New York City Economic Development Corporation
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This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. (January 2012) |
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a non-profit local development corporation that promotes economic growth across New York City's five boroughs. It is the City's official Economic development corporation, charged with using the City's assets to drive growth, create jobs, and improve quality of life. Seth Pinsky[1] is the current president of NYCEDC. The agency has its headquarters in Lower Manhattan.[2]
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Organizational structure [edit]
Through annual contracts with the City of New York, NYCEDC acts as the representative of the City on economic development matters. It is not a City agency.
NYCEDC has 27 members who appoint themselves to NYCEDC’s Board of Directors.[3] The Mayor directly appoints seven members, including the Chairperson. Ten additional members are appointed by the Mayor from nominees of the Borough Presidents and the Speaker of the City Council. Each Borough President nominates one member and the Speaker of the City Council nominates five. Ten members are appointed by the Chairperson from a list of persons approved by the Mayor.
Responsibilities [edit]
- Develops real estate, using partnerships between the public and private sectors to stimulate the economy
- Provides business, economic, and policy advice to the City, not-for-profit, and for-profit private sectors to help attract and retain world-class companies and professionals
- Manages City properties and assets, including manufacturing and distribution hubs and other infrastructure
- Invests in and provides financial tools that allow businesses and not-for-profits to grow and generate new jobs and revenue
History [edit]
NYCEDC was formed in 1991 as the result of a merger of two not-for-profit corporations – the Public Development Corporation (PDC) and the Financial Services Corporation (FSC) – which had performed economic development services for the City.
PDC was initially formed in 1966 as an effort to rescue the City from its deteriorating economy by selling City property and leasing industrial space. PDC was responsible for many well-known development projects between 1966 and 1991, including Nassau Street Mall, 42nd Street Development Project, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Jamaica Center, and South Street Seaport.
The FSC was a not-for-profit local development corporation that formed in 1980 to administer government financing programs that promote business expansion in New York City.
Following a 1991 merger, NYCEDC assumed all of the responsibilities of its predecessors and also acquired two new divisions—Maritime Contracts and Business Services and Economic Development.
Center for Economic Transformation [edit]
NYCEDC works to diversify the economy and position New York City as the place for innovation to thrive. The Center for Economic Transformation (CET)[4] at NYCEDC develops the City’s major business sectors by addressing current challenges faced by industries through analysis of current economic trends, developing strategies and solutions, and implementing programs that help businesses expand and succeed. CET pilots nearly 100 initiatives that support entrepreneurship across all sectors, including providing access to capital, incubators and affordable workspaces, and help legacy industries like media, fashion, and manufacturing transition to new business models. CET is working to capture a leadership role for the City in emerging sectors like bioscience and the green economy. CET is also focused on spurring entrepreneurship through business training program, an angel-investment fund, and a growing network of nine incubators that provides affordable space to hundreds of businesses.
Applied Sciences NYC [edit]
One of NYCEDC’s largest initiatives to-date is Applied Sciences NYC[5] an innovative competition to create a new world-class engineering campus in the five boroughs. In December 2011, Mayor Bloomberg announced the selection of an historic partnership with Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to create a groundbreaking, two-million-square foot applied science and engineering campus on Roosevelt Island.[6] The City projects that the NYC Tech Campus will generate more than $7.5 billion (NPV) and more than $23 billion (nominal) in overall economic activity over the course of the next three decades, as well as $1.4 billion (nominal) in total tax revenue. The campus alone will help create up to 20,000 construction jobs and up to 8,000 permanent jobs. Even more significantly, the campus is expected to create nearly 600 spin-off companies, which are projected to create up to an additional 30,000 permanent jobs.[7]
Public projects [edit]
NYCEDC drives the physical transformation of New York City, completing major infrastructure upgrades and encouraging the creation of new residential and commercial districts. NYCEDC implements capital projects that facilitate the use of strategic and/or underutilized property for economic development purposes. It also conducts real estate planning and feasibility studies, working with other City agencies to develop area-wide development plans; guides development plans and projects through necessary public approvals; negotiates public-private partnerships; and performs financial analyses.
NYCEDC is currently working with the City on a number of projects and initiatives, including:
- Hunts Point, Bronx
- Coney Island, Brooklyn
- Sunset Park Waterfront, Brooklyn
- 125th Street (Manhattan) in Harlem
- Essex Street Market, Manhattan
- High Line (New York City)
- The Hub, Bronx at 149th St
- Sunset Park, Brooklyn
- Downtown Jamaica Initiatives, Queens
- Gotham Center, Queens
- Hunter's Point South, Queens
- Willets Point, Queens
- East River Ferry Service
- New Stapleton Waterfront, Staten Island
- St. George Terminal, Staten Island
In the past, NYCEDC has successfully implemented a variety of development initiatives throughout New York City, including the revitalization of East New York Industrial Business Zone, the Bronx reconstruction of Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of New York, the Yankee Area Stadium Redevelopment, and the completion of capital improvements on the Staten Island Ferry Whitehall Terminal, to name a few.
Waterfront rehabilitation [edit]
NYCEDC also works to reactivate miles of the City’s working waterfront and expand maritime and manufacturing employment to stimulate the local economy. The Sunset Park Vision Plan, for example, is a comprehensive framework that presents strategies to maximize the efficient movement of goods, protect and grow industrial employment, promote green practices, and balance neighborhood and industrial development goals in an environmentally sustainable manner. NYCEDC helps improve public access to waterfronts through projects such as the construction of the East River Waterfront Esplanade[8] along a two-mile shorefront of Lower Manhattan. The agency also manages the inspection and rehabilitation of approximately 75 miles of structures supporting waterfront esplanades throughout the five boroughs.
Other entities administered by NYCEDC [edit]
New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCIDA) is a public benefit corporation under New York State law that provides companies with access to tax-exempt bond financing or tax benefits to strengthen and diversify the City’s tax and employment base, help businesses locate and expand their operations within New York City, and encourage economic development by retaining jobs and creating new ones. NYCIDA is administered by NYCEDC.
New York City Capital Resource Corporation (NYCCRC), also administered by NYCEDC, is a local development corporation that provides lower-cost financing programs for eligible capital projects to qualified not-for-profit institutions and manufacturing, industrial, and other businesses.
Leadership [edit]
Carl Weisbrod, formerly of PDC prior to its merger with FSC, was the first president of NYCEDC under the Dinkins administration. Weisbrod was succeeded by Charles Millard and Michael G. Carey under the Giuliani administration, followed by Andrew Alper, the first president appointed to the position during the Bloomberg administration.
Robert C. Lieber was appointed in January 2007 and served until Mayor Bloomberg appointed him as Deputy Mayor for Economic Development & Rebuilding in December 2007. The current president of NYCEDC is Seth Pinsky, who was appointed in February 2008.
References [edit]
- ^ "President." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Contact Us." New York City Economic Development Corporation. Retrieved on January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Board of Directors." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Center for Economic Transformation." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Applied Sciences NYC." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Press release." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "Applied Sciences NYC infographic." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
- ^ "East River Waterfront Esplanade." NYCEDC. Retrieved January 25, 2012.
