Manhattan has lost its legendary nightclubs, neighborhood theaters, hospitals, gas stations, and recreational facilities. Is New York still the greatest city in the world? - by Joseph Aquino

New York City likes to call itself the greatest city in the world. But greatest at what?

Building luxury condominiums? Replacing neighborhood theaters with residential towers? Eliminating hospitals, gas stations, tennis courts and practically everything else occupying valuable Manhattan real estate? And now they’re coming for our churches and synagogues.

An October 15 report by Chadwick Moore in the New York Post raises an alarming question: while City Hall pushes housing production, who is protecting the buildings that hold our history?

I’ve spent more than four decades in commercial real estate, representing landlords and luxury retail tenants and participating in neighborhood redevelopment. I understand property rights and the need for income. But a city’s success requires more than maximizing the value of every development site.

A city needs more than places to sleep. It needs places to live.
According to the New York Post, no additional buildings were then under consideration for landmark designation by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The report identified Most Holy Redeemer on East Third St., built in 1851, as a particular concern. Preservationists also sought protection for Our Lady of Guadalupe on West 14^th St., Saint Michael’s in Chelsea and the Church of the Transfiguration in Maspeth.

These are specific places, with histories and communities attached. Richard Moses, president of the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, warned that unprotected historic buildings could be lost to expensive residential and hotel development. The article also discussed the Faith-Based Affordable Housing Act, introduced by state legislators Andrew Gounardes and Brian Cunningham. The New York Post described the proposal as allowing changes to landmark protections to facilitate housing on religious properties. It reported that the measure died in the last legislative session.

That proposal should not be confused with an enacted law or an announcement by mayor Zohran Mamdani stripping churches and synagogues of existing protections. But the concern remains: buildings that never receive protection can remain vulnerable while the pressure to develop intensifies. Affordable to whom?

The New York Post  also reported that Mamdani had targeted 12 neighborhoods with low affordable-housing production, including the Upper West Side and Bay Ridge. New York needs housing. But whenever “affordable” becomes the justification for redevelopment, I want answers. Affordable to a schoolteacher earning $65,000? A retired couple on Social Security? A restaurant worker? A young person beginning a career? Me? Who qualifies, and by what criteria? New Yorkers deserve transparent rules and equal treatment, regardless of race, religion or political connections. What will the apartments cost? How long will the restrictions last? And what disappears in exchange? Religious institutions can provide meals, counseling, education, charitable services and gathering places. Their buildings can embody generations of neighborhood history and most of all, it’s a place of worship, maybe not Mamdani’s religion, but others. Some congregations may need redevelopment income to survive. Their financial needs deserve respect. So does an honest accounting of what a project preserves and what it destroys. Affordability should invite scrutiny, rather than excuse us from it.

Now Remember When New York Was Fun?
Studio 54. Xenon. Infinities, The Palladium. Danceteria. The Limelight. The Copacabana.

Those places helped give New York its personality. You could encounter an actor, musician, businessman, tourist or someone who had arrived with $20 in his pocket.

Nobody needed your financial statement before starting a conversation.

The Palladium was demolished and replaced by an NYU residence hall. A celebrated place to go out became somewhere to sleep. Elsewhere, the pattern became familiar: artists, restaurants and nightlife make a neighborhood fashionable. Residential investment follows. Property values rise. Then complaints arrive about noise, crowds and activity after midnight.

Venues change, relocate or close. And everyone wonders where the excitement went.

SoHo: When the Artists Became Millionaires
Before luxury boutiques and multimillion-dollar lofts, SoHo had industrial buildings and artists seeking inexpensive space.

Those artists helped establish its identity. Galleries, restaurants, shops, and tourists followed. Some early property buyers watched modest investments become valuable holdings.

Good for them. But there’s an irony when beneficiaries of that transformation want the surrounding activity quieted down. SoHo’s zoning history involved protection of artists’ occupancy and restrictions on other uses. New restaurants were prohibited because of their noise; only existing restaurants were allowed to operate. They were grandfathered in. It’s the old story: people buy into an exciting neighborhood and then want the excitement turned down. I appreciate sleep. But should a neighborhood known for entertainment behave like a suburban cul-de-sac?

The New Social Clubs: Show Me Your Money
Private social clubs are fashionable again. Initiation fees. Annual dues. Membership committees. Exclusivity. I understand luxury. I’ve represented luxury brands for decades. But when socializing becomes another demonstration of wealth, where’s the fun? Some rooms can feel like a gathering of sharks hunting opportunities, heirs comparing fortunes and social climbers hoping the right hookup will improve their standing. How terribly uncool. Some of the most interesting people I’ve known had little money. They had personality, humor, imagination, and stories worth hearing. You can’t measure those qualities with a balance sheet. 

