More than 100 folks celebrate the Hive at 55's 6-month anniversary

It’s hard to believe, but the Hive at 55 is now 6-months old. Yesterday, we raised a glass and celebrated this anniversary with friends, partners, and members that have supported us along the way.

We have partnered with countless organizations and had hundreds of individuals walk through our door and join our community.  It’s been amazing to become a resource for the many small businesses, entrepreneurs, and freelancers in New York City.

The Hive is definitely “on the map” when it comes to the greater technology and startup communities.

The celebration started at 6 PM, just about the time when our members start to wrap up their day. With drinks supplied by The Greene Grape and delicious food from Harry’s Italian, we pushed “play” on the stereo and let the fun begin!

We saw so many familiar faces: a mix of current members,  Meetup organizers, friends of our community, and even some new folks who have been supporting us from afar.  A women-based entrepreneur club was even discussed to empower the women of the Hive!

You can check out some of the festivities at our Flickr page. More than 100 people attended the party, including more than 20 members of our co-working community (some even brought their kids!).

The Hive will continue to evolve based on the people who work here. Their personalities and professional needs, as well as their input on programming and events, are what make the Hive a special place to do business.  We look forward to celebrating our first year with everyone and seeing what changes are made in the next six months!

Mayor Bloomberg and architect David Rockwell joined local officials and a crowd of more than 50 summer campers from around New York City to open Imagination Park at Burling Slip in Lower Manhattan today.

The park is less structured than traditional playgrounds and gives children the opportunity to decide how they want to use the playground. There are large foam “loose parts” building blocks, water spouts that can be channeled and dammed in myriad ways and a set of lifts and pulleys.

“For the 55,000 people who live in Lower Manhattan, it doesn’t get better than this: a new kind of playground in a new kind of residential district,” said 28-year Lower Manhattan resident Elizabeth H. Berger, President of the Alliance for Downtown New York. “Our research shows more families are moving Downtown—and staying. So thanks to Mayor Bloomberg, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, DEP Commissioner Cas Holloway, LMDC Chairman Avi Schick and President David Emil and, of course, David Rockwell for this much-needed, kid-friendly amenity.”

The playground is also uniquely located in the shadow of historic South Street Seaport, and features a wooden bow-like east end, sloped boardwalks, and ship masts. An iron sea serpent guards the entrance.

Imagination Playground was made possible by a $4.5 million grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, along with $3 million from the City’s Department of Environmental Protection. You can view the city’s full release on the project here, and more pictures from the event on the Downtown Alliance’s Flickr page.

Mary Clifford at the World Trade Center kiosk

As I prepared to retire from IBM in 2005, someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said I wanted to be a tour guide. Happily, my wish was essentially granted.

I found a job with the Downtown Alliance as a tourist information officer at the visitor kiosk adjacent to the World Trade Center site, one of three kiosks the organization runs. I also work at the Downtown Alliance’s World Financial Center kiosk.

I meet and help people from all over the world, and I have been privileged to watch the rebirth of the World Trade Center site.

When tourists come to a kiosk, they need information about the site—as well as data about the city’s subways, buses, museums, restaurants and more.

The most interesting questions often deal with an attraction or restaurant that someone visited on a prior trip to New York. The visitor might want to return but can’t remember the name or exact location. That’s when I get to play detective.

I’ve also helped bring some urgent dilemmas to heartwarming conclusions. One Sunday afternoon, an elderly English gentleman approached the kiosk at the World Financial Center. He said he’d been with a cruise ship tour group but had been separated, and didn’t know where the ship was docked. It was set to sail in a matter of hours.

We contacted the harbormaster and discovered that the ship was docked on the Hudson River near Midtown. But the man didn’t have enough money to get there, so we escorted him to South End Avenue and loaned him $20 for a cab. We made sure the driver knew to drop him off as close to the ship as possible, and I gave the visitor my address so he could return the money. The following week, a letter came in the mail. It contained $20 and a thank-you note.

