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FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD | EDITOR IN THIS ISSUE Hailing Uber’s haters 4 AGENDA 5 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT UBER HAS TAKEN NEW YORK by storm since launching here 6 POLITICS Talent war six years ago. Three out of every four for-hire rides New breaks 7 HEALTH CARE Yorkers take in a car other than a yellow cab now come out for 8 WHO OWNS THE BLOCK commercial through the app. But Uber’s aggressive growth and reliance brokers on independent contractors instead of employees and the 9 REAL ESTATE stream of press reports alleging a sexist company culture 10 INSTANT EXPERT have made it an easy scapegoat for the shortcomings of an 11 VIEWPOINTS industry that long resisted innovation, in large part because 12 THE LIST it enjoyed so much protection from market competition. Along came Uber and today hailing a car with an app— FEATURES and having the fare automatically charged to your credit It’s part of our 13 LONG SHOT card—is the new normal. The irony is that nobody trusts mission to be 16 WANNABE WALL BUILDERS Uber—even though everyone uses it. That has made the “ $70 billion company surprisingly vulnerable. a reliable ride All this helps explain why Uber’s New York executives for everyone, P. came to our newsroom last week. They were trying to sat- 20 ROY CASTRO isfy critics who have been assailing the company for not everywhere providing enough wheelchair-accessible service, while also staving off regulators looking to enforce requirements that car services give wheel- chair users equal access to their vehicles. Those rules have long been on the books, and just about every for-hire fleet operator flouts them. But Uber being Uber makes the company a target. The executives, of course, didn’t describe their plan to expand wheelchair service in those terms. “It’s part of our mission to be a reliable ride for everyone, everywhere,” said General Manager Josh Mohrer. 20 GOTHAM GIGS Uber’s proposal calls for a 5-cent surcharge on every for-hire ride, money that 21 SNAPS would be used to attract more drivers, not just those working for Uber, to convert 22 FOR THE RECORD to wheelchair-accessible vehicles. That way, “companies would compete to provide the best service,” Mohrer said. 23 PHOTO FINISH The fact that Uber is pushing this plan speaks to its desire to neutralize naysay- CORRECTIONS ers, as the company could easily solve the shortage problem on its own. In fact, it Corrected profiles for 40 Under 40 2017 honorees already is. Last fall Uber launched a pilot program to improve accessibility. By low- Arun Gupta, Jessica O. Matthews and Laura Y. Rapaport appear at CrainsNewYork.com. ering its fees, it has enticed drivers to put 200 wheelchair cabs on the road. A few more months could bring that total to 1,000—the number Uber says is enough to make the service reliable for the 1% of New York riders who need it. Wheelchair service “is not going to be big business for us,” Mohrer said. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority alone spends $600 million to ferry disabled passengers. Uber’s wheelchair cars could prove a cheaper alternative. But the company would have to fulfill its own mission to make it happen. ON THE COVER PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES
APPLY NOW DIGITAL DISPATCHES DOES YOUR COMPANY Go to CrainsNewYork.com HAVE WHAT IT TAKES? READ The generation If you think your organization is a next in line to lead cut above the rest, Loews Corp. earned > apply to be on our 10th annual more money in Best Places to Work list 2016. Alexander and recognizing the top 100 Benjamin Tisch, vice employers in New York City. presidents in corporate development, took home REGISTRATION $925,000 last year, up IS OPEN 8.8% from 2015. Benjamin is the son of To participate, go to: CEO James Tisch (pictured), while Alexan- CrainsNewYork.com/bestplaces der’s father is Co-chairman Andrew Tisch. ■ Verizon will launch an online TV service Vol. XXXIII, No. 14, April 3, 2017—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for consisting of a dozen channels this summer. double issues the weeks of June 26, July 10, July 24, Aug. 7, Aug. 21 and Dec. 18, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send The new offering is separate from the com- address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2912. pany’s Fios TV and Go90 services. For subscriber service: Call (877) 824-9379. Fax (313) 446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. ■ (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2017 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Airports can apply for a share of $20 million in state funding for safety im- provements and modernization. BUCK ENNIS, BLOOMBERG NEWS
