New York City is the business capital of the world, whether you're talking about the global business headquarter districts of Manhattan, or the many vibrant office, retail, and industrial districts that are found throughout each and every borough. Our goal is to ensure the long-term vitality of the City's diverse commercial districts by creating greater opportunity for small businesses and the communities they serve. SBS helps ensure the success of these districts by investing in the streetscape improvements, property development, and business attraction needed to encourage further investment on the part of the private sector.

Avenue NYC

SBS ensures that neighborhood business districts are all that they can be, through programs like Avenue NYC. Each year, SBS partners with local organizations in neighborhoods throughout the City to implement programs that markedly improve conditions in these districts. Program activities include: Neighborhood Economic Development Planning, Business Attraction, District Marketing, Commercial Real Estate Development, Streetscape/Storefront Improvement, and Business Improvement District (BID) Formation.

Business Improvement Districts

SBS is committed to making the City’s commercial districts better places to live, work, and shop. One of the ways we achieve this is by partnering with small businesses and property owners to establish Business Improvement Districts (BIDs). BIDs are public-private partnerships that deliver supplemental services to commercial districts, including sanitation, security, marketing and promotion, and capital improvements. SBS offers assistance and support to qualified committees that wish to establish a BID, and in some cases pilot promotional programs.

Retail Leasing

SBS also supports neighborhood organizations with their neighborhood retail leasing efforts. The SBS Neighborhood Retail Leasing Program is part of an eight-month pilot program that provides four neighborhoods with targeted technical assistance to help identify the range of retailers that can be supported by their local markets. The neighborhoods also receive in-depth market and demographic analysis, a district-wide retail leasing plan, district marketing materials and a set of pre-qualified prospects to begin their marketing outreach. The Program also includes training in retail attraction available to all of the City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) -eligible communities. Through this effort, SBS provides these groups with both the knowledge and the practical tools necessary to improve and manage their district’s business mix.