BID to Help Sunnyside’s Commercial Corridor Shine

April 1, 2007 - Home to dozens of restaurants, the Museum of African Art, and the Thalia Spanish Theater, Sunnyside is a vibrant neighborhood in Queens known for its ethnic diversity. The community, located along the 7 train just minutes from the Queensboro Bridge and Queens Midtown tunnel, is home to growing international restaurants and an expanding arts community. 

In an effort to support this development and provide additional services to the central commercial corridor of the neighborhood, the Department of Small Business Services is partnering with local groups to develop a Business Improvement District (BID) in the neighborhood.  

"A Business Improvement District in Sunnyside will improve the shopping district for residents, visitors and more than 290 local merchants," said Robert Walsh, Commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services. "The BID will help deliver supplementary sanitation, security and maintenance services and the marketing and promotion of the commercial district." 

The proposed BID boundaries include both sides of Queens Boulevard from 38th to 50th Streets, both sides of Greenpoint Avenue from 42nd to 48th Streets, and both sides of Roosevelt Avenue from 48th to 50th Streets. On January 11, 2007, SBS submitted the Sunnyside BID Plan to the City Planning Commission, officially initiating the legislative approval process.

"Once the BID is signed into law we will have reached our vision of making Sunnyside a point of destination," said John Vogt, president of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce.

For the past two years, Avenue NYC, a neighborhood development initiative at SBS, has provided a grant to the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce to assist in developing the BID. Avenue NYC funds community-based organizations to support neighborhood economic development planning, such as help with business attraction, district marketing, commercial real estate development, streetscape and storefront improvement, and BID formation.

Click here for more information on Business Improvement Districts.