Fund For Park Avenue/Instagram
- City-Scape Landscaping has been beautifying Park Avenue since 1972, CNBC reports.
- The family-run business is now owned by 26-year-old Dylan Sofield after the death of his father.
- City-Scape makes $100,000 per year installing Canadian fir trees along the iconic avenue.
A Queens-based family-run landscaping business has been supplying New York City’s Park Avenue with its iconic trees during the holiday season for the last 50 years, and it’s helmed by a 26-year-old owner.
Dylan Sofield, 26, is the owner of City-Scape Landscaping after the recent death of his father, Vincent Sofield, and his new position means overseeing the maintenance of Park Avenue Malls — the grassy median on Park Avenue — as his father had done since 1972, CNBC reported.
“A lot of people don’t believe me when I tell them I own the company,” Sofield told CNBC. “They ask for the boss, and I say, ‘You’re looking at him.’ But they quickly lose that once they realize I know what I am talking about.”
One particularly lucrative part of City-Scape’s partnership with Fund for Park Avenue is the Park Avenue Christmas tree project, which accounts for 10% of the company’s $1 million annual sales at $100,000 per year, Sofield says.
The business installs 12o Canadian fir trees along the avenue spanning from 49th to 97th streets – nearly 50 blocks, according to the CNBC report. The annual Park Avenue tree lighting took place on Dec. 4, and drew a crowd of 4,000.
Outside of the holiday season, Sofield and his crew maintain the Park Avenue Malls every Monday to match the climate. City-Scape supplies the green space with flowers, trees, and more year-round.
“It’s people’s front yard, front gardens along Park Avenue,” Fund for Park Avenue president, Barbara McLaughlin told CNBC. “So everyone who’s lucky enough to live on Park Avenue really enjoys it every day, but also, it’s a wonderful place to walk and it’s enjoyed by a lot of people.”