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3
P003_CN_20170403.indd 3 3/31/17 9:02 PM WHAT’S NEW April 3, 2017
AGENDATear down an expressway to build up a community
ew York City may be a Jane Jacobs town, but Gov. Andrew Cuomo is more of a Robert Moses type: He tries to cut through red tape and political obstacles to make big projects happen. Sometimes it works—construction of his new Tap- Npan Zee Bridge seems to be humming along despite its murky financing. And sometimes it doesn’t—he announced grand plans for a Queens con- FP0 vention center in 2012, but the project never materialized. What the city really needs is a combination of Jacobs and Moses: some- one who, like Jacobs, understands that our built environment must be com- patible with a community-oriented way of life and who, like Moses, can overcome NIMBYism, tightfistedness and fear of change to get things done. ACCESS TO GREEN SPACE and the waterfront will make the South Bronx a more pleasant place to live. Cuomo has a chance to achieve that elusive combination with his $1.8 billion plan to tear down the Sheridan Expressway and replace it with a tree-lined boulevard that connects residents of the South Bronx with the Cuomo, to his credit, embraced this challenge. The governor tasked his Bronx River and green space. planners with crafting a solution that would rid the Bronx of its ugly, noisy, The Sheridan, as it happens, was a Robert Moses creation that en- air-polluting, waterfront-blocking expressway, get trucks off the streets capsulates all that was wrong with the master builder’s highways. The and improve access to Hunts Point, which is the backbone of the city’s 1.25-mile roadway was myopically designed food supply and a key cog in our economy. to move as many vehicles as possible as Cuomo’s proposal breaks a stalemate And his negotiators had to sell it. Judging quickly as possible—not merely ignoring from the enthusiastic reactions of the stake- but undermining the needs of the neigh- between neighborhood and business holders and advocacy organizations, the borhoods it cut through. Eventually, this interests. Now he must deliver governor and his team have succeeded. realization took hold in the Bronx, and local Considering the conflicting, hardened sentiment gelled into a movement to undo positions the various factions had taken Moses’ handiwork. But by then the roadway had generated a business con- and the number of years the Sheridan fight had dragged on, this is quite stituency: the Hunts Point wholesale market and the truckers who sup- an achievement. plied it. These competing interests yielded a stalemate, with political lead- Jacobs would be proud of the plan, which introduces South Bronx res- ers unwilling to make a change that would make businesspeople unhappy idents to a waterfront long denied them. Now Cuomo must match Moses’ and require substantial resources to boot. ability to turn vision into reality. — THE EDITORS
FINE PRINT BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, with $5 trillion in assets, said it will consolidate 11 actively managed funds and lay off dozens of stock analysts as more investors put money into passive mutual funds that use computer algorithms to track market indexes. Investors have yanked $570 billion out of actively managed accounts and poured nearly $1 trillion into index funds in the past two years.
BY GERALD SCHIFMAN STATS
25 WORDS OR LESS THERE’S BEEN A SURGE of discrimination complaints in New York, and resolution times have slowed JUSTICE DELAYED while the city works to increase penalties.
AND THE CITY Those are the actions Race and citizenship discrimination “ claims last year, a one-year rise of 245 58%, possibly spurred by campaign out of the playbook rhetoric. The commission also did better outreach, of some dictator of a so more incidents may have been reported.
banana republic.” Average number of days it took the —Prosecutor Lee Cortes during the Commission on Human Rights to 536 resolve discrimination cases last year, sentencing of Bridget Anne Kelly and up 28% from 2015 Bill Baroni. Gov. Chris Christie’s ex- aides got 18 and 24 months in prison, Average value of commission case respectively, for causing gridlock on settlements in fiscal 2016, up 223% Amount of additional funding the George Washington Bridge to $35K from fiscal 2015. Slower resolution sought by the City Council for punish the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., for times were partly due to the extra effort by the $6M the commission to handle the commission to recover more money. not backing Christie’s re-election. increase in claims.
STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT STATE ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY. SOURCES: City Council, Commission on Human Rights, Mayor’s Management Report
4 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P004_CN_20170403.indd 4 3/31/17 9:04 PM AGENDA ICYMI CRAINSNEW YORK BUSINESS EDITOR IN CHIEF Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan executive assistant Devin Arroyo, 212.210.0701 EDITORIAL editor Jeremy Smerd Consensus to close Rikers managing editor Brendan O’Connor assistant managing editors Erik Engquist, Jeanhee Kim, Robin D. Schatz suddenly reached. Now what? web editor Amanda Fung copy desk chief Telisha Bryan AYOR BILL DE BLASIO jumped on the “close Rik- art director Carolyn McClain photographer Buck Ennis ers” bandwagon late last week, announcing plans senior reporters Joe Anuta, Aaron Elstein, Matthew Flamm, Daniel Geiger to shutter the city’s beleaguered jail complex. He reporters Rosa Goldensohn, M leapfrogged a blue-ribbon commission set up by City Coun- Jonathan LaMantia, Caroline Lewis data reporter Gerald Schifman cil Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who has publicly pushed web producer Peter D’Amato columnist Greg David for the jail’s closure since last year, to endorse a decadelong contributing editors Tom Acitelli, Theresa Agovino, Erik Ipsen, Cara S. Trager phaseout of detention on the island. The panel was expected ADVERTISING to come out in favor of closing the island, a view Gov. Andrew www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise Cuomo embraced last month when he jabbed the city’s prior advertising director Irene Bar-Am, [email protected], resistance to the idea as “impotence.” 212.210.0133 senior account managers The sudden and rare consensus among New York’s top offi- Zita Doktor, Rob Pierce, Stuart Smilowitz, Debora Stein cials clears the way forward. Now comes the really hard part. sales coordinator Devin Arroyo, The city must open or expand capacity at jails in the five 212.210.0701, [email protected] REIMAGINING RIKERS: Agreement to shutter the jail could lead to the island’s redevelopment ONLINE boroughs, a feat that will require the support of City Coun- general manager Rosemary Maggiore, 212.210.0237, cil members. County jails would solve one of Rikers’ endemic [email protected] problems: its distance from the courts and the long pretrial stays that result. But the logic of local detention will CUSTOM CONTENT director of custom content have to overcome the concerns of NIMBYism. After the mayor’s reversal, Staten Island Borough PresidentJimmy Patty Oppenheimer, 212.210.0711, Oddo tweeted his opposition: “Closing Rikers Island doesn’t have to mean building a jail on Staten Island. The [email protected] multicultural sales manager Giovanni Perla, Mayor can try the former, but he must guarantee the latter.” [email protected] senior custom marketing manager The jail’s planned shutdown now revives the question of what will be done with the 413-acre island, a topic Sonia David, [email protected] Crain’s explored in a cover story last year. Some argued for developing homes for as many as 65,000 residents. EVENTS www.crainsnewyork.com/events Others said it should be turned into a cycling haven called Bikers Island. director of conferences & events Courtney Williams, 212.210.0257, The governor himself may be partial to another idea: developing the land into runways for LaGuardia Airport, [email protected] 250 feet across the East River. Cuomo, who has proposed a $4 billion plan to renovate the airport, has said he is manager of conferences & events Adrienne Yee, [email protected] “intrigued” by the idea. — ROSA GOLDENSOHN events coordinator Ashlee Schuppius, [email protected] AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT director of audience & content partnership development Michael O’Connor, NY1 on-air talent axed DATA POINT Children’s health 212.210.0738, Cable news channel NY1 laid off a doz- New York health advocates are bracing [email protected] NEW YORK CITY’S UNEMPLOYMENT CRAIN’S 5BOROS en employees, including correspondent for another fight in Congress: the re- www.5boros.com Shelley Goldberg and film critic Neil RATE DECLINED TO 4.3%, THE LOW- authorization