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SoHo BID Costs Could Be Reimbursed to Co-Op Tenants

By DNAinfo Staff on December 3, 2010 1:55pm  | Updated on December 3, 2010 1:19pm

Backers of a SoHo Business Improvement District plan will discuss reimbursing Co-Op residents at a meeting on Tuesday.
Backers of a SoHo Business Improvement District plan will discuss reimbursing Co-Op residents at a meeting on Tuesday.
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DNAinfo/Gabriela Resto-Montero

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

SOHO — The group behind a push to create a SoHo Business Improvement District (BID) will consider reimbursing Co-Op residents for the cost of its operation.

"Residents should not have any real burden or responsibility in paying a BID charge," said Barbara Cohen, a consultant working on the proposal with the SoHo BID Steering Committee.

"The difficulty is a mixed-use Co-Op, that situation really presents a hardship," Cohen said of creating a fair formula for buildings classified as both commercial and residential.

Cohen said she has been meeting with each of the 13 Co-Op buildings along the proposed district, between Houston and Canal Streets on Broadway, to determine how much residents would pay for the BID, according to their building's specific business plans.

"When you come down to it, in most cases a resident shareholder may pay two or three or four hundred dollars," she said.

Condo owners, who live in strictly residential buildings, would pay $1 a year.

Under the BID assessment, Co-Op residents would pay significantly more than Condo owners because their buildings are classified as both residential and commercial properties while the condos are strictly residential and earn no revenue from on-street storefronts.

After Community Board 2 requested that the steering committee address the confusion surrounding the BID charges and payments last month, Cohen said backers were considering subsidizing the cost for Co-Op residents.

The steering committee will meet to discuss the specifics of the plan on Tuesday.

Once the new plan was formulated, the group would present its ideas to the Community Board, Cohen said.