Residential building starts are down in Manhattan, but up across the East River, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.
According to the Census data, Manhattan developers applied for and received permits to build 4,986 units of housing in the first seven months of this year, down about 13 percent from the same period last year, when permits for 5,755 units of housing were filed.
The boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens offset Manhattan’s big drop. Brooklyn permit numbers rose 8.4 percent through July of 2006 from the same period last year. Queens’ numbers were up 3.3 percent.
This decline in Manhattan, combined with unit declines in the Bronx and Staten Island, bring the number of new residential permits down 3 percent citywide from the first seven months of 2005. If the numbers keep pace for the rest of the year, the city could see its first annual decline in residential building in a decade.
Brooklyn’s boom is well documented. In the past year, work has begun on notable projects such as Ron Herscho’s 40- and 35-story towers on Gold Street in downtown Brooklyn and on the first high-rises along the Williamsburg/Greenpoint waterfront.
New York City Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens said his borough is a natural outlet for growth.
“There is still land here that has not been used to its full potential and builders are realizing that and doing some wonderful things,” said Gioia, whose district includes such western Queens neighborhoods as Sunnyside, Astoria and Long Island City, a notable neighborhood for new residential construction.
“People used to see Queens as a place to drive through on your way to the Hamptons or to the airport. Now, they’re realizing it’s a great place to raise a family and still take the subway to work,” Gioia said.
While large condo developments in Brooklyn and Queens may be the most noticeable residential construction projects in the works, they alone don’t account for the gains in those boroughs. Most of the permits issued in Queens are for two- and three-family dwellings, many in far-flung neighborhoods such as Flushing and Jamaica.
“You look around any corner and you see housing being built,” said Councilman John Liu, whose district includes parts of Flushing. “Literally, on ever block, you see something going up. The numbers add up fast.”
Monica Klingenberg isn’t paying too much attention to those Census numbers. Klingenberg is an executive vice president for the Marketing Directors, a residential marketing and sales firm with a number of developments under way in Manhattan. Klingenberg said that the apparent slump in the numbers for the borough might be because many developers have not yet applied for building permits this year.
“We’re not seeing any panic,” she said. “We’re working with a number of developers, some with more than one building. They’re getting the financing and are confident in the market, and so are we.”
If enough projects are under development and not yet released, Klingenberg could have a valid point. While the number of new residential units approved this year is off 769 units from last year, when you consider the fact that the average building being built this year in Manhattan houses an impressive 79 units, the gap doesn’t seem as large. The addition of 10 average-sized residential projects to the rolls in Manhattan could close the gap.
“We know a lot of developers, and we see what’s going on behind the scenes,” Klingenberg said. “We are not worried.”