BY: Brian Pascus at Crain’s New York Business
Mayor Eric Adams has big plans to revitalize New York’s central business districts as the city emerges from Covid-19. The mayor’s blueprint includes expanded promotional campaigns, new zoning regulations, and an interagency task force dedicated to improving the public space of commercial corridors.
The mayor announced his economic vision for the city yesterday in a 70-point policy announcement from Hunts Point in the Bronx. Surrounded by multiple elected officials and standing beside his City Hall team, Adams declared his intention to use government to grow local communities together with the city’s central business sectors.
“Far too long we’ve had a wall between our corporate communities and government,” he said. “We are going to borrow from Ronald Reagan and tear down that wall. We are tearing down that wall and building partnerships.”
Mayor Eric Adams has big plans to revitalize New York’s central business districts as the city emerges from Covid-19. The mayor’s blueprint includes expanded promotional campaigns, new zoning regulations, and an interagency task force dedicated to improving the public space of commercial corridors.
The mayor announced his economic vision for the city yesterday in a 70-point policy announcement from Hunts Point in the Bronx. Surrounded by multiple elected officials and standing beside his City Hall team, Adams declared his intention to use government to grow local communities together with the city’s central business sectors.
“Far too long we’ve had a wall between our corporate communities and government,” he said. “We are going to borrow from Ronald Reagan and tear down that wall. We are tearing down that wall and building partnerships.”
“Excellent. It’s been a long time since a mayor has said this,” said Dan Biederman, co-founder of the Bryant Park Corporation. “If the neighborhood is clean, there will be a big difference in perception. It’s about physical impressions like sidewalk repair, street cleanliness, and garbage removal.”
Leadership at the Times Square Alliance said the city’s network of business improvement districts is eager to work with the administration on improving public spaces.
“Most BIDs want to be partners with the agencies in addressing these public realm concerns,” said Tom Harris, president of the Times Square Alliance. “This type of working group is fantastic.”
No silver bullet
James Patchett, former president and CEO of the Economic Development Corp., conceded there’s “no silver bullet” to improving foot traffic throughout the city, but he said Adams’ focus on investing resources in Midtown and other business districts is exactly what New York needs right now.
“What’s going to draw you? It has to be more than the fact that your office is there,” Patchett said. “It has to be vibrant and engaging and [Midtown] has to be more than the place where you come out of the elevator and go to your cubicle.”
Adams wants to update zoning regulations that can enable a wider range of industries to create office spaces and “modern lofts” across the city. His economic blueprint also plans to target specific locations for city agency office relocations that could spur new commercial development.
“Our zoning laws and land-use requirements are so prescriptive and, in many cases, so out of date,” said Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the Partnership of New York City, a business industry trade group. “He understands how every business district needs to build a sense of community.”
Jessica Walker, president, and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce said the mayor’s rezoning initiatives would be critical to reshaping Midtown and other business corridors for a future when more employees will work from home.
“It’s really important that the mayor is not trying to keep Midtown what it was before the pandemic,” Walker said. “We have to rethink what the commercial corridors are going to look like. Obviously, the biggest change is that there is a lot more office space than is maybe needed.”
Fun City
Adams is adamant about making New York once again “a city of excitement,” to use his words. His blueprint aims to highlight different parts of the city such as Times Square, Downtown Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn waterfront through new promotional weeks that mirror the success of Restaurant Week. Adams wants to offer 2-for-1 tickets to the theaters and museums during NYC Broadway Week and NYC MustSee Week.
“This is smart,” said Walker, who cited the low numbers of domestic and international tourists. “Events like that can draw back some of those international visitors on a faster and greater scale.”
The mayor also said the city would create an “opportunity fund” to draw large events, conventions, and even sporting events such as the 2026 FIFA World Cup to New York City. A representative from the mayor’s office could not confirm an amount for the opportunity fund.
For the city’s biggest boosters, the bucket list of plans from Adams is a welcome respite from two years of economic catastrophe.
“New York’s image has taken a real blow in the last couple of years,” Wylde said. “There’s going to have to be extraordinary efforts to re-establish New York in the minds of the citizens of the world as our greatest global city.”