In the News: City to track empty storefronts

CITY WILL TRACK EMPTY STOREFRONTS
From Crain’s: “The City Council passed a series of bills Tuesday requiring the Department of Finance to establish a database tracking vacancies across the city’s storefronts. The bills also task the city’s Department of Small Business to offer training on marketing and compliance.” Landlords will have to report the empty storefronts within 120 days or face fines. This reminds me that I have to start my own vacancy report…

GRAND BANKS ON BEST BOAT BARS LIST
The Grand Banks is in good company in this list from 6sqft of the best boat bars (say that five times fast) (and yes, this is a category in an island city) – with Pier 66 Maritime and the William Wall also on the list.

BED BATH & BEYOND GETS REVIEWED
Business Insider toured our Bed Bath & Beyond and gave it a scathing review (and also said it was in the Financial District). The photo essay was hooked to the company’s announcement that they will cut its corporate staff by 7 percent and eliminate the role of chief operating officer.

ANTHONY WEINER MOVES UPTOWN
The Post reports that Anthony Weiner has moved out of his Fidi apartment building and moved to the same floor as his wife, Huma Abedin, and their son in an apartment building on East 14th Street.

ONE WHITEHALL CHANGES HANDS
The Post reports that the Rudin family has sold One Whitehall, the office building at Bridge and Stone streets, to the Chetrit group for $183 million.

 

6 Comments

  1. NYC politicians should become more aware of the concerns of storekeepers. NYC has a 6% commercial rent tax (on larger stores) and many storekeepers also have to contribute directly or indirectly to the heavy burden of NYC real estate taxes, which continue to escalate even in such a soft market. The landlord must cover the high NYC taxes when computing the asking rent and in some cases the storekeeper is required to contribute to the rocketing increases in NYC real estate taxes.
    In the Tribeca there seems to be absolutely no concern for the plight of the surviving storekeepers on Canal Street.
    https://patch.com/new-york/new-york-city/ballooning-property-taxes-cripple-nyc-businesses-rents-drop
    https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g60763-d4587703-r380030973-Canal_Street-New_York_City_New_York.html

  2. Retail collapse is one of the greatest failure of government. The cost of a brick and mortar should be supported against Amazon

  3. The Tribeca Film Festival was started to bring people back to the area after 9/11. Once businesses came back or new ones came, greedy landlords came along and forced them out. Where were the politicians while this happened and is still going on?

    • The politicians were not collecting sales tax on Amazon purchases. They were passing all kinds of new laws to create a harsh regulatory environment for most businesses.

    • Actually, The Tribeca Film Festival was originally going to be called the Trump Film Festival but after the events of 9/11, Donald Trump graciously suggested to rename it in an effort to make downtown great again. The guy is a saint.

  4. “Sure, some landlords ask for unaffordable rents. But most empty stores are vacant for the same reason as all over America: online shopping. Also, for a reason unique to the Big Apple: Manhattan retail square footage has grown by 20% since 2004 because of new development. In other words, there are tons more store locations at the same time that people shop less in stores than they used to.”

    https://nypost.com/2019/07/30/empty-storefronts-city-govt-is-more-cause-than-cure/

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