CB1 explained by Tribeca Chair Peter Braus

October 14, 2009

New York City Council takes advice from Community Boards on matters such as liquor licenses and construction permits. Community Board 1 oversees lower Manhattan and is divided into subcommittees by region, such as Battery Park, Tribeca, Financial District, etc. Tribeca committee Chairman Peter Braus explains how the system works.

For more information http://mbpo.org/free_details.asp?id=64

The commercial real estate bubble

October 6

The other shoe to drop for New York City will be the massive rate of defaults on commercial real estate loans. Up to a trillion dollars in loans could go unpaid within the next year or two. Will lenders renegotiate or will they evict all of the businesses in those buildings causing an even great unemployment problem and tax revenue shortage?

More evidence of a commercial real estate shoe yet to drop

October 13

The WSJ has an interesting article about how hotels were caught at the worst time taking out large loans to renovate right before the economic collapse of lat 2007 through 2009. They focus on the Hawaiian hotel market as an example, but the data are relevant to New York City.

Art on the walls of closed retail shops

October 12, 2009

The NY Times has a story about how so many ground level retail stores are empty in NYC that the landlords have turned to painting art on the walls to downplay the depressing sights.