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FOR YEARS, developer Leib Puretz dreamed about transforming St. George, Staten Island's commercial and governmental hub, into a place where Wall Street professionals could settle down in luxury condominiums. He planned to lure them with striking views of the harbor and prices only half those of Manhattan.
Today Mr. Puretz, Staten Island's largest developer, isn't dreaming he's scrambling to refinance construction loans for two developments in the area that his bank recently put into foreclosure. In addition, the Brooklyn-based developer has put the brakes on two nearby 19-story condominiums.
"This neighborhood is not yet in gentrification," says Joseph Margolis, project manager for Mr. Puretz. "It would have been, if not for the economy."
And so it goes all across the city as the recession which many people thought as recently as a year ago might bypass us - hits with increasing fury. Yet the impact of the downturn is highly uneven. In this report, Crains takes a look at how four very different sections of the city are faring and rates the recession's impact on each.
Big projects stalled out
AFTER NEARLY 20 YEARS of growth fueled by government agencies and back-office operations for big Wall Street firms downtown Brooklyn made major strides in recent years attracting private businesses and diversifying its mix of commercial tenants.
Last year, companies including WPP's ad agency UniWorld Group and News Corp.'s Community Newspaper Group signed leases at Metro Tech Center, according to Keith Caggiano, a broker at CB Richard Ellis Inc. At the time, landlords were dangling asking rents in the high-$30s per square foot, but this...