Another time, I saw a disabled youngster standing alone by our kiosk. I struck up a conversation and discovered he’d been separated from his family while they were visiting Battery Park. He said he was waiting for his father.

We made a flurry of calls. The Port Authority police hadn’t received any missing-persons reports that fit the youngster’s description. But a call to the 1^st Precinct brought results. His family had just filed a report. The NYPD drove the parent over to our kiosk so father and son could be reunited.

The job brings new adventures daily, and I still love my work just as much as when I stepped into my first kiosk five years ago.

I think I’ve found my dream job.

This blog is by Melissa Martens, Senior Curator for Exhibitions at the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. We invite you, our downtown neighbors, to stop by the Museum to see Project Mah Jongg and to play the game with us or to learn how to play.

When the Museum of Jewish Heritage first decided to create an exhibition on the topic of mah jongg, we realized we would need to actually learn the game that has so long been a part in Jewish-American life. How hard could it be, right?

A couple of months into the project’s development, about 20 Museum staff members started convening regularly over lunch to decipher the “game of a thousand wonders.” For us, the game posed at least a thousand wonders—the naming of the tiles (is that tile called “red” or “dragon” or “red dragon”?) , the Charleston exchange (“are we on the second left yet?”), and the reading of the score card (“how does one possibly acquire five of the same tile?”).

Despite our intimidation and frustration, we persevered. Under the tutelage of Deputy Director, Ivy Barsky, we learned to make our way through a full round of a mah jongg in under an hour (and sometimes we didn’t even play the consecutive hand). Along the way we asked a lot of questions, we called the National Mah Jongg League hotline when we were stumped, we made fun of each other, and we laughed. A lot. New sides of our personalities came out for the first time: shyness, cleverness, shrewdness, down-right competitiveness! Some of our less “lucky” players threatened to abandon the game altogether; to their credit, they stuck with it.

By the fourth month something strange began to take hold: the game that had been so elusive was now starting to occupy our minds at frequent intervals. We whispered to each other in the hallways about the timing of the next game, we dreamt of getting our own mah jongg sets of various vintages, we talked about our favorite hands at the water cooler. Some of us even painted our nails. This was getting serious.

It was at this point we knew we were ready for the next level: playing on evenings, on Sundays, in our own neighborhoods! We couldn’t get enough. Where did everybody live? How many boroughs did we need to cover? Babysitters were obtained, husbands and boyfriends placated, and favorite cafes (with square tables) identified. The Museum’s next generation of mah jongg enthusiasts was going public.

So around Brooklyn, we convene every few weeks to play. And all of the old traditions get recreated through the social alchemy of the game: the gossip, the clacking, the victories, the defeats, and the snacks (our own favorites like sparkling rose, tartines, and low-cal soft serve). Our circle keeps expanding to include friends, neighbors, colleagues and those who are just excited to learn. Maybe someday we’ll have a seaside venue for our game, as in this recent New York Times story.

Personally, I imagine I’ll be playing mah jongg for many years to come—ok, forever. When I see a staff member walk into our Project Mah Jongg exhibition gallery to spontaneously play a game with visitors, I know that we are living a tradition we once only read about as “Jewish history.”

Lower Manhattan has $30 billion of construction under way—but the effects of the temporary inconveniances that come with it can be mitigated. What if, say, construction fences were adorned with thoughtful, whimsical, art instead of dated movie posters? That was the Downtown Alliance’s idea when it began its Re:Construction project three years ago, thanks to funding from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.

“Think of Re:Construction as an intervention to create a cheerful and welcoming environment in the midst of an urban renewal,” said our President, Elizabeth H. Berger.

There have now been 15 works installed below Canal Street, seven of which are up for viewing. And the latest went up just last week. It’s called Water Movements, and it runs along Titanic Park, which will re-open in September following a $1 million renovation.

A vibrant flurry of blues, reds and lime green, the piece creates an imaginary terrain using cartography patterns. Artist Lordy Rodriguez, who has an affinity for re-arranging maps, uses this piece to explore a body of water’s ever-changing relationship to its environment. Because there are no familiar map symbols, it’s up to viewers to interpret the abstract arrangement of rivers, mountains and valleys.

