Midtown, Lower Manhattan still suffering from one of worst post-COVID recovery rates in US: survey

Metro

By Carl Campanile

Foot traffic in New York City’s business districts is still down 33% from what it was before the COVID-19 pandemic — one of the lowest recovery rates in the country, a new survey reveals.

The University of Toronto’s analysis measured the number of visitors, including shoppers and tourists, plus residents and workers in the so-called “downtown” or business/tourist districts in major cities in the United States and Canada.

Lower Manhattan, including the Wall Street financial district, and Midtown, featuring Times Square, were considered the Big Apple’s “downtown” district for the study.

Researchers measured foot traffic through mobile phone presence, comparing March to mid-June in 2023 to the same period in 2019. 

New York’s 66% recovery rate ranked 54th out of 66 cities surveyed.

Supermarket magnate and radio host John Catsimatidis told The Post on Sunday that workers need to return to the office.

“I’m very concerned about New York City,” he said. “Right now, Manhattan has one nail in the coffin. 

“If you impose congestion pricing to enter the business district, you’ll put two nails in the coffin,” he said, referring to the transit plan to charge drivers in certain city zones to try to discourage vehicles. 

“You see nobody walking after dark.”

Las Vegas ranked first, having 103% of the foot traffic — or 3% more — from pre-pandemic. The gambling mecca was the only city to have more foot traffic than before the COVID-19 outbreak.

A researcher for the study suggested the societal shift to remote office work has caused a dramatic drop in foot traffic in Gotham’s business districts.

“We’ve been tracking since early 2022, and New York was an early comeback story – but then stalled,” said Karen Chapple, director of the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, to The Post. 

 “Part of this is due to commercial office tenants gradually giving up their leases,” she said.

The researcher did note that unlike earlier studies, her project excluded Hudson Yards because it is not traditionally considered part of Midtown.

Other major cities that recovered most or considerably more foot traffic from the pre-pandemic period compared to the Big Apple include Miami (92%), Nashville (88%), Atlanta (85%), Los Angeles (83%)  and San Diego (80%).

As with New York, there are other cities that have struggled to recover the pre-pandemic density in their central business district.

Chicago’s foot traffic was just 61% of what it was before the pandemic.

The recovery rate for Seattle and Minneapolis was under 60%.

High-tech San Francisco’s recovery rate was nearly identical to New York City’s — or 67%.

But the Partnership for the City Of New York, a major business advocacy group, questioned the accuracy of the University of Toronto’s data, citing more recent reports showing a stronger recovery in Manhattan’s key commerce and tourism districts.

Pedestrian foot traffic in Times Square averaged 285,000 in the last week of October 2023, or 80% of the pre-pandemic count of 356,000 during the equivalent week in 2019, it said.

In Downtown Brooklyn, monthly foot traffic reached 75% of pre-pandemic levels in June 2023.

“A lot of our pre-COVID foot traffic involved tourists, and international tourism is still down. We also have by far the densest concentration of office workers, so the hybrid work week has had a bigger impact here, with average weekday presence in the office [having] dropped from 80 % pre-pandemic to just under 60% today,” said Partnership CEO Kathryn Wylde.

Wylde also noted such studies don’t take into account the increase in foot traffic where many office employees now work and shop.

“On the other hand, the city has business districts across the five boroughs which have likely experienced an uptick in foot traffic as a result of work from home,” she said. “So I don’t think [the Big Apple’s] comparison with smaller cities with a single ‘downtown’ is a fair one.”

Broadway sales and attendance were at 85% and 81% of pre-pandemic levels, respectively, during the last week of October, the Partnership added.

Wylde pointed to other promising data points indicating a stronger recovery, noting that New York City’s regional airports had their busiest month in history, with more than 13.3 million passengers served in August and adding that the 192nd new business opened in Times Square in October, surpassing the 179 businesses that closed during the pandemic.