NYC's Building Boom is Over

The NY Times writes the obituary for NYC's building boom. The Building Trades Employers’ Association's data shows that $5 billion in projects, including "luxury high-rise buildings, office renovations for major banks and new hospital wings," has been canceled or delayed due to the credit crunch. Developers are having a hard time looking for loans—though some projects are still eagerly anticipated, like ones along the High Line from Jean Nouvel and Annabelle Selldorf—and others who do have loans are having trouble paying them back. One developer "who has built roughly 4,500 condos and moderate-income housing units in all five boroughs..is shifting his attention to projects like housing for the elderly on Staten Island, which the government seems willing to finance." Urban Land Institute researcher Stephen Blank tells the Times "the landscape of New York will be virtually unchanged for two years"—"There’s no way to finance a project."