Dan Biederman

Daniel A. Biederman is an American urban redevelopment expert and public space management consultant. He is the co-founder of Grand Central Partnership, 34th Street Partnership, and Bryant Park Corporation, three Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) operating in Midtown Manhattan, and is also the President of Biederman Redevelopment Ventures, a place-making consulting firm. Biederman has been cited for his success in using private funding to revitalize urban public spaces and parks.[1][2][3]

Daniel Biederman
Born	New York City, New York.
Nationality	United States
Education	B.A. Princeton University M.B.A. Harvard Business School
Occupation	Downtown manager and urban redeveloper
Known for	Founder: Bryant Park Corporation 34th Street Partnership Grand Central Partnership Biederman Redevelopment Ventures
Spouse(s)	Susan Duke
Children	Robert Biederman Brooke Biederman

Bryant Park Corporation

In 1980 Biederman and Andrew Heiskell, then-Chairman of Time, Inc. and the New York Public Library, co-founded the Bryant Park Corporation (BPC). The not-for-profit private management company was created by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to bring improvements to Bryant Park, a 9.6-acre (3.9 ha) park in Midtown Manhattan which had suffered a severe, decades-long decline. BPC immediately brought enhanced security and sanitation to the park and began slowly to rehabilitate its physical plant.

In 1987, the City of New York signed a 15-year agreement entrusting BPC with sole responsibility for managing, programming, and improving the park, whereupon it was closed for a four-year renovation. The project entailed improving existing, and creating additional, park entrances to increase visibility from the street, enhancing the formal French garden design, and improving the park's paths and lighting. BPC's plan also included restoring the park's monuments, renovating its long-closed restrooms, and building two restaurant pavilions and four permanent food kiosks.[4]

After a four-year effort overseen by Biederman, the park reopened in 1992 to widespread acclaim. Called "a triumph for many" by The New York Times architectural critic Paul Goldberger, the renovation was lauded for its architectural excellence.[5] The renovation was also lauded as "The Best Example of Urban Renewal" by New York magazine,[6] and was described by Time as a "small miracle".[7][8] Many awards followed, including a Design Merit Award from Landscape Architecture Magazine,[8] and a 1996 Award for Excellence from the Urban Land Institute.[9]

34th Street Partnership

34th Street Partnership (34SP) was founded in 1989 when then-Mayor David Dinkins and property owners on 34th Street asked Biederman to spearhead efforts to improve the area adjacent to Madison Square Garden in preparation for the 1992 Democratic National Convention.[10]

In January 1992, the Partnership opened a $6 million annual program of security, sanitation, tourist information, public events, and debt service on a major capital improvement bond of $25 million for improvements to the district's street, sidewalks, and plazas.[11]

In 2000, 34SP completed a project to redevelop Herald Square Park and Greeley Square Park, two triangular public spaces located at the convergence of Broadway, Sixth Avenue, and 34th Street. The renovation included adding a public restroom and permanent food kiosk to each park, as well as installing horticultural elements, chairs, and tables.[12]

The 34SP BID continues to operate across the 31 blocks comprising the 34th Street District. The capital improvements have been widely regarded as a prime reason for the rise in 34th Street property values that began in the 1990s and continues to this day, with "rapid appreciation on nearly every street".[13][14] 34th Street Partnership has also been credited with attracting national retailers to 34th Street, and for the rise in retail rents.[15]

As President of 34SP, Biederman has criticized the condition of New York's streetscape and has led efforts to upgrade it.

34SP has worked with shop owners on 34th Street to improve the appearance of store frontage and to curtail the use of opaque steel doors during closing hours.[16]

The BID's design and capital departments have greatly reduced the number of individual newsboxes in the district, and convinced publishers to place their publications in 34SP's own multiple newsboxes.[17]

Senior 34SP staff has lobbied NYC government to enforce laws prohibiting bus and truck idling, and to move intercity buses away from the 34th Street District.[18]

Grand Central Partnership

In 1984 then-Mayor Ed Koch, at the behest of executives from many of the Fortune 500 companies that are headquartered near Grand Central Terminal in New York, asked Biederman to help make the downtrodden area around the terminal commensurate with the offices nearby. Biederman formed the Grand Central Partnership (GCP), a Business Improvement District that provided enhanced security, sanitation, and streetscape improvements to the area.[19]

GCP was one of several Midtown Manhattan BIDs to be given credit for the economic and environmental revival of the area in the 1990s.[20][21]

After a series of disagreements with then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani over rules governing BIDs, Biederman resigned from GCP in 1998.[22] He continues to serve as President of Bryant Park Corporation and 34th Street Partnership.

