Not necessarily! A differentiated product will only command a monetary premium if the differentiation adds value. For instance, an 800mhz computer is very different from the pervasive pentium 4, but you don't see people forking over extra money to buy an 800mhz dinosaur. Does the value of a company's product increase because they have offices in a historic building? In most cases, by choosing to occupy a historic building instead of a modern building, the company simply "differentiates" its cost struture, not its product. In other words, it costs more to produce the same product.Don Rypkema reminds us that in market economies, it is the differentiated product that commands a monetary premium
The flipside is that waiting years to determine a use for a historical building has costs that may outweigh the overall benefits even if a use is found.It isn't always easy to find a productive use for an empty old building, but tearing it down makes that outcome impossible.