“Sometimes water is still and quiet like a frozen pond, and other times it’s so ferocious whole towns can be swept away,” Rodriguez said. “Water is as influential to its environment as it is influenced by it.”

Installing a Re:Construction piece involves a groundbreaking collaboration between private building and property owners, artists, art consultants and, in the case of the Titanic park site, public entities (the Parks Department). First, the Downtown Alliance works with a handful of art consultants to pick several options for a new piece. Then, we present our picks to property owners. Once a project is chosen, the consultant arranges for installation. In this case, our consultant is independent curator Abby Messitte.

When fall arrives, a state-of-the-art park will open at Pearl and Fulton streets at the entrance to South Street Seaport. But for now, rather than a familiar drab construction fence, Water Movements will brighten the pedestrian experience.

Check out our Re:Construction page for more information on all the projects.

Shoppers enjoy the Fulton Stall Market at South Street Seaport.

Growing up in an Italian family that planted its own vegetable garden, there’s a certain freshness and tastiness I got to experience from just-picked tomatoes or zucchini straight off the vine that you can’t find anywhere else. Or so I thought.

Thanks to the abundance of farmers markets that have sprung up all over Lower Manhattan, I can now pick from among many other families who grow their own—but on a much larger scale than a backyard in Brooklyn.

I can now take a lunchtime stroll to an outdoor “flea market of fruits and veggies” and choose from among the best selection there is without getting dirt under my fingernails. And not only am I getting top-quality, healthy produce—it’s also saving me a weekend trip to the supermarket.

Battery Park City will finally get its own farmers market on July 15 with the opening of the World Financial Center Greenmarket located on the corner of South End Avenue and Liberty Street.

And on Saturday, July 10, Downtown became home to the first and only farmers market created by a hotel in NYC. The Andaz Wall Street Farmers Market’s participating Hudson Valley sellers supply the hotel’s restaurant, Wall & Water, with their seasonal menu ingredients.  I got to experience this firsthand when I dined at Wall & Water for this summer’s NYC Restaurant Week.  I ate every morsel of my delicious three-course meal prepared by Chef Maximo Lopez May and his staff.

Later this month, the New Amsterdam Market will open just north of the South Street Seaport, offering yet another choice for weekend food shopping in Lower Manhattan.

It seems that wherever you turn in Lower Manhattan, you’re just steps away from good, healthy eating. So don’t let summer go by without checking out at least one of these wonderful markets:

• Bowling Green Greenmarket
Open Tuesdays & Thursdays from 8 AM-5 PM year round

• Staten Island Ferry Terminal Greenmarket
Open Tuesdays & Fridays from 8 AM-7 PM year round

• City Hall Greenmarket
Open Tuesdays & Fridays 8 AM-5 PM, from June through November

• Zuccotti Park Greenmarket
Open Tuesdays & Thursdays from 8 AM-6 PM, from April through December

• Fulton Stall Market at South Street Seaport
Open Sundays from 11 AM-6 PM

• World Financial Center Greenmarket
Thursdays from 8 AM-6 PM, from July 1 – November 24

• Andaz Wall Street Hotel
Saturdays from 8 AM-3 PM starting July 10 through Thanksgiving

• New Amsterdam Market
Saturday, July 24, 11 AM-4 PM; Sunday, August 22, 11 AM-4 PM; Sundays from September 12 to December 19

Welcome back to Mess Around Downtown!

It was so hot last week in Lower Manhattan that the statue of George Washington in front of Federal Hall got down from his pedestal, took a seat on the steps and asked a nearby policeman for a glass of water and a bowl of cherries.

It was so hot in Lower Manhattan that 11,629 tourists were treated for symptoms of “ice cream headache” below Murray Street –  up 57.63 percent from last year at this time.

