Bronx CTown on Fire Tonight

A grocery store fire in the Bronx was fought by more than 100 firefighters. On Thursday night, more than 100 firefighters battled a 5-alarm blaze at a supermarket in the Bronx. Around 5:30 p.m., fire started at the Morris Heights CTown supermarket on University Ave. The single-story building was fully engulfed in flames. The night sky was filled with thick black smoke as firefighters battled to put out the fires. One civilian was transported to a nearby hospital by EMS after suffering a minor injury. The fire’s origin is still a mystery.

New York City to Crack Down on Illegal Smoke Shops Selling THC Products

Reported by WABC7 in New York: On Tuesday, New York City’s hundreds of smoke shops received notice that they might be forced to leave for selling marijuana illegally. The first licensed dispensaries started operating in recent weeks, and since then, according to city officials, there have been a lot of unlicensed, illegal stores that sell cannabis-related products. According to estimates from the authorities, there are currently 1,400 marijuana-related businesses operating illegally in the five boroughs. District Attorney for Manhattan Alvin Bragg stated on Tuesday that “not just anyone can sell just because it’s legal.” About 400 smoke shops received letters from Bragg warning them of possible eviction proceedings for selling cannabis illegally. A law that mandated evictions of commercial tenants engaged in unlicensed cannabis sales was cited in the DA’s letter. Mayor Eric Adams joined Bragg and said, “You can’t just open a shop.” He also disclosed four enforcement measures taken by the city. On Tuesday, the sheriff’s department raided a store in Greenwich Village while being covered by Eyewitness News cameras. Despite the fact that this was an illegal store, investigators took pictures and seized items while standing beneath the neon sign reading Cannabis Dispensary. The mayor claimed that unregulated smoke shops frequently sell goods laced with other drugs and have turned into robbery hotspots.

References

Cracking down on NYC’s illegal marijuana dispensaries amid spike in crime. (2023, February 7). ABC7 New York, https://abc7ny.com/smoke-shops-nyc-marijuana-illegal-marijunana-sales/12780878/

Manhattan Real Estate Sales Year over Year

  • Median sales price slipped year over year for the first time since the pandemic era began but was well above pre-pandemic levels
  • The rate of annual sales growth went negative for the second straight quarter
  • Listing inventory slipped quarterly but was on par with pre-pandemic levels despite sales slowdown
  • Coop median sales price increased year over year for the seventh consecutive quarter
  • Condo sales fell sharply year over year but remained above pre-pandemic levels
  • All luxury price trend indicators expanded annually for the fifth straight quarter
  • Luxury listing inventory expanded annually for the second straight quarter but was sharply below pre-pandemic levels
  • Average price per square foot of new development sales edged higher year over year but was sharply below pre-pandemic levels
  • New development sales declined sharply from the year-ago surge but remained significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels
  • Information obtained from the Elliman – Miller Samuel Report: Q4-2022 Manhattan Sales

NYC Will Require Landlords to Evict Illegal Smokeshops

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday that retail owners must evict tenants who sell marijuana without a license.  New York plans to evict the tenants of a store selling illegal marijuana, Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday. The shops in Manhattan that sell cannabis without a license face eviction, in addition to fines of up to $5,000 and confiscation of their products. According to the release, the Bragg office has already sent letters to more than 400 illegal smokehouses in the area. In the coming weeks, the DA’s office said it will begin notifying landlords that they must begin eviction proceedings — and may even issue its own eviction notices against tenants if landlords don’t act within five days. 

“If owners and landlords do not initiate  eviction proceedings against these delinquent tenants  in a timely manner, or do not follow through diligently, my office is prepared to take over and pursue eviction proceedings,” Bragg said at a news conference.  The city  also filed four lawsuits Tuesday against East Village smoke shops  for illegal sales and  public nuisance, Crain’s reported. The  landlords of the shops were also named as defendants.  The city has issued 66 retail cannabis licenses to stores so far, and Bragg’s office plans to make it a priority to evict illegal shops operating near licensed stores, Commercial Observer reports. Only two so far – Housing Works Cannabis Co. at 750 Broadway and Smacked at 1 Bleecker Street are open. 

Meanwhile, there are about 1,400 unlicensed shops selling cannabis in Manhattan alone, said Borough President Mark Levine.   “You can’t just open a store and sell marijuana,” Adams said. “There are rules and we have to actually follow them.”  The threat of shop leases is the city’s latest attempt to crack down on illegal smoke shops. NYC launched a task force late last year that visited 53 stores over 11 days in late November and early December, but later inspected only five the City reported. Both shops revisited by the task force were full of illegal cannabis between inspections.  Although this latest effort is focused only on Manhattan, Adams said the borough plans to share the results of the program with other districts.  “We want to give New York’s legal cannabis market a fair chance to succeed,” Bragg said. “I hope to see full cooperation between building owners and commercial property owners to implement this education and criminal justice strategy.”

Manhattan Apartment Sales Down 29% in Fourth Quarter 2022

Upon examination of data compiled by Miller Samuel for Douglas Elliman indicates that the number of apartments sold in Manhattan dropped by 28.5% in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared to the fourth quarter of 2021. The average price for a Manhattan apartment is approximately $1.5M with the median sales price dropping by 5.5%. According to the Douglas Elliman and Miller Samuel data, the number of sales in fourth quarter 2021 totaled 3,559 compared to 2,546 in fourth quarter 2022. CNBC reported, “The declines in both sales and prices mark the end of the roaring comeback in Manhattan real estate after the worst days of the pandemic and raise fears of continuing weakness into the new year. Rising interest rates, a weaker economy and a falling stock market, which has an outsized impact on Manhattan real estate, are all likely to weigh on the market this year.”

City Raids Smoke Shops in Hell’s Kitchen

On Thursday, December 30, 2022 several smoke shops were raided in Hell’s Kitchen. Police left one store with several clear bags and loaded a police van. Stores that were not raided quickly closed for the evening.

NYPD van filled with smoke shop merchandise on Ninth Avenue, December 30, 2022

The City reported on New York City Patch.com:

On Thursday evening, about two and a half hours after the Housing Works store opened its doors, a journalist with THE CITY happened to see city Sheriff’s officers, accompanied by NYPD officers, raiding a store on Ninth Avenue off 45th Street and leaving with trash bags full of merchandise.

The Sheriff’s Office, which operates as the enforcement arm of the city’s Department of Finance, has been at the forefront of the city’s limited enforcement efforts. The NYPD has taken the position that it is not allowed to enforce licensing violations from stores openly advertising their wares unless they directly witness a sale.

Some shops have applied for a cannabis permit and if successful, plan to continue operating in the future.

On Friday morning, New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda sent a statement saying that “The Sheriff’s Office in partnership with OCM and NYPD continues to conduct inspections of illegal operations seizing all illegal and unlicensed products. These locations continue to present a public health and safety problem for our communities.”

These photos were taken along Ninth Avenue Thursday night, December 30, 2022 by ManhattanReal EstateTracker.com.