|
Lower Manhattan’s Local News
|
|
|
The Broadsheet Inc. | 212-912-1106 | editor@ebroadsheet.com | ebroadsheet.com
|
|
|
|
What’s In Store?
Amid a Booming Economy, Lower Manhattan Retail Space Languishes
A new report from City Comptroller Scott Stringer finds that in one Lower Manhattan zip code — 10013, which covers parts of western Tribeca SoHo, and the Canal Street corridor in Chinatown — there are 319 empty retail spaces, comprising almost 300,000 square feet of unused property.
These vacancies amount to more than 12 percent of the total number of retail spaces within the district, and almost ten percent of all retail square footage (which totals slightly more than 4.8 million squares feet). These metrics contrast sharply with the City-wide average of 5.8 percent vacancy for storefronts.
The report also documents that all rents collected on occupied retail spaces within this catchment total around $180 million per year, while average retail rents hover around $60 per square foot per year. This latter metric has barely budged in the years 2007 to 2017 (the chronological range covered by this report), apart from dipping briefly to around $50 per square foot during the 2008 financial crisis, and spiking (equally briefly) to nearly $70 per square foot during the 2009 rebound from the recession.
The overall amount of retail space in this area jumped by more than ten percent (from 4.5 million square feet to nearly 5 million square feet) in the years between 2007 and 2013, in what was likely a reflection of Lower Manhattan’s turbocharged pace of development. This total has receded slightly in the years since (to approximately 4.85 million square feet in 2017), as the same wave of development has demolished some smaller buildings that were primarily devoted to retail, and erected in their stead much larger structures in which residential or office space above requires large, street-level entrances that partially eclipse former storefronts.
But while rents have held steady and the amount of retail space has grown or shrunk incrementally, property taxes on storefronts in zip code 10013 have skyrocketed in the years between 2007 and 2017, according to Mr. Stringer’s report. At the start of this period, such taxes averaged approximately $6 per square foot, then dipped briefly to below $5 during the 2008 financial crisis. Tax rates recovered in 2009, and then began a steady climb to $10 per square foot in 2011. These increases slowed momentarily in 2012 and 2014, but the overall upward trend continued through 2017, by which time the average square foot of retail space in the district was being taxed at $14 per year. This means that the tax liability for owning storefront space in Tribeca, Soho, and Canal Street has nearly tripped during a period when rents have registered no meaningful increase at all.
All of these changes have occurred against a backdrop of prosperity and growth. During the same years examined in this report, the five boroughs of New York City attracted 350,000 new residents and 660,000 new jobs.
Multiple factors have likely converged to render vast swaths of Lower Manhattan retail space unused. One of the so-called “Amazon effect,” in which the traditional brick-and-mortar business model for retail has come under strain as millions of shoppers have begun making purchases online. But another is gentrification, which has forced out legacy small businesses as landlords see to lure more fashionable tenants with deeper pockets, which usually means large, corporately owned chain stores or banks.
“New Yorkers have all seen the signs of our changing economy in the last decade, as vacant storefronts have become all too common and neighborhood institutions have fallen by the wayside,” Mr. Stringer reflected. “Even as our economy has grown, many mom-and-pop stores have been left behind, transforming spaces once owned by local small businesses into barren storefronts. This isnʼt just about empty buildings and neighborhood blight, itʼs about the affordability crisis in our city. We need to use every tool in the box to tackle affordability, support small businesses and ensure New Yorkers are equipped to succeed in the new economic reality.”
In his report, Mr. Stringer proposes three broad reforms to tackle retail vacancies: a tax incentive for retailers in high vacancy areas; streamlining the City approvals that sometimes stalls construction, inspection, and permits; and improvement to neighborhood planning that would incorporate an analysis of retail demand.
Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer has long advocated for reforms that would limit retail vacancies. When she represented the Upper West Side in the City Council, Ms. Brewer worked with the Department of City Planning to create a special zoning district to preserve small storefronts by limiting the right of landlords to combine small retail spaces into large frontages to accommodate “big box” stores. As Borough President, she has also overseen neighborhood-by-neighborhood tallies of vacant storefronts. In 2017, Ms. Brewer co-sponsored a City Council bill to exempt affordable supermarkets from the City’s commercial rent tax, which levies at 3.9 percent surcharge on retail rent. This was enacted in tandem with another measure that gave similar relief to small businesses (defined as firms pay less than $500,000 in annual rent and earn less than $5 million dollars in yearly revenue) located between Murray Street and 96th Street.
Earlier this year, the City Council passed another measure, which it calls the “storefront tracking bill. ” This law compels landlords to register commercial spaces with the City’s Department of Finance, which will use the information to compile a database of all retail space in the five boroughs, both occupied and vacant.
In the meantime, further policy fixes are being debated. Ms. Brewer is pushing for a vacancy tax that would give landlords an incentive to fill vacant storefronts, while the real estate industry is proposing broad rollbacks in property and rent taxes, which they argue would provide a more compelling motivation to fill empty retail spaces.
Matthew Fenton
|
|
|
|
Putting the Tension in Detention
City Council Approves de Blasio Controversial Plan for New Jail Complex in Lower Manhattan; Legal Challenges Likely
The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio won City Council approval on October 17 for a modified version of its controversial plan to erect a new, skyscraper prison in Lower Manhattan, as part of a wider scheme to close the City’s notorious detention complex on Rikers Island, and replace it with four, large “borough-based jail” facilities-one in each county, except Staten Island.
At the session during which the plan was approved, City Council member Margaret Chin said, “to my constituents-I hear you.
Matthew Fenton
|
|
|
|
Today’s Calendar
October 29, 2019
8AM
Bird Walk with NYC Audubon
The Battery Explore the diversity of migrating birds that find food and habitat in The Battery. The walk will be led by Gabriel Willow, an educator from NYC Audubon. Gabriel is an experienced birder and naturalist, and is well-versed in the ecology and history of New York City. Meet at the Netherland Memorial Flagpole, at the intersection of Broadway, Battery Place, and State Street. The Battery. 10:30AM
Zumba Jumpstart
6 River Terrace 1PM
Adult Chorus
6 River Terrace Directed by Church Street School for Music and Art, the BPC Chorus is open to all adults who love to sing. Learn a mix of contemporary and classic songs, and perform at community events throughout the year. 6 River Terrace.
|
|
|
Things That Make You Go ‘Hmm…’
Lawsuit Over Similarity Between One World Trade and Architecture Student’s Design Moves Ahead
One thing is reasonably certain: In 1999, Jeehoon Park, then a student at the Illinois Institute of Technology’s College of Architecture, created a design for a very tall building with a large square base tapering to a smaller square top. In Mr. Park’s vision, the square formed by the roof was rotated 45 degrees relative to the one at the ground level, so that the center-points on each side of the quadrilateral below corresponded to the corners of the one above, and vice versa. And instead of four vertical walls, the structure’s facade consisted of eight elongated triangles.
That structure was never built. Or was it?
|
|
Eyes To the Sky
October 28 – November 10
Worldview: Origin of our Sun, solar system, ourselves
During the dark time of year here in the northeast, our visual environment is more of the moon and stars than earthly phenomena. In this “Eyes to the Sky”, as in a post a few weeks ago, I offer you the opportunity to reflect on the natural world as revealed to us by astronomers and astrophotographers. I have the pleasure of presenting the words and images of astrophotographer and educator Terry Hancock, the creator of “Fly Like an Eagle” , the nebula image featured above. To read more…
by Judy Isacoff
|
|
You Can Hit-and-Run,
But You Can’t Hide
Driver Alleged to Have Run Over Tribeca Pedestrian in May Indicted for Separate Manhattan Traffic Death
The New York County District Attorney’s Office has indicted Jessenia Fajardo, a resident of the upstate town of Walden in two separate incidents involving reckless driving that caused injury to pedestrians. The more serious of these took place on July 19, when Ms. Fajardo is accused of having run a red light on the Upper West Side and then slamming into an elderly couple in a crosswalk. One of these pedestrians, 62-year-old Alfred Pocari, was killed, while the second (whose name has not been released) was seriously injured.
