I think some areas of NYC are better off than others, but on the whole it is not doing well. I live a few miles from a mall that was built in the NJ Meadowlands to cater to NYC shoppers (we have a lower sales tax). This thing has an indoor ski slope and all; it was finished a few years ago, and it has never opened. It is very eerie to stand outside it; a brand-new, finished mall, less than 5 miles from Manhattan, and it never opened.
That mall not opening is a sign of the health of NYC, not the other way around. Sounds like it was conceived of the era that New Rochelle and other struggling fringe cities tried to lure shoppers with variations on an amusement park theme—a tacky trend that I’m glad didn’t succeed.