Hell's Kitchen's Empty Storefronts: New Data Shows Fuller Picture

HELL'S KITCHEN, NY — Hell's Kitchen residents have long known that vacant storefronts were endemic in the neighborhood. Now, data reveals just how severe the trend has become.

The new database shows the lease status of every ground-floor and second-floor commercial space in the five boroughs. It was created as part of 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, including in Hell's Kitchen.

More than 100 vacancies

In Hell's Kitchen, at least 161 storefronts were not leased as of last June, according to an analysis by Patch, which isolated the neighborhood's three ZIP codes and removed all listings east of Eighth Avenue.

That's a slight increase from December 2019, when Hell's Kitchen had 139 vacancies, according to the data. Some of that rise can likely be attributed to the coronavirus pandemic: spots like Empire Coffee & Tea, which closed during the crisis, are listed.

In other ways, the data is incomplete: several vacant Ninth Avenue storefronts that Patch documented during a walkthrough last fall do not appear in the registry. Some addresses also appear twice in the database, likely signifying one building has two unleased storefronts or a secondary or second-floor unit vacancy.

Other storefronts appearing in the data reflect longtime vacancies, like the former Yum Yum Bangkok restaurant at 650 Ninth Ave., which closed more than three years ago. The old Limon Jungle eatery, at 903 Ninth Ave., is also listed.

All told, Ninth Avenue had by far the most vacancies of any of Hell's Kitchen's thoroughfares, with 46 as of last June: more than the other avenues combined.

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:

• Vacancy Crisis: Empty Storefronts Cover Hell's Kitchen
• The Midtown Businesses We Lost To The Pandemic