FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW, THE FLATIRON Partnership invites you to complete the following survey to help us evaluate our work thus far and to share your priorities for the neighborhood.

As a thank you, the BID will randomly select four respondents who complete the survey to receive a $50 gift certificate to a Flatiron district restaurant.

To take the survey, CLICK HERE.

THE FLATIRON PARTNERSHIP'S distinctive Website has a new look, making it easier for visitors to navigate and adding eye-catching new features such as an Interactive Map of the BID featuring discrete overlays with information about landmarks and historic points of interest, public transportation options in and around the district, and boundaries of the various levels of government that represent the district. A new month-by-month calendar gives visitors an overview of upcoming events and the redesigned home page puts important information, news, events and opportunities right up front. To view the enhanced website, click here.

The Website was designed by Robert Dweck, whose company, Robert Dweck Design, is in the Flatiron district, at 1133 Broadway.

Discover Flatiron Map Is Updated

The latest edition of the hugely popular Discover Flatiron Map is just off the presses, freshly updated for 2010.

This is the third edition of the map and it again includes a comprehensive guide to businesses throughout the Flatiron BID. Sixty-six businesses and institutions have been added, including nonprofits, schools, museums and galleries.

The maps are available at local hotels, businesses, residential buildings, restaurants, schools and tourist organizations. They will also be available at community events throughout the city and from members of the uniformed Flatiron Partnership Safety Team.

BID members can request maps for either personal or business use by contacting the BID office at (212) 741-2323.

A Flying Start for a Banner Holiday

Some 63 new banners are fluttering in Flatiron, a sure sign that the holiday season has arrived.

As they did last year, the Flatiron Partnership's annual holiday banners, flying from streetlamps throughout the district, evoke a gift box in the BID's distinctive colors and incorporate the "intersection" logo as the bow atop the box.

The banners offer a splendid opportunity for companies to promote their names, show their commitment to the area and, at the same time, help increase awareness of the BID.

Additional streetlamp locations are still available. Interested parties may contact the BID office by calling (212) 741-2323 or by e-mail at info@flatironbid.org.

GIVEN THE CURRENT STATE OF the economy, a Flatiron Partnership breakfast forum and panel discussion focusing on small business and entrepreneurship in New York State couldn't be timelier. Entitled "Forging Ahead: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Strategies for the New Economy," it will be held on Friday, Nov. 20, at Baruch College and is co-hosted by Baruch's Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship.

The program, which is free, will focus on new ways of succeeding in an economy that has had a debilitating effect on small businesses, the backbone of New York State's economy. It will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Baruch's Newman Conference Center, 151 East 25th Street, seventh floor, Room H-750.

Following registration, a complimentary networking breakfast, courtesy of TD Bank, and welcoming remarks, a panel discussion on the status of small business and entrepreneurship in New York State will be moderated by Brian Tracey, online editor at Crain's New York Business.

The panelists are: Edward G. Rogoff, Chairman of the Department of Management at Baruch's Zicklin School of Business and a Professor in that department; Jonathan Bowles, Director of the Center for an Urban Future; Raymond J. Keating, Chief Economist with the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council in Washington, D.C., and a widely published writer; and Steven Cohen, Deputy Commissioner at Empire State Development, where he heads the Division for Small Business.

Breakout sessions on new ways of developing business plans, accessing capital and financing, managing human resources and working with Web 2.0 marketing tools are slated from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The forum will coincide with the release of a report by the Field Center for Entrepreneurship on the state of entrepreneurship in New York State. It compares key measures of entrepreneurial activity in New York and the U.S. and offers recommendations to reverse a downward trend.

This event is made possible with support from Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of the 14th Congressional District, which includes the Flatiron BID.

It is part of Intersections, the BID series that focuses on information, ideas and the Flatiron community. Reservations are requested by Nov. 16. They can be made by e-mail to events@flatironbid.org or by calling (212) 741-2323.

