Search Results for: "small business"

February 28, 2018

Local artists will bring 10 public art installations to NYC parks this summer

New York City's parks department will bring art installations to 10 designated parks across the five boroughs this June. As part of "Art in the Parks: UNIQLO Park Expressions Grant Exhibit," public art will be displayed in parks that currently lack cultural programming. Japanese clothing company UNIQLO, as the initiative's sponsor, will give grants worth $10,000 to 10 emerging artists for the installations. The city's Art in the Parks program began in 1967 and is responsible for bringing over 2,000 public pieces of art to the city's parks.
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Events & Things To Do

February 27, 2018

‘Store Front’ photographers plan a life-size memorial to lost Lower East Side mom-and-pops

By Dana Schulz

Photographers James and Karla Murray published their first account of small businesses in NYC a decade ago with their seminal book “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York,” which captured hundreds of mom-and-pops and their iconic facades, many of them since shuttered, along with interviews with the business owners. They've since published two follow-ups, "New York Nights" and "Store Front II-A History Preserved," winning countless awards and gaining local and national fame for their documentation of a vanishing retail culture. And this summer, they're bringing their work to a larger scale than ever. The Lo-Down reports that the husband-and-wife team has designed an art installation for Seward Park, a wood-frame structure that will feature four nearly life-size images of Lower East Side business that have disappeared--a bodega, a coffee shop/luncheonette (the recently lost Cup & Saucer), a vintage store, and a newsstand.
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Events & Things To Do

February 12, 2018

How NYC companies use workplace design and perks to affect emotional health and productivity

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

Modern companies understand that in order to attract and retain the best talent, they have to compete on more than salaries, vacation, and healthcare. Companies like Google, WeWork, Pixar, and Facebook are well known for providing workspaces that inspire creativity, collaboration, and innovation. Clive Wilkinson, the architect of Google’s Silicon Valley headquarters, is quoted as saying, “75 to 80 percent of America is cubicle land. Cubicles are the worst - like chicken farming. They are humiliating, disenfranchising and isolating. So many American corporations still have them." Modern office designs are the opposite of closed off, fluorescent-lit cubicles- they are open with natural light and little, if any, suggestion of hierarchies. In addition to designing workspaces that inspire creativity, these modern companies also providing perks like free food, drink, and recreation to entice employees. So what are some of the best practices in designing offices for people’s emotional health and productivity? And what other perks do companies have to offer to attract the top talent?
Here's what companies are offering up

My 700sqft: News anchors Jamie and Brian Stelter open up their ‘sunny’ Lincoln Square home

6sqft’s series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Lincoln Square apartment of news anchors Jamie and Brian Stelter. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

January 16, 2018

My 700sqft: News anchors Jamie and Brian Stelter open up their ‘sunny’ Lincoln Square home

By Dana Schulz

If these two friendly faces look familiar it's because they grace your television screen daily. Jamie Stelter has been NY1's traffic reporter for the past eight years, gaining fame not only for her onscreen rapport with Pat Kiernan but for her naturally bubbly personality (especially important when you go on air at 5am!), and Brian Stelter is a former media reporter for the New York Times and the current senior media correspondent and host of "Reliable Sources" for CNN. And while this might sound like a recipe for one intimidating couple, the Stelters are about as down-to-earth and warm as they come. 6sqft recently visited the couple at their Lincoln Square apartment and saw what a typical afternoon looks like, from putting their adorable eight-month-old daughter Sunny down for a nap to Brian dashing out the door to CNN's nearby offices (and Jamie and Sunny watching him on tv just a few moments later!). We were also treated to a tour of their boho-meets-family-friendly home, which is filled with DIY projects, adorable personal mementos, and a long list of Jamie's stylish finds from her favorite Instagram feeds.
Hang out with Jamie and Brian

The Peninsula, a Hunts Point mixed-use complex on former juvenile jail site, gets new renderings

All renderings by BLA + WXY

January 5, 2018

The Peninsula, a Hunts Point mixed-use complex on former juvenile jail site, gets new renderings

By Devin Gannon

Updated renderings have been released of The Peninsula, a $300 million project that will bring 740 affordable housing units to the site of the former Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx neighborhood of Hunts Point. In addition to the 100 percent affordable housing, the five-acre site will contain 52,000 square feet of open and recreational space, a 48,000 square feet of community facility space and ground-floor retail space that will span 21,000 square feet. According to CityRealty, there will also be an 18,000 square foot wellness center operated by Urban Health Plan to provide residents with quality healthcare services.
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The highlife: Architecture, spectacle and Art Deco New York

