April 2015
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Downtown's Bright Future: Making It Work

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Former NYC Council Member and current President of the Alliance for Downtown New York, Jessica Lappin joined the BOMA/NY Board of Directors at its April meeting to discuss the future of the two associations’ "relationship on the ground" and how all involved could build on that relationship for a better future.

Ms. Lappin, who has been instrumental in bringing high-tech industry to New York and a force behind many well-received sustainability efforts, emphasized that the Alliance, which is NYC’s largest BID, is particularly focused on resiliency. She sketched out "what resiliency will look like" according to current long-term development plans, including some which may be able to get underway as quickly as 18 months. As NYC seeks $500 million to enact new resiliency, the Alliance, she stressed, has not only provided $1.5 million in grants through its Back to Business program for small businesses post-Sandy, but has reached out to every owner in the affected areas to see how the Alliance can assist in improving quality of life.

More than other BIDs, she stated, "the Alliance has an expansive, unique partnership in working with building owners," and cited as an example the outreach it has undertaken with Water Street owners to revitalize retail and related income-producing services. Water Street has even become an event destination with programming in the works now for a summer festival for 3,000.

Downtown’s business profile is also changing, Ms. Lappin emphasized, with the commercial market now including creative industries such as advertising and publishing. Conde Nast, now a tenant at One World Trade Center, is the most prominent of such firms to move Downtown. Fueling this relocation trend is the fact that creative firm employees tend to live in Brooklyn, where the commute to Downtown is easy. The new mix of retail and state-of-the-art access at the transportation hubs of Calatrava/World Trade Center and Fulton Station have strengthened that trend as well.

With Downtown Manhattan moving towards becoming a well-rounded economy with thriving residential, retail, entertainment and transportation working in balance with commercial office towers, she said, the outreach to the "people who care about the economic health of this vital area" of Manhattan will be more important than ever.

As a result, BOMA/NY will be participating in that effort by extending memberships on its Energy/Sustainability, Preparedness and Codes & Regulations/Government Affairs Committees to Alliance staff.