When police took Ms. Fajardo into custody at the scene of the July incident, they discovered that she was also involved in a similar (albeit less gravely serious) incident two months earlier. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
|
|
Adding Insult to Penury
Ridership Survey Indicates That Ferry Coming Soon to Battery Park City Primarily Serves Affluent Riders
An analysis of who uses the NYC Ferry service, which the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to expand to Battery Park City next year, shows that riders are primarily white passengers who earn more money than average New Yorkers.
|
|
Volley Folly
Jocks Learn the Hard Way That Parental Advice about Chasing a Ball Into Traffic Applies to Boats, As Well As Cars
Two young men were pulled from the waters of the Hudson River on Saturday morning, after jumping from the Battery Park City Esplanade to retrieve a volleyball that went over the railing, near North Cove Marina.
The men, whose names have not been released, were playing volleyball on the court that overlooks that yacht basin at approximately 11:40 am, when a wild serve sent their ball into the Hudson. Impulsively, they both leaped in after it.
Matthew Fenton
|
|
Keep It Light
Condo Boards Question Need for South End Avenue Redesign After Installation of Traffic Signal
At the October 2 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, Battery Park City Authority president B.J. Jones was apprised by the leader of a coalition of condominiums along South End Avenue of that group’s ongoing reservations about the Authority’s plan to revamp the thoroughfare.
Pat Smith, the board president of the Battery Pointe condominium (at South End Avenue and Rector Place) told Mr. Jones, “before you go too far on South End Avenue, please remember that six condo boards, representing more than 1,000 households along South End Avenue, from Albany down to West Thames, don’t want you to do this.” To read more…
Matthew Fenton
|
|
RiverWatch
Cruise Ships in New York Harbor
Arrivals & Departures
———————————————————————
Thursday, October 31
Regal Princess
Inbound 6:30 am (Brooklyn); outbound 5:00 pm Eastern Caribbean/Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Friday, November 1
AIDAdiva
Inbound 7:15 am in port overnight Celebrity Silhouette
Inbound 2:30 am (Bayonne); in port overnight Seabourn Quest Inbound 7:15 am; in port overnight Silver Whisper Inbound 7:15 am; outbound 6:30 pm Bermuda/Eastern Caribbean/Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Many ships pass Lower Manhattan on their way to and from the Midtown Passenger Ship Terminal. Others may be seen on their way to or from piers in Brooklyn and Bayonne. Stated times, when appropriate, are for passing the Colgate clock in Jersey City, New Jersey, and are based on sighting histories, published schedules and intuition. They are also subject to tides, fog, winds, freak waves, hurricanes and the whims of upper management.
|
|
Music to Our Ears
When she was ten, Julie Reumert was selected
to sing at a celebration marking the birthday of
Margrethe ll, Queen of Denmark. As a girl growing up in Copenhagen, Ms. Reumert performed with the Saint Anne Girls Choir as a soprano and a soloist.
|
|
|
CLASSIFIEDS & PERSONALS
Swaps & Trades ~ Respectable Employment ~ Lost & Found
212-912-1106 editor@ebroadsheet.com
CERTIFIED HOME HEALTH AIDE SEEKING
Full-Time Live-In Elder Care
I am loving, caring and hardworking with 12 years experience. References available. Marcia 347-737-5037 marmar196960@gmail.com
ELDER CARE NURSE AIDE with 17 years experience seeks PT/FT work. Refs available Call or text 718 496 6232 Dian
DO YOU NEED A PERSONAL ASSISTANT?
I am experienced, reliable, knowledgeable and able to work flexible hours. CHINESE AIDE/CAREGIVER FOR ELDERLY
Cantonese/Mandarin-speaking and Excellent Cook for Battery Park City.