Photo of the 1931 Beaux Arts Ball courtesy of the Van Alen Institute

January 5, 2018

The highlife: Architecture, spectacle and Art Deco New York

By Lucie Levine

The architects who built the Jazz Age really knew how to get down. In January 1931, they turned the city’s annual Beaux Arts Ball into the ultimate Gatsby-approved bash. Instead of the stuffy historicism of years past, the party’s theme was “Fête Moderne -- a Fantasie in Flame and Silver." Advance advertising for the Ball in the New York Times promised an event “modernistic, futuristic, cubistic, altruistic, mystic, architistic and feministic," featuring the city’s most renowned architects dressed as their buildings, celebrating both themselves and the modern fantasy metropolis they had forged in flame and silver. Art Deco New York: the skyscraper city, glittering and strong, reaching ever higher – through technological advancement and American ingenuity – toward excitement, prosperity, enlightenment, and power.
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Where I Work: Glaser’s German bakery has been satisfying Yorkville’s sweet tooth for 115 years

All photographs © James and Karla Murray for 6sqft

December 12, 2017

Where I Work: Glaser’s German bakery has been satisfying Yorkville’s sweet tooth for 115 years

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring Glaser's Bake Shop, a 115-year-old German bakery in Yorkville.Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! In the early 20th century, New York's German immigrants relocated from the East Village to the Upper East Side neighborhood of Yorkville, which soon became known as Germantown. The community was so culturally rich, that German was spoken more than English in this area. 86th Street was dubbed "Sauerkraut Boulevard" and was lined with German butchers, restaurants, and bakeries. After the dismantling of the Second and Third Avenue elevatrated trains in the 1940s and '50s, most of the German community moved out, but several of these old-time businesses still remain, one of which is Glaser's Bake Shop. When German immigrant John Glaser opened his bakery in 1902, there were half a dozen nearby competitors. 115 years later, the perfectly preserved storefront on First Avenue and 87th Street is the last of its kind in Yorkville, but it's still filled everyday with new neighbors and long-time residents alike, eager to satisfy their sweet tooths with the extra chocolately brownies, jelly donuts, Bavarian pastries, and their famous black-and-white cookies. Glaser's is now owned by John's grandsons Herbert and John, who are committed to keeping their family's traditions alive. 6sqft recently stopped by to watch Herb work on massive gingerbread village and chat with him more about the baker's history and how he's seen Yorkville change over the years.
Get a behind-the-scenes look and hear from Herb

Where I Work

The Urban Lens: The surprising beauty of Sunset Park’s Sims Municipal Recycling Facility

All photographs © James and Karla Murray for 6sqft

December 11, 2017

The Urban Lens: The surprising beauty of Sunset Park’s Sims Municipal Recycling Facility

By Hannah Frishberg

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, we take a look at the inner workings of Sunset Park's Sims Municipal Recycling Facility, from trash heaps to machinery to a learning center. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. The beauty of trash is not often lauded, but out on the Brooklyn waterfront, at Sunset Park's Sims Municipal Recycling Facility, the process is oddly mesmerizing. En masse, the glass and plastic shards processed in the building's bowels become a disposable rainbow, the sharp shapes of residential recyclables a testament to the mesmerizing aesthetic of large-scale sustainability. Sims is located on the 11-acre 30th Street Pier, which also contains the city's first commercial-scale wind turbine. On Sims' second story is a recycling education center; surrounding its exterior are a number of nature-harboring reefs, moorings, and native plants; and on the roof is an observation deck. The plant sorts 800 tons of recyclables on 2.5 miles worth of conveyor belts and machines daily, the majority of NYC's "commingled curbside material," its site proudly purports. In total, the plant processes 200,000 tons of plastic, glass, and metal a year. Ahead, take a look at the Sims world, where trash is heaped so high it really does look like treasure if you squint.
Take a tour

City Council Speaker pushing legislation to expand NYC’s food truck industry

Photo via Megan Morris/Flickr

December 7, 2017

City Council Speaker pushing legislation to expand NYC’s food truck industry

By Devin Gannon

Before the end of her tenure on Dec. 31, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is making an eleventh-hour push for legislation aimed at expanding the city's food vending industry. As Politico New York reported, the bill adds 335 more licenses for food vendors over 10 years, with 35 set aside for veterans. Currently, there are 5,100 licensed food vendors in the city. While the bill's passage could be a victory for immigrant workers, many who make a living working on food trucks or carts, although sometimes on the black market, critics say increasing the number of permits allowed for rent-free vendors could hurt brick-and-mortar shops.
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Policy

