SoMa (South of Macy’s) is a nickname for the area south of Herald Square in Manhattan. The “SoMa” nickname is taken from the well-established SoMa (South of Market) in San Francisco.
     
The “SoMa” (South of Macy’s) nickname was used by the company Site Specific in 1996; “SoMa” was then reintroduced by New York magazine’s “Intelligencer” column in December 2007. Citations have—so far—been sparse for the “South of Macy’s” version of “SoMa.”
       
           
Wikipedia: Macy’s
Macy’s is a chain of mid-range American department stores with its flagship store in Herald Square, New York City, which, with its one million square feet of selling space has been billed as the “world’s largest store” since completion of the Seventh Avenue addition in 1924
   
Wikipedia: South of Market, San Francisco, California
SoMa (South of Market) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Its borders are Market Street to the north-northwest, the San Francisco Bay to the east, Townsend Street to the south-southeast, and U.S. Route 101 (Central Freeway) to the west-southwest. It is the part of the city in which the street grid runs parallel and perpendicular to Market Street. The eastern edge along the Embarcadero and southeastern corner of this area (where Mission Creek meets the bay) is known as South Beach, a separate neighborhood, and the border below Townsend Street begins Mission Bay. The northeastern corner (where Market Street meets the bay) is often considered part of the Financial District.
   
New York (NY) Times
April 15, 1996
Inventing a Communal Urban Culture
By LISA NAPOLI
No corner offices or oak desks in New Media Zip Codes. Since many of the people working in this business are under 30, the lack of privacy in the workplace doesn’t seem to pose a problem. Accustomed to sharing cramped quarters—many have lived most recently in college dorms—and having little previous work experience, the idea of being on top of each other at work isn’t oppressive as it might be to more tenured professionals. Perhaps working in teams, communally, comes more naturally to younger people.
 
“My stuff is all in the computer. I don’t need a big desk,” said Susan Boster of Site Specific, where most employees are well under 30. The group works out of a small loft, with a picture window that looks uptown at Macy’s. “We say the neighborhood is SOMA—south of Macy’s, after SOMA in San Francisco.”
 
New York magazine
Coffee & Grunge to Gentrify ‘Soma’
A hotel fit for a spotted pig.
By Beth Landman
Published Dec 3, 2007
Is south of Macy’s (Soma?) the next Seattle? That’s where the East Coast’s first Ace Hotel is scheduled to open in 2009. Seattle’s hipster hostelry has taken over the landmarked 1904 Breslin Hotel on 29th Street and Broadway.
   
New York (NY) Times - City Room
December 6, 2007,  12:32 pm
Stumptown in SoMa? Only if There’s Room to Roast
By Alexis Mainland
The neighborhood on Broadway south of Macy’s may already be getting a new nickname, SoMa, but will New York coffee lovers soon call it Stumptown?