Sidewalk Sheds Are Costing Businesses Thousands in Lost Revenue

Here's another reason for co-op and condo boards to remove those unsightly and unloved sidewalk sheds as quickly as possible. They cost ground-floor commercial tenants big bucks.

A new study commissioned by the city and conducted in cooperation with Mastercard shows that cardholders spend between $3,900 and $9,500 less each month at businesses located in buildings with sidewalk sheds. Restaurants and bars are hardest hit, reporting a 3.5% to 9.7% decrease in weekly transactions in the six months following shed construction.

“Too many businesses throughout New York City have been shrouded by hundreds of miles of sidewalk sheds and scaffolding, some of which have been up for decades,” Mayor Eric Adams said in releasing the findings of the study. “Those sheds may have gone up to keep people safe, but they’re still up because it’s cheaper for building owners to leave them up than to fix their buildings. That’s bad for public safety, bad for our city, and, as this study shows us, bad for business, too."

Last year the Adams administration unveiled its Get Sheds Down plan, a wide-ranging series of nine initiatives aimed at compelling building owners, including co-op and condo boards, to make needed repairs quickly so sidewalk sheds and scaffolding do not languish in place for years. Since its launch the plan has removed 259 sheds that had been up for more than five years, including the city’s longest-standing permitted shed, which stood at 409 Edgecombe Ave. in Harlem for more than 21 years.

"We’ve already taken 173 miles of sheds down in the past year," Adams said, "and the package of bills we’re working on with the city council will allow us to flip the script so repairs get finished, sheds come down, and storefronts can shine again.”

Given the city's Facade Inspection and Safety Program, formerly known as Local 11, there's no chance sidewalk sheds will vanish from New York City streets. The law requires that buildings taller than six stories must be inspected and repaired on a five-year cycle. But there is a campaign to transform sheds from eyesores to eye candy — the Department of Cultural Affairs' City Canvas program. The initiative enlists the help of local artists, who have submitted artwork that will then be temporarily installed on protective structures to make them more visually appealing.