Retail’s the Exception in NYC’s Building Boom
WRITTEN ON MAY 3, 2019
New York City is in the middle of its most robust building boom thus far in the 21st century, with one notable exception. While non-residential construction generally increased year over year between 2015 and 2018, retail construction totals declined by more than half during that time, according to the New York Building Congress.
Construction expenditures for New York City retail totaled $1.9 billion in 2015, the Building Congress reports. By 2018, the annual tally was $773 million. Among the five boroughs, only Staten Island experienced year-over-year increases in retail construction during the four-year period.
That being said, the Building Congress’ report notes that the city added almost 7.5 million square feet of retail between 2015 and 2018. New York and its suburbs comprise the largest metro region for retail construction—and in contrast to seven of the top 10 metro areas, experienced a Y-O-Y increase in construction spending between 2017 and 2018.
Click here to read the article on Connect New York.
