A Tribeca Merchant Group Is Reborn, with a New York Law School Boost

The Tribeca Alliance relaunched itself last month with a meet-and-greet at Laughing Man Coffee. Chris Bruno, center, leads the New York Law School's economic development program that is helping the effort. The group's president, Demetri Ganiaris, far left, addressed the gathering. Photo: Carl Glassman/Tribeca Trib

A local merchant association, tried [1] before with little success, is getting a reboot thanks to the newly formed partnership between a group of local owners and Tribeca-based New York Law School.

Last month some 30 people gathered informally at Laughing Man Coffee on Duane Street for the relaunch of the Tribeca Alliance [2], an all-volunteer organization begun nine years ago as Tribeca Alliance Partnership, but with little traction as a unifier and promoter of local small businesses. 

The new group has higher hopes for success, said Chris Bruno, who heads an economic development program at New York Law School with a mission of “elevating the profile of Tribeca as a place for business, innovation and entrepreneurship.” 

“Now there is someone who can support the non-profit volunteer board,” Bruno said in an interview, adding, “These are people that are also focused on running their own business. So now there is actually staff and support services that can come in and ensure that this organization actually takes off and maintains momentum.”

“I see it as an effort to try to foster collaboration between different businesses and also collaboration between businesses and the community and collaboration between the businesses and the very many organizations in Tribeca,” said Demetri Ganiaris, the Tribeca Alliance president and a local property owner who volunteered with the former merchant association.

The group’s aims are boosted by a $100,000 grant from the city’s Small Business Administration and assistance from the law school’s Plumeri Center for Small Business Empowerment [3]. The grant, funneled through the non-profit Friends of Bogardus Plaza, will fund Bruno’s services and be a “good starting point,” he said, for getting the association off the ground. As the Tribeca Alliance’s executive director and only paid staff member, he said he will be aiming to “get us to a point where we can then hopefully fundraise and have full-time staff” to create programs.

For starters, the group plans to hold meet-and-greets monthly at different business locations, revamp its website and create a social media presence that supports the business community. They also expect to hold smaller breakfast meetings on specific topics, such as insurance or leasing. Free legal advice will be made available through the school’s Plumeri Center.

Bruno said he wants to see Tribeca’s public identity expand beyond luxury lofts, celebrities and well known restaurants. “The reality is that the business community is not necessarily connected to that community,” he noted. “And the businesses do need help. They face rising rents. Like all over the city, there are retail vacancies along Church and Chambers streets. Tribeca is not immune to the problems that New York City is facing.”

In the future, organizers see the possibility of a Tribeca business improvement district as an offshoot of the merchant group, providing at least a part of the neighborhood with additional sanitation service, security and more. Victoria Weil, president of the all-volunteer Friends of Bogardus Plaza [4], sees a Tribeca BID as a possible sustainable model for running the plaza in the future, one that does not rely solely on volunteers. “I am looking at every possibility to protect and maintain the plaza,” she said in a phone interview.

In the meantime, “shopping local” is what helps small businesses thrive, said Ganiaris. He would like to see the Tribeca Alliance take that message to neighborhood residents. “All of the restaurants and the local shops,” he said, “if they don’t have a good, strong following with the locals, they don’t survive.”

The next Tribeca Alliance meet-and-greet takes place at 6 pm on Monday, Oct. 20, at Carini Lang, 335 Greenwich St. For questions, including information about joining the organization, contact Demetri Ganiaris at dganiaris@ganiarisrealty.com.