New Data Shows Scope Of Crown, Prospect Heights' Vacant Stores

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN —It should come as no surprise to Brooklynites that vacant storefronts have blighted usually vibrant streets, particularly amid the coronavirus crisis' devastating toll on local businesses.

Recently-released data now reveals just how severe the trend has become.

The new data shows the lease status of every ground-floor and second-floor commercial space in the five boroughs through a database created after a 2019 law 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 Crown and Prospect Heights.

Comparing Numbers

In the four ZIP codes that cover Crown Heights — 11216, 11213, 11233 and 11225 — 254 storefronts were not leased as of last June, the data shows. The ZIP codes also include parts of Bed-Stuy, Brownsville and Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

In Prospect Heights' 11238 ZIP code, there were 61 vacancies as of last June.

For comparison, Park Slope's 11215 and 11217 saw a total of 228 empty storefronts at the time. Six of the 11217 vacancies are found in the small part of Prospect Heights that falls under the ZIP code.

Nearby 11201, which covers the majority of Downtown Brooklyn, had 144 empty storefronts as of June 2020.

Over in Manhattan, Harlem had 416 unleased storefronts, the Upper West Side had 183 and the Upper East Side had 435, according to the database.

But it is important to note that the city data remains incomplete. Some vacancies that have been found by local Business Improvement Districts or other counts do not appear in the city data.

Some addresses appear twice in the database, likely signifying one building has two unleased storefronts or a secondary or second-floor unit vacancy.

The vacancy list also does not include the names of landlords that keep the properties vacant.

There is, however, a push by elected officials to force building owners to reveal their names rather than hiding behind anonymous LLCs — a move that would pressure them into leasing their storefronts.

Vacancy Hotspots

In Crown Heights, several streets have far more vacancies than others. It seems the most fall on Nostrand Avenue, where 31 businesses were not leases as of June 2020, according to the data.

Fulton Street also had a large number of vacancies both in Crown and Prospect Heights. On the Crown Heights side, there were 25 vacancies on the street, while nine businesses on Fulton Street in Prospect Heights stood empty, the data shows.

Bedford Avenue, St. Johns Place, Atlantic Avenue and Franklin Avenue were also corridors that had more than a few vacancies.

The data reveals that the number of vacancies in Crown Heights increased during the coronavirus pandemic. There were only 230 vacant storefronts at the end of 2019 in the Crown Heights' ZIP codes compared to the 254 in June 2020, the data shows.

Surprisingly, though, Prospect Heights had less vacancies in June 2020 than in 2019. There were four more vacancies in 11238 in 2019 than the 2020 count, according to the data.

Check out all the vacancies as of June 2020 here:

Patch reporters Gus Saltonstall and Nick Garber contributed to this report.