Private Consulting - Biederman Redevelopment Ventures

Biederman formed Biederman Redevelopment Ventures (BRV), a place-making consulting firm, in 1999. The company works with real estate developers, government agencies, charitable foundations, and professional sports teams on projects to create, redevelop, and/or operate urban public spaces in 28 states and six countries.

BRV created a programming and operations plan for Klyde Warren Park, a 5.2-acre park constructed atop a sunken freeway in Dallas that opened in 2012. BRV also advised Woodall Rodgers Park Foundation, the dedicated not-for-profit company that manages the park, on sanitation, security, programming, and revenue creation.[23][24]

BRV was selected in April 2017 to operate Salesforce Park, a new park set atop Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco, which opened in August 2018. In addition to programming the park and its amphitheater, BRV oversees general operations, horticulture, and revenue generation.[25]

As placemaking consultant, BRV worked with the Green Bay Packers on the design, programming, and operations of the new Titletown District adjacent to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI. Titletown opened in September 2017, and BRV continues to advise the managing company on its operations.[26]

References

1. How Dan Biederman, One Of The Nation's Leading Urban Revitalization Experts, Works His Magic, Forbes, June 12, 2017
2. “Private Money for Public Spaces”, Urban Land Institute Washington, April 26, 2012
3. "Raising Private Funds to Remake a Public Park", New York Sun, January 26, 2006
4. "Bryant Park Project Approved", New York Times, January 13, 1987
5. Goldberger, Paul (May 3, 1992). "Architecture View: Bryant Park, An Out-of-Town Experience". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
6. "Best Example of Urban Renewal". New York. December 20, 1993.
7. "Best Design of 1992". Time. January 4, 1993.
8. Thompson, J (1997). The rebirth of New York City's Bryant Park. Washington, DC: Spacemaker Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-888931-05-1. OCLC 38008110.
9. UrbanLand December 1996
10. "Convention Details Plans for Security", New York Times, May 24, 1992
11. "POSTINGS: A Cast of 100; 34th Street in ’92 Uplift", New York Times, December 29, 1991
12. Midtown Journal; "Islands in the Stream of Traffic Provide an Escape", New York Times, June 4, 2000
13. “Capital Improvements in BIDs Enhance Property Values”, New York Real Estate Journal, June 30, 1997.
14. "Rapid Appreciation on Herald, Times Squares", New York Sun, April 19, 2005
15. "34th Street Partnership's efforts draw major retailers, pump up retail rents" NY Daily New, May 1, 2000
16. "34th Street Partnership Eyes Retail Makeover", Commercial Observer, December 6, 2012
17. "A 14-Year Scuffle Over Ugly News Racks Might Be Winding Down", CityLab, March 4, 2016
18. "Buses Drive Complaints", Wall Street Journal, May 31, 2013
19. "Group Plans to Spruce Up Area Around Grand Central”, New York Times, October 30, 1987
20. “Commercial Property/East 42nd Street; Rebirth of West 42nd Street is Spreading Eastward”, New York Times, June 2, 1996
21. “Grand Central and 34th Street Partnerships; BIDs Bid to Prettify the Stores in Their Districts“, New York Times, April 5, 1998
22. "An Admirer of Giuliani Feels His Wrath", New York Times, July 31, 1998
23. "Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park seeks to bridge more than Woodall Rodgers Freeway", Dallas Morning News, October 20, 2012
24. "Surprise heavyweight contenders emerge as third group to compete for control of Fair Park", Dallas Morning New, December 30, 2016
25. "Transit hub park using sites in SF, New York as models", San Francisco Chronicle, September 15, 2017
26. "Check out Packers’ new Titletown park, which is now open for activities", OnMilwaukee, September 19, 2017