Home renters and businesses of all sizes are feeling the squeeze of soaring rents across the United States’ largest metropolitan areas.
Ecommerce has long been ascribed as the killer of brick-and-mortar retail, but the price of staying in business is also contributing to closures across the country. Menswear retailer Barneys recently had annual rent raised by more than $11 million on its Manhattan flagship location and has been forced to consider several options to cut back costs.
Steven Kalifowitz, President of Localize.City, a software technology startup that uses AI to give prospective home renters and buyers a wealth of high-level data insights, has followed the volatile New York City real estate scene.
“A place like Barneys can get really squeezed because a landlord wants high rent and because so many of these landlords have been here for so long, they don’t mind keeping a store empty for a certain time until they can get the right price.” Kalifowitz said. “The landlords in New York City are less concerned about month-to-month income when they can get such a big jump from someone else. And they have the cashflow to wait.”
Also contributing to the increase in rent prices is an imbalance of access to information on properties between landlords and renters.
“Until now, there’s been a large asymmetry of information. The people who own properties know a lot more than those who don’t. With that asymmetry going away, it’s changing how people are able to find properties and negotiate them,” Kalifowitz said.
Technology may be giving power back to buyers, but retailers are still at the moment fighting a two-front war against ecommerce competitors and leverage-holding landlords.
For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Software & Electronics Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.
Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!
Twitter – @TechMKSL
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale
When something goes wrong in a community—a major storm, a large-scale accident, a violent incident—there’s often a narrow window where clarity matters most. Leaders must make fast decisions, responders need to trust the information in front of them, and the systems supporting those choices have to work as intended. Public safety agencies now rely…
For many organizations today, weather has shifted from an occasional disruption to a constant planning factor. Scientific assessments show that extreme weather events—including heatwaves, heavy rainfall, and wildfires—are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity, placing growing strain on infrastructure, utilities, and public services. As weather-related disruptions become more costly and harder to manage,…
Sterile processing departments are dealing with persistent operational pressures. Surgical case volumes are rising, instruments are more complex, and staffing shortages remain across many health systems. Accuracy and documentation requirements continue to tighten, leaving little room for error. In busy hospitals, sterile processing teams may handle 10,000 to 30,000 surgical instruments per day, with…
Let’s have a look at Icom’s IC-SAT100, a satellite Push-To-Talk radio designed for moments when ordinary communication just isn’t an option. Powered by the Iridium satellite network, this rugged handheld delivers instant one-to-many communication at the push of a button—no cell towers or ground infrastructure required. Built to thrive in harsh environments, it’s waterproof,…
Generative AI has moved past being a shiny demo and into the messy reality of enterprise operations—where data lives in different systems, customers expect instant answers, and security teams (rightfully) say “prove it.” In energy services specifically, even small efficiency gains matter: many retail energy providers operate on thin margins, and operational blind spots—billing…
Energy billing is one of those things most people only think about when something goes wrong—an unusually high charge, a missing bill, a surprise shutoff notice, or a rate plan that suddenly doesn’t make sense. With smart meters, more complex pricing options, and different rules in regulated vs. deregulated markets, even a small breakdown…
