Who Knew There Even Were Abandoned Buildings Left in Manhattan?

Considering the redunkulous prices for shoe-boxes there it's hard to believe, but apparently there really are abandoned properties on the isle of Manhattan. How many there are is an open question though. That's why today Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's office has organized "the first large-scale count of abandoned properties in Manhattan." As part of the count volunteers will scour designated neighborhoods looking for any vacant lots and buildings which look not be occupied and "has visible signs of distress."

Similar counts have been done in Boston and St. Louis in past years to positive results, though both of those cities suffer from very different real estate issues then Manhattan and used their counts for different reasons then we will. Where Boston publicly shamed its property owners by listing abandoned addresses online and St. Louis has gone so far as to demolish over 2,700 buildings we won't likely go so far. "Stringer said each property would be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine if its owner had defaulted on taxes, for instance, or failed to correct building code violations. If not, there isn’t much the city can do."

We're really curious to find out what kinds of numbers this count produces. How many abandoned buildings do you think are in Manhattan?

Office Chair 1 by deepersea via Contribute.