Brooklyn Coronavirus Update and Open Thread: Small Business, Commercial Rent (5/22/20)

We’re in the tenth week of sheltering in place and the 43rd day of home schooling for New York City schools.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has set up a fund to help Brooklyn businesses called Bring Back Brooklyn, with a video complete with cameo of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. It says an estimated 35 percent of the 63,000 businesses in Brooklyn may never reopen.

Not surprisingly, many businesses in Brooklyn and elsewhere in the five boroughs cannot pay their rents. As a result, landlords may be unable to pay mortgages and taxes, potentially stressing city finances and the banking system, The New York Times reported.

Yet there is hope as New York City moves closer to reopening. In areas where shutdown orders have lifted, real estate is rebounding, according to Compass CEO Robert Reffkin, who said on CNBC that contracts have returned to pre-COVID levels in more than 90 percent of the areas in which Compass does business.

What are your thoughts, and how are you weathering the shutdown? What do you think should be done in Brooklyn to combat the spread of the virus and blunt the damage to local businesses and jobs? Please feel free to comment in a respectful manner (please, no personal attacks, nothing libelous). If you are not already logged in, go up to the top right hand side of the page and log in to be able to comment.