From the September issue: New York City has long been a town where a shopper can turn the corner
from a bustling retail district, walk a block or two, and enter a
retail ghost town.
Now, as the Great Recession sends vacancy rates in Brooklyn and
Queens skyrocketing — toward 15 percent by year’s end, according to
Marcus & Millichap estimates — this contrast between blocks
chock-full of retail and blocks down on their luck is growing ever more
marked.
Even within the overall depressed market, certain blocks and types of retailers are taking it on the chin.
Mom-and-pop stores in mixed-use buildings with retail on the ground floor and apartments above are suffering.
Some low-income areas in Brooklyn that headed into the recession on
shaky footing are getting socked, too, with vacancies estimated at
stunning levels of 25 to 40 percent by Marcus & Millichap, compared
to 12 to 18 percent vacancy rates in 2008.
