My evening walk got me wondering...
While 82nd Street has turned into a mall (Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Sketchers, Foot Locker, GNC, Children's Place plus national chain fast food, banks and cell phone stores... even Target soon) it's sad to see some prime spots on 37th Avenue remain empty for months. No, make that YEARS. Ingrid's old hair salon at 79th Street. The Gothic furniture shop at 83rd Street both spring to mind.
Maybe the new strategy should be to start calling out commercial landlords for allowing their property to linger in a semi-abandoned state.
So who owns that Ingrid's space you ask? The NYC website points to a company called CAIMAN REALTY LLC ( see how much they pay in taxes HERE:
http://webapps.nyc.gov:8084/CICS/f704/f403001I?BBL=4-01278-0038- )
While real estate filings are pretty complicated with various holding companies, it looks like it's the same company that is also the owner of what also seems to be a pretty vacant building on 75th Street. (
http://tinyurl.com/y865yrt3 ) as well as some other properties in JH. No surprise here.. but it also looks like the person at the head of the company lives on Long Island, not JH.
It's a well kept commercial building, to give credit where it's due. And I get that landlords are taking write-offs to pad their tax losses... but for the neighborhood's sake they should do something with them in the meantime. Imagine if Ingrid's were gallery of JH artists until a new store rented it. Heck, you could even hang art in the window and keep the doors locked and it would be less of a blight. There are probably lots of other ideas such as renting as a "pop up" store for the holiday season coming up. It may even raise the value of the property and others you may own in the neighborhood!
Landlords aren't the enemy. If you think about it, they're for better or worse part of what makes any neighborhood what it is. So come on landlords, think of the community. Better yet, lower your rent and allow someone to actually rent the property. That Ingrids building goes for $52/sq ft and the last store rented for $14K/month per Street Easy ( that info is at
http://streeteasy.com/building/78_19-37-avenue-queens#tab_building_detail=3 )
One other fun find..
So what's that building worth you ask?
Current year's total market value of the land: $1,100,000
Current year's total market value of improvements: $3,082,000 (it was $2,003,000 in 2012)
Current year's total market value: $4,182,000 (it was $3,103,000 in 2012)
Read more:
http://www.city-data.com/ny-properties/assessments/Queens/3/37th-Avenue-22.html#ixzz4tkV2xb2d