Harlem's Vacant Storefronts: New Data Shows A Fuller Picture

HARLEM, NY — Harlemites have long known that vacant storefronts were endemic in the neighborhood. Now, data reveals just how severe the trend has become.

The new data shows the lease status of every ground-floor and second-floor commercial space in the five boroughs. The database was created to comply with a 2019 law that required landlords to register their retail spaces — part of a push by the City Council to get a handle on vacancies.

After being delayed by the pandemic, the long-awaited database was published this month. Though the most recent data is from June 2020, it still provides a snapshot of the city's vacancies.

More than 400 vacancies

In Harlem, 416 storefronts were not leased as of last June. That's about 15 percent of the 2,836 total spaces registered in the neighborhood, the data shows.

It's also an 11 percent increase from December 2019, when Harlem had 374 vacancies, according to the data. Some of that rise can be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic: spots like RDV–Rendezvous Harlem, which closed during the crisis, are listed.

In some cases, the data appears incomplete. Recent closures are not listed, while other listings likely refer to secondary or second-floor units. (Sylvia's, for example, appears on the unleased registry at 328 Lenox Ave., though the storied restaurant shows no signs of leaving.)

Some storefronts appearing in the data reflect older closures, like a shuttered Chase Bank on the corner of Broadway and West 149th Street, or the former Lundy's bar at 739 St. Nicholas Ave., which has been shuttered for years.

All told, the avenue with the most listed vacancies was Broadway, which had 32 listed vacancies as of last June. Among east-west streets, 125th Street led the way with 37.

One thing absent from the database: the names of any of the landlords that have kept their properties vacant.

Councilmember Ben Kallos, who cosponsored the 2019 bill that created the registry, told Patch last fall that he blamed the vacancy crisis on landlords "demanding rents that only national chains and banks could pay."

To that end, Kallos introduced a bill in February that would go a step further, forcing building owners to reveal their names rather than hiding behind anonymous LLCs — a move that he said would pressure them into leasing their storefronts. No action has been taken on the bill, which has no cosponsors.

Other proposals have included a "mom-and-pop" rezoning, which limits the size of new storefronts in an effort to protect small shops. Gale Brewer pushed through such a rezoning on the Upper West Side in 2012, while serving on the City Council, and some candidates to succeed her as Borough President proposed expanding it across Manhattan.

Previous coverage:

• Harlem's Empty Storefronts: 42 Vacancies Along 125th Street
• Chain Stores Shut Down Across Harlem In 2020, Report Finds
• The Harlem Businesses We Lost To The Pandemic