of funding for the State Irene Bar-Am, 212.210.0133, Rosen. The cuts are part of a shift in fo- Children’s Health Insurance Program [email protected] EST SINCE 1976, INCLUDING IN THE cus to investigative journalism under its that expires in September. Advocates REPRINTS BOOM YEARS OF 1987 AND 2007. reprint account executive Krista Bora, new parent company, Charter Commu- worry the GOP could repeal parts of 212.210.0750 nications, which acquired Time Warner THE NATIONAL AND STATE AVERAGES Obamacare through that bill. PRODUCTION Cable last year. production and pre-press director ARE 4.7% AND 4.4%, RESPECTIVELY. IPO buzz Simone Pryce media services manager Nicole Spell Rent-freeze fight BuzzFeed is reportedly preparing to go SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE The landlord-backed Rent Stabilization public next year. The website known www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe Association is planning to appeal a rul- volvement of Jared Kushner, adviser to for its addictive quizzes was valued at [email protected] ing that upheld the freeze on one-year President Donald Trump, in the negoti- $1.7 billion after NBCUniversal invest- 877.824.9379 (in the U.S. and Canada). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 leases for rent-stabilized apartments ations. Anbang reportedly was going to ed $200 million in it late last year, bring- one year, $179.95 two years, for print that’s been in place since October 2015 invest $400 million in the office tower, ing NBC’s total stake to $400 million. subscriptions with digital access. to contact the newsroom: (see Viewpoints, page 11). The freeze which has been losing money. Kushner www.crainsnewyork.com/staff was pushed by Mayor Bill de Blasio. The Cos. is speaking to other investors. 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4024 board will vote in June on rent increases phone: 212.210.0100; fax: 212.210.0799 for leases beginning Oct. 1, 2017. Accountants retained after Oscars snafu Entire contents ©copyright 2017 Crain Communications Inc. All rights The Academy of Motion Picture Arts reserved. ©CityBusiness is a registered Factory drama gets mixed reviews and Sciences has decided to keep ac- trademark of MCP Inc., used under license Ticket sales for Sweat, the Broadway agreement. counting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers drama by Pulitzer Prize–winning play- for next year’s Academy Awards. But the CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS wright Lynn Nottage, may be hampered PwC partners responsible for handing chairman Keith E. Crain by New York Times staffing changes. the wrong Best Picture envelope to pre- president Rance Crain Critic Charles Isherwood, who gave an treasurer Mary Kay Crain, Cindi Crain senters Warren Beatty and Faye Dun- senior executive vp, William Morrow off-Broadway production of the play a away will no longer work on the Oscars. executive vp, director of strategic rave review, was fired in February, and operations Chris Crain a different Times reviewer did not des- Madoff investor takes his own life executive vp, director of corporate Girl power operations K.C. Crain ignate the show a “critic’s pick” when it Charles Murphy, a partner at hedge senior vp, group publisher David Klein opened March 26. fund Paulson & Co., leaped to his death Fearless Girl will continue to stare vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis down Wall Street’s Charging Bull chief financial officer Bob Recchia from the 24th floor of the Sofitel New chief information officer Anthony DiPonio Chinese investors out of Kushner deal York hotel. Murphy lost millions when through early next year. The 4-foot- founder G.D. Crain Jr. [1885-1973] Anbang Insurance Group pulled a deal his Fairfield Greenwich fund invested tall, 250-pound bronze statue of a chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. [1911-1996] with Kushner Cos. to redevelop 666 more than $7 billion with Bernie Mad- girl in a windblown dress was in- secretary Merrilee Crain [1942-2012] Fifth Ave. U.S. lawmakers criticized off. Recently Murphy played a key role stalled March 7 to commemorate the pending transaction, citing possi- in helping Paulson develop a case to International Women’s Day.
