Upper East Side, Midtown Have The Most Sidewalk Sheds Citywide

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — They should rename it the Silk "Scaffold" District!

The Upper East Side is home to world class museums and institutions, fine dining, local and national power brokers and beautiful architecture.

Now add one more attraction to the list for the tourists taking pictures of squirrels in Central Park: the highest number of New York City sidewalk sheds in the entire city.

But the crown may not last. On Monday, city leaders came together to announce a plan to rid the unsightly sheds and scaffolding from city streets in a more timely manner.

“Across the city, there are examples of sidewalk sheds and scaffolding that have been up for years on end, a reflection of regulatory requirements that have not kept up with the times and building facades that are not being repaired quickly," said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.

"The reforms the mayor is pursuing are an exciting step towards ensuring that sheds are up only as long as they need to be to keep New Yorkers safe," Levine said.

The plan in reference will incentivize property owners to complete facade repairs and remove sheds with expired permits, make traditional scaffold more visually appealing when possible, and replace them with effective but less intrusive alternatives, according to Mayor Eric Adams.

Currently, there are about 9,000 active permits for sidewalk sheds across the city totaling more than two million linear feet, the city said Monday, or nearly 400 miles.

Silk Scaffolding District

At 550 active permits, according to a Buildings Department database, the Upper East Side is the undisputed city leader in active sidewalk shed permits.

Well, actually, the neighborhood is technically tied with Midtown for the number of active permits.

But compared to Midtown, the vast majority of permits on the Upper East Side are in non-commercial zones, with 330 verses a puny 130 in Midtown.

While the oldest sidewalk shed permit resides in Harlem and dates back to 2006, the Upper East Side still cracks the top five list for longevity.

The permit at 1772 Second Ave., between East 92nd and 93rd streets, dates to May 13, 2010 — ironically one day before the first boring machine began digging underneath the to-be-besieged avenue and is the fifth-oldest shed permit citywide.

According to a building permit, the 56-foot-long shed was erected for maintenance work.

A year earlier in 2009, the building was issued a vacate order a year earlier for crumbling facade

In 2021, city inspectors decided to check on the progress. They found the facade was still in violation, keeping in place a partial vacate order for the first floor commercial space.

After the Upper East Side and Midtown, the Upper West Side comes in at a respectable second place, with 522 active permits.

Additional reporting by Gus Saltonstall.