Business improvement districts appear ineffective in NYC

Stacey Sutton, "Are BIDs Good for Business? The Impact of BIDs on Neighborhood Retailers in New York City," Journal of Planning Education and Research 34 (2014): 3

The take-away: Regarding the commercial effects of ‘business improvement districts’ (BIDs) in New York City, this study finds that “BIDs, irrespective of size, have no statistically significant effect on either measure of retail performance relative to similar areas of the city that never adopted BIDs” (319). And in the case of small BIDs, retail sales and employment were found to be lower than expected.

Abstract: The business improvement district (BID) model has been widely adopted as a place-based strategy for commercial renewal and sustainability. This study uses the National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) Database to estimate the impact of New York City BIDs on change in retail sales and change employment between 2000 and 2008. Since the self-financing mechanism of BIDs becomes a compulsory tax on retail tenants, this study examines whether the model improves retail performance relative to comparable areas of the city that never adopted BIDs. Although effects vary by BID size, retail sales and employment are depressed by small community BIDs.

Full article (requires access)