ble ethics violations concerning the in- break up AIG. GETTY IMAGES TOM FOTY,
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 5
P005_CN_20170403.indd 5 3/31/17 9:04 PM AGENDA POLITICS
State could step in as Congress relaxes internet privacy protections Move might lead to complex patchwork of local laws BY ROBERT LEVINE
he next big thing in privacy said, “would make some form of the federal regulation law could be a lot of little ‘right to be forgotten’ [legislation] even is that there’s one things. Congressional Re- more important.” set of rules,” said publicans last week voted to The bill, which would apply to inter- Erik Grimmelmann, Teliminate Obama-era Federal Com- net sites rather than service providers, president of the New munications Commission rules that is unlikely to pass in its current form: York Tech Alliance, would have required internet service It recently lost its state Senate spon- which represents providers such as Cablevision’s Opti- sor, and experts believe that it con- smaller local firms. mum to get consumer consent before flicts with the First Amendment. (The Already, there are 47 DELETE PRIVACY: New rules may have unintended consequences using personal data for business pur- so-called ‘right to be forgotten’ exists state laws on “data poses. The bill, which President Don- in European Union countries and is breach notification,” ald Trump is expected to sign into law, based on Continental legal logic that requiring companies to tell consumers ing state legislatures sometimes pass represents a victory for telecom com- doesn’t easily translate to common law if their personal data may have been ac- laws with unforeseen consequences, panies looking to monetize customer countries like the U.S.) Surveys have cessed by hackers. “If you’re a big com- and privacy laws—like New York’s data the way Google and Facebook do, shown some support for the concept pany, like Target, you can afford to deal proposed ‘right to be forgotten’ bill— as well as a blow to privacy advocates. in the U.S., however, and voters frus- with that,” Grimmelmann said. “But if definitely fall into that category,” said But it could also spur governments trated by the loosening of federal reg- you’re a small company, that’s hard.” Abigail Slater, general counsel of the here and in other states to enact their ulations may want states to take action Internet Association, a trade group that own privacy laws—which would be to protect their privacy online. “You’re Protecting businesses has an office in Albany. hard for smaller technology companies absolutely going to see states becoming Weprin argues that his bill would If the public feels their privacy is to navigate. more active in debates around privacy,” give recourse to businesses: “For the no longer protected online, the move A bill sponsored by Queens Assem- said Julie Samuels, executive director of plumber, the local businessman, this to loosen regulations may backfire for blyman David Weprin, for example, Tech:NYC, which represents technolo- would help them deal with informa- businesses. “When you think about how would establish a “right to be forgot- gy companies. tion that’s misleading or inaccurate.” the internet works, it’s a system that’s ten”—allowing individuals and busi- The Trump administration’s prom- Weprin said he was inspired to spon- based on trust, and I worry that when nesses to request the removal from ise to lessen federal regulation could sor the law by “a small business that you see things like this happen, the trust some internet sites of information that’s actually inspire a complex patchwork was ruined by people spreading false erodes,” Samuels said of the bill to over- inaccurate, irrelevant, inadequate or of local rules. Illinois last week moved information,” although he declined to turn FCC privacy rules. “If people don’t excessive. (The bill is vaguely worded, forward with two laws protecting pri- provide further details. trust that their transactions are secure, but Weprin said it’s intended to apply vacy, which technology companies are But tech companies worry that state they’re not going to do business on the only to search engines.) “What they’re lobbying against. “For small- to medi- policymakers may not understand the internet—and that would be really bad trying to do in Washington,” Weprin um-size companies, the advantage to implications of their bills. “Well-mean- for tech firms.”■
Dirty motor oil still being thorizing his agency to regulate the cost is not guaranteed to the city, which For donors other than family and burned to heat buildings heating-oil industry, but the propos- could have to compete with Florida close personal friends, COIB “will pre- al has gained little traction among and New Jersey, also frequent Trump sume the public servant is being offered The blending of home heating oil with lawmakers. The de Blasio administra- stomping grounds, for the cash in grant contributions only because of his or her used motor oil is still going strong in the tion has voiced support, but the bill only form. “We believe New York, areas in city position,” the board wrote. city and shows no signs of stopping, a has two sponsors. New Jersey and Florida would be eli- De Blasio has said he will set up a commissioner testified last week. Brownell noted that the build- gible” because Trump spent time there legal defense fund to cover the costs The practice troubles health experts ings most frequently sold