THE FLATIRON DISTRICT will greet 1,200 new neighbors in November -- and here is your chance to help roll out the welcome mat.

Grey Group, a world-renowned branding, advertising and marketing firm, will be making Flatiron its headquarters this fall, when it moves into the recently renovated 200 Fifth Avenue (the former International Toy Center) and brings 1,200 employees -- and potential customers of yours -- with it.

This is an unprecedented opportunity to promote your business to new customers who will be searching for new places to eat, drink, shop and take care of personal errands every day.

As a result, we are reaching out to local businesses that might be interested in providing discount coupons, special offers or samples that we can include as part of a Flatiron District Welcome Package that will be distributed to Grey Group and all of its 1,200 employees.

To participate, please contact Lois Baskin at Interior Move Consultants (info@imcwebsite.com) or Eric Zaretsky at the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership (212-741-2323).

THE FLATIRON/23RD STREET Partnership's 2009 Annual Report is now available either online or as a hard copy.

In addition to reporting on highlights of the past year and offering projections for the future -- from new street beautification projects to the creation of the district's Master Plan -- the 30-page document includes four essays that reflect its theme: "The Changing Face of Flatiron."

Each of the essays addresses the ways in which the Flatiron district has evolved -- and, in some ways, hearkened back to its storied past -- in four discrete areas: the flourishing of new hotels and restaurants; the public realm, as exemplified by the new public plazas; the district's continued commercial strength; and the return of Flatiron as a prime residential location.

To obtain copies of the report, click here for the online version. If you would like a hard copy, please call the BID office at (212) 741-2323.

IT TOOK A LOT OF LITTLE apples to bring Antolino Ilarraza Jr. to the Big Apple.

Ilarraza was raised in Dorado, a small tourist town on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, and when he was still a young man, he was hired to pick apples. In 1980, his employers brought him to the U.S. and he began picking apples in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Eventually, he came to New York, working variously at a shoe factory and in restaurants like Burger King and Taco Bell, one of his favorites.

A little over two years ago, Ilarraza joined the Flatiron Partnership's Clean Team, and last year, shortly after the district's new pedestrian plazas were launched, he was assigned to keep them tidy and well maintained.

Now 50, Ilarraza, who is single, lives in Brooklyn. On Saturdays, his day off, he often spends his time visiting relatives. He has plenty to choose from. His father died about five years ago, but his mother, seven brothers, four sisters and their families also live in Brooklyn.

Ilarraza enjoys listening and dancing to salsa and is a jazz aficionado with a particular fondness for the music of Eddie Palmieri and his late brother, Charlie Palmieri. Mention their names and he responds with a smile, an emphatic nod of approval and a simple statement. "They are," he says, "the best."

GET OUT YOUR WALKING shoes, your bikes or your skates. For three consecutive Saturdays -- Aug. 8, 15 and 22 -- a 6.9-mile stretch of Manhattan will be off limits to vehicular traffic from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. and become public spaces in which people can "play, walk, bike and breathe." It's all part of the City's annual Summer Streets program under the auspices of the Department of Transportation, and it's also part of a greening initiative that encourages New Yorkers to use more sustainable forms of transportation.

The route, which extends from the Brooklyn Bridge to East 72nd Street, encompasses the stretch of Park Avenue South that is part of the Flatiron district. Major crosstown thoroughfares, including 23rd Street, will remain open to traffic. Buses will be rerouted during the event, with posted signs providing details.

The event is being promoted as "part bike tour, part block party, a great time for exercise, people watching, and just enjoying summer mornings." It will include free fitness classes, musical performances, free bike and skate rentals and local community art and dance activities.

Businesses are being asked to consider scheduling deliveries and pickups on either the Fridays before the Summer Streets Saturdays or after 2 p.m. on those Saturdays. Parking will be restricted along the route from midnight to 2 p.m. on the affected days, but garages on side streets will be accessible.

For additional information, click here.

THE 11-STORY BUILDING AT 62 Madison Avenue, at the corner of 27th Street, was born to be a hotel. It has been one since 1902, when it was completed at a cost of $145,000 by the architectural firm of Charles Brendon & Co., making its appearance the same year as the Flatiron Building. It was originally called the Hotel Brayton, but in 1911, the name was changed to the more geographically appropriate Hotel Madison. Now the hotel has acquired its third name and what its owners hope will be a totally new identity.

On July 2, the newly named and completely refurbished MAve Hotel greeted its first guest. The MAve (rhymes with "wave") is managed by Desires Hotels, a collection of almost a dozen sleek, high-style boutique hotels, including five in Miami's South Beach and the Hotel Mela in New York's theater district.

"We're looking for the experienced European traveler -- and the experienced business traveler -- who wants to be in a really cool neighborhood, who isn't afraid of the subway and who wants to be near some of the city's really great attractions," said Joseph Angelini, the MAve's director of sales and marketing.

The MAve is expected to be fully operational by the start of September, said Angelini. Each of the 71 rooms (including a penthouse suite) has been refurbished, as has the street-level entrance and the gleaming new red-and-white lobby. A 2,300-square-foot space adjoining the lobby plus an additional 300-square-foot basement will house a restaurant.