ALTHOUGH THEY FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO ARRIVE AT A SINGLE
defining characteristic of today's Flatiron district, a panel of distinguished architects and artists did manage to agree on one vital point: it is a constantly evolving neighborhood and has been one for more than 100 years.

Using a series of slide projections to illustrate their talks, panelists put a spotlight on the architectural heritage of the Flatiron district in front of a spirited crowd of enthusiasts at the Van Alen Institute on Nov. 3.

Attendees heard from such luminaries as Robert A.M. Stern, founder and senior partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects and Dean of the Yale School of Architecture; Carol Willis, architectural historian, founder of the Skyscraper Museum and professor of urban studies and planning at Columbia University; James Wines, artist, architect and the founder of SITE, the multi-disciplinary architecture and environmental arts organization; and architect Shohei Shigematsu, a partner at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture and director of OMA*AMO New York.

Stern outlined the rich architectural history of the district, paying particular attention to the west side of Madison Square. Willis focused on the skyscraper legacy of Flatiron, a district she said was "not normally" associated with such buildings. Wines cited the diversity of styles throughout the area, from Art Nouveau to Art Deco to Beaux Arts to modernism. Shigematsu described the evolution of the unconventional "step building" he is putting up at 23 East 22nd Street, in back of One Madison Park.

Deborah Berke, head of the architectural firm bearing her name and professor of architectural design at Yale, moderated the discussion and directed the Q&A session that followed.

The event was held in conjunction with "Flatiron High and Low," an exhibition of historic and contemporary photographs, vintage postcards, artists' renderings, and architectural drawings that celebrate the district's colorful and changing architectural and urban history. It will be on view at Van Alen, 30 West 22nd Street, through Friday, Dec. 11. Gallery hours are noon to 5, Mondays through Fridays.

Birch Coffee

Birch Coffee, newly opened in a two-level space that was once part of the Gershwin Hotel lobby, is the latest addition to specialty coffee shops in the Flatiron district. It's got several distinguishing characteristics. For one thing, its coffee is brewed from beans grown on farms certified as environmentally sustainable by the Rainforest Alliance. For another, Birch wants to be a haven for book buffs, with a second-floor "swap library" and lounge where browsers can pick something off the shelves, read and relax while enjoying the food and drink ordered on the first floor.

"We encourage hanging out," said Paul Schlader, who met business partner Jeremy Lyman about five years ago, discovered they both had backgrounds in the restaurant trade and decided to collaborate on this project.

Something else that sets Birch apart from traditional coffee shops: hour-long meditation periods conducted in its library every Monday through Friday, beginning at noon.

At the first-floor counter, caffeinistas can order the Birch Blend, a combination of coffee from Guatemala, Nicaragua and Monsooned Malabar (coffee from the south of India), plus other specialties. Birch also offers sandwiches, salads, local artisanal cheeses and pastries. It plans to have beer and wine. There is seating downstairs as well as in the library.

Two kinds of 16-ounce packaged coffee beans are currently available: the Birch Blend and Peru APARM, coffee from a cooperative in northeastern Peru. All of Birch's coffees are roasted in Tarrytown, N.Y., by Mike Love, a former chef who started roasting in 2002 and has been going strong ever since.

(Birch Coffee at the Gershwin Hotel, 5 East 27th Street. Phone: (212) 686-1444. Hours: 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., closing time subject to change. Website: www.birchcoffee.com)

Energy Kitchen

Energy Kitchen, a restaurant that pays attention to calories, has opened its eighth unit in Manhattan at 18 West 23rd Street, near Fifth Avenue. It also has a store in Hoboken, N.J.

At Energy Kitchen, no single item, even with dressing, condiments and a beverage, will run over 500 calories, according to its president, Anthony Leone. There are wraps, burgers, salads and smoothies, along with entrees such as turkey meatloaf, grilled salmon and yellow fin tuna steak. A breakfast menu is available all day, but pancakes and oatmeal are served only until 11 a.m. Diet sodas, tea and flavored water are the available beverages.

Energy Kitchen is open Mondays through Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. To contact the store, call (212) 989-2323, or click here.

