Our History
42nd Street Fund Summary
The 42nd Street Development Corporation is a not-for-profit corporation created in 1976 to rescue the west end of Manhattan’s 42nd Street from 50 years of neglect and misuse.The Corporation built Theatre Row, a complex of off and off-off Broadway theatres and restaurants between 9th and 10th Avenues; planned the reclamation of the historic 7th to 8th Avenue blocks; aided the renovation of Grand Central and Bryant Park, built new headquarters and stables for the Mounted Unit of the New York Police Department between 11th and 12th Avenues; partnered the development of a market-rate apartment building between 10th and 11th Avenues.
The 42nd Street Fund is a creation of the 42nd Street Development Corporation to make grants and soft loans to not-for-profit organizations that want to get into the real estate business-to expand, to move, to hire an architect, an engineer, a lawyer, a planner, to flesh out their idea and find out whether or not it really makes sense.
In 2003, Theatre Row was rebuilt and now includes the Clurman, Beckett, Lion, Kirk, Acorn, plus, a new multi-theatre Playwright, and a 499-seat Little Shubert, plus rehearsal, workshop, office spaces, and Jean Claude Baker’s estimable Chez Josephine Restaurant. The success of Theatre Row has strengthened the 42nd Street Fund and allows for the continued support of important projects to improve New York City.
Music and the Brain became a special project of the 42nd Street Fund in 1997 under the direction of Lisha Lercari, to offer public school students the tools to learn to read and play music through classroom keyboard instruction.