November 22, 2017

15 alternative holiday markets and indie pop-up shops in NYC

By Michelle Cohen

’Tis the season for shopping; even if we’re determined to resist the call to consume (or do all our shopping online, from bed), there’s always that unexpected invitation, last-minute secret Santa, or someone special that sends us scrambling for the perfect present. Fortunately, there’s no shortage of gift markets and pop-up shops offering a bounty of goodies and crafty gifts. The big mainstream NYC markets at Union Square, Bryant Park Grand Central Station and Columbus Circle are the front-runners for sheer volume, but some of the best finds—and the most fun—can be found at smaller, cooler neighborhood affairs. In addition to locally-made jewelry, crafts, vintage finds, artfully curated fashions, home items, gourmet goodies and other things we didn't know we needed, these hip retail outposts sparkle with drinks, food, workshops, tarot readings, nail art, music, and family fun to keep shoppers' spirits bright.
Find out where to get the goods

Events & Things To Do

The Urban Lens: Documenting NYC’s vanishing ATMs

Outside the Lower East Side club Fat Baby

October 6, 2017

The Urban Lens: Documenting NYC’s vanishing ATMs

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Ivan Kosnyrev shares photos from his Instagram series Unreliable ATM. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. We recently shared photographer's before-and-after photos of Tribeca, a project that helped him learn about the history and present evolution of his neighborhood. Having only moved to NYC three years ago from Moscow, Ivan uses his documentary photography as a way to get acclimated with his new home. And when he wants to go outside his home base, he often does so through the lens of his Instagram account Unreliable ATM, which documents the vanishing street ATM. Not only does this disappearance represent changing times and technologies, but it's a visual reminder of how the city is losing its small businesses and culture. Ahead, Ivan shares some of his favorite ATM photos and talks about his inspiration for the project.
All that, this way

Places

Radio Row: A tinkerer’s paradise and makerspace, lost to the World Trade Center

Radio Row, looking east along Cortlandt Street towards Greenwich Street, by Berenice Abbott Image via NYPL.

September 25, 2017

Radio Row: A tinkerer’s paradise and makerspace, lost to the World Trade Center

By Michelle Young

Before the internet and before television, there was radio broadcasting. The advent of radio at the turn of the 20th century had major repercussions on the reporting of wars along with its impact on popular culture, so it's not surprising that a business district emerged surrounding the sale and repair of radios in New York City. From 1921 to 1966, a roughly 13-block stretch going north-south from Barclay Street to Liberty Street, and east-west from Church Street to West Street, was a thriving small business stronghold known as Radio Row.
Read more about Radio Row here

History

‘Bodega’ mobile pantries want to replace your local convenience store

Image via Bodega

September 13, 2017

‘Bodega’ mobile pantries want to replace your local convenience store

By Dana Schulz

The loss of small businesses throughout cities nationwide is already an escalating issue to rising rents and online delivery platforms, but more and more new physical business models are also looking to edge out mom-and-pops and brick-and-mortar retail establishments in general. Take for example a new startup called Bodega, which, you guessed it, wants to replace your actual bodega (they've even made their logo a "bodega cat"). Started by two former Google employees, the concept puts unmanned pantries in offices, gyms, dorms, or apartment buildings and stocks them with convenience store staples like non-perishable snacks and beverages, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and even fitness equipment, using a special computer vision system to track purchases (h/t Fast Company).
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City Living

INTERVIEW: Author Ed Hamilton on how the Chelsea Hotel inspired personal stories of gentrification

Background image via Andrew Malone/Flickr

August 15, 2017

INTERVIEW: Author Ed Hamilton on how the Chelsea Hotel inspired personal stories of gentrification

