The Department of City Planning unanimously voted yesterday in favor of the creation of a SoHo Business Improvement District, a month after Community Board 2 rejected the plan and asked the district's steering committee to withdraw it, according to an article today at crains.com by Amanda Fung.
"The approved proposal recommends that the BID have a residential reimbursement plan that would minimize the amount of money that certain co-op owners would have to pay to help fund the BID," the article said, adding that "this enforces the idea that the costs of the BID should primarily be borne by the commercial property owners and their tenants."
"Earlier this month," the article continued, "the steering committee reformulated the plan in response to residents and the Community Board's concerns. The reimbursement would only apply to mixed-use co-op buildings in which the commercial space is not owned by co-op owners, explained Barbara Cohen, a senior associate at consultancy Robert B. Pauls, which is helping with the creation of the SoHo BID. Some 14 properties fall under this category in the proposed BID."
City Planning also called for the steering committee to modify the SoHo BID's proposed marketing, promotion and advertising plans and clearly state where its budgeted money would go.
BIDs, nonprofits approved by the city, are made up of property and business owners who dedicate themselves to promoting, maintaining and improving the quality of life in their areas. Most of the city's 64 BIDS were formed in large part to keep the sidewalks of the districts clean, and that is what the SoHo BID hopes to accomplish as well. Residents have argued that SoHo doesn't need a BID.
BIDs are funded by businesses and residents who have to pay annual assessment fees based on a range of formulas. Under a complicated system, the article said, co-op owners in the proposed SoHo BID would have to pay much more than the $1 a year that condo owners would owe. That fee varies, depending on the building they live in.
Ms. Cohen said the BID steering committee has been meeting with the co-op boards of buildings that would qualify for the reimbursement plan to work through the details. She is optimistic, now with City Planning's approval, that the BID will be established by July.
"The approved proposal recommends that the BID have a residential reimbursement plan that would minimize the amount of money that certain co-op owners would have to pay to help fund the BID," the article said, adding that "this enforces the idea that the costs of the BID should primarily be borne by the commercial property owners and their tenants."
"Earlier this month," the article continued, "the steering committee reformulated the plan in response to residents and the Community Board's concerns. The reimbursement would only apply to mixed-use co-op buildings in which the commercial space is not owned by co-op owners, explained Barbara Cohen, a senior associate at consultancy Robert B. Pauls, which is helping with the creation of the SoHo BID. Some 14 properties fall under this category in the proposed BID."
City Planning also called for the steering committee to modify the SoHo BID's proposed marketing, promotion and advertising plans and clearly state where its budgeted money would go.
BIDs, nonprofits approved by the city, are made up of property and business owners who dedicate themselves to promoting, maintaining and improving the quality of life in their areas. Most of the city's 64 BIDS were formed in large part to keep the sidewalks of the districts clean, and that is what the SoHo BID hopes to accomplish as well. Residents have argued that SoHo doesn't need a BID.
BIDs are funded by businesses and residents who have to pay annual assessment fees based on a range of formulas. Under a complicated system, the article said, co-op owners in the proposed SoHo BID would have to pay much more than the $1 a year that condo owners would owe. That fee varies, depending on the building they live in.
Ms. Cohen said the BID steering committee has been meeting with the co-op boards of buildings that would qualify for the reimbursement plan to work through the details. She is optimistic, now with City Planning's approval, that the BID will be established by July.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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