No more banks!!
A few nice real estate manhattan images I found:
No more banks!!
Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published in a Mar 10, 2010 blog titled "Bank Branches Close Doors." It was also published in an undated (mid-Oct 2010) "Methadone Clinics" blog, titled "Effective Depression Remedies." Don’t ask me what this is all about — I just report what I find out there… It was also published in an undated (late Nov 2010) Methadone Detox Clinic News blog as well as an undated (late Feb 2011) Methadone Clinics blog, with the same title and detailed notes as what I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (late Dec 2011) Develop Photographic Memory blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page.
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jan 10, 2012 blog titled "How to Value a Enterprise – Totally free Enterprise Valuation Calculator."
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This was taken on the northwest corner of Broadway and 87th Street, and it’s an increasingly common sight on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, as well as the posh Upper East Side, and other parts of NYC: empty storefronts, waiting in vain for a new tenant.
In many cases, the previous tenant — in this case, a low-priced Thai restaurant known as the "Malaysia Grill" — had been there for years, if not decades (see this picture of the Malaysia Grill, from one of my earlier Flickr albums, to see what it looked like in happier times, back in Sep 2005). But as the neighborhood became more "upscale," landlords gradually increase their rents to profit from the situation. But sometimes it’s not "gradual" at all; in this neighborhood, it was not uncommon to see commercial rents suddenly double, at the end of a 10-year or 20-year lease. Older businesses that were barely making ends meet on the old rents simply couldn’t handle such increases, and so they moved out — sometimes moving to cheaper quarters, sometimes moving out of the city altogether, and sometimes shutting down completely.
C’est la vie: this has been going on for as long as I’ve lived in New York, and one could think of it as the "creative destruction" associated with free-enterprise capitalism. What’s different now, though, is that the economy has deteriorated so quickly and so far that there are no new businesses moving in to replace the older tenants. This restaurant location isn’t likely to be replaced by an inexpensive Chinese restaurant, or a delicatessen, or a discount clothing store; the profit margins are too small. It would have to be a boutique selling high-priced clothing and jewelry, or a Starbuck’s selling five-dollar lattés, or a bank. But banks aren’t doing so well these days; and the grafitti scrawled on the real-estate sign indicates that the neighborhood would prefer not to see any more banks (though a Bank of American recently opened up across the street, on the northeast corner of Broadway and 87th St.). Starbucks is closing old shops, not opening new ones (although they opened a new Starbucks across the street, on the east side of Broadway, a year or so ago). And the high-priced boutiques aren’t doing very well either (indeed, two of them recently shut down across the street from this location).
As a result, many of these stores remain empty; and surprisingly, landlords seem to be quite reluctant to lower their asking price. This "Malaysia Grill" location, for example, has been empty for at least 2 years.
Note: this photo was published on an undated 2009 "Boorah" blog page describing "Broadway Restaurant Associates, New York."
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These are photos that I began taking in mid-December of 2008, after the government helpfully informed us that the recession (a word they had dared not use before, just as they refuse to use the word "depression" now) has actually been in effect since December 2007.
Having lived through roughly half a dozen previous recessions, with nothing but vague memories to mark their existence, I thought it would be useful to start gathering some photographic memories of the current one. It may or may not turn out to be as severe as the Great Depression of the 1930′s, and it may or may not produce the kind of grim photographs that we have of that era … but we won’t really know until it’s over, and our 20-20 hindsight might be better informed with some pictures.
Thus far, I have only a few pictures of signs showing steep discounts; these are interesting, but it’s the "human story" that I think will tell the more important story. Thus far, I’ve noticed an increase in the number of homeless peoplehe street, asking for money, food, and handouts; but I have no direct evidence that it’s associated with the recession itself. In any case, I’m reluctant to take advantage of such people by taking casual photos of them; I’m sure more appropriate opportunities will present themselves, and I’ll add them to the album as I find them…
Carnegie Hill Penthouse Southern View
Image by MyEyeSees
View towards MidTown
Carnegie Hill Penthouse S.E. View
Image by MyEyeSees
Southeast view from Living Room Terrace