adulter- between his election and inauguration, of city and state investigations into his because, as Crain’s described in a Janu- ated oil are located in poor areas of Vincent Grippo, NYPD deputy com- fundraising after criticism that taxpay- ary cover story, oil-heat customers who the city where respiratory problems missioner of Management and Budget, ers would be stuck with the bill. burn the blend unwittingly release tox- are common. Blending saves mon- testified at a City Council budget hear- The mayor downplayed the board’s ins into the air. ey because used motor oil is much ing last week. decision at a Queens press conference, “Based on information we received less expensive than virgin heating oil. But he likes the city’s odds of winning saying that the board “raised a set of from our sources in the industry, the “Unfortunately, the consequences for the grant money. “Certainly we incurred concerns” and that “we’ll certainly en- practice of blending continues,” Busi- the rest of us are dire,” Brownell said. the most significant burden,” he said. gage them on that.” ness Integrity Commissioner Dan “Not only must consumers pay for this — R.G. De Blasio signaled that he could ask Brownell told the City Council’s Sanita- compromised oil, but we all have to the City Council to change the law to al- tion Committee at a budget hearing. breathe the polluted air that results from low for higher donations to such a fund. “The companies that do this know burning it.” — ROSA GOLDENSOHN Large donations can’t cover mayor’s “I didn’t come up with the concept. that if they are caught, they currently seven-figure legal bill, officials say They’ve been around for decades and face no serious consequences.” decades,” the mayor said of legal defense Industry sources point out that New York City competes with Florida The city’s Conflict of Interest Board funds. “I think they are a fair and appro- blending can be done legally with a for Trump security reimbursements threw a wrench in Mayor Bill de Bla- priate tool.” high-powered boiler, but officials say sio’s plan to crowdsource his legal fees Campaign finance lawyer Jerry blended oil is often burned in boilers New York City will have to com- last week, but the mayor held out hope Goldfeder, who plays no role in the not powerful enough to fully combust pete with President Donald Trump’s that his legal defense fund would come mayor’s campaign or administration, used motor oil, which is designed not to other domiciles for police overtime to fruition. praised the conflict board’s opinion and burn in car engines. When inefficiently reimbursement, NYPD officials said Donations to a public servant’s legal its general counsel, Wayne Hawley, who burned in buildings, particulate matter Thursday. defense fund are the equivalent of gifts, was set to retire last week. is sent skyward, and it can float down Congress has offered only $7 mil- according to an advisory opinion issued “In his position as COIB general and settle in the lungs of children and lion to reimburse the city for the $24 March 29 by the board, which guides counsel, Wayne Hawley has always tried other New Yorkers, potentially caus- million that police estimate was spent city officials on ethics rules. The opinion to uphold the most rigorous ethical ing or exacerbating asthma and other protecting Trump Tower during the also limited most donations to less than standards for city officials,” he said. “As ailments. period between the president’s election $50, potentially making it difficult for he leaves his position this week, Haw- Brownell wants the council to pass and inauguration. the mayor to raise enough to cover his ley has unflinchingly underscored his
ISTOCK legislation introduced last year au- But even that fraction of the total seven-figure legal bill. devotion to clean government.” — R.G.
6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P006_CN_20170403.indd 6 3/31/17 9:05 PM AGENDA HEALTH CARE
Insurers confront the new normal in health care: uncertainty New York plans must set prices for 2018 amid mixed signals from D.C. BY JONATHAN LAMANTIA
he leaders of New York’s health indus- “It’s very difficult to provide product pricing without try trade groups gathered in Albany knowing the answer to that question.” March 24 to discuss the impact of the In New York, most of the people who qualify for Republican bill to replace the Afford- cost-sharing reductions are enrolled in the state’s Table Care Act. By the time the event ended at Essential Plan. That product serves more than 665,000 noon, House Speaker Paul Ryan was heading to residents who earn up to 200% of the federal poverty the White House to tell President Donald Trump level—$48,600 for a family of four. They pay monthly they should call off the vote amid dissent within premiums of $20 or less per person. Elisabeth Benja- Republican ranks. min, vice president of health initiatives at the Commu- “Everyone expected there was going to be a vote,” nity Service Society, said that barring Trump’s decision IGNAGNI, chief executive of EmblemHealth said Paul Macielak, president of the New York Health to drop the appeal, she’s optimistic that New York’s Plan Association. “Two hours later that’s not the reality individual marketplace will remain stable next year. anymore, and you’re looking at a new set of unknowns.” She said the state has repaired its dysfunction- chase coverage through the state’s website or directly Welcome to the new normal. Such