West Village May Get Business Improvement District, Plans Show

WEST VILLAGE, NY — It looks like New York City will soon have 77 Business Improvement Districts as multiple filings have recently been made to the city for the creation of the West Village Business Improvement District.

There are 76 Business Improvement Districts (BID) in the five boroughs. The term refers to a geographical area where local stakeholders oversee and fund the maintenance, improvements, and promotion of their commercial district.

Documents show that the West Village BID has received authorization from Mayor Bill de Blasio, and is now in the public review process.

Business Improvement Districts cannot be created "without the support of local elected officials, the community board, and other community leaders," reads an explanation of starting a BID on a city website.

The proposed West Village BID boundaries contain 872 properties bordered to the north by West 10th Street, extending to Perry Street on 7th Avenue, to the south by Carmine Street and Avenue of the Americas, to the east by Greenwich Avenue and Sheridan Square, and to the west by Bedford Street.

Roughly 60 percent of the 872 properties in the district are commercial or mixed-use, while 90 percent of the commercial square footage in the district is zoned as mixed-use.

The West Village BID lists the five following services as its proposed top priorities.

• Sanitation
• Beautification
• Security/Public Safety
• Community Awareness/Engagement
• Economic Development

Filings also show the BID's proposed budget for each service.

• Sanitation: $231,000
• Beautification: $45,000
• Security/Public Safety: $83,606
• Community Awareness/Engagement: $32,000
• Administration and Advocacy (inc. Economic Development): $159,666
• Reserve: $43,634
• Total: $594,906

"The mission of the West Village BID will be to support a culturally rich, commercially
vibrant community reflecting the West Village’s history and character," reads a description for the proposed West Village BID.

It is not immediately clear which local stakeholders are behind the creation of the West Village Business Improvement District.

If the West Village BID were to be approved, it would join the Meatpacking Business Improvement District and the Greenwich Village Chelsea Chamber of Commerce as nearby neighborhood organizations with similar overarching goals.

You can find out more about the proposed West Village Business Improvement District on the city's Zoning Application Portal website.