It was so hot in Lower Manhattan that the Charging Bull was spotted taking a dip in the Hudson around 8:45 on Wednesday evening. Hope you’re staying cool, Downtowners. Read on for new establishments that opened in past couple of weeks where you can chill out. You can find anything you need with our handy Downtown Directory, and don’t be afraid to email me at tre@downtownny.com. Thanks.

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Takahachi Bakery – 25 Murray Street: 212-791-5550

Do you like food? If you answered yes to this question then you will like Takahachi. A classic Japanese bakery with a Downtown cafe feeling. The passionate people here are baking tasty items all day long right there on the premises. A large variety of breads, sweet and savory pastries, mini pizzas and homemade ice cream make for an appetizing and colorful food case. I like the prices too. I got a super-fresh and flavorful chicken tomato sandwich for under $5 and some tomato sorbet. A must try.

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Bit’z Kids - 275 Greenwich Street: 212-571-0803

This new clothing store for children is a perfect fit for this neighborhood. The company was founded in Japan and is huge there. And now Bit’z is taking kid-friendly Downtown by storm. Offering clothes for babies all the way up to 8 years. Shop here for cute and funky apparel for your future hipster of America.

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Salon Greenwich - 88 Greenwich Street: 212-248-5252

A full spa and salon conveniently located on the corner of  Rector and Greenwich streets offering lemon spa pedicures, french manicures, any kind of waxing you can imagine, tanning, shiatsu massages, anti-aging facials, eyelash perms and more.

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Dunkin Donuts – 19 Rector Street: 212-785-8111

Wall Street runs on Dunkin.

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Greens and Art Alert

- The Andaz Hotel at 75 Wall Street just keeps getting better. First they open a classy bar and a restaurant run by Chef Maximo Lopez May that uses locally grown fare inspired by the Hudson Valley. Now, they start the first ever farmer’s market created by a hotel. It’s official, The Andaz is awesome. The Andaz’s outdoor market runs every Saturday from July 10 through November 20 from 8 AM to 3 PM. I’ve said before and I’ll say it again: Who wouldn’t want to eat a meal cooked by a guy named Maximo?

- You must stop by the provocative KiptonArt gallery at 75 Wall Street. Go to Kipton’s website to learn about how they are helping out new artists. Artists, enter the contest below and get recognized.

- Calling all Artists! Deadline of July 31 to be considered for KiptonART Rising 2011 debut on October 5th for 20 lucky artist finalists at the D&D Building in New York. http://www.kiptonart.com/kipton-art-rising

- The World Financial Center Greenmarket is in full swing every Thursday from 8 AM to 6 PM until November 24. Located at 225 Liberty Street at South End Avenue.

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Vacancy Alert

- William’s Restaurant & Bar at 52 William Street has closed.

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As always, thank you for being on the lookout and please continue to send any changes you come across to tre@downtownny.com

Born and raised in NYC.  Proud resident of the Downtown Financial District since 2002.

Name of Company?

Virtuos Consulting Group

What is your job title?

President and founder of Virtuos Consulting Group

What industry are you in?

Digital marketing and promotion services.

Describe your occupation

Virtuos is a full-service digital marketing and promotion firm that serves the needs of small-to-medium-sized businesses.  We provide advertising, marketing and promotion services that help companies meet the demands of the digital age.  Our services include web site design, iPhone app development, search engine optimization and social network promotion.

How long have you been working at the Hive?

To date, three months.

Why do you work at the Hive?

I think the Hive is an excellent resource for our company.  Because many of our employees and resources are spread out across the United States, maintaining a physical presence is sometimes an unnecessary full-time cost.  Having a place to hold meetings, conferences and brainstorm collectively as an on-demand resource is simply invaluable.

What do you like about working at the Hive?

There is something about being in a room of creative, focused and motivated people that drives you.  If you are willing and motivated, you will find other people who work at the Hive with similar interests and needs—making the Hive an excellent resource for vertical integration and relationships.

What days and hours have you generally been here?

I usually work at the Hive about three days a week during the afternoons on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

How has your business or work style changed by working at the Hive?

