UES Vacant Storefronts Dropped Significantly In 2023: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The number of retail storefronts available for rent in the Upper East Side and Upper West Side dropped significantly in 2023 compared to 2022, according to a report citing real estate data.

Data obtained by Spectrum News 1 from commercial real estate company Newmark shows the number of storefronts available for rent from East 59th Street to East 96th Street from Second to Lexington avenues dropped 18 percent from mid-2022 to 2023.

“With the shift of work from home, we’ve seen a lot of companies actually focus on residential areas like the Upper East and Upper West Side," Ariel Schuster, a vice chairman at Newmark, told Spectrum News.

The data shows a contrast from previous numbers of retail vacancies reported across the Upper East Side.

In 2021, the city unveiled a new database that 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.

In July 2021, data from the previous year showed 435 unleashed storefronts in the Upper East Side, or about 15 percent of the 2,861 total spaces registered in the neighborhood.

The numbers showed a 20 percent increase from December 2019, when the Upper East Side had 363 unleased storefronts, according to the data.