New York City 2016 Progress Report NEW YORK CITY REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEMBERS
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State of the Region: New York City 2016 Progress Report NEW YORK CITY REGIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL MEMBERS New York City Regional Co-Chairs Winston Fisher Partner, Fisher Brothers Appointed Members Stuart Appelbaum Nick Lugo President, RWDSU President, New York City Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Wellington Chen Ashok Nigalaye Executive Director of the Chinatown Partnership President & CEO, Epic Pharma LLC Marlene Cintron Carlo Scissura, Esq. President, Bronx Overall Economic Development President & CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Corporation (BOEDC) Douglas C. Steiner Cesar J. Claro Chairman, Steiner Studios President & CEO, Staten Island Economic Development Marcel Van Ooyen Corporation Executive Director, Grow NYC Carol Conslato Peter Ward Past President / Counsel, Queens Chamber of Commerce President, New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council Mike Fishman Sheena Wright Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU President & CEO, United Way of New York City Lisa Futterman Kathryn Wylde Regional Director New York City, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City Workforce Development Institute Kinda Younes The Honorable Martin Golden Executive Director, ITAC New York State Senate, 22nd District Monique Greenwood Ex-Officio Members CEO of Akwaabe Bed & Breakfast Inns Alicia Glen Gail Grimmett Deputy Mayor of New York City President, Protravel International & Tzell Travel Group Ruben Diaz, Jr. Steve Hindy Bronx Borough President Co-founder and Chairman, Brooklyn Brewery Eric Adams Dr. Marcia V. Keizs Brooklyn Borough President President, York College Gale A. Brewer Kenneth Knuckles Manhattan Borough President President & CEO, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation Melinda Katz Queens Borough President Gary LaBarbera President, Building and Construction Trades Council of James Oddo Greater New York Staten Island Borough President Table of Contents I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ..................................................................................1 II. PROGRESS ..............................................................................................................5 State of the Region ...........................................................................................................7 Key Regional Focus: Life Sciences Cluster ................................................................15 Status of Past Priority Projects ....................................................................................17 Status of All Projects Awarded CFA Funding ...........................................................31 III. IMPLEMENTATION AGENDA ................................................................... 33 Implementation Agenda for a Regional Life Sciences Industry Cluster ..............35 Implementation of a Workforce Development Strategy..........................................36 Update on Existing Regional Priorities ......................................................................38 Opportunity Zone Updates .......................................................................................... 41 Additional Ongoing Initiatives ....................................................................................49 Proposed Priority Projects............................................................................................57 IV. WORK GROUPS ..............................................................................................103 V. DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION INITIATIVE ..............................106 Photo credits .................................................................................................................111 This report was printed and produced in New York City on paper made in the state of New York. 2016 Progress Report PART ONE Executive Summary 1 State of the Region: New York City The New York City region has been awarded $320.2 million over five funding rounds, creating and retaining almost 30,000 jobs and leveraging $3.4 billion in private and other public investment. ew York City is the nation’s largest and most di- The New York City Regional Economic Development verse urban economy. The entire state depends on Council (REDC) has developed a strategic plan and project N the city as a critical source of economic activity, priorities to help New York state make investments and tax revenues and intellectual capital. The city looks to policy decisions that effectively address these challenges. the state, in turn, to develop and maintain critical public It aims to ensure that New York City continues to grow infrastructure, high standards of education and workforce and prosper and that the benefits of prosperity are widely development, strong incentives for business investment shared across its neighborhoods and diverse populations, and economic development, and a productive legal, tax, especially where need is greatest. and regulatory environment. Through the REDC/CFA process, the New York City region Today, New York City’s economy is strong, but it still faces has been awarded $320.2 million in the first five funding a variety of fiscal and economic challenges that must be rounds. Funded projects will create and retain 29,551 jobs addressed to ensure the city’s future. These challenges and result in more than $3.4 billion in private and other include: public investment. In addition, since 2012, the REDC Executive Committee has endorsed approximately • Increased competition for jobs, investment and talent 110 Empire State Development incentive offers for projects from other domestic and global regions with a projected value of over $3.5 billion that will create • The provision of adequate training, job opportunities and retain nearly 80,000 jobs. and support services for the 21 percent of the city’s In 2016, the REDC conducted extraordinary outreach to population that live in poverty organizations, community leaders and elected officials • Severe cost pressures that make the city increasingly across the five boroughs to explain the work of the REDC unaffordable for middle class households and the and the CFA funding process and to encourage a greater businesses that employ them diversity of applications. This outreach has been particu- larly important for introducing small community-based • Reductions in federal funding to deal with aging infra- organizations and small businesses to the availability of structure, deteriorating housing stock and the needs state resources. The REDC also engaged with the state- of a diverse population wide REDC network to develop relationships with other regions which has led to collaboration on projects and policies that benefit the entire state. 2016 Progress Report 2 Here are a few examples of what has been For the coming year, priority projects that are accomplished in the sixth year of the Strategic Plan: recommended in this Progress Report include: Silvercup Studios received a $1.6 million ESD grant A Brooklyn Navy Yard Transportation System to through Round V to expand from its home base in Queens accommodate workers and customers in what has become to a location in the Port Morris section of the South the city’s most vibrant industrial park. With state support, Bronx. In August 2016, Silvercup opened the first film and a tech-enabled shuttle bus service will provide an expand- television studio in the Bronx, the New York City borough ed and more efficient connection between this growing with the highest concentration of poverty, creating 16 new employment center and the region’s public transit system. jobs in the studio and an additional 400 jobs in annual production activity. The launch of City University’s START-UP NY part- nership, comprised of Central Brooklyn’s Medgar Evers Activity in the Brooklyn Navy Yard is exploding with College and three early stage high-tech companies that expansion of Steiner Studios and the opening of the New will be located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Lab design and prototyping facility, as well as the comple- tion and rent-up of manufacturing buildings supported by Consistent with the Governor’s Round VI focus on work- the REDC over the past five years. force development, the REDC is recommending support for a home health aide training program sponsored by The North Shore of Staten Island is being transformed Sunnyside Community Services in the Rockaways; into a premiere destination for tourists and shoppers with funding of a facility that will house the Lower Eastside construction underway this year on major REDC support- Girls Club’s NextGen Nurses Program; and training ed projects including the Empire Outlets and the hotel programs in food handling, commercial drivers’ licenses, and residential/retail development known as Lighthouse security, and customer services offered by Bedford Point. Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. Capital grants are recommended for the Ghetto Film School Culture With state support, Long Island City, Queens, has and Media Center to help prepare South Bronx youth for become a model for community engagement in planning jobs in the film industry; and for renovation of an historic for inclusive economic development and residential firehouse where Henry Street Settlement will locate a growth. Neighborhood Resource Center to accommodate work- In Manhattan, a world class life sciences industry cluster force development programs for its clients.As part of its is emerging thanks to the foundation laid by state and long-term commitment to the South Bronx, the Women’s city-assisted initiatives like the Alexandria Science Housing & Economic Development Corporation