Report: Landmarking equals healthier retail
BY GABE HERMAN
A report by The Greenwich
Village Society for Historic
Preservation
found that the East Village
has lower retail
vacancy rates in its
landmarked areas.
The results,
released April
11, came from
a survey of East
Village retail
vacancies that
was done over
several months
last summer
and fall. The
survey was conducted
by the East
Village Community
Coalition, the Cooper
Square Committee, and
G.V.S.H.P.
The neighborhood over all
was found to have a 15 percent vacancy
for ground-fl oor storefronts. But
in the three historic districts — the St.
Mark’s Historic District, E. 10th St. Historic
District, and East Village/Lower
East Side Historic District — there was
a combined rate of just 7 percent.
Outside of the historic districts, the
biggest avenues and streets were found
to have high retail vacancy rates. Avenue
C had 23 percent vacancy,
the Bowery was at 26 percent,
and 14th St. had a
31 percent vacancy,
the highest rate in
the survey.
“We were very
pleased to see
that in the
landmarked
parts of the
East Village,
retail vacancies
are
consistently
lower than
in other parts
of the neighborhood,”
said
Andrew Berman,
executive director
of G.V.S.H.P.
“Interestingly, it is in
the parts of the neighborhood
with more chain stores,
like 14th St., where some of the
highest retail vacancy rates can be
found.”
In releasing the study’s results,
G.V.S.H.P. declared that its fi ndings
countered a 2018 report by the Real Estate
Board of New York. That REBNY
report, which compared the West Village
with Hell’s Kitchen, indicated that
more landmarked properties in a neighborhood
led to higher retail vacancy
rates.
G.V.S.H.P. disputed some of the data
in REBNY’s report, and argued it was
not a comprehensive study because it
compared one block in Hell’s Kitchen
to three streets in the West Village.
This current report by G.V.S.H.P., according
to the society, is the fi rst neighborhood
wide survey to compare landmarked
with nonlandmarked areas.
Berman said that while no study is
conclusive, their results indicated that
historic districts and landmarked areas
are actually thriving in the current
tough retail climate in the city.
“This data clearly undercuts the
narrative that real estate lobbyists and
others would peddle that landmarking
somehow hampers or hurts small businesses,”
Berman stated.
“Retail spaces in the East Village’s
historic districts are largely occupied by
small, independent businesses, many of
whom have been there for years or even
decades,” he added. “This is yet another
indication of how landmarked areas
of New York City are among the most
stable, healthy, vibrant parts of the city;
and far from hurting local residents or
businesses, landmark designation can
help preserve and protect what New
Yorkers love most about their communities.”
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
Although Downtown definitely has
its share of vacant storefronts,
like this one in Greenwich Village,
landmarking leads to lower
vacancy rates, at least in the East
Village, according to a new study.
14-screen theater opens at Essex Crossing
BY GABE HERMAN
The Lower East Side now
offi cially has a mainstream
movie theater.
A 14-screen Regal theater
opened on Sat., April 6, at 129
Delancey St., at Norfolk St.
The theater has reserved seating
and more than 1,200 total
seats, all of which are luxury
recliners with footrests.
The theater is in The Essex,
a 26-story, mixed-use building
that will also be home to the
Essex Street Market and The
Market Line, that latter which
will be a bazaar-like marketplace.
The markets will open
this spring and feature nearly
150 vendors combined. The
building also has 98 residences,
which became available at
the beginning of this year.
The building is part of Essex
Crossing’s nine-site, 2-million
square-foot mixed-use development
on the Lower East
Side.
The neighborhood has long
been without a mainstream
cinema. And even its indie
theaters have been dwindling,
PHOTO BY ILOVEUJACQUELINE/INSTAGRAM
The new Regal theater on Delancey St. is ready for its close-up.
with Sunshine Cinema
on E. Houston St. closing
early last year. That
former movie theater is
set to be replaced by a
nine-story offi ce and retail
building.
“When we began
planning Essex Crossing,
a movie theater was
high on Lower East Side
residents’ list of needed
community resources,”
said Andrew Katz, partner
at Delancey Street
Associates and principal
at Prusik Group, a developer
of Essex Crossing.
“Regal will provide
a dynamic new offering
to the neighborhood
and add to Essex Crossing’s
wider amenities,
including the adjacent
Essex Street Market and
Market Line.”
Essex Crossing also
just received an award
on April 4 from the Urban
Land Institute New
York, for “Excellence
in Mixed-Use Development.”
Schneps Media CNW April 18, 2019 3