Movies and Gas Stations
Remember walking a few blocks to a neighborhood theater? Buy a ticket, get popcorn, enjoy the evening. Many theaters are gone. I drove past Chelsea Theatre the other day, and it was gone completely, getting ready for residential development.  Streaming changed the business, but real estate economics added pressure. A large theater can occupy space an owner believes would earn more through another use. Residents experience the consequence: travel farther, stay home or stop going. Try finding a convenient gas station, neighborhood repair shop in certain Manhattan neighborhoods. These uses require space. Rising land values make that space harder to justify.

A Hospital Becomes an Apartment
Saint Vincent’s served New Yorkers for approximately 160 years, including during the AIDS epidemic. It closed in 2010 amid severe financial difficulties. Its former campus was subsequently redeveloped into luxury residences. Those financial problems were complicated. Blaming the closure entirely on developers would misrepresent what happened.

But the result remains painful: a hospital disappeared, and expensive residences took its place.

Can a penthouse treat a heart attack? Can a concierge replace an emergency room?

Once essential infrastructure disappears, replacing it can be extraordinarily difficult.

What Times Square Taught Me
I know gentrification, and I know how to apply my skills to redevelopment.

In the early 1990s, I worked as a retail consultant on the 42^nd St. redevelopment effort involving the New York State Urban Development Corp.

Times Square faced crime, deteriorated buildings, and a concentration of adult entertainment businesses. We wanted investment, legitimate retail and entertainment, and a destination where families, tourists and New Yorkers felt comfortable and of course, safe.

The theaters were central. They gave people a reason to visit.  Now, that block is tremendously successful. It has the largest count of theatres anywhere in the world, nine in total. 

Today, independent theatre venues face enormous financial pressure. Their contribution can exceed the rent they can afford. If they disappear, where will our performers practice and begin?

Lexi Featherston Saw It Coming
In a 2004 episode of “Sex and the City”, Kristen Johnston played Lexi Featherston, a partygoer disgusted with New York’s fading excitement. “New York is over. O-V-E-R. Over!” Then: “God, I’m so bored I could die!” She accidentally fell out a window. Dark, outrageous comedy. But two decades later, the frustration sounds familiar. We keep adding residences while losing places that made living here exciting.

Whatever Happened to Smiling?
Try an experiment tomorrow. Put away your phone. Smile at the first ten people you encounter — in the elevator, on the sidewalk or at the coffee shop. Ask for nothing. Count the smiles returned. I’ve tried it. Some smile back. Others look away. A few seem to ask, “Is this guy nuts?” Apparently, friendliness requires investigation. Returning from traveling, I noticed the impatience, and some rudeness almost immediately after getting off the plane. New Yorkers have always been busy. When did that become an excuse to ignore one another?

Give the iPhone a Rest
Sit at a bar this week. Someone beside you may be communicating across town while ignoring another human being three feet away.

Some of my most valuable relationships began with unplanned conversations.

Put the phone away for 20 minutes. Look around. Say hello. The most interesting person in the room may be beside you. Greatness requires care

London. Paris. Rome. Vienna. Singapore. Mexico City. Marrakech.
My travels have shown me different approaches to history, public space and community.

Every city has problems. Every city offers lessons. I sometimes wonder whether the loudest people declaring New York the greatest have ever owned a passport.

I love this city. I was born here and built my career here.

Selling watches on Manhattan’s streets in the 1970s, I knew a rough city — but one alive with inexpensive restaurants, unusual shops and gathering places and plenty of music venues.

You could participate without being wealthy. We need housing ordinary working people can afford. We also need hospitals, recreation, entertainment, neighborhood businesses and religious institutions.

A property’s financial value matters. So does what happens there.
What good are thousands of apartments if we eliminate the reasons people wanted to live here?

Preserve places to meet. Then look up, smile, and use them.

The greatest city in the world? Or simply the world’s most expensive place to be lonely?

In closing, let’s stop treating our adults as children. Restore the drinking age to 18. Unregulated private parties can expose young adults to serious dangers, including sexual assault. Let’s bring drinking into the open, in licensed bars and nightclubs where service is subject to oversight. Do we seriously believe young people wait until their 21^st birthday to have their first drink?

Joseph Aquino is president of JAACRES, Manhattan, N.Y.