917-608-6022 SEEKING FREE-LANCE PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSIONAL OR SMALL PR FIRM
Work with well-reviewed author of five E-books, developing and implementing outreach strategies. Includes writing, placement, research, new outlets and on-line advertising. Savvy social media skills a must. Downtown location.
Please send resume and fee schedule to: Email: poetpatsy@gmail.com HOUSEKEEPING/NANNY/BABYSITTER
Available starting September for PT/FT.
Wonderful person, who is a great worker. Reference Available ELDERCARE
Available for PT/FT elder care. Experienced. References Angella
347-423-5169 angella.haye1@gmail.com
DITCH THE DIETS & LOSE WEIGHT FOR GOOD
Call Janine to find out how with hypnosis.
janinemoh@gmail.com 917-830-6127 EXPERIENCED ELDER CARE
Able to prepare nutritious meals and light housekeeping
Excellent references 12yrs experienced 347-898-5804 Call Hope anasirp@gmail.com
NOTARY PUBLIC IN BPC
$2 per notarized signature Text Paula at 917-836-8802
IT AND SECURITY SUPPORT
Experienced IT technician. Expertise in 1-on-1 tutoring for all ages.Computer upgrading & troubleshooting. Knowledgeable in all software programs.
James Kierstead james.f.kierstead@gmail.com 347-933-1362. Refs available OLD WATCHES SOUGHT, PREFER NON-WORKING
Mechanical pocket and wristwatches sought and sometimes repaired
212-912-1106 If you would like to place a listing, please contact editor@ebroadsheet.com |
|
|
Today in History
October 29
539 BC –Cyrus the Great (founder of Persian Empire) entered the capital of Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to their land.
312 – Constantine the Great enters Rome after his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, stages a grand adventus in the city, and is met with popular jubilation. Maxentius’ body is fished out of the Tiber and beheaded.
1390 – First trial for witchcraft in Paris leading to the death of three people.
1675 – Leibniz makes the first use of the long s (∫) as a symbol of the integral in calculus.
1787 – Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni receives its first performance in Prague.
1901 – Leon Czolgosz, the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley, is executed by electrocution.
1929 – The New York Stock Exchange crashes in what will be called the Crash of ’29 or “Black Tuesday”, ending the Great Bull Market of the 1920s and beginning the Great Depression.
1960 – In Louisville, Kentucky, Cassius Clay (who later takes the name Muhammad Ali) wins his first professional fight.
1969 – The first-ever computer-to-computer link is established on ARPANET, the precursor to the Internet.
1998 – Space Shuttle Discovery blasts off on STS-95 with 77-year-old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space.
1998 – While en route from Adana to Ankara, a Turkish Airlines flight with a crew of six and 33 passengers is hijacked by a Kurdish militant who orders the pilot to fly to Switzerland. The plane instead lands in Ankara after the pilot tricked the hijacker into thinking that he is landing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia to refuel.
2012 – Hurricane Sandy hits the east coast of the United States, killing 148 directly and 138 indirectly, while leaving nearly $70 billion in damages and causing major power outages.
2015 – China announces the end of One-child policy after 35 years.
2018 – Lion Air Flight 610 of a Boeing 737 MAX crashes after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia killing 189 people on board.[1]
Births
1690 – Martin Folkes, English mathematician and astronomer (d. 1754)
1925 – Zoot Sims, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1985)
Deaths
1618 – Walter Raleigh, English admiral, explorer, and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jersey (b. 1554)
1911 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-American publisher, lawyer, and politician, founded Pulitzer, Inc. (b. 1847)
1949 – George Gurdjieff, Armenian-French monk, psychologist, and philosopher (b. 1872)
1971 – Duane Allman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1946)
|
|
Build It and They Will Come ~ Monarch Butterflies Pause to Refuel in Lower Manhattan
Click to watch monarch butterflies feeding on milkweed planted by the Battery Park City Authority to help them on their annual fall migration from Canada to the mountains of Mexico. To read more…
To the editor:
Thank you, kind-hearted gardeners. We must all do whatever little bit we can to hold back the wave of extinctions that is a hair’s breadth from taking the last of our monarchs.
