Electricians were putting the finishing touches on the setup Thursday as crews prepared for Jay-Z\u2019s three-night concert residency at Yankee Stadium.<\/p>\n
Just across the street, workers were stocking merchandise and getting a special Jay-Z pop-up ready for thousands of expected fans, as local businesses prepared for what they hope will be one of the busiest weekends of the summer.<\/p>\n
The hip-hop icon\u2019s concerts are expected to draw thousands of visitors to the Bronx, bringing increased foot traffic to restaurants, bars and shops surrounding the stadium.<\/p>\n
One of the biggest attractions outside the venue is a Jay-Z pop-up inside the former Crown Diner space at 161st Street and Gerard Avenue. The storefront had been vacant for about six years, but business leaders say the temporary activation has already transformed the block.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust having something here pop up for these next couple days has changed the vibe of this neighborhood,\u201d said Trey Jenkins, executive director of the 161st Street Business Improvement District. \u201cIt just shows when you activate a vacant spot, it can transform your block.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jenkins says the timing couldn\u2019t be better. With the Yankees on the road during the All-Star break, the concerts are expected to keep customers flowing through the neighborhood while giving local businesses an economic boost.<\/p>\n
He hopes the success of the pop-up encourages a permanent tenant to move into the long-vacant storefront.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hoping that we can get a business in here,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping this is a good sign for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Business leaders say they\u2019re optimistic the excitement surrounding Jay-Z\u2019s concerts will leave a lasting impact long after the final performance ends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Electricians were putting the finishing touches on the setup Thursday as crews prepared for Jay-Z\u2019s three-night concert residency…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-292047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}