Greedy Landlords Causing Storefronts to Sit Empty?
The Daily News has a story about how the one-two punch of unrealistically high asking rents and the recession has resulted in a number of empty storefronts in brownstone Brooklyn. Cases in point, where retail spaces are still empty after rent increases: the dry cleaner on Court and Baltic that had to vacate after the…
The Daily News has a story about how the one-two punch of unrealistically high asking rents and the recession has resulted in a number of empty storefronts in brownstone Brooklyn. Cases in point, where retail spaces are still empty after rent increases: the dry cleaner on Court and Baltic that had to vacate after the landlord hiked the rent from $2,500 to $6,500 a month; Royal Video, above, which left its old Flatbush Avenue spot for a smaller one after the landlord was said to be asking $10,000 a month for the space; and a Myrtle Avenue shoe repair that shut down this fall. It seems, however, that while there are certainly examples of greedy/delusional landlords to be found, there aren’t an overwhelming number of fresh vacancies on the main retail drags in Cobble Hill, Prospect Heights, and Park Slope—that these guys tend to be the exception, rather than the rule. Thoughts?
Brooklyn Storefronts Empty [NY Daily News]
Photo by plangently.
Montrose;
I have been in this discussion from this morning, with lots of back-and-forth. Please see my recent counter-point to Orestes.
This is the mud-slinging to which I was referring (from Bxgrl):
“Mean-spirited, ignorant, shortsighted- you name it, you expressed it with this tidbit of unintelligence. Congratulations.”
If you call this an “interesting discussion” from which I should not have retreated, so be it. I’ll take the rap.
Sayonara!
The only mud I see being slung is the mud generated by Benson’s hasty retreat from an interesting discussion. A debate means opposing sides go back and forth on their points, not just make their pronouncements and get upset when the opposite side doesn’t agree.
So, fsrg- by that argument, you shouldn’t have anything to say if the City decides to pass commercial rent control, because, hey…life is unfair.
Hmmmm;
Mud-slinging has arrived!
Activate shut-down mode!!!
Good-bye!
“So I don’t think it’s quite fair to simply think a store owner is either stupid or just a bad business person. It’s much more complicated than that in many instances.”
Totally agree – its called life – it is unfair….
“As pointed out above, empty store fronts can increase blight and they also deny the community added amenities. ”
Hi Orestes;
I would argue that for some landlords, in some circumstances, leaving the stores vacant is precisely the right thing to do.
I’ll give you an example with which I’m familiar: the Kings Highway stretch of Western Gravesend (this is where I grew up, and my folks still live there). During the last big real estate recession (early 90’s) alot of the old-time businesses in this stetch went under. The owners of these properties were alot of old-timers who weren’t that sophisticated. They all panicked because they didn’t want their income stream interrupted, and many of them rented to cheap 99 cents stores. The effect on the neighborhood of having so many stores filled with these cheap 99 cents stores was pretty bad. The neighborhood went through a downturn. It would have been better if they had held out for better quality tenants.
Fortunately, this situation is now finally being improved. Bloomberg allowed Kings Highway to be upzoned, and alot of condos are being built there, with much better retail space on their ground floor.
“they were in a slow-growing business;”-
It was a business determined by the market. A thriving market and a district that generated jobs and money for the city.
“-they were located blocks from a growing commercial office market district that commanded much higher rents, and made no plans to create a new “district” somewhere else;”
Midtown was always an office space area, with thousands fo small businesses. Again- generating big bucks and jobs for the City. As for making plans to create a new district? The Fulton Fish market was forced to move to a market created by the City. Businesses in the trim and garment district were never given that option or help.
“they deserved to go out of business for lack of savvy.” Mean-spirited, ignorant, shortsighted- you name it, you expressed it with this tidbit of unintelligence. Congratulations.
fsrg- we have a problem in this city of perceiving certain things to be valuable for the wrong reasons. Over the past year I’ve heard many people say NYC depends too much on the financial industry- and I agree. We’ve lost the broad economic base we had and the ability to create a broad range of jobs. It isn’t healthy. Change happens- true. But change can also do more harm than good and I don’t think the same old attitudes are going to help fix our very large problems. Just the way I see it.
Bxgrl is talking about a shop that catered to those retail bridal shops, this was a place that sold trimmings, tulle, lace, and other components of a dress, not the dresses themselves. So they weren’t making the big bucks.
I think it’s really easy for arm chair critics to sit back and say a tenant “should have” negotiated for a better rent, “should have” done this and done that. The reality is that people, especially those who have been in a location for 20, 30 plus years, have been dealing with running their businesses, mostly in the old fashioned way that went out with fedoras and running boards on cars; a landlord and tenant negotiated with a handshake, the expectations being that the landlord would keep up his property, and raise rents at a reasonable rate, while the tenant pays on time, and fulfills his other tenant obligations. While this is all going on, said tenant is building their business, so they can say they’ve been at a location for generations. Meanwhile, the world changes around you, and the landlord sells out to some deep pocket with nothing on his mind but profit, and boom, when a long term lease is due, the rent quadruples or more. That’s the story of lots of businesses, especially in places like the garment center, an area which I am familiar with.
So I don’t think it’s quite fair to simply think a store owner is either stupid or just a bad business person. It’s much more complicated than that in many instances.
orestes – it already is – property taxes are based on valuations which are based on RR. – and you pay the property taxes whether the store is rented or not