It’s Friday again, and the typical downtown office is a ghost town. Again.

On most Fridays these days, only about one-fourth — one-fourth! — of Chicago office workers show up at their workplaces, according to Kastle Systems, a company that measures ID card swipes. In contrast, about twice as many office workers show up in-person on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Even on Mondays, offices are much busier than on Fridays.

The Friday problem is bad news for the city center. Downtown office vacancies remain stubbornly high. Stores and restaurants are noticeably quiet on that last day of the work week, with what once was a robust day for Loop restaurant lunch business now all but grinding to a halt. With winter approaching, a world-class city is facing the prospect of a dark, sad, lonely start to the weekend for months to come. If you need office workers to make your money, TGIF seems like a memory.

What can be done about it? Plenty.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot seems to have an aversion to promoting downtown. She’s clearly aware of the criticism leveled at former Mayor Rahm Emanuel for supposedly ignoring the neighborhoods and concentrating on the city core where the big money resides.

The problem with her approach is that downtown remains the economic engine of the city. Between the coasts, there is no more valuable piece of real estate, and it’s suffering. The mayor and Illinois’ other Democratic leaders need to get over the Rahm hangover and get busy reviving this vital commercial center.

Lightfoot finally took a step in the right direction last month, rolling out a plan for one of the most conspicuous trouble spots. The LaSalle Street Corridor, once a magnet for commerce, alive with traders and bankers, has become a dead zone. The COVID-19 pandemic and an exodus of large office tenants has left behind a concrete canyon of sparsely populated buildings and empty storefronts lining this iconic downtown street.

About 5 million square feet of commercial space on the surrounding blocks lies vacant, according to the mayor’s estimates. That vacant space adds up to more square footage than the entire Merchandise Mart.

Lightfoot is offering government-backed financing to create about 1,000 new apartments over five years on several blocks of LaSalle between Washington Street and the Chicago Board of Trade building. The idea is to make 30% of those apartments affordable, a laudable goal, though the city needs to be realistic and flexible when such prime real estate is a natural fit for luxury residences. The social engineering can’t result in the whole plan becoming unattractive to owners.

To really get things moving, Chicago will need to work more effectively with developers to make conversions cost-effective. Residential properties are generally less valuable than office buildings, so owners of the latter have an incentive to hold off on expensive renovations and pray instead that the office market rebounds.

So far, the tax incentives floated by Lightfoot (and some other big city mayors) haven’t been sweet enough to touch off a boom in office-to-residential conversions. Because of everything from large, dark floor plates to location, many aging buildings will never be good candidates for renovating into apartments or condos.

The city could help by streamlining its maze of required inspections, permits and other red tape. It should be easier to add roof decks, dog parks, bike lockers, security lighting, pools and other amenities, so historic buildings can compete with newer properties.

Given that no one wants to live in grandpa’s old office, the LaSalle Street Corridor needs to be repositioned with marketing initiatives and public infrastructure that signals something new is afoot. This should also include attention to what is happening at street level on LaSalle, where restaurants and cafes badly are needed to bring both footfall and the feeling of safety and vibrancy.

But the buildings are just part of the equation. Employers play a big role in the city’s doldrums, especially on Fridays. Return-to-office programs have gotten pushback from workers who don’t want to dress up and brave the commute, which seems to be getting worse on the roads and who value the safety of their homes vs. taking their chances on city streets marred by crime.

So far, the free breakfasts and happy hours have been insufficient to lure back the cubicle crowd. But employers need to be patient and keep it up, while at the same time the space surrounding their properties evolves.

Even as downtown offices remain underutilized, many people still want to live close to downtown, including remote workers who can be seen congregating in cafes, lobbies, libraries and other alternative workplaces not far from their actual, official offices.

Making downtown an attractive social space is the best way to lure workers back to their desks, including on Fridays. The city and boosters such as the Chicago Loop Alliance did some innovative experimentation over the summer, making the Riverwalk a hot spot, and breathing some life into State Street on Sundays. Winter weather can’t be allowed to put an end to those efforts.

How about appointing a “night mayor” responsible for boosting nightlife? How about early Friday curtains at Broadway in Chicago, encouraging workers to come downtown and stick around? How about running a “First Friday” program offering fixed-price restaurant specials at the start of each month? Free or discounted parking and transit could also help breathe new life into Fridays.

No one has all the answers, but we know Fridays need to be fun days again downtown. The Loop can’t afford to lose a whole day of action.

Editors Note: After this Friday break, the Tribune Editorial Board’s endorsements for races in the November election will continue Sunday and run all next week.

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