Tag: grant

SMALL BUSINESS TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANT

Post author By Grace Capobianco
Post date August 6, 2020

Small businesses and locally-owned shops are the lifeblood of our city.

Unfortunately, almost all have been adversely impacted by COVID-19. To help businesses better cope with the changes the pandemic has imposed upon them, the Downtown Alliance is providing up to 25 small businesses the opportunity for one-on-one, technical-assistance consultations with Streetsense, a retail and urban-design consultant. The goal of these consultations is to assess operations and surface opportunities to better prepare businesses for the ongoing crisis. Streetsense has decades of first-hand operations experience across a variety of disciplines and industries, including research and analysis, hospitality, branding, and marketing and interior design.

Consultations will provide the following:

Individual 45- to 60-minute work sessions with retail or restaurant owners with two members of the Streetsense Pandemic Response Team.
A documented strategic guide for “pandemic readiness” for each business, delivered to the business owners, and to the Downtown Alliance.
Participating businesses will receive links to pandemic signage templates and the capital planning tool (for restaurants and bars only) following the completion of each session.

To be eligible, businesses must have gross annual revenues of less than $3 million and employ fewer than 30 full-time-equivalent employees and occupy a ground-level storefront in the Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District. If selected, businesses will be required to complete a self-assessment questionnaire to share with Streetsense providing relevant information about their business and describing the challenges they face as the city reopens.

To be eligible for a consultation, businesses must meet the following requirements and provide appropriate documentation:

Be located on the ground floor within the boundaries of the Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District.
Be an independent business with five or fewer locations in New York City.
Open by October 1, 2020.
Employs fewer than 30 full-time-equivalent employees as of March 1, 2020.
Gross annual revenues of less than $3 million.
Have a lease at their current location through December 31, 2020.

Applications will be reviewed and consultations will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis beginning August 10, 2020, at 9 am ET.

The application period will close when the available consultations have been exhausted. Consultations will take place between August and October 2020.

If you do not qualify for this program, please see our informational guide on COVID-19 relief programs available to businesses.

Tags application, Bars, covid-19, deadline, downtown alliance, grant, restaurants, small business

Living NYC

Downtown News – COVID 19

Post author By Downtown Magazine
Post date May 22, 2020

Downtown Alliance Opens Pearl Street As Part of City-Wide Open Streets

Beginning on Saturday, May 23, the Alliance for Downtown New York, the nonprofit business improvement district for Lower Manhattan, is partnering with the Department of Transportation to bring the Open Streets Program to an eight-block stretch of Pearl Street, between Cedar and State Streets from 11a-3p ET.

“As the city moves forward with the recovery, we need to ensure that people feel more comfortable in public places,” said Jessica Lappin, President of the Alliance for Downtown New York. “We hope these first measures will help our neighbors make good use of this reclaimed roadway.”

Per the organization’s proposal to participate in this citywide program, the Alliance Operations team will place and remove temporary barricades along the stretch of road to designate the protected area as restricted to traffic. DOT will also provide signage that explains social distancing requirements and requests slower vehicular travel speeds. This effort is part of a City-wide program to make a total of 100 miles of roadway available for public use in the warmer weather. Pedestrians and bicyclists using the roadbed along Pearl Street must maintain social distancing of at least six feet and wear a face-covering in public.

No through traffic will be permitted while Open Streets are in effect. Vehicle traffic will be limited to local deliveries, pick-ups/drop-offs, necessary city service vehicles, utility vehicles, and emergency vehicles only. When Alternate Side Parking regulations are in effect, drivers must move their vehicles from the street and may return when ASP is over. These drivers and cyclists are advised to be extremely cautious and to drive 5 MPH or slower.

NOW OPEN- MORE DOWNTOWN DELICIOUSNESS MADE TO ORDER

Diversify your home dining experiences by supporting the following Lower Manhattan restaurants recently reopened for takeout and delivery:

—Jeremy’s Ale House (228 Front Street)

—La Parisienne (9 Maiden Lane)

—No. 1 Chinese (10 South William Street)

—Route 66 Smokehouse (46 Stone Street)

—Tacombi (74 Broad Street)—Ulysses (95 Pearl Street)

As always, bookmark and keep an eye on our list of restaurants offering takeout and delivery, which we’re constantly updating.

