Survey shows 601 troubled condos in the city, Downtown Brooklyn worst off

From left: Forte at 230 Ashland Place, [email protected] at 189 Schermerhorn Street

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 [email protected] 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.”