Downtown Brooklyn, Forest Hills take hits from recession

The recession is hurting some neighborhoods in the city more than
others. In Downtown Brooklyn, about 20 of 100 shops on Flatbush
Avenue are vacant, said Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of the
retail leasing and sales division at Prudential Douglas Elliman. And
retail Rents On Fulton Street have fallen by a third from their high of
$150 per square foot in 2007, brokers said. In the Forest Hills
neighborhood of Queens, asking rents for storefronts on Austin Street
have fallen to $70 per square foot, less than half of the peak of $150
per square foot in 2007. In Hunts Point in the Bronx, asking rents for
industrial spaces fell just 10 to 15 percent to around $10 per square
foot.