I treat my visits to the Hive as a welcome change in my work day and work week.  It allows me to focus on being productive in a quiet, yet warming, environment. I am always genuinely surprised how much work I am able to complete every time I work out of the Hive.

How do you think your business will improve or grow from working at the Hive?

I hope to get to know my Hive-mates better in the up and coming months.  In my experience, building strong relationships with talented people is the key to success.  From my short time at the Hive, I’ve met some really interesting and smart people doing some great things.

What’s your favorite thing about Lower Manhattan?

Living here in the area for almost a decade, I’m so excited to witness the growth of a community filled with diverse food, entertainment and culture.  Lower Manhattan has always been a great place to work but it’s getting to be a great place to live.

All the subways are a stone’s throw away, the rent is cheap(er), and if you know which streets to avoid on the weekends—tourists  are everywhere—it’s pretty quiet and calm for a city that never sleeps.

Where do you go to lunch when you’re at the Hive?

Ten places to eat lunch (in no order)

• Adriennes
• Smorgas
• Chipotle
• Zaitzeff
• Il Brigante
• Ise
• Alfanoose
• Harrys
• Ho Yip
• Rubens Empanadas

Do you have a hidden talent or secret hobby?

I am a Brazilian jiu jitsu practitioner and train at the Renzo Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Academy in Midtown.  I hope to compete in this year’s Pan Am world championship. I speak English and Chinese fluently. I am currently studying and have a conversational knowledge of Russian and Arabic.

What’s your favorite band, TV show, or movie?

Favorite Band: Tribe Called Quest

TV Show: MacGuyver / The Wire / Breaking Bad

Movie: The Godfather I and II.  III doesn’t exist.

Is there someone in your industry who you admire?

I admire anyone who has taken an idea and turned it into a reality. Whether it has failed or succeeded financially, sometimes the payoff of following your passion is incredibly rewarding in itself.  I am constantly surprised how financial success usually finds its way of tagging along.

Fun fact you want to share?

Diehard fan of the Yankees, Celtics, University of Michigan [GOBLUE] and anything Team USA.

Imagination Playground at Burling Slip (Photo: NYC Parks Dept.)

As summer heats up, Lower Manhattan’s throngs of workers, visitors and residents will be searching for open spaces to have lunch and soak up some rays.  Happily, they won’t have to look far because open space is increasing in Lower Manhattan.

In 2004, Downtown had 19 parks or open spaces available for public use south of Murray Street. Through this year and the next, seven new or redesigned spaces will come online for public enjoyment—representing an investment of more than $200 million.

This month, I’m looking forward to visiting Burling Slip Playground—a joint effort between the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and the Rockwell Group. The park will have a maritime theme, consistent with the Seaport area, and will offer many activities for your little bathtub sailors and pirates!

Also in July, the newly designed Delury Square Park is scheduled to open, providing Fulton Street with a 10,000 square-foot respite complete with benches and a small waterfall.

In August, Peter Minuit Plaza is scheduled to open, anchored by the New Amsterdam Plein and Pavilion, which will contain an information kiosk and food concession.  Also in August, sculpture-lovers will find beauty and solace at the newly reconstructed Louise Nevelson Plaza. In September, another renovated Fulton Street respite will be opened—Titanic Park, at the entrance to the South Street Seaport.

Lower Manhattan has never been so green. I hope you will join me in seeking out these new spots for relaxation and recreation.

Nassau and Ann streets, looking north toward 1 Centre Street.

As part of the City’s reconstruction of Fulton Street, the Department of Design and Construction is rebuilding Nassau Street from Ann Street to Beekman Street. The work consists of a full excavation of the roadbed as seen above. The contractor will remove all old materials, conduits and pipes and replace them with new materials. The City will also implement the standard Downtown Alliance Streetscape by installing new granite curbs and pouring new landmark gray sidewalks. The project will last until October, when the contractor moves on to the block of Nassau Street between Beekman and Spruce streets. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation makes money available to businesses whose sales decrease because of construction. For more information about the LMDC’s Small Firm Assistance Program, click here.