If you walk throughManhattan's SoHo neighborhood, you'll likely findupscale coffee shops or clothing stores. But on almostevery block, you'll also see abandoned storefronts sporting "For Lease" signs.A new site called Vacant New Yorkhighlightsthe city'svacancy problem in detail. Launched in 2016 by freelance software developer Justin Levinson, the site features an interactive map that shows almost every unoccupiedstorefront in Manhattan. Vacant spaces are highlighted in red, and users can zoom in to find out theiraddresses.The goal of Levinson'sproject is to provide quantitative data on Manhattan's storefront vacancies, which wasn't previously available in one place, hesays"The project began with a mix of frustration and curiosity. Almost every single store, venue, grungy dive bar, and cheap restaurant I visited as a starry-eyed punk rock teenager and questing 20-something was gone. My neighborhood began to look decrepit," Levinson writes. Here's what SoHo looks like:To compile the data, Levinson scoured brokers' sites and went on long walks.Healso invites users to email him to add or correct the map to keep it up-to-date. In total, he has documented about 1,000 vacantretail spaces, some of which have beenempty for years.Here's the area around Times Square and midtown:While Levinsonacknowledges there is no singlecause ofNYC's higher-than-normalrate of vacancies, he points to long commercial leases and sky-high rent prices as the two main reasons thesituation has arisen.Thatview shared by somejournalists and real estate experts as well, since both of those factors can make it hardfor independent shops to stay afloat. For example, smallrestaurant leases average 10 years with fixed annual percentage increases, while those for large food chains are usually longer. Since many landlords want to maximize their earning potential, they sometimeshold out for a big chain (that would likely have a better credit score and survive longer than a new, independentshop) ' even if that means keeping the space vacant for years, according to reports by The New York Times and Bloomberg.Many older mom-and-popbusinesses are also notable to afford risingrents, especially in expensive,gentrifying neighborhoods."As much as I bemoan national chains and the homogenization of the city, you can argue to me that the nationals are beneficial: they can weather economic downturns, they create jobs, they provide cheap goods and services to people who can't afford much. I'll probably still think you're wrong, but I'll listen to the arguments. Vacant storefronts provide value to nobody," Levinson says.He adds that he hopes community groups and policymakerswill use the maptoadvocate for changes, like creating financial incentives forlandlords who extend leases to small shopsor giving legacy businesses landmark status.If New York doesn't deal with its vacancy problem soon, Levinson says, it could get even more out of control.It's no longer just a tenant versus landlord issue ' it affects the landscape of the city as a whole," he says.SEE ALSO:The biggest real estate development in American history will have a 15-story maze of stairwellsJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: The median sale price of a Manhattan apartment is now $1.15 million
Click here to read full news..
