Valuing Central Park's Contributions to New York City's ... - Appleseed

Introduction
New York City’s Central Park is one of the world’s best-known urban parks – a favorite place
for recreation, culture, entertainment and social activity for generations of New Yorkers, and a
magnet for visitors from all over the world.
Less familiar, however – and not as readily visible – is the role that Central Park has played
in the evolution of New York City’s economy, and its ongoing contribution to the City’s
economic vitality. The Park is a significant enterprise in its own right – a magnet for visitors
to the City and for talent of all types – an invaluable resource for its neighbors and other New
Yorkers – a source of added value to New York’s greatest concentration of real estate – and a
generator of tax revenues for the City.
In order to understand more fully the Park’s impact, the Central Park Conservancy – a nonprofit
organization that manages the Park under contract with the City of New York – asked
Appleseed, a New York City-based consulting firm, to assess Central Park’s value to New York
City’s economy. This report presents the results of Appleseed’s analysis.
Part One of the report assesses the impact of the Conservancy itself and the other
businesses and organizations that operate in the Park. Part Two explores the Park’s role as
a venue for major events and a magnet for visitors – its related role as a focal point of the
City’s hospitality and industry and cultural institutions – and its role as a place for film,
TV production and photography. Part Three of the report discusses the Park’s value as a
community resource, and why this is important to the City’s economy.
Part Four explores several dimensions of the Park’s impact on real property values in the area
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