NYC Sidewalk Sheds, Scaffolding Prove Costly For Businesses: Study

NEW YORK CITY — 173 miles of existing sidewalks sheds have been taken down in the city since last year, but a new study finds that restaurants and bars are seeing as much as a 10% decrease in weekly transactions, in the six months following a shed going up.

Mayor Eric Adams released the findings on Wednesday as part of the city's "Get Sheds Down" program.

"Get Sheds Down" consist of nine initiatives aimed at getting building owners to make needed repairs quickly so unsightly sidewalk sheds and scaffolding do not stay in place for years, officials said.

In addition, the program wants to reduce the number of unnecessary long-standing sidewalk sheds in New York City and improve the design of necessary sheds and scaffolding so they’re no longer a blight to the community.

“Too many businesses throughout New York City have been shrouded by hundreds of miles of sidewalk sheds and scaffolding, some of which have been up for decades," Adams said. “Those sheds may have gone up to keep people safe, but they’re still up because it’s cheaper for building owners to leave them up than to fix their buildings. That’s bad for public safety, bad for our city, and, as this study shows us, bad for business, too."

The study done in cooperation with Mastercard found cardholders in the city spent between $3,900 and $9,500 less each month at businesses located in buildings with sidewalk sheds.

259 scaffolds and sheds that have come down in the last few weeks had been up for five years or longer, officials said.

Currently, there are 9,110 active sheds in the city, according to the Department of Buildings. The average age of sheds is 485 days.