Going out of business for as long as whatever small taxes they have on the place can be payed. People will keep empty properties as long as it really isn’t weighing on their pockets. Meanwhile there are people who can’t afford roofs because of rents powers of magnitude larger than what the property owners have to pay for empty unmaintained properties. People want to point off to the richest where economic inequality is involved, but the reality is that it’s usually a doorstop away.

There was an automobile repair shop were I lived that was the result of several properties getting bought up and being joined into a single one. It eventually failed and moved, but the business that bought it, who initially did so for logistics but later expanded beyond it, has now ended up using it as a glorified parking space even though the garage is a relatively small portion of the business, He’s not willing to sell it, and is only willing to rent it above what it’s worth, and doesn’t care because he has to pay shit all to keep it.

He could even divide it up into multiple properties and sell those, since he’s just using it as a parking space. But with what he pays for it, he doesn’t have to give a shit. Hell, it might even be profitable for him as a tax/insurance writeoff for the rest of his business if some sort of natural disaster happens to it.

He’s far from the only one, and the only local properties that have been bought nearby are those that have been allowed to be sold as housing, along with the markup that’s associated with it.