By Emily Nonko

When it comes to the Chelsea Hotel, Ed Hamilton has seen it all. He and his wife moved to the iconic property in 1995, living among artists and musicians in a 220-square-foot, single-room-occupancy unit. The storied, artistic community nurtured inside the hotel came to an end a decade ago when the building sold for the first time and evictions followed. Since then, the property has traded hands a number of times with talks of boutique hotel development, luxury condos, or some combination of the two. Hamilton started tracking the saga at his blog Living With Legends and published a book, "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel," in 2007. After the book's success, Hamilton wrote a short story collection titled "The Chintz Age: Stories of Love and Loss for a new New York." Each piece offers a different take on New York's "hyper gentrification," as he calls it: a mother unable to afford her lofty East Village apartment, giving it up to a daughter she shares a strained relationship with; a book store owner who confronts his failed writing career as a landlord forces him out of now highly valuable commercial space. Ultimately, many of the stories were inspired by the characters he met inside the Chelsea Hotel. And his tales offer a new perspective on a changing city, one that focuses on "the personal, day-to-day struggles about the people who are trying to hang onto their place in New York." With 6sqft, he shares what it's like writing in the under-construction Chelsea Hotel, what the Chintz Age title means, and the unchanged spots of the city he still treasures.
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Mayor announces $1.35 billion plan to create 100,000 new jobs with a focus on the city’s middle class

Image via pexels

June 16, 2017

Mayor announces $1.35 billion plan to create 100,000 new jobs with a focus on the city’s middle class

By Michelle Cohen

Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a plan to add 100,000 new jobs to the city's economy over the next 10 years, particularly positions that pay over $50,000 a year, with the intention of shoring up an increasingly hard-to-maintain middle class lifestyle, the Wall Street Journal reports. The city would contribute more than $1.35 billion toward job creation in already promising job sectors, what the mayor referred to as “good-paying jobs,” that pay or lead to being paid at least $50,000 a year. The mayor said at a news conference Thursday, “the job here is to lift the floor for everyone in this city, to make sure that a middle-class lifestyle really is available to everybody.”
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Policy

May 3, 2017

EVENT: Two food-centric tours explore the history and culture of the East Village

By 6sqft

When we point the finger at gentrifying neighborhoods, the East Village often gets a lot of heat thanks to its quickly climbing rents, shift from a more diverse population (today, roughly 40 percent of the ‘hood is between the ages of 20 and 34), and loss of small businesses. And though this final fact is certainly true, especially as it pertains to eateries (just this past year we said goodbye to Angelica Kitchen, The Redhead, and Lanza's), the East Vill still has a wealth of independent restaurants that pay homage to its rich immigrant history as well as a crop of new establishments that are sensitive to the community and represent the new wave of foodie culture. This weekend, two events will explore the past and future of the East Village through its food establishments--a walking tour led by 6sqft's Senior Editor Dana Schulz for GVSHP will take you through the Italian, Ukrainian/Eastern European, and Indian history and A Taste of 7th Street will offer a self-guided chance to taste samplings from 10 local favorites.
more details here

April 14, 2017

The Urban Lens: Zooming in on New York’s captivating corner architecture

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Sam Golanski highlights New York's unique narrow and corner buildings. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. 6sqft recently featured Sam Golanki's photography series "Park Avenue Doormen," where he gave the men who safeguard the Upper East Side's ritzy buildings a chance to step out from behind the velvet ropes and in front of the camera. He's now taken a similar approach--albeit this time with buildings, not people--in his collection "Narrow and Corner Buildings." Choosing to forego iconic structures like the Flatiron Building, Sam instead focuses on small structures off the beaten path that may otherwise be overlooked. "I realized the corner is the center of each block, a place for small businesses, barbershops, and coffee shops," he said, explaining that he didn't pre-plan the series, but rather was drawn to these unique structures while strolling the city.
Get a look at all the photos

Places

April 3, 2017

11 New York-based firms bid to build Trump’s border wall

By Dana Schulz

Despite the fact that Donald Trump received only 18 percent of presidential votes citywide, he's getting a surprising show of NYC support when it comes to his $20 billion border wall. Crain's reports that 11 New York-based firms, including contractors, architects, and "little-known small businesses," have expressed interest in the project, seemingly undeterred by legislation proposed last month that would bar the city from signing contracts with companies involved in the wall. Though some of these applicants support Trump's true intentions, others have taken a more creative approach, using the submission process as a way to support immigration and co-existence.
Hear from four of the applicants about their proposals and stances

Policy

March 7, 2017

Study finds Bronx residents most in danger of housing displacement due to gentrification

By Michelle Cohen

A new report from the Regional Plan Association finds that residents of the Bronx are at highest risk of being pushed out due to gentrification compared to other New Yorkers, according to DNAinfo. The report, titled "Pushed Out: Housing Displacement in an Unaffordable Region," looks at the effect of rising housing costs in New York City and addresses what it names "A Crisis of Affordability." The report found the threat of being pushed out due to lack of affordable housing was a threat in 71 percent of census tracts in the Bronx. Following in displacement risk was Brooklyn at 55 percent, Manhattan and Queens at 31 percent each and Staten Island at 15 percent.
People moving out, people moving in

