More Building Sites Stall Out Citywide

NEW YORK CITY-The tally of stalled construction sites citywide keeps going up, says the New York Building Congress. As of October, it had risen to 692 sites, a 52% increase over a year ago, suggesting that the construction sector is lagging behind a recovery in the broader economy.

While Brooklyn maintains the dubious distinction of containing the largest number of stalled building sites—319, or 46% of the citywide total and a 47% year-over-year rise—other boroughs are seeing their shares increase at a faster pace. Manhattan has seen its total nearly double over the past 12 months, from 66 sites a year ago to 130 last month, while Staten Island has tripled its total from 20 to 60.

By contrast, Queens has the second highest tally among the five boroughs with 153, but that number has increased by only 14%, or 19 sites, within the past 12 months. The Bronx has added eight stalled sites over the past year, bringing its total to 30, a 36% year-over-year increase.

Building Congress analysis of city data finds that the residential sector contributes the lion’s share of stalled sites, 67% of the total, mostly multifamily. Thirty-six percent of the stalled sites are vacant, meaning that the developers have gone through the permitting process but have yet to commence construction, according to inspection records from the city’s Department of Buildings. The number of stalled sites has increased each months thus far in 2010, according to the Building Congress.

In a release, Building Congress president Richard T. Anderson says the stalled sites “serve as a highly visible reminder of the recession’s impact, but they also offer the opportunity to create jobs and spur economic development. These sites represent thousands of units of new housing, additional commercial and industrial space, several hundred million dollars in unrealized investment and thousands of jobs for a construction industry battered by the recession.”

He adds that while the Bloomberg administration has taken some steps “that will make it easier to unlock the potential” of the stalled sites, “a more concerted effort is necessary to get the construction industry back to work.”