From the Brooklyn Paper:

Brooklyn is pockmarked by a disproportionate number of abandoned development sites compared with the rest of the city, according to a report released last week by Eastern Consolidated, an investment services firm in Manhattan.

The boom years of 2005-7 went bust when the global financial crisis hit, causing financing for new development to dry up, leaving half-started brick husks and empty lots as a lasting reminder of the blind exuberance that characterized the boom.

As of May 25, there were 279 stalled sites in the borough out of 615 citywide.

North Brooklyn has been hardest hit by the downturn: Of the 264 stalled Brooklyn sites in April, 73 were in Williamsburg and Greenpoint — neighborhoods that were the stars of the boom, thanks to a 2005 rezoning that had facilitated new residential and commercial development.