NEW YORK CITY-New York City Economic Development Corp. announced on Friday the winners of “Take the H.E.L.M.: Hire + Expand in Lower Manhattan,” a competition which encourages creative and innovative businesses to open a new office, or expand an existing one, in Lower Manhattan.
The five winners each will receive $250,000 to assist the businesses in moving to or expanding an existing location on—or south of—Chambers Street. The winners—who were revealed Thursday night during a ceremony at 7 World Trade Center—are Booker, STELLAService, Grapeshot, Paperless Post and The Flatiron School. They were selected from a group of over 300 applicants.
Award winners were placed into five different categories: creative companies, technology companies, startups less than three years old, companies opening their first office in New York City and companies currently in Lower Manhattan looking to expand in the area. That last category was added after Hurricane Sandy in order to prioritize helping businesses potentially impacted by the storm.
“Take the H.E.L.M. builds upon the ongoing diversification of Lower Manhattan's economy, linking creative and innovative businesses with the city's already vibrant financial sector,” says NYCEDC president Seth Pinsky. “The five initial winners of the competition will soon establish themselves or expand within this dynamic neighborhood, serving as important engines for economic growth.”
The five winners each serve different purposes. Booker, from the expanding in Lower Manhattan track, helps service businesses streamline operations and maximize revenues using a unified, cloud-based platform. STELLAService, from the startups track, measures and rates the service quality of online retailers. It is moving to Lower Manhattan from the Flatiron District. Grapeshot, in the new to New York track), analyzes webpages to create keyword profiles for content recommendation and advertising. It comes to New York from Cambridge, England.
Paperless Post, from the technology track, plans to help users create custom online and paper stationery. The company is leaving its current location on West 25th Street. Lastly, the Flatiron School, from the creative track, teaches students to become software developers and helps them get jobs at technology companies. It is moving from West 26th Street.
The selection committee was chaired by Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Remaining members of the committee were Elizabeth Berger, president of the Downtown Alliance; Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO, American Express Co.; Richard Florida, professor, University of Toronto and NYU and senior editor, the Atlantic; Alicia Glen, head of the urban investment group, Goldman Sachs Bank USA; Lawrence Lenihan Jr., founder and managing director, Firstmark Capital; Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, Breadpig and Hipmunk; Richard Parsons, senior advisor, Providence Equity Partners, LLC, former chairman, Citigroup, Inc. and former chairman and CEO, Time Warner; the aforementioned Seth Pinsky; Carley Roney, co-founder and editor-in-chief, XO Group Inc.; and David Tisch, managing partner, Boxgroup and co-founder, Techstars NYC.
The Take the H.E.L.M. competition was originally comprised of four tracks, but after Hurricane Sandy, an additional fifth track was added in which a Lower Manhattan company would be prioritized in order to help businesses potentially impacted by the storm.The competition was sponsored by the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.
“Lower Manhattan is no longer exclusively New York's financial district. We want to move the ball forward in making Lower Manhattan—a district known primarily as Wall Street—the core of innovation and engine of economic diversity in the city,” says Arthur Levitt in the announcement.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
