New York – There are more than 4,000 new luxury condominium apartments in the city that are sitting vacant and unused, according to a comprehensive new report due to be released Tuesday afternoon. What’s more, the units are in 138 condo buildings that owe the city a total of $3.8 million in back taxes.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Right to the City-NYC, a coalition of community organizations, will unveil its detailed report, “People without Homes, & Homes without People” at a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Harlem with officials from the boroughs. The report identified and tallied units in completely and partially finished buildings in six neighborhoods with sizeable low-income populations: downtown Brooklyn, the Lower East Side, Harlem, Bushwick, the South Bronx and the West Village/Chelsea.
According to the report, in Manhattan, the Lower East Side and Harlem had the greater number of empty units, with 1,187 and 1,009, respectively. Buildings in downtown Brooklyn and the Lower East Side accumulated the most tax arrears, with $1 million and almost $2 million taxes owed, respectively. The buildings in the report were more than one year delinquent on property, water or sewer taxes.
“Luxury buildings are sitting empty in the middle of neighborhoods impacted by the recession and high rates of homelessness. These same buildings are costing the city millions in missing tax revenue,” said David Dodge, Right to the City coordinator and one of the project’s primary researchers, in a statement. “This is no brainer—New York City shouldn’t stand for vacant housing when so many people in those same communities are in need of a place to live.”
Across the six surveyed neighborhoods, 74 buildings with 1,159 units were completely vacant, while 190 building with 2,933 units were partially vacant.
In the 72-page report, Right to the City recommends that the city convert the empty condos to public housing or community land trusts. It even suggests that the city seize the vacant condos through eminent domain. In addition, the group said the city should suspend tax breaks for developers and impose fees on building owners who warehouse their units for more than a year. The group is also calling for the City Council to pass a law introduced by Councilmember Mark Viverito that would require annual, citywide counts of vacant properties in the city.
“In a city where a record number of families are going homeless every night, this report shows us that there is an opportunity to turn some of these problematic buildings into real community benefits,” said Councilman Brad Lander of Brooklyn, who will be joined by Council members Melissa Mark Viverito and Leticia James at the press conference, in a statement. “Thanks to the hard work of the Right to the City members in shining a light on the problem of the many vacant, abandoned, and half-completed buildings leftover from the boom that litter our city.”
Last fall, 150 members of Right to the City canvassed the six neighborhoods over a three-month period to conduct the research for the report. The group had issued preliminary results of the report in October.
and we still have investors who want to build additional luxury condos in willi. are they off their walls?
no they want nyc to be a two class city the middle class has been driven out of nyc
WOW Great news.
After all these evil landlords and developers are the productive people in this state that actually work for a living in order to subsidise all these homeless and a thousand other programs.
Let’s just make sure that it becomes impossible to own or develop properties in NYC and lets return to the good old slum days of 70’s and 80’s
$3.8 million in back taxes for 4000 condo’s are you kidding me?? is that even money in this OBAMANOMICS economy. I thought they stoped talking about millions already its now BILLIONS, TRILLIONS or GAZILLIONS.
Also what’s the big deal with 3.8 million can’t we just get it from OBAMA’S STASH
HA HA HA
This is how this crazy city works. First make the developers life impossible getting projects approved,unless you make them spend tens of thousands of dollars in cost. Then let’s make their life misserable with the Buildind Dept. bleeding them to death with violatiins and stop orders. Then when they try to get their fair day at ECB make sure they can’t win and penalize them beyond any comprension of civility so you can hurt them even more. Place regulations and requirement every step of the way to make sure they spend and spend on every stupid supervisory regulation so they’re so safe and monitored and therefore delay the job increasing interest costs and bank fees. When they’re all finished with their project being built, let’s make sure that it takes forever in obtaining C of O’s. By now if the developer hasn’t declared bankruptcy, its only a miracle. But just incase he’s still around let’s choke him on the taxes. But by now he’s amassed all these costs and can’t possible sell his units for any decent return on investment. So now let’s penalize him even more and take it away or house the homeless , because that’s communism.
