Poised at the Nexus of Public and Private, Local Business Improvement District Prioritizes ‘Getting Things Done’
The Downtown Alliance, the business improvement district (BID) that covers Lower Manhattan, roughly from Chambers Street to the Battery, between West Street and the East River, is celebrating its triennial anniversary, marking three decades since its founding in the fall of 1995. “In those days, the streets were covered in graffiti and the neighborhood emptied out in the evenings,” reflects Alliance president Jessica Lappin, who took the helm of the organization in 2014. “Office towers were primarily filled with workers in financial services. There were few residents, not many restaurants or retail, and only a handful of hotels for tourists to stay in. Today, Lower Manhattan is a vibrant 24/7 neighborhood with nearly 70,000 residents – that’s five times the population in 1995. And we host a wide array of diverse industries, boast over 1,000 shops and restaurants, and have 44 hotels. It has been a wholesale reinvention.”
Lower Manhattan might be a very different place were it not for the BID’s role in changing zoning rules that made it possible to convert old office buildings into housing. “That was a revolutionary concept at the time, and one that has now been emulated all across the country,” Ms. Lappin says.
Creating the new BID for Lower Manhattan (along with incentives to kickstart investment and economic development) required legislation at both the local and state levels. A law authorizing a Downtown BID was signed in October 1994, but it would be another year before a Lower Manhattan incentives plan would move forward. “Let’s act, let’s act now, let’s do some things that are bold and new and let’s stabilize and revitalize Lower Manhattan,” then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani exhorted the Association for a Better New York at the time.
An early example of the Alliance’s leadership in local transformation was Stone Street. Although it is now a thriving restaurant and nightlife enclave, this block was a dilapidated, dark alley in the mid-1990s. A $2-million revitalization plan incubated by the Alliance installed bluestone sidewalks, repaved the street with cobblestones, and added new light fixtures, bollards, signage, and other streetscape elements – all of which drew restaurant operators.
Another project launched by the BID in the late 1990s was the $20-million Broadway Streetscape Program. Among the design accents were black-and-white street signs (containing the range of address numbers on each block and featuring images representing Lower Manhattan landmarks), along with more than 900 pieces of permanent street furniture and other signage.
For more than 20 years, the Alliance has operated the free Connection shuttle bus (in partnership with the Battery Park City Authority), which transports passengers around Lower Manhattan.
Through the years, the Alliance has taken on ad hoc roles, such as supplying the confetti that is thrown out of windows during Lower Manhattan’s occasional ticker tape parades. (This is needed because actual stock tickers went the way of rotary dial telephones in the 1970s.) And since the early 2000s, the organization has embedded a granite marker for each parade in the sidewalks along Broadway, stretching along the parade route from Battery Place to Chambers Street.
Reflecting on the evolving and expanding role of the Downtown Alliance (which has an annual budget of $25 million), Ms. Lappin says, “in early days, it was about making the area clean and safe and allowing for the creation of new housing. But over the years, along with some great wins, our neighborhood has also faced enormous tragedies, including September 11, Hurricane Sandy, and Covid-19. After September 11, we focused on being a part of the rebuilding efforts. After the financial crisis of 2008, we prioritized diversifying our economy by attracting tech and creative companies. While our mission has always been to promote and support the growth of the neighborhood, we adapted at different times to meet our goals.” Other examples of this flexible toolkit have included producing public art and food events, and operating tourist kiosks, while also incubating programs for garbage containerization and composting.
After September 11, 2001, the Alliance spearheaded a $10-million grant program to help small neighborhood retailers rebuild and reopen. This was the first of several grant and financial aid programs for local businesses that the Alliance has initiated in the years since. In another example, after Hurricane Sandy, the Alliance distributed more than $1.5 million to small businesses.
Pivoting to a longer view, Ms. Lappin says, “while some resiliency projects have moved forward in Manhattan, the BID area remains largely unprotected. The Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency Project can help mitigate future flooding, but it’s expensive. It’s outrageous that the current presidential administration is seeking to dismantle previous efforts to combat climate change when what we need is a significant budgetary commitment to support resiliency efforts at the City and State levels.”
“We are also still struggling, post-Covid, to bring down commercial vacancy rates,” Ms. Lappin notes. “While there are some signs of optimism in the first two quarters of this year, we still have a way to go. Older commercial buildings are a significant challenge for the neighborhood. While many have, or will, convert to residential, not all are suited for housing. Helping those owners market and lease their space is a challenge we are embracing.”
Looking to the future, Ms. Lappin says, “The growth in the number of residents, especially younger ones with different spending preferences, is a great opportunity for new businesses to meet changing demands. We have wonderful legacy businesses that have been here for 25 years or more. We celebrate and promote them, and welcome the new athletic spaces, bagel and coffee shops, after-work happy hour spots, and other entertainment options that are opening.”
“Culture is key,” Ms. Lappin says, noting the film screenings, book talks, outdoor concerts, interactive public art installations, and food events that the Alliance hosts. “That kind of energy doesn’t just happen,” she says. “It’s built over time, and that’s exactly where groups like the Alliance can really lead – by creating spaces and moments that bring people together and celebrate what makes this neighborhood unique.”
Ms. Lappin’s own roots in Lower Manhattan run deep. She attended Stuyvesant High School (which opened its doors in Battery Park City while she was a student there), before attending Georgetown University, whence she graduated magna cum laude. After college, she spent 16 years working at City Hall and 250 Broadway, the last eight of these as a member of the City Council. “So, by now, I have spent more waking hours in Lower Manhattan than any other neighborhood and love it dearly,” she says.
Ms. Lappin came to the Alliance after serving two terms in the City Council, and then placing second in the Democratic primary for Manhattan Borough President. “I was at a crossroads in my career and ready for a new challenge,” she recalls. “For me, it was critical to find a role that was connected to the civic fabric of our city and allowed me to give back.”
Looking to her own horizons, Ms. Lappin says, “as a lifelong New Yorker, my future is here. I will always be committed to improving the City and communities that I love. And of course, focusing on my wonderful family. Hopefully my boys will also be lifelong New Yorkers, living, working and starting their own families here. While my New York City Marathon days may be behind me, I hope the future still holds many road races through the glorious streets of Lower Manhattan.”