As NYC Builds a New Normal, Business Improvement Districts Lead the Way

New York City’s neighborhood associations and business improvement districts (BIDs) are the city’s quiet heroes, keeping our streets clean, fun and lively. From hiring the street cleaners that keep our streets garbage-free, to helping new businesses trumpet their arrival, to establishing pedestrian plazas that provide a needed respite for shoppers, BIDs are the smoothly purring engine that keep the city surging forward.

The past five years were especially challenging for New York City’s BIDs, as navigating COVID and the confusion of the post-pandemic years lent an urgency to their activities and planning.

But these days, the city is entering a new phase. While New York is not without its challenges, our BIDs can now aim their determined focus at enhancements instead of survival.

“This was a year of progress,” said Fred Cerullo, president and CEO of the Grand Central Partnership, which covers the area in Midtown bordered by 35th Street, 54th Street, Second Avenue and Fifth Avenue. “It was a year of breathing new life into things and continuous improvement. We’re always looking for ways to do better and, in some cases, bigger.”

The Partnership tripled its pedestrian-counting capabilities in the area, helping it more accurately plan everything from programming to garbage pickup. 

Cerullo notes that local pedestrian traffic has averaged around 90 percent of 2019 numbers.

“That’s 90 percent on average, which means there are days where we have 130 percent (over 2019’s numbers) in the district,” said Cerullo. “The people are back. You can tell just by walking down any street in Midtown East. You can barely get in the front door at some of our restaurants.”

One significant reason for this has been the addition of the Long Island Rail Road stop at Grand Central, which has made the area more convenient for Long Island residents.

“We’ve seen a 109 percent increase in people with Long Island ZIP codes coming into the neighborhood,” said Cerullo, quoting data from Placer.ai. “That’s not LIRR usage. That’s Long Islanders in the neighborhood.” 

To cater to the growing number of visitors, Grand Central Partnership has increased its free live music programming. 

The Pershing Square Sounds series features lunchtime jazz shows on Tuesdays and happy hour concerts on Wednesdays from May through September at Pershing Square Plaza West, on Park Avenue between 41st and 42nd streets.

The Partnership also partnered with the Arts and Architecture Conservancy at Saint Peter’s, at 601 Lexington Avenue, to host lunchtime concerts on Thursdays from July through September. The Rudin family, owners of 345 Park Avenue, are sponsoring lunchtime shows at their building every Wednesday through August.

“We hosted 63 or so concerts last year. We’re up to 75 this year,” said Cerullo.

In addition to Pershing Square West Plaza, the Partnership has introduced Pershing Square East this year, expanding its car-free street availability for public use.

“There are now two beautiful public spaces with tables, chairs and plantings,” said Cerullo, who added that Pershing Square East also hosts the city’s largest bike-share program.

In addition to beautification efforts and leisure time initiatives, BIDs can also be political advocates for area businesses.

Jessica Lappin leads the Downtown Alliance, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year serving the area bordered by City Hall, the Battery, the East River and West Street. 

With the Lower Manhattan Relocation and Employment Assistance Program (REAP), a major tax incentive for downtown businesses, set to expire at the end of June, Lappin was laser-focused on persuading Albany to renew the program.

The week before we spoke, she succeeded.

“We spent a lot of time and effort lobbying the legislature to have it renewed,” said Lappin. “Businesses moving here get a $3,000 tax credit per employee if they are growing their payroll by 25 percent or moving here from outside of the state. It was a very nice victory, and something we hope people consider when deciding where to relocate their business.”

This is yet one more factor in the plus column for business considering a downtown relocation. The area has changed drastically over the past 30 years, evolving from a strictly 9-to-5 business community that became a ghost town at 5 p.m. to much more of a residential and tourist-friendly 24/7 neighborhood.

“We’ve been reflecting on what we’ve accomplished since 1995,” said Lappin. “The neighborhood was on its heels then. That’s why the Alliance was founded, to help revitalize the neighborhood and bring it back.”

Lappin notes that in 2001, the area had six hotels with less than 2,500 rooms total. Today, there are 44 hotels in downtown with over 8,500 rooms available. As for residents, the area covered by the BID had fewer than 15,000 permanent residents in 1995. Today, that number is over 60,000.

“People didn’t have a reason to come downtown in the `90s other than the Statue of Liberty,” said Lappin. “But we have 44 hotels now, which is sort of shocking, and they’re on par with or exceed those in other neighborhoods in Manhattan.”

Lappin notes that concepts pioneered by the Downtown Alliance are now taken for granted, like a widespread composting program, or a bikeshare program they ran years before Citi Bike. She also makes the case that the Alliance was directly responsible for the area’s growing residential base.

