Throggs Neck BID launches; director announcement soon
BY JASON COHEN
With the New Year underway,
Throggs Neck now has its
fi rst ever business improvement
district.
The Throggs Neck Business
Improvement District
was approved in the summer
and incorporated in October.
Now in 2020, it is ready to get
the ball rolling.
The lawyer for the TNBID,
Stephen Kaufman, explained
the BID did not happen overnight
and its creation was
the culmination of countless
hours of pounding the pavement
by a few dedicated individuals
to drum up support.
Kaufman, along with the
BID’s chairman, Anthony
Basso, who owns Big Three
Wine and Liquor, 3824 E.
Tremont Avenue, believe the
BID will help the community.
Kaufman served as president
of the Throggs Neck Merchant
Association from 2013 to
2016 during the initial efforts
to form a BID.
“Where there’s a BID,
property values have gone
up,” Kaufman told the Bronx
Times. “We want to spruce
up the business strip so it can
competitively compete.”
The TNBID’s annual budget
will be somewhere between
$320,000 to $330,000 and
in total, 175 merchants are located
within the BID area,
which spans along East Tremont
Avenue as well as several
side streets from Bruckner
Boulevard to Marina del Rey.
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Interviews have been going
on for about a month to select
a BID director. An announcement
on the hiring is expected
very soon.
According to Kaufman, the
BID’s goal is to beautify the
community, install new signage
and entice new restaurants
and tenants to the strip.
More importantly, the BID
will provide business owners a
place where they can directly
deal with their problems.
Kaufman explained the
process to form the BID began
a few years ago. During a survey
in 2015 business owners
indicated they were interested
in better marketing and more
retail diversity.
Basso told the Bronx Times
he has seen many merchants
come and go, but feels the
BID will entice new ones and
strenghten those already here.
“Throggs Neck needs
it,” he stressed. “I’m here 40
plus years and I’ve seen the
changes. We have to make
shopping for the public better.”
The hope is to keep local
shoppers from going to malls
and encourage them to stay local,
he stressed.
Basso said the BID has already
implemented a sanitation
program that will keep
the strip’s curbs and sidewalks
clear of trash.
The installation of new
street lighting is also on the
agenda he said.
“The goal is to improve
the commercial corridor,” he
stressed.
With the ever increasing
rent and property taxes and
competition from Amazon,
maintaining a successful business
is defi nitely a challenge,
he said. Hopefully, this will
reduce the vacancies throughout
the BID area as well.
“Brick and mortar stores
are feeling the pinch,” he said.
Basso explained that every
property owner that is part
of the BID pays an additional
tax, which is collected by the
city and then turned over to
the BID.
“We welcome anybody that
wants to come into the community
and see it grow,” he
said.
The BID is working on establishing
a shuttle bus that
would operate between the
soon-to-be-realized Ferry
Point ferry service, East Tremont
Avenue and Waters Place.
Basso also pointed to Montefi
ore’s renovation of the former
Mandees building at 3860
E. Tremont Avenue, which
will add a boost to Throggs
Neck’s medical services.
“I think everybody is ready
for some change,” he said.
Anthony Basso, owner of Big Three Wine & Liquor in Throgs Neck, is the
chairman of the new Throgsneck BID. Schneps Media Jason Cohen
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