Mr. Bloomberg, its time to re-evaluate what you’re doing to this city. You’re destroying the livlihood and the fairness by which normal civilized people live like. You’ve created a monster by looking to capture and squeeze every dollar any ehich way you can get it. You’re turning this great city into a jungle. Then we have the liberal elected parasites proclaiming the inequity of having vacant buildings not paying the taxes. How can they, you’ve made it impossible for anybody in their right mind to do anything to improve the economy.
Wake up and smell the coffee.(Or is it the salt were worried about) Perhaps somebody can enlighten our beloved mayor what he’s doing to this city. Nickling and diming us all to death. Pretty soon the average working citizen (if there will still be anybody left) is going to kiss this city goodby and move to where civilized human being s still pasture.
This is how this crazy city works. First make the developers life impossible getting projects approved,unless you make them spend tens of thousands of dollars in cost. Then let’s make their life misserable with the Buildind Dept. bleeding them to death with violatiins and stop orders. Then when they try to get their fair day at ECB make sure they can’t win and penalize them beyond any comprension of civility so you can hurt them even more. Place regulations and requirement every step of the way to make sure they spend and spend on every stupid supervisory regulation so they’re so safe and monitored and therefore delay the job increasing interest costs and bank fees. When they’re all finished with their project being built, let’s make sure that it takes forever in obtaining C of O’s. By now if the developer hasn’t declared bankruptcy, its only a miracle. But just incase he’s still around let’s choke him on the taxes. But by now he’s amassed all these costs and can’t possible sell his units for any decent return on investment. So now let’s penalize him even more and take it away or house the homeless , because that’s communism.
Mr. Bloomberg, its time to re-evaluate what you’re doing to this city. You’re destroying the livlihood and the fairness by which normal civilized people live like. You’ve created a monster by looking to capture and squeeze every dollar any ehich way you can get it. You’re turning this great city into a jungle. Then we have the liberal elected parasites proclaiming the inequity of having vacant buildings not paying the taxes. How can they, you’ve made it impossible for anybody in their right mind to do anything to improve the economy.
Wake up and smell the coffee.(Or is it the salt were worried about) Perhaps somebody can enlighten our beloved mayor what he’s doing to this city. Nickling and diming us all to death. Pretty soon the average working citizen (if there will still be anybody left) is going to kiss this city goodby and move to where civilized human being s still pasture.
What is this Russia?
Now we have to give these buildings to the “homeless”?
Theses “homeless” need to go back to where they came from
we live in a society where everything is given to those who do not make the effort to go out and work. and where is it given from? from the working folks of course.
we earn it and they take it.
tahts how it works these days.
makes us think of becoming takers too rather than workers.
i mean, why not if the takers will be getting nice new condos that you and i could not afford to buy.
then they will destroy them just like they do to public housing.
Why don’t we change New york to be called Haiti – then we’ll get as much aid as needed from Washington.
we should bring this condos to BP! we will kill 2 birds with 1 shot! brilliant idea!
Does anybody have access to Mayor Bllomberg’s email address?? Or some public officials that are prepared to do something other than shake our hands and visit during election time and make promises and then forget about us till the next time we meet??? Maybe on the golf course, for those that can still afford the green fees.
Its time to revolt. We know how to collect tens of thousands of signatures when needed. Where is Bloomberg, Greenfield, Nelson, Brad Behaima, and all the other hot shots. Let’s put them on the carpet and demand an end to this nonsense. Were all in this together. Because if the developer can’t sell his condos, you can’t sell your house, and can’t rent your apt. because there’s no value there. Don’t you get it? Stop blaming the developer. He’s making you rich, prfoviding he can sell his units. Unless you’re a communist liberal bordering on socialism, which if you haven’t noticed is the flavor of the day. (This is #6 again)