Public Assets: General Use

“The Sixth Borough”

New York City owns or leases 14,000 properties around the five boroughs—a public asset roughly the size of Brooklyn. Where are these properties? Are they serving the public interest in their current use? This online tool empowers decision makers, planners, and the public to identify opportunities for improving, protecting, and utilizing City-owned and leased property.

The COLP dataset categorizes properties into four general groups:

1. properties with no current use
2. properties with a residential use
3. properties with a current use that is not residential
4. property used for parks and open space

City-owned and leased properties are underutilized. Twenty-two percent of city-owned and leased properties are classified as having no current use. Properties under this classification account for approximately 1,800 acres, an area more than double the size of Central Park.