“In the 1990s, the Downtown Alliance had a truly revolutionary idea to create residential housing in the neighborhood. That may be the single most significant thing the Alliance has done,” said Lappin. “Thirty years ago, turning a downtown office area into a residential neighborhood was a revolutionary concept. That’s probably the biggest thing the Alliance has contributed, not just here but across the country.” 

To satisfy the needs of its growing constituency, the Alliance has expanded its cultural programming. The BID has been hosting Dine Around Downtown, a celebration and sampling of local eateries, for over 20 years. This year’s event, which took place June 11 and was hosted by James Beard-award winning chef Rocco DiSpirito, was its most popular ever, with over 15,000 people sampling cuisine from over 40 area restaurants.

Another continuing and growing tradition for the Alliance is its free concert series, which ran through June. Two locations alternated in offering performances at lunchtime on Wednesdays: World Trade Center’s North Oculus Plaza, and 140 Broadway. The series paired with the Alliance’s “Art Is All Around” campaign, which placed public art and performances throughout the neighborhood.

The Alliance also sponsors events such as the panel conversation series LM Live, and New York on Film, where screenings of New York City-related movies are followed by in-depth discussions with critics, historians, and people directly involved with the films in question.

Over in the neighborhoods of Flatiron and NoMad, the Flatiron NoMad Partnership serves an area that is home to more sales tax-contributing businesses than any other, handling the area roughly bordered by 20th Street, Sixth Avenue, 31st Street, and Park Avenue South, as well as the full Baruch College campus extending to Third Avenue.

One major priority for the BID has been further implementation of the Broadway Vision plan, a combined effort among the city’s Department of Transportation and several BIDs to turn much of Broadway into pedestrian plazas.

While the plazas are technically temporary, the BID is working with others to make them permanent as part of a more than $100 million capital plan, including the addition of new horticultural and security elements and supportive work below ground.

“We’ve seen terrific vibrancy and numbers when it comes to use of the space, as well as filling retail vacancies up and down Broadway,” said James Mettham, president of the Flatiron NoMad Partnership. “We’ve made this one of the premier commercial corridors, infusing pedestrian plazas, bike lanes, distinctive outdoor dining, and respites for people to enjoy their own time.”

Flatiron NoMad has also hosted several successful art installations. After last year’s incredible exhibit of The Portal, which allowed the public to communicate face to face with people in Dublin, Ireland, on the street in real time, the Partnership hosted Winter Glow in January and February, including interactive artworks like “The Diamonds,” a large kaleidoscopic object that produced a vibrant spectrum of ever-shifting light and sound, and “Spectrum,” which converted human speech into a bedazzling array of waves and pulses.

The BID also pulled out all the stops for Pride Month with Start With Love, which the BID describes as “a monthlong celebration of LGBTQIA+ visibility and community” featuring public art displays and musical performances, and spotlighting LGBTQIA+ businesses and voices in the Flatiron & NoMad communities.

“We’re proud to launch Start With Love: Pride in Flatiron NoMad, honoring the vibrancy and diversity of our community as the starting point of the iconic NYC Pride March,” said Mettham.

On the business side of things, Mettham notes that 70 new retail, street-level businesses have opened in the area over the past year, in addition to several hundred more businesses that moved into local office buildings.

The team at the Partnership offers hands-on neighborhood introductions to everything the district has to offer. From keeping the streets vibrant, clean and safe, to spotlighting new businesses across their platforms, they’re all about creating connections and amplifying what makes each business unique in the neighborhood.

“We’re here to integrate new businesses into the pulse of the neighborhood,” said Mettham. “We don’t just tell them about our service. We elevate their presence, feature them across our channels, and plug them into a dynamic community network.” 

On top of all this, BIDs throughout the city are preparing for a significant change in the nature of their areas as more and more office buildings convert to residential, meaning that many of the city’s neighborhoods, following downtown’s lead, will need to transition from office areas to full-on 24/7 neighborhoods.

“We have residential development happening at a rate we’ve never experienced before,” said Cerullo. “That has us thinking about how we address that increase in residential population. For example, where else can we develop public space for people to sit and enjoy a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning? Where can we find more spaces for not just recreational activities, but more passive experiences that beautify the neighborhood?”

Of course, it’s impossible to say exactly what New York City will look like 20 or even 10 years from now. But whatever the makeup of this ever-evolving city, our BIDs and neighborhood associations will be keeping pace, doing their best to ensure that New York City’s neighborhoods are clean, safe, vibrant, and as welcoming as possible to residents, commuters and tourists alike.