NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A new report says the pandemic has had a "devastating" effect on Midtown Manhattan with the once-bustling neighborhood suffering from a lack of business, with an effect worse than any other area in the city.
The Real Estate Board of New York reports that nearly 30% of Midtown is completely empty as fewer office workers mean businesses are unable to keep up.
The REBNY report found only 25 to 30% of employees are heading into work — meaning around 60,000 people, rather than 180,000 ahead of COVID-19, are accessing businesses in the area.
These vacancies reportedly exceed empty storefronts as more residential areas of the city with demand met by retailers and restaurants.
While restaurants like Schnipper's have been able to maintain two Midtown locations, co-owner Andrew Schnipper told the New York Post they're only bringing in between 40 and 50% of their pre-March 2020 sales.
“We rely on office workers and they just haven’t come back yet,” he said.
Their East 51st and 41st locations were able to survive with the help of his landlords.
However, the pandemic has had an effect on busy-transit centers like Grand Central Terminal and in the Midtown East neighborhood with vacancies amounting to nearly 30%.
“REBNY’s findings confirm the crippling effect that the pandemic has had – and continues to have – on the retail sector in Midtown Manhattan,” Fred Cerullo, president and CEO of the Grand Central Partnership, said in a statement. “For these businesses to thrive, they need the kind of foot traffic generated by tourists and office workers.”
With a major pause to many in-office returns due to concerns over the rising delta variant and with subway use down to only 50% of pre-pandemic levels, the board recommends New York City and the state focus on an aggressive vaccination approach and encourage the return to offices.
"The public and private sectors need to focus on measures that continue to increase vaccination rates and safely draw office workers back to the central business districts to ensure the storefronts and retail businesses that constitute the fabric of our city experience a strong and full recovery," said REBNY President James Whelan.