New York City Economic Development Corporation
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[edit] Overview
New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) is a non-profit local development corporation that promotes economic growth across New York City's five boroughs. Over the corporation's lifetime, NYCEDC initiatives have brought the City billions of dollars in private investment and helped to create thousands of local jobs. As the City’s primary vehicle for stimulating City-wide investment, NYCEDC is regarded by some within the City as an influential and reputable agency. Others view NYCEDC's recent prominence and power as indicative of the Bloomberg administration's overemphasis on steering profits to real estate developers at the expense of human services and all other municipal priorities.
NYCEDC Organizational Structure
NYCEDC is not an official City agency. Instead, it is a true public/private hybrid. It is organized like a corporation but is controlled by the Mayor vis-à-vis his appointment of a Board of Directors and a series of contracts that outline NYCEDC’s primary responsibilities.
NYCEDC's Board of Directors has 27 members. The mayor directly appoints seven members of NYCEDC’s board, including one Chairperson, who is responsible for nominating ten more members. The remaining ten board positions are filled by the five Borough presidents, who nominate one member each, and the Speaker of the City Council who nominates five. The Mayor then appoints the Board of Directors from these nominees.
NYCEDC's primary responsibilities include:- Facilitating commercial and industrial development projects
- Stabilizing and improving industrial areas citywide
- Encouraging development of intrastate, interstate and international commerce within the City
- Managing and maintaining various City-owned properties
- Administering public loans
NYCEDC also facilitates economic development by selling and leasing vacant City-owned property, promoting investment in the City’s central business districts and strategically incorporating underutilized property in its development initiatives.
NYCEDC assists businesses by providing incentive programs that issue low-cost tax-exempt bonds. Double and triple tax-exempt revenue bonds are issued by the New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCIDA), an entity administered by NYCEDC.
NYCEDC oversees transportation and infrastructure projects that make transit within the Tri-state region more efficient. NYCEDC also manages the redevelopment of the City's rail freight lines, food markets, and maritime and aviation facilities to help improve the distribution of goods both within and outside of New York City’s five boroughs.
[edit] Development Projects
NYCEDC has successfully implemented a variety of development initiatives throughout New York City. Some of its past projects include the renovation of the Battery Maritime Building, the revitalization of the East New York Industrial Business Zone, the reconstruction of Greenwich Street, the construction of the Keyspan Park, Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of New York (in the Bronx), the coordination of the Staten Island Railroad Reactivation, and the completion of capital improvements on the Whitehall Ferry terminal, to name a few.
Currently, NYCEDC is working with the City on a variety of projects and initiatives including:
- 125th Street, Harlem
- 168th Street, Jamaica, Queens
- Brooklyn Piers 7 through 12
- East River Waterfront
- Flushing Commons
- Hunts Point Vision Plan
- Melrose Retail Study
- Sherman Creek Neighborhood Plan
- South Bronx Greenway
- Willets Point Development District
- Downtown Brooklyn Development Plan
- Homeport, Staten Island
[edit] History
NYCEDC formed when the Public Development Corporation (PDC) and the Financial Services Corporation (FSC) merged in 1991.
PDC was initially formed in 1966 in an effort to rescue the City from its deteriorating economy by selling City property and leasing industrial space. PDC was responsible for many well-known development projects between 1966 and 1991, including:
- Nassau Street Mall
- MetroTech
- Fulton Mall
- 42nd Street Development Project
- Brooklyn Army Terminal
- Stapleton, Staten Island
- Jamaica Center
- South Street Seaport
- College Point Corporate Park
The FSC was a not-for-profit local development corporation that formed in 1980 to administer government financing programs that promote business expansion in New York City. When it was created, FSC also undertook control of the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), the agency responsible for assisting industrial and commercial firms in obtaining low-cost financing through the issuance of tax exempt bonds.
Following a 1991 merger, NYCEDC assumed all of the responsibilities of its predecessors and also acquired two new divisions—Maritime Contracts, and Business Services and Economic Development.
[edit] Leadership
Carl Weisbrod, formerly of PDC prior to its merger with FSC, was the first president of NYCEDC under the Dinkins administration. Weisbrod was succeeded by Charles Millard and Michael G. Carey under the Guiliani administration, followed by Andrew Alper, the first president appointed to the position during the Bloomberg administration.
Robert C. Lieber was appointed in January of 2007 and is currently president of NYCEDC.
