While Hurricane Sandy was, is, and continues to be a hot messy mess of devastation for this city, at the very least, it showed you where everyone stood when it came to this city. The government didn’t care. Corporations didn’t care (unless it provided them an opportunity for new building space). You cared. Some places embarrassed themselves, while others found it to be a source of inspiration. Sandy brought with it a lot of surprises about the city, and here’s one more: real estate developers are being pretty cool about keeping rent prices down.
Maybe it’s because their offices were destroyed so badly that even they have yet to move in. Maybe it’s just that good ol’ fashioned human empathy. Either way, the Real Deal shared the news that landlords in Red Hook, DUMBO and Coney Island aren’t capitalizing on all this devastation like hungry vultures in fancy suits. Instead, they’re negotiating with their tenants to give them time to get back on their feet after the storm, which continues to affect Brooklyn residents in a major way almost seven months later.
Reduced rents, low-interest loans, and extended contracts are among the increasingly flexible options that landlords are offering to their tenants, and even the big-as-hell real estate corporation Two Trees is showing a little sympathy. So hey, good on you landlords.