GREY GROUP'S DECISION TO move to the Flatiron district after 45 years in Midtown was based on many factors, but the biggest was the building that has become its new home: 200 Fifth Avenue, the former International Toy Center, at the corner of 23rd Street.

Grey is a global communications giant, with advertising, marketing and public relations offices all over the world. The nature of its business requires an environment that sparks collaboration and creativity, pointed out John Grudzina, the corporation's point man on the move for the last couple of years and its Chief of Staff & Administration and General Counsel.

That's why Grey signed a 15-year lease with L&L Holding Co. to become the anchor tenant at 200 Fifth and why Grudzina is rhapsodic about his company's new headquarters.

"We'll have very large open floors," he said. "They're U-shaped layouts of about 57,000 square feet, with big windows and wonderful light and very few private offices. It's a layout that inspires creativity. Uptown, we've been in a building with a very traditional layout, vintage 1960s. Our employees are spread out over 29 floors."

At 200 Fifth, Grey will occupy space on only six floors, bringing its 1,200 New York personnel much closer together.

As for the Flatiron district itself, Grudzina is equally enthusiastic.

"I looked at a lot of locations," he said. "I love this neighborhood. I love the park. There's a very young, high-energy spirit, the area is culturally and economically diverse, it's close to the Village and to Chelsea, and our employees are really excited about it."

Grey has leased some 370,000 square feet on floors two through six of the 14-story 200 Fifth, one of Flatiron's more notable buildings for the last century and one that has just undergone a $100 million renovation. Cohn & Wolfe, Grey's public relations partner, will be on the seventh floor. Grey will have a 6,000-square-foot courtyard; employee-accessible terraces on roof setbacks off floors three and four; a 3,000-square-foot roof deck off the fifth floor; and a 7,000-square-foot roof deck that is exclusive to Grey atop the building. A seasonal restaurant is planned for another part of the roof. It will be operated by Eataly, which also plans to open a market for artisanal Italian food products at 200 Fifth's street level.

The first group of Grey employees moved in on Oct. 30, with the others scheduled to arrive on Nov. 13 and Nov. 20. At the moment, said Grudzina, the focus is on the move, but starting next year, Grey expects to be a participant in Flatiron community affairs.

HOUSTON'S, THE RESTAURANT THAT'S BEEN ON PARK Avenue South and 27th Street for the last 10 years, has changed its name to Hillstone. It is a flagship of the Los Angeles-based Hillstone Restaurant Group and the name change is part of an initiative to develop the Hillstone brand, said Rob Marano, the restaurant's Executive General Manager.

The Hillstone Group operates some 45 restaurants around the country, 30 of which are called Houston's. The name change applies only to the two Houston's in New York (the other is at 53rd Street and Third Avenue), and one each in Boston and San Francisco. "Those are our most food-savvy cities," said Marano.

Along with new name, the restaurant has revised its fall menu, adding a selection of sushi rolls in addition to new appetizers, entrées, soups and side dishes.

To view Hillstone's website, click here.

A RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBIT OF the works of painter and draughtswoman Mercedes Matter (1913-2001), now under way at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery at Baruch College, will be on view through Dec. 14.

Matter, who grew up in Philadelphia, New York and Europe, was immersed in the art world since she was a child painting next to her father in the French countryside. Her father was the modernist painter Arthur Beecher Carles, and her mother, Mercedes de Cordoba, modeled for Edward Steichen. She was married to the late Herbert Matter, a Swiss-born photographer and graphic designer.

The Matters, close friends with artists such as Jackson Pollack, Lee Krasner, Franz Kline, Philip Guston, Alexander Calder and Willem de Kooning, were active in the emerging mid-century New York art scene. Mercedes Matter is perhaps best known today as the founder of the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, which was launched in 1964. The exhibit at the Mishkin Gallery is the first to offer an in-depth exploration of her multi-faceted artistic career.

The Mishkin Gallery is at 135 East 22nd Street and is open from noon to 5 p.m., Mondays to Fridays, and until 7 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information, click here.