Summer rates range from $179 to $239 and will climb to $239 to $359 for fall and winter. That includes a complimentary breakfast catered by Artisanal Premium Cheese, featuring a daily selection of three cheeses ("one cow, one goat, one sheep," said Angelini); freshly baked artisan breads; and two kinds of coffee each day from countries such as Kenya, Panama, Costa Rica and Colombia. Room service is provided by Olana, a restaurant just a few doors away, from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. every day except Sunday.

All of the MAve's rooms offer complimentary high-speed Internet access and Wi-Fi connections and are outfitted with 32-inch flat-screen high-definition television sets.

To view the MAve's website, click here.

CENTERED ABOVE THE MAIN ENTRANCE OF THE HOME DEPOT, the giant home improvement store on West 23rd Street, there is a carving of a lion's head just beneath a cartouche framing the letters "SB," a monogram that provides a mute but eloquent clue to the building's original purpose.

SB stands for Stern Brothers, and more than a century ago, when the area just south of Madison Square was New York's golden shopping district, Stern's was one of its grandest department stores. On the northern edge of what became known as Ladies' Mile, it was for a time the largest department store in New York and one of the earliest to take advantage of a new invention called plate glass, installing huge street-level windows that allowed passersby to see inside, to "window shop," as it were.

Originally on Sixth Avenue near 23rd Street, Stern's was founded in 1867 by the brothers Louis, Isaac, Bernard and Benjamin. In 1878, in need of additional space, it opened at 32 West 23rd Street in a six-story cast-iron Renaissance Revival structure designed by Henry Fernbach, a German-born architect better known for his work on such houses of worship as the Moorish-influenced Central Synagogue at Lexington Avenue and 55th Street. Five years later, Fernbach died at his desk, so when the Stern brothers desired to expand further, they called upon another German émigré, W. M. Schickel.

By 1892, Schickel had tripled Stern's footprint, expanding westward to 40 West 23rd Street. Fernbach's design was duplicated on the western wing and a central section with a new arched entrance united both wings. Together, the sections formed what still might be New York's largest cast-iron facade. Painted white and stretching across eight city lots, the building dazzled onlookers on sunny days and was sometimes called "the big wedding cake on 23rd Street."

Stern's flourished, as did other retailers on the block, including Teller & Co. (the future Bonwit Teller) and Best & Co. The four Stern brothers were always on hand, at least one of them greeting customers and all of them decked out in cutaway tailcoats. Pianists perched on every floor provided music to shop by, a harbinger of sounds to come. By 1913, however, the city -- and its top retailers -- was heading uptown. Stern's did too, moving to 42nd Street, opposite Bryant Park. It continued growing, opened two dozen branches in three states and eventually became part of Federated Department Stores. In 2001, its remaining locations were converted into units of Bloomingdales or Macy's and Stern Brothers disappeared.

The building, however, did not, even though it was neglected for a while and its once-resplendent facade suffered the temporary indignity of a coating of pink. For most of the 1900s, with 23rd Street abandoned by prestigious stores, the structure housed manufacturing and shipping facilities for a variety of tenants. In 1968, its fortunes began to change. The property was acquired by Jerome M. Cohen, chairman of Williams Real Estate Co., and his partners, who launched a full restoration of the cast-iron facade. Soon, showrooms and offices filled the building.

In 1986, Hasbro, Inc., the multinational toy and board game company, moved in, conducted toy fairs and even inspired a scene filmed there for the Tom Hanks movie "Big." Hasbro remained almost 20 years, giving way to Home Depot in 2004.

Home Depot is the building's major tenant, but not its only one. A separate entrance at 40 West 23rd Street leads to the expansive offices and showrooms of the clothing designer Marc Ecko, a space now on the market.

Meanwhile, Home Depot has taken the building back to its original purpose: operating as a retailer with special appeal to New Yorkers. Because this is the company's first store in Manhattan, its focus is on apartment and brownstone dwellers. Home Depot's 108,000 square feet fill the entire street level, including space in 28 West 23rd Street, plus a mezzanine and a basement. It stocks 20,000 different products, a figure that climbs to 100,000 if special orders are included. And unlike its other units, this Home Depot has a doorman to welcome customers -- a reminder of the era of the Stern brothers even though this greeter doesn't wear a cutaway tailcoat.

ONE OF THE SEASON'S best dining deals, NYC Restaurant Week: Summer 2009, has been extended through Labor Day. Three-course lunches go for $24.07 and three-course dinners for $35. Prices do not include beverages, taxes or tips.

A number of restaurants within the Flatiron district are participating. Among them: Bar Stuzzichini, Blue Smoke, Country, Dos Caminos Park, Giorgio's of Gramercy, ilili, Olana, Pranna, Primehouse New York, and Tamarind.

For more information about Restaurant Week, click here.

• The Business of the Flatiron
• Flatiron BID Honors Baruch as 'Partner of the Year'
• Flatiron BID annual meeting
• Christine Quinn to speak at Flatiron BID event
• Information booth planned for pedestrian plaza
• New York Times - Historic Flatiron Walking Tour
• The Transformation of NYC's Madison Square (video by Streetfilms)
• amNew York: Flatiron's Fanciful Flight
• Click Here For More News Articles

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The Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District, formed in 2006, is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to enhance the area's reputation as one of New York's most vital and exciting neighborhoods. This is undertaken by maintaining a clean and safe environment for those who live, work and visit the area; by spearheading area improvement projects; and by marketing the diverse business and retail options in this vibrant and historic neighborhood.

For more information go to our Web site at www.discoverflatiron.org or e-mail us at info@flatironbid.org.

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