Downtown Manhattan's Robust Weekend Life

Some results of CRE data analysis seem like they belong in a disco hit from the 1970s.

“Downtown Manhattan is experiencing a weekend revival,” wrote Placer.ai in a report. “On Mondays through Thursdays – the heart of the work week – foot traffic in the area remains significantly below pre-COVID levels. But on Fridays, visits begin to pick up – and on Saturdays and Sundays some downtown neighborhoods are even busier than they were four years ago. Destinations like Greenwich Village, East and West Village, and the Lower East Side drew more weekend visitors in Q4 2023 than they did in the equivalent period of 2019.”

The questions that Placer adds are interesting — essentially, why things are speeding up on the weekends and what the demographic and psychographic attributes of visitors might show.

One is that weekend visitors tend to come from wealthier areas than the areas they come to haunt. Not in all — the median household incomes hitting the Financial District on weekends and weekdays is roughly comparable. But in Tribeca, it’s $89.6K on weekdays and $106.7K on weekends. In Chinatown, $78.4K versus $86.5K, while the West Village sees $102.3K versus $111.6K. The Lower East Side jumps from $81.4K to $90.6K. Greenwich Village, from $103.7K to $105.0K. And then, the East Village, $94.2K to $101.9K.

In some of the cases, the differences might not be significant. In others, especially Tribeca, the weekend increase seems to be notable.

But then comes an interesting follow-up. “The demographic and psychographic characteristics of Downtown Manhattan’s neighborhoods changed in other ways on the weekends as well,” they wrote. “The already-outsize share of college students in the downtown neighborhoods’ captured markets climbed even higher, as many collegians likely converged on the area to enjoy what its historic neighborhoods have to offer. Several of the neighborhoods also drew an increased share of ‘destination retirees’ — an older demographic made up of affluent empty-nesters making the most of their golden years.”

How does that sync with the household income numbers? For the college students, one has to ask whose household wealth is being measured. Would it be the parents? If not, then what income do college students have? For retirees to have higher household incomes, it might be a more affluent group that had significant retirement savings and net worth.

Something else placer mentioned is interesting, that “understanding the characteristics and habits of the people behind this remarkable recovery can help local businesses and other stakeholders make the most of this opportunity.” The stronger the local businesses, the more certain the fate of the property landlords might be.