Press Release Archives - 591-96City's Anchor Initiative

Archives of the Mayor's Press Office

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 18, 1996

Release #591-96

Contact: Colleen Roche (212) 788-2958

MAYOR GIULIANI AND GOVERNOR PATAKI ANNOUNCE EXPANSION OF CITY'S ANCHOR INITIATIVE

RETAIL AND RESIDENTIAL OPPORTUNITIES IN SELECTED COMMERCIAL CORRIDORS TO SEE INFUSION OF $6.25 MILLION

Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and Governor George E. Pataki today announced the expansion of the ANCHOR/Partnership Plaza initiative -- a Mayoral program designed to increase home ownership and local commercial development in distressed City neighborhoods. This expansion was made possible by an infusion of $6.25 million in state funds provided through the Empire State Development Corporation.

Also attending today's press conference held in the Governor's New York City office were Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Planning Fran Reiter; Charles Gargano, President of the Empire State Development Corporation; New York City Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Lilliam Barrios-Paoli; and Henry R. Kravis, Chairman of the New York City Investment Fund and Founding Partner of Kohlberg, Kravis & Roberts.

"The purpose of the ANCHOR (Alliance for Neighborhood Commerce, Home Ownership and Revitalization ) program is to improve the quality of life by attracting new businesses, sustaining existing businesses, and creating new jobs and homes in these communities," said Mayor Giuliani. "I would like to thank the Governor for his generous support of this program -- support that will enable us to expand the ANCHOR initiative into other areas."

The Empire State Development Corporation's $6.25 million contribution will help finance the new construction of at least 445,000 square feet of retail space on vacant City-owned land along targeted commercial corridors. These funds will be added to the City's commitment of land and $2.5 million in Capital funds, a $4.6 million Federal Economic Development Initiatives grant and at least $2.5 million from the New York City Investment Fund, a subsidiary of the New York City Partnership.

Each "Partnership Plaza" will encompass 50,000 to 100,000 square feet of rental store and office space clustered on contiguous blocks along commercial corridors in Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill, Coney Island, Jamaica, the Bronx and in the City's federally designated Empowerment Zone which covers Upper Manhattan. The City will make land available and provide low-cost financing and real estate tax abatements. Working through various agencies, and with the private sector, the Partnership Plaza initiative will create a sound environment for business that will include improved security, transportation, sanitation and business assistance services. Public subsidies will also help lower the high cost of construction to produce rents that local retailers can afford and that will attract national and regional tenants.

"We call this the ANCHOR initiative because each owned home, each new business and each new employment opportunity acts as an anchor that will provide long-term help to stabilize and improve our City's neighborhoods. This is a program that is built around the individuals who live and work in their communities. Instead of valuing the ideal of some intangible social program, this initiative values human beings," the Mayor continued.

"Every day we work to create jobs and opportunity for all New Yorkers. Today New York takes another step on the road to renewal by providing jobs and business opportunities for people in their own neighborhoods thereby strengthening and stabilizing these communities," said Governor Pataki. "We are committed to developments that will bring quality retail and service tenants to New York City's under-served communities. The purpose of the program is to create a catalyst for additional private investment in neighborhood shopping districts."

"This retail initiative will provide expanded employment and business opportunities for local residents," said Deputy Mayor Fran Reiter. "ANCHOR will also attract retail tenants who offer quality goods and services at competitive prices in low and moderate income areas where there is an unmet need for additional retail services. The project will also strengthen and stabilize neighborhoods undergoing residential redevelopment."

"Retail development offers an immediate source of new jobs and business opportunities for New York neighborhoods," said Mr. Kravis. "This program will ensure that all neighborhoods share in the dramatic progress the Governor and Mayor have made in revitalizing New York's economy."

The residential component of the ANCHOR Initiative is jointly administered by HPD and the New York City Partnership. As part of one of the City's most successful redevelopment efforts, more than 5,000 affordable owner occupied homes have been constructed and sold in the ANCHOR areas and thousands more are planned over the next few years.

The ANCHOR/Partnership Plaza Initiative was initially announced by Mayor Giuliani in December l994. The project is being jointly administered by the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and the New York City Partnership to revitalize commercial districts in low-and moderate-income neighborhoods where there has been substantial public and private housing investment and there is need for additional retail services.