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Robert Ripps book
History of Tribeca Buildings
Local merchants group will be revived with city funds
The Friends of Bogardus Plaza has been awarded $100,000 from the city’s Small Business Services to jump start the Tribeca Alliance Partnership, the merchants association founded by A Uno’s Ann Benedetto in 2016. The grant is part of about a million spent by the Adams administration on neighborhood Merchant Organizing Grants.
About half of the grant will go to a staff person from New York Law School, the partner organization for the grant, who will help revitalize what they are now calling the Tribeca Alliance. That person’s tasks will include:
- set up formal membership, board of directors, solidify non-profit status
- create marketing materials for the businesses in the neighborhood
- create a business database and map
The group might also explore the idea of a Tribeca business improvement district similar to the Downtown Alliance. Those organizations are supported by a tax on property owners in each district and require a lengthy city approval process.
There is some irony that the founder of the Tribeca Alliance left Tribeca after two decades because of business pressures — she founded the Alliance to help alleviate some of those and to get Tribeca residents to shop more in the neighborhood. A Uno closed in 2021 largely because of rent, which was $17,500 a month for the 1000-square-foot corner store on Duane and West Broadway when Ann moved the store to the Village. Her new rent, she said then, was $9000.
The merchant grants are part of a bigger funding stream called Strategic Impact Grants, which help community-based development organizations to implement targeted commercial revitalizations projects that support small businesses. Last year, the organizations were able to refer businesses to SBS for supplemental services and consultations, support meetings for neighborhood-based merchants and small business owners, and organize community events and festivals. The other neighborhoods that got grants this year in case you’re curious (I was):
- Kingsbridge-Riverdale-Van Cortlandt Development Corporation – Woodlawn, Bronx
- Women’s Housing & Economic Development Corporation – Highbridge, Bronx
- Brooklyn Alliance – Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn
- Council of Peoples Organization – Flatbush-Ditmas Park, Brooklyn
- Korean Community Services of Metropolitan New York – Bayside, Queens
- Rethink Food USA – Elmhurst, Queens
- Queens County Chamber of Commerce Foundation – Middle Village, Queens
- Queens Economic Development Corporation – Jackson Heights, Queens
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On this general subject I would like to let the community know that a small group of us on Reade Street are working with ACE (Association of Community Employment Programs), to have our street from Greenwich Street to Broadway swept once a day, every day, by one of the ACE employees. We have persuaded a number of the buildings on these 3 blocks to contribute to the expense of this, (the guys are paid minimum wage and there are some admin expenses), all in all it costs each building about $1,000 a year which is very reasonable. We have also partnered with Friends of Bogardus Park who also use ACE. This service not only helps to keep the street clean but also provides gainful employment for a person.
Thank you TRIBECA CITIZEN, for highlighting this momentous grant for the TRIBECA ALLIANCE. I remember when Ann and David came around to our shop back in 2016 to invite me to the founding meeting. To now have the NYLS help us win this grant is amazing and much appreciated!