A weekend of music at Yankee Stadium is being seen as an opportunity for more than just concertgoers in the Bronx. According to News 12, Jay-Z's three-night run at the ballpark is expected to bring thousands of people to the borough, and local business leaders are hoping to turn that surge of visitors into a lasting lift for the neighborhood around the stadium.
At the center of the effort is a storefront that had long stood empty. Business leaders said the space, near 161st Street and Gerard Avenue, had been vacant for about six years before it was activated for the concerts, giving a shuttered spot a burst of new life.
For the weekend, the once-empty space has taken on a new role. Fans have been stopping by for merchandise and what has been billed as a Jay-Z experience, turning foot traffic drawn by the shows into activity along a corridor that business advocates have been working to strengthen.
Those advocates see the moment as a proof of concept. Trey Jenkins, executive director of the 161st Street business improvement district, said that when you activate a vacant spot, it can transform a corridor, pointing to the pop-up as an example of the kind of energy the area could sustain.
Jenkins framed the concert weekend as a hopeful sign for the future. He said he would like to see a permanent business fill the long-empty space, describing the temporary activation as a good indication of what is possible for the neighborhood if the momentum can be carried forward beyond the shows.
The timing, local businesses said, could hardly be better. With the Yankees away and the All-Star break around the corner, the concert weekend arrives at a moment that is otherwise quiet for the bars, restaurants and shops that depend on stadium crowds, and the three Jay-Z concerts, spread across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, are expected to give those establishments a welcome jolt of business.