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE EXPANDS CRITERIA FOR SMALL BUSINESS RENTAL ASSISTANCE GRANT

The Alliance for Downtown New York is expanding criteria for the Small Business Rental Assistance Grant to offer immediate help to more storefront businesses currently providing vital services to residents and workers in Lower Manhattan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, which launched earlier this month, is funded by the Alliance with support from Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties and The Howard Hughes Corporation to award a total of $800,000 in grants.

More businesses can apply to start on, Thursday, May 21 at 9a ET at downtownny.com/RentAssistGrant.

The expanded criteria include eligible businesses with gross annual revenues of up to $3 million and who employ up to 30 employees, and to storefronts within expanded geography that covers everything south of Chambers Street.

The individual grants will offer $10,000 each to small businesses as a single direct payment to be applied to April or May rent. Businesses must provide appropriate documentation and meet all the following requirements:

—Currently be open and providing an “essential” service as defined by Governor Cuomo in the PAUSE order of March 22, 2020

—Be located on the ground floor in Lower Manhattan below Chambers Street—Be an independent business with five or fewer locations in New York City

—Have fewer than 30 employees as of March 1, 2020

—Gross annual revenue below $3 million—Have a lease at their current location through December 31, 2020

—Provide proof of rent payment for April or May 2020 or potentially for later months if the landlord has given approval for rent deferral

Applications are available starting Thursday, May 21 at 9a ET on a first-come, first-served basis through June 4 at 11:59p ET or until funding has been exhausted. Required documentation includes 2019 4th Quarter 941, relevant lease agreement pages, and the main pages from the business’s most recently filed IRS business tax return, showing its annual gross revenues.

RESTAURANTS CATCH A BREAK FROM DELIVERY APP FEES, THANKS TO CITY COUNCIL MEASURE

Food-delivery apps will no longer be able to charge high fees to restaurants in the five boroughs, thanks to local legislation. On Wednesday the New York City Council passed Int.1908-b, a bill that caps third-party delivery fees at 15%.

The vote tally was 46-4 with zero abstentions.

Int.1908 was introduced last month in the Committee on Small Business by Queens council member Francisco Moya and co-signed by District 1’s Margaret Chin of Lower Manhattan, among others.

At a City Council hearing in April, Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin spoke in support of the bill.

“Our local restaurants, which already operate on razor-thin margins, are facing a once-in-a-generation crisis,” Lappin said. “They may be serving takeout and delivery, but are likely doing so at a loss just to keep their doors open and staff on payroll. These outsized fees are massively eating into what little profit restaurants are able to realize today. Charging a 30% fee, especially during an unprecedented crisis, is unconscionable.”

The new measure goes into effect seven days after being signed into law by the mayor.

DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE

Business Featured Finance NYC

Downtown Alliance Launches Small Business Rental Assistance Grant

Post author By Downtown Magazine
Post date April 29, 2020

The Alliance Will Award $800,000 In Cash Grants To Essential Lower Manhattan
Small Businesses

Once again, its time for Downtowner’s to get up dust ourselves off and prepare for another resurgence. We are all struggling, not just Lower Manhattan by the entire globe.

Lucky for Lower Manhattan, we have been here one too many times, most recent was Super Storm Sandy. Our leaders know how to get us through the worst of times, and we always come out better than before.

Today, Downtown Silverstein Properties, Howard Hughes, Brookfield Properties, and The Alliance for Downtown New York is launching the Small Business Rental Assistance Grant program to offer immediate help to storefront businesses currently providing vital services to residents and essential workers in Lower Manhattan during the COVID-19 pandemic. With support from Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties and The Howard Hughes Corporation, the Downtown Alliance’s Small Business Rental Assistance Grant will give Lower Manhattan’s small businesses access to $800,000 in grants. The Small Business Rental Assistance Grant program is part of the Alliance’s ongoing small business relief efforts.

