Ground Level Retail
In NYC, we all see the empty retail spaces at ground level. We walk by them and watch them sit, unused. They are a sight for sore eyes in each neighborhood. It isn’t good for the community to have empty storefronts, period.
On the corner of Washington and 12th Street, used to sit Tortilla Flats. A restaurant that opened in 1983 and closed in November 2018, and still sits empty. The landlord wanted more rent, and the numbers simply did not add up. The owner (whom I know) got to the point where he was making zero and just keeping it open to pay the employees and rent. It was a neighborhood fixture, always bustling, and everyone had been to it at least once, if not several times, in their youth. Fun fact: Tortilla Flats went through more tequila than any other restaurant in the city.
I’d love to know how the landlord feels now. Does that owner even live in the West Village, where Tortilla Flats once stood? How were they able to pay the mortgage, the upkeep, and everything in between without a tenant? Now there is some construction going on, but no tenant sighting. They left that empty shell for the past 8 years for the neighborhood to look at, leaving us with one fewer spot to eat.
The real estate owners have set inflated ground-floor rent rates, making it almost impossible to be profitable. It is the same issue with housing. We need a reality check, as the economy will need to adjust after Trump. The debt, the spending spree…not looking good.
How does a city fix this so there are no more empty storefronts? NYC needs to pass a law requiring landlords to have 12 months to relet their spaces before being fined. That is absolutely fair to figure out the reality of the market. I know because we own real estate and rent it out. If nobody wants it at that price, figure out how long you are going to give it before lowering the price, or be thoughtful about what you are happy to earn off the property that is fair and equitable, that keeps tenants around a long time. If the spot remains empty without a lease in hand after 12 months, the landlord should be fined, and the fine increases over time. Not a small fee, a big fee, that gets larger and larger, one that hurts anyone.
How else do we reset a market and bring back an affordable city?