THE ORIGINAL MADISON SQUARE GARDEN WAS BORN,
appropriately enough, just a whisper away from Madison Square. The site on which it stood had been the southern terminus of the New York and Harlem Railroad, filling the entire block between Madison Avenue and Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue South), from 26th to 27th Streets. In 1873, Cornelius Vanderbilt, who owned the railroad, leased the depot to the legendary Phineas Taylor Barnum, who tore down most of the old building, transformed what was left into an amphitheater and called it the "Monster Classical and Geological Hippodrome." Beneath a tent that accommodated 15,000, he presented extravaganzas that ranged from chariot races to waltzing elephants.

Barnum closed down on Feb. 27, 1875, and the space was leased to Patrick Gilmore, a bandleader and showman who converted it into a spectacular space bursting with fountains, statues and exotic plants. He called it Gilmore's Garden. In 1877, the waltzing elephants were replaced by prancing poodles, as Gilmore presented the first Westminster Kennel Club Show. For the next couple of years, there were concerts on summer evenings, horticultural exhibitions, charity balls -- and walking races, a portent of things to come.

In 1879, Gilmore's lease expired and on May 22, The New York Times reported that after extensive renovations and at the request of the Vanderbilts, "Gilmore's Garden will hereafter be known as the 'Madison-Square Garden.'" Together with its original hyphen, it made its public debut nine days later with a concert by a 60-piece band.

The Garden popped with pop culture, programs "suited to the demand of most pleasure-seekers in Summer, who do not wish to be called on for any serious mental effort while taking their amusements," said The Times. What followed were flower shows; wrestling matches between such stalwarts as Edwin Bibby, the champion of England, and Andre Cristol, "the Tiger of the Pyrenees"; billiard contests; political rallies; and an exhibition of "fine American-bred Durham cattle and fancy sheep."

There were also six-day "pedestrian competitions," international race-walking events that drew capacity crowds of 10,000 around the clock, but the Garden was best known as a venue for bicycle races. MSG's position as the nation's preeminent racing arena gave rise to a form of team cycling called "the Madison," which even today is part of the Olympic Games.

The original Garden was razed in 1889. It was replaced on the same site by MSG II, a magnificent Moorish-influenced building designed by Stanford White. It opened on June 6, 1890 at a cost of $3 million. It was distinguished by a 32-story tower that looked like a minaret, topped by a statue of a fetching Diana the Huntress, wielding a bow and arrow and serving as a weather vane. It was reportedly the country's first nude sculpture in a public place. Diana was created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whose body of work includes a fully clothed Admiral David Farragut in Madison Square Park.

In addition to the arena, the Garden boasted a theater, concert hall, swimming pool, shopping arcade and meeting hall. There was also an ornate rooftop restaurant and it was there that White -- a notorious womanizer -- paid with his life for his earlier dalliances with a teenage model/actress named Florence Evelyn Nesbit, who had gone on to marry the millionaire Harry Thaw. On the night of June 25, 1906, Thaw, seething with jealousy, approached White during a performance of the musical "Mam'zelle Champagne" and shot him to death as the cast was singing "I Could Love a Million Girls," a tune that turned out to be White's requiem.

In its 35 years of existence, MSG II was one of New York's premier showcases, housing dog and pony shows, political conventions, circuses, society balls and sporting events. In 1908, it was sold to a real estate firm with a mortgage secured by the New York Life Insurance Co., and it closed on May 5, 1925. Its third incarnation bowed the following November on Eighth Avenue, between 49th and 50th Streets. In 1968, the Garden moved south to its present location, the Penn Plaza complex. After MSG II was razed, New York Life asked architect Cass Gilbert to design a new headquarters building on the site of the original Garden. It was completed in 1928. Although the waltzing elephants and the six-day cyclists are long gone, some vestiges of showmanship remain in the mammoth limestone skyscraper: 72 gargoyles and a great golden pyramid. Barnum would be beaming.

• Flatiron BID holding talk on safety, security in community
• 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
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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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