The NoMad Alliance: The Heart of the City
The NoMad Alliance is committed to NoMad
The NoMad Alliance is committed to building an ever-better, sustainable community and growing local businesses. Along with the Flatiron NoMad Partnership and Madison Square Park Conservancy, The NoMad Alliance is one of three important organizations that help the neighborhood to thrive.
The NoMad Alliance in action
Jazz performances on the NoMad Piazza, Endless Summer promotional discounts, yellow taxis topped with the slogan “There’s no place like NoMad,” and this publication, NOMAD Magazine, are all projects of The NoMad Alliance, the not-for-profit that works tirelessly to serve the businesses and residents of New York City’s hottest neighborhood. Centrally located in the heart of Manhattan, the district was officially dubbed NoMad (North of Madison Square Park) in a 1999 New York Times article and through the efforts of the NoMad initiative, the name stuck. In the years following, the name NoMad — and the area the moniker represents — has blossomed, thanks in great part to the unifying work of The NoMad Alliance.
how to get involved with The NoMad Alliance
The NoMad Alliance needs passionate people and financial support to continue doing everything it does for the neighborhood. There are many ways to get involved. It’s easy and affordable to join The NoMad Alliance and there are many benefits that can help promote you, your business, and our community. If you or your business are geographically located in the area, titled NoMad, or identify as NoMad, you are encouraged to check out the option. And best of all, because The NoMad Alliance is a 501(c)(3), all donations, sponsorships, and membership fees are tax deductible. More info at: TheNoMadAlliance.com or reach us at: [email protected].
NoMad then and now
After a heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the once glamorous area fell into disrepair. Home at one time to J.P. Morgan, Theodore Roosevelt, and Oscar Wilde, among other notables, the neighborhood that is bordered by Herald Square, Chelsea and Flatiron, was loaded with great architecture, but lacked an identity and desirability.
Fortunes began to change for the tattered district when in 2003, the newly formed Madison Square Park Conservancy inspired a clean-up and reinvigoration of the park, one of the largest in the city. Luxury residences were converted from historic old buildings. When the trendy Ace Hotel boldly opened its doors on West 29th Street in 2009, defining an expanding northern reach to NoMad, it attracted the attention of both tourists and investors. Word quickly spread, and soon new coffee shops, restaurants, and businesses started to make NoMad their home.
NoMad’s growing popularity
NoMad’s growing popularity was no surprise to Leslie Spira Lopez, president of Kew Management, the real estate entity founded in the 1950s by her maternal grandfather. Spira Lopez grew up inthe business — and the area — and has 35 years of leadership experience buying and managing properties throughout the city, primarily within the boundaries of NoMad. She instinctually understood that the location with its easily accessible subways, nearby bus routes, and a border of 23rd Street — which bisects the city with a convenient east/west cut-through — would be attractive for commuters and residents who wanted to move around Manhattan with ease while also planting roots in a desirable live, work, play community.
the creation of The NoMad Alliance
Passionate about maintaining a unique and diverse neighborhood, Spira Lopez set out to create an entity capable of supporting the new businesses that were beginning to call NoMad home. “People were asking us for an alliance,” she recalled. “As a landlord to over 350 small businesses, we were able to hold mixers and create opportunities for people and businesses in the area to network and promote themselves.” By 2014, The NoMad Alliance was formalized.
“Why did we do this?” she asked. “We wanted to do everything we could to sustain the viability of the neighborhood with businesses that would bring vibrancy and excitement to the area. We wanted to attract the types of businesses and tenants that would light up the ground floor retail and the neighborhood and be a magnet of growth.”
With the mission of sustaining and continuing to develop the creative, forward-thinking, dynamic character of NoMad, The Alliance is committed to its goals. Since its creation, The Alliance has been an advocate for ensuring improved infrastructure, better street conditions, attracting development, and fostering growth to the area. It also promotes the district and its business to the media and the public. In recent years, The NoMad Alliance has led and promoted neighborhood initiatives with offers, discounts, and incentives for consumers on its website, working tirelessly
to help local businesses prosper, generously including some in Chelsea and Flatiron. The latest initiatives of The NoMad Alliance can be found on experiencenomad.com and are actively promoted via social media channels.
The NoMad Alliance’s efforts are paying off
Condé Nast recognized NoMad as one of the top 23 places to visit in the US in 2023 and the NoMad Piazza was recently recognized by The New York Times and Chicago Tribune as one of the top places in the USA for a staycation. The NoMad Piazza, promoted and created by The NoMad Alliance, is the streetscape where Broadway runs between Fifth and Sixth Avenues — between 25th and 31st Streets. Filled with ample room for outdoor seating and a two-way bike path, much of the NoMad Piazza is closed to vehicular traffic making it a unique neighborhood oasis and a go-to destination for its many restaurants and businesses. The NoMad Piazza has been embraced by the New York Department of Transportation and is supported by the DOT’s Broadway Vision. NoMad is now the buzziest of its neighbors, proving THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE NOMAD.
Join The NoMad Alliance to be a part of its continuing legacy. More info at: TheNoMadAlliance.com or reach us at: [email protected].