Big Apple polishes up its property act – in pictures

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  Workers’ view from a suspended scaffold in midtown Manhattan. John S Moller

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  Facade restoration midtown Manhattan. John S Moller

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  Worksers’ view while rigging a scaffold drop in Flatiron district of Manhattan. John S Moller

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  Workers repairing a roof at the Brooklyn Naval Yard, New York. Photo : John S Moller

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  Facade retsoration midtown Manhattan. John S Moller

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  Interior view of floor by floor demolition on large commercial building in lower Manhattan. John S Moller

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  Lowering a safety line during rigging in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. John S Moller

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  A crew setting up for a scaffold drop in the Flatiron district of Manhahttan. John S Moller

A continuing boom in the New York office workforce have spurred the maintenance and refurbishment sector for buildings in New York City. Office employment in the Big Apple, which in March topped 1.9 million for the first time, is set for its sixth straight year of growth, said the New York Building Congress (NYBC) in its 2016 New York City Construction Outlook report. The pressure on space to accommodate the influx has led to older buildings being pressed into service in a bid to attract higher rents from better-paid workers wishing to live in Manhattan and its surrounds. That has left the maintenance contractors in a strong position as demand for their services outstrips supply. And that, in turn, can be bad news for homeowners. “The value of the apartments decrease because the maintenance is so obnoxiously high,” said Robert Dankner, the president of Prime Manhattan Residential. The NYBC said the number of new or refurbished units could rise to 40,000 this year, a figure not seen since the mid-1960s.

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