A recent study by the NYC Hospitality Alliance discovered that almost 90% of bars and restaurants were unable to pay rent in August.
The survey numbers came from 450+ establishments, 87% of which could not pay their full rent during this month, while 34% of them could not pay any rent at all.
This represents an upward trend, increasing from 83% in July and 80% in June.
The survey also states that 60% of landlords have still not waived rent during the pandemic, and of landlords that did waive rent, less than one-third waived more than 50 percent.
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View the full survey results here.
Several recently approved actions aim to aid restaurant owners in their ongoing recovery, while attempting to prevent more of them from having to close.
While outdoor dining will continue through October 31, indoor dining will return on September 30, though at a maximum capacity of 25%. A recently approved bill will also allow restaurant owners to add a 10% surcharge to customers bills until indoor dining has been in effect at full capacity for 90 days.
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Before we jump on the evil landlords, I have been on a co-op board for well over 2 decades, so I KNOW what it costs to own a building in Manhattan. For the past 5-010 years, many of the expenses of running a building have remained remarkably stable, only going up in very small increments. HOWEVER, real estate taxes go up by huge leaps and bounds. The increases we need from our shareholders to cover the expenses generally are 90% due to tax increases. If the city wre to ease off on those, there is a fighting chance some landlords MAY pass that along to commercial tenants. Of course, the other side of that coin is many landlords have no issues with vacant frontage as that reduces THEIR tax burden.