Exclusive: East Harlem may get city’s newest BID, hoping to clean up struggling corridor

September 28, 2023

One of the last Manhattan neighborhoods without a business improvement district will soon shed that status: a coalition of nonprofits, storeowners, residents and real estate developers have banded together in an effort to form a BID along a bustling but troubled stretch of East 125th Street.

The proposal to launch an East 125th Street BID, shared exclusively with Crain’s, comes as the corridor faces a wave of new development and the arrival of the next leg of the Second Avenue subway in the next decade. But East 125th Street has also struggled in recent years with increasingly visible drug use and unsanitary conditions, which some residents attribute to the high concentration of facilities that treat substance abuse and mental health issues.

“Everybody wants to see this area feel less chaotic, more healthy, more clean,” said Carey King, director of the nonprofit Uptown Grand Central, which is spearheading the BID effort. The city’s Small Business Services Department, which oversees BIDs, approached King’s group about two years ago and suggested they get the ball rolling.

The proposed BID covers about 20 blocks between East 124th and 128th streets, bounded by Second and Fifth avenues—bordering the existing 125th Street BID in Central Harlem. It will need approval by the City Council, likely next year, and its chances seem good, since the effort is supported by local member Diana Ayala.

Above all, forming a BID would allow for a beefed-up version of what Uptown Grand Central does already: clean the sidewalks, promote the neighborhood and host events. The key difference is, instead of hunting constantly for new funding, the BID’s budget will come from a steady stream of tax assessments from district property owners.

Read more in Crain’s here: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:510f37df-e9aa-47ee-8356-9e91e854ef90?x_api_client_id=chrome_extension_viewer&x_api_client_location=share