Businesses can apply, starting Friday, May 1 at 9a ET at downtownny.com/RentAssistGrant

“The Alliance has long worked to nurture the growth of local retail, and that focus will continue to drive our recovery efforts,” said Downtown Alliance President Jessica Lappin. “There is not one storefront business in New York City that has been spared by COVID-19. Every one of them is struggling. We are stepping up to do what we can to help our stores keep their lights on. We know there are a number of landlords trying to work with tenants, and we hope all property owners will be as flexible and creative as they can be at this challenging time.”

The Downtown Alliance is contributing $250,000 from redirected funds within its annual budget, and from outside its assessment collection, to support the Small Business Rental Assistance Grant program. Additional funding is being made available through neighborhood partners Brookfield Properties, Silverstein Properties, and The Howard Hughes Corporation. The individual grants will offer $10,000 each to small businesses as a single direct payment to be applied to April or May rent. Businesses must meet the following requirements and provide appropriate documentation:

Currently, be open and providing an “essential” service as defined by Governor Andrew Cuomo in the PAUSE order of March 22
Located on the ground floor within the BID’s boundaries
Be an independent business with five or fewer locations in New York City
Fewer than 20 employees as of March 1, 2020
Gross annual revenue below $1.5 million
Current lease at their current location through December 31, 2020
Provide proof of using this grant towards rent

Applications are available starting Friday, May 1 at 9a ET on a first-come, first-served basis, until May 15 or until funding has been exhausted. Required documentation will include: 2019 4th Quarter 941, relevant lease agreement pages, and the main pages from the business’s most recently filed IRS business tax return, showing its annual gross revenues.

“Brookfield is committed to Lower Manhattan and to doing what we can to help build bridges for its small businesses – such a big part of what makes Downtown a great place – to survive and recover,” said Ric Clark, Chairman of the Brookfield Property Group and Chairman of the Alliance for Downtown New York. “We’re proud to be joined by Silverstein Properties and the Howard Hughes Corporation in supporting this Alliance for Downtown New York initiative. Lower Manhattan has come back again and again from steep challenges. We know it will again.”

“Lower Manhattan is one of the greatest neighborhoods in the world, thanks in large part to its dynamic mix of restaurants, shops, bars, and other small businesses,” said Larry A. Silverstein, Chairman, Silverstein Properties. “Downtown’s businesses have been through a lot over the past two decades, but we are resilient, and will once again come back better and stronger than ever. Until that time, we need to stand together, which makes me grateful for this opportunity to directly support our most treasured local establishments.”

“Our city’s vibrant neighborhood businesses are the lifeblood of our economy,” says Saul Scherl, President of the New York Tri-State Region, The Howard Hughes Corporation. “The Howard Hughes Corporation is proud to support the Downtown Alliance’s newly created grant program to help essential small businesses hard-hit by COVID-19. Lower Manhattan has been through the toughest of times and has always found a way to rise again. These grants will ensure these important local businesses are ready and able to drive New York City’s post-pandemic economic recovery.”

The Small Business Rental Assistance Grant is part of a continuing effort by the Alliance to support businesses that are being adversely impacted by the spread of COVID-19. The Alliance is actively working to help Lower Manhattan’s business community weather this painful temporary shut-down: educating local business owners about available funding opportunities, convening working groups, communicating which businesses are open to residents, and spotlighting essential workers who are making a difference. Efforts will continue throughout the recovery phase with dedicated marketing programs and initiatives to help turn the lights back on across the neighborhood.

About the Alliance for Downtown New York
The mission of the Alliance for Downtown New York is to provide service, advocacy, research, and information to advance Lower Manhattan as a global model of a 21st century Central Business District for businesses, residents, and visitors. The Downtown Alliance manages the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Business Improvement District (BID), serving an area roughly from City Hall to the Battery, from the East River to West Street. For more information visit downtownny.com

https://www.dtm.wix2wp.site/the-downtown-all…tion-bus-service/ ‎

Tags Brookfield Properties, COVID19, downtown alliance, grant, jessica lappin, Larry Silverstein, Lower Manhattan, retail, Saul Scherl, Silverstein Properties, small business, store front retail