Brendan Sexton
|
|
RECENT NEWS
|
|
Wildlife in Lower Manhattan
The dogwalking and jogging crowd on the esplanade yesterday morning had quite a show, when an unidentified Buteo (Buzzard Hawk) lazily flapped past a few heads and landed on a branch to enjoy his breakfast: a tasty pigeon.
Alison Simko
|
|
Aesthetic Inventory
BPCA’s Public Art Collection Represents Multiple Layers of Value
The Battery Park City Authority, has completed an inventory and appraisal of its public art collection. This is part of a broad effort to take stock of the Authority’s ongoing role as a patron and custodian of pieces that represent an integral thread in the fabric of the community, as evidenced by the fact that space and funding for public art were both set aside decades ago, in the neighborhood’s first master plan, before the first building was erected.
Matthew Fenton
|
|
|
Saloon Scuffle
Residents Riled about Tribeca Tavern
More than a dozen concerned Tribeca residents turned out for the September meeting the Licensing and Permits Committee, which weighs in on the granting or renewal of liquor licenses.
They showed up to voice concerns about MI-5, a bar located at 52 Walker Street, which has been a source of local complaints as far back 2007.
Neighbors of the bar allege that it operates as a dance club (in violation of its current license, which is now up for renewal), and that loud music penetrates the upper floors of the residential building located above the bar as late as 4:00 am. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
|
|
Sin of Omission
City Agency Leaves Cash-Strapped Local Museum Off Roster of Cultural Institutions
The City’s Department of Cultural Affairs has omitted from its list of dozens of New York-based cultural institutions that receive public support the museum that chronicles the oldest community anywhere in the five boroughs.
Matthew Fenton
|
|
Condo Embargo
BPCA Puts the Brakes on Conversions of Rental Buildings within Community
Residents of rental apartments in Battery Park City who fear being thrown out of their homes as developers plan to convert those buildings to condominiums can rest a little bit easier, according to the Battery Park City Authority. At the October 2 meeting of the Battery Park City Committee of Community Board 1, Authority president Benjamin Jones said, “I want to talk about some of the potential condo conversions that people are concerned about. We have been very clear with developers over the last year, and then some, about our position — that we want to preserve the rental housing that exists in Battery Park City.” To read more…
Matthew Fenton
|
|
|
Vertical Values
Costs to Rent or Own in Lower Manhattan Are Matched by Lofty Local Earnings
A slew of recent reports documents what everyone who lives or works in Lower Manhattan already sensed in their bones: This is a mind-numbingly expensive place to call home.
In September, RENTCafé issued a new analysis of the most expensive neighborhoods for renters in the United States that finds northern Battery Park City (zip code 10282) is the priciest enclave in America, with an average rent of $6,211 per month. Coming in at second place is zip code 10013, which covers western Tribeca, along with part of Soho. To read more…
Matthew Fenton
|
|
|
Breaking It Down
Composting Catches on in Battery Park City
You’re probably heard of the farm-to-table movement. Thanks to the Battery Park City Authority’s compost initiative, there’s a burgeoning table-to-earth movement in this Lower Manhattan community.
What happens to the scraps after you’ve dropped them in the bin? How do your apple peels and corn husks turn into rich, beneficial compost?
The Broadsheet set out to investigate. To read more…
|
|
|
Death Came Calling at the Corner of Wall and Broad Streets, in Lower Manhattan’s First Major Terrorist Attack
As the noon hour approached on a fall Thursday morning in 1920, a horse-drawn wagon slowly made its way west down Wall Street toward “the Corner,” the high-powered intersection of Wall and Broad. Its driver came to a gentle stop in front of the Assay Office, where stockpiles of gold and silver were stored and tested for purity. But theft was not his motive.
John Simko
|
|
Cass Gilbert and the Evolution of the New York Skyscraper
by John Simko
|
|
|
The Broadsheet Inc. | 212-912-1106 | editor@ebroadsheet.com| ebroadsheet.com
No part of this document may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher
© 2019
|