Miguel Ramos, a flower shop owner on Graham Street in Williamsburg, says that his business has been one of the only stores open on the block for the past three years.

Ramos states that NYCHA owns the storefronts and has a difficult process, including having proper documents and attending a hearing in Manhattan, for store owners to go through if they want their stores on Graham Street. The NYCHA application for renters is more than 50 pages.

The Grand Street Business District is also one of the few renters on the block. It says it rents on that street because it is cheap, but warns other renters that dealing with a big city agency will include a lot of paperwork.

NYCHA has recently renovated many of the storefronts and claims most have already been rented.