Saturday, November 30, 2013

Most vacant lots in outer boroughs (in other words, we're screwed)


So who owns all that vacant land that Bill DeBlasio wants to see buildings on, pronto? Crain's has a breakdown:

After removing some of the most questionable assessments, a general picture of the city's buildable vacant space emerges. The supply of apartments follows demand—yet people can be fickle in terms of where they want to live. According to the most recent data from 2011, the percentage of rental apartments that were vacant was 3.12%, well below the 5% mark that indicates a housing emergency. While Brooklyn and Queens show the largest number of vacant residential plots, the most acreage of vacant land available is in far-flung Staten Island.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So which is better - vacant lots, which get filled with trash or badly designed buildings?

Both are bad.

The problem with the vacant lots is that many owners don't maintain them and the city doesn't enforce laws requiring that they be kept clean.

The problem with new development these days is that just about all of it is unbelievably ugly and out of character with what is around it. Much of it is not well constructed to boot (check out some relatively new buildings in Greenpoint or The Edge in Williamsburg - they're already showing a fair amount of wear).

In each case, the problem is the city not being tough enough - either on absentee owners or on developers. The city needs to be more effective in enforcement or in setting design and building standards otherwise the outcome is lousy.

Joe Moretti said...

Anon 1 stated it perfectly. It goes again to enforcement, which so very little is seen, especially in Queens.

Anonymous said...

Are you folks in Whitestone reading this or do you need remedial training. Whitestone Jewels is right at the top of the list. BEWARE!

Anonymous said...

Whitestone is fucked. Between the jewels and the grace property.

Fucking idiots. Enjoy your new councilman and sellout senator.