Construction businesses in New York City still mired by recession, says survey

BY Brian Kates

Work at construction projects across the city has been stymied by the recession, leaving some crews with little to do.

Despite hopeful signs for the economy, construction in the city remains stagnant, with 52% more stalled building projects this year than last, a survey shows.

Hard hit by tight credit, builders have stopped construction at 692 sites in the five boroughs, affecting thousands of jobs and putting a major dent in the city's economy, a New York Building Congress analysis reported yesterday.

Hardest hit is Brooklyn, where work on 319 projects - 46% of the citywide total - ground to a halt in October, the study shows.

But the crisis is citywide:

•  Queens had 153 stalled projects, 22% of the city's total.
•  Manhattan had 19% of the stymied projects, with 130 developments - double last year's average.
•  Staten Island recorded 60 halted developments, three times more than 2009 and 9% of the total.
•  The Bronx had 30, or 4% of the total.

"It is really quite disturbing," said Building Congress President Richard Anderson, "and it's not getting better."

Anderson said the crisis may affect as many as 12,000 housing units.

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