Affordable Housing

February 3, 2017

NYC launches citywide book club, One Book, One New York

By Michelle Cohen

On Wednesday the city announced that it's bringing back the One Book, One New York program to get New Yorkers reading and support independent bookstores in the five boroughs, the New York Times reports. Starting in early March, residents from all corners of the city will be encouraged to read the same book, which will be chosen in an online vote from a small group of finalists. The five choices are: Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “Between the World and Me,” Paul Beatty’s “The Sellout,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “Americanah,” Betty Smith’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” and Junot Díaz’s “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.” But the first challenge the program faces is to get New Yorkers to agree on a book.
Read on, New York

City Living

January 27, 2017

Lottery opens for 40 affordable units across Central Harlem, starting at $822/month

By Dana Schulz

Second to the Bronx, Central Harlem has seen perhaps the most new affordable housing opportunities in the city. The latest is a 40-unit lottery spread across four buildings near Jackie Robinson Park--304 West 152nd Street, 232 West 149th Street, 2797 Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and 2472 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard. The units are available to those earning 50 or 60 percent of the area media income and range from $822/month studios to $1,371/month four-bedrooms.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

January 11, 2017

Area businesses estimate $40M in lost revenue because of Trump Tower ‘occupied zone’

By Michelle Cohen

President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to remain in his Manhattan HQ is causing concern among businesses in the area. Business leaders and local officials spoke out Tuesday at a City Council hearing on the threat that blocked sidewalks and traffic snarls are posing to jobs, tax revenues, tourist appeal and “global reputation,” reports Crain’s. Local merchants claim they’ve taken a significant hit, and that many are considering not renewing their leases or moving elsewhere. Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District president Tom Cusack estimated that local businesses have lost $40 million in revenue since Election Day due to the security maze that the area surrounding Trump Tower has become.
Business leaders call for 'extraordinary action'

Celebrities

January 6, 2017

Before & After: 10 NYC blocks and enclaves transformed by pedestrian-friendly design

By Diane Pham

New York clocks in more steps on average than any other state in the country, and that number is most definitely skewed by New York City where more residents hit the pavement than the gas pedal. But in a town that's seemingly dominated by pedestrians, car culture maintains the right of way. According to Vision Zero, NYC's program to reduce traffic-related fatalities, being struck by a vehicle is the leading cause of injury-related death for children under 14, and the second leading cause for seniors. Providing more public space for pedestrians has become an increasing concern for the city over the last decade, and as such, a multitude of plans have been put forward to create sanctuaries from traffic or to reconfigure streets to keep people safe. But beyond preventing traffic accidents, by planting more trees, expanding sidewalks and bike paths, and installing seating, these urban renewal projects have also been key in promoting walking, biking, health and ultimately a more desirable and habitable New York City.
see more here

November 15, 2016

Where I Work: Go inside Lite Brite Neon’s colorfully gritty Gowanus workshop and showroom

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we take a tour of the Gowanus studio of Lite Brite Neon. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Among the manufacturing and arts tenants in the Old American Can Factory, a converted six-building industrial complex at the Gowanus Canal, is Lite Brite Neon, which has been described as "the darling of artists and designers." And after touring their funky workspace/showroom, the description definitely fits. They were founded in 1999 in Brooklyn and have been creating neon art, signage, lighting, and displays ever since, in addition to preserving and restoring historic neon. 6sqft recently got an insider's look at their colorfully gritty home and spoke to lead designer Wayne Heller about how the company functions and what makes neon unique.
Take the tour here

October 26, 2016

POLL: Is Fifth Avenue losing its luster amid soaring rents and empty storefronts?

By Dana Schulz

Fifth Avenue is known around the world as the high-end shopping address, but rising rents are leading to an increase in vacant space along the retail corridor. According to data from Cushman & Wakefield reported by Crain's, the availability rate spiked to 15.9 percent in the third quarter of this year, up 10 percent from the same time last year. On the stretch that has the world's highest rents, from 49th to 60th streets, retail space is listed at an average of $3,213 per square foot, up from $2,075 in 2011. To put this in perspective, current rents in Times Square are $2,104 per square foot after tripling over the past four years.
Do you think Fifth Avenue can get over the hump?

Real Estate Trends

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