers are full of computer equipment knows as servers. Call centers are chock full of people in cubicles. Who knew that mingling with co-workers would one day become so dangerous? Call center employees are upset about their working conditions and want to operate from home.

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Article source: ConstructConnect

• In Q1 of this year, China’s ‘real’ (i.e., after-inflation) gross domestic product (GDP) declined by -6.8% compared with the first quarter of 2019. It was the first year-over-year contraction for the country since the National Bureau of Statistics began releasing official GDP estimates in 1992. In the previous period, Q4 2019, China managed output growth of +6.0%, but then the coronavirus descended on the city of Wuhan and the province of Hubei in last year’s final days. Isolation measures rippling out to cover much of the country stopped economic activity in its tracks.

• The lockdown restrictions in China have now been lifted, with Wuhan being the last to see the easing. The word out of Wuhan, however, is that even though shopping malls are up and running again, consumers remain reluctant to step inside.

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