There are 601 condo buildings in just six neighborhoods across New York
City that have either a substantial amount of vacant units or stalled
construction activity, according to survey data from the New York
chapter of the grassroots community organization Right to the City.
This number is well above the 454 buildings originally reported by the
Department of Buildings for the entire city. The survey, which will be
released next Tuesday at a rally in Downtown Brooklyn, found the
highest concentration of troubled developments in Downtown Brooklyn,
where 126 buildings are currently maintaining very high vacancies. It
was not immediately clear how the organization defined a substantial
amount of vacant units. The 246-unit Be@Schermerhorn condo building, at
189 Schermerhorn Street, has a 93 percent vacancy rate, and the
108-unit Forté condo, at 230 Ashland Place, has a vacancy rate of more
than 60 percent, according to the survey. The report will also include
data on troubled developments in the South Bronx, Bushwick, Harlem, the
Lower East Side and the West Village. "We want to show the city how big
the problem is," David Dodge, a member of Right to the City's New York
chapter, said. "The problem is larger than people knew and the city
took count of."
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From left: Forte at 230 Ashland Place, Be@Schermerhorn at 189 Schermerhorn Street
Comments
Anonymous
what about the people that can't pay the mortgage on condos or co-ops they are just paying the maintentance fee?
Comment #1 Posted By: Anonymous 10/28/09
Anonymous
"Right to the City"? Which portion of this 'big problem' does this 'grassroots' coalition wish to bring to our attention? Pushing tax dollars to buy troubled private properties now before, what, prices fall further? Who, exactly, runs this outfit?
Comment #2 Posted By: Anonymous 10/28/09
Anonymous
Duh...like when did this suddenly become newsworhy. Maybe if more businesses would take the responsible role and value their people (the real people) than we would not be in such a state of denial. I can only laugh now.
Comment #3 Posted By: Anonymous 10/29/09
Anonymous
its not manhattan , thats the first problem , these people insist in high prices and some will take forever to be sold, we are having problems in this country, like homelessness and the people that have some money to invest cant because the prices are tooooo high
Comment #4 Posted By: Anonymous 10/30/09
Anonymous
The developers should have done their homework to see what would be their competition at completion. Did they do their rental fall back analysis? Now the prices will fall and maybe the hard work common folk can buy a unit
Comment #5 Posted By: Anonymous 10/30/09
MichaelC
anyone who buys outside of manhattan has only himself to blame. the only place that has maintained it's value for at least 100 years - and will continue to - is Manhattan. The whole world knows this. Buy for cash only (no mortgage) and hold on.......the formula for success in real estate!
Comment #6 Posted By: MichaelC 11/01/09