uncertainties al individual insurance marketplace. As recently as from plans. Premium rates for these customers last about federal health care policy bedevil New York’s 2013, the individual market had only about 21,000 year were 55% lower than before the establishment of actuaries and insurance executives, who have to plan customers and sky-high premiums, according to the the state marketplace, according to DFS. for what they can’t possibly predict. And that could United Hospital Fund. “Our insurance market is quite healthy given the impact the prices individuals and small groups pay It now has about 360,000 participants, who pur- uncertainty that exists,” Benjamin said. ■ for insurance. By May 10 health insurers must advise the state Department of Financial Services how much they expect to raise premiums for plans sold to individuals % and small groups next year. That leaves little time to sort through the chaos in Washing- 55DECLINE IN ton, D.C., where Republicans 2016 individual are still talking about reviv- market premiums ing reform, while Trump has since 2013 tweeted that Obamacare will The Top-Ranked MBA You Want. “explode.” “Pricing is contingent on knowing all relevant factors,” said Karen Ignagni, chief executive of Em- The Flexibility You Need. blemHealth, which runs HIP and GHI. Insurers must consider how much costs will rise for medical care and prescription drugs; how government actions may affect consumers shopping for coverage, whether young or old, sick or poor; and what the fu- ture of Obamacare-created taxes on premiums will be. Furthermore, if Obamacare stays in place for now but Trump decides not to enforce its mandate that everyone buy coverage or face fines, New York could be right back where it was in 2013. At that time the state prohibited plans from deny- ing coverage or charging different premiums based on age or health status. Because it didn’t mandate that younger, healthier people buy insurance, premiums became so high that only the sickest customers pur- chased coverage. “Nobody wants to see history repeat itself,” Ignagni said. A TOP ONLINE MBA WITH A REAL-WORLD FOUNDATION One of the many unknowns troubling Ignag- Now you don’t have to choose between Small Classes ni is a pending federal appeals court case, House v. working and earning your MBA at a top-ranked A student-faculty ratio of 14-to-1 ensures you Price, which could determine the fate of Obamacare’s business school. The Online MBA program get the attention you need. cost-sharing reductions. at Hofstra University’s Frank G. Zarb School Multinational Experience of Business, the highest-ranked program A global practicum exposes students to the in the NY metropolitan area, offers fl exibility In Trump’s court workings of international business. and a personal education with all the resources Federal payments to insurers are supposed to and connections that come from an Top Faculty help them make deductibles and coinsurance more internationally recognized university. Learn from full-time professors who are experts affordable for lower-income consumers. The Obama in their fi elds. administration had appealed the original court ruling Sophisticated Students with extensive that the payments were unconstitutional because they business experience. weren’t authorized by Congress. But Trump could simply decide to drop the ap- The Online MBA is one of many programs offered by the Zarb School of Business, including an peal and strike a fatal blow to the program, which is Executive MBA, an MBA in Manhattan, a full-time cohort MBA (that includes a co-op experience), and on campus full and part-time graduate business programs. expected to yield U.S. insurers about $7.35 billion this year. An end to the subsidies—with plans still on From The Princeton Review, September © 2016 TPR Education. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the the hook to lower costs for members—could lead to United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this content without express written permission is prohibited. financial losses, according to an analysis by The Commonwealth Fund. LEARN MORE AT HOFSTRAMBA.COM “Failure to fund that means people with coverage
BUCK ENNIS will have a difficult time affording care,” Ignagni said.
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April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 7
P007_CN_20170403.indd 7 3/31/17 6:40 PM AGENDA WHO OWNS THE BLOCK
3080 BROADWAY
A deal that’s heaven sent Jewish Theological Seminary sells to survive—and grow
BY TOM ACITELLI
3111 BROADWAY rabbinical school’s need for fresh funds 120 AND 132-134 CLAREMONT AVE. is paving the way for one of the tallest The 2005 sale of this 7-story, The Manhattan School of Music owns the 70-unit property has been one of buildings on Manhattan’s West Side. 21-story, 277,231-square-foot building the only trades of a private apart- The 130-year-old Jewish Theologi- at 132-134 Claremont Ave., which is ment building in the area in the mostly used as a dormitory. The school Acal Seminary cut a $96 million air-rights and land past 15 years. The buyers were also owns and occupies the 6-story, deal last year to developer Savanna, which will investors Lynn Diamond and Steve 175,575-square-foot building at 120 Horowitz, and the sale price was construct a 528-foot, 170-unit residential tower on Claremont Ave. It moved to this location $10.3 million. the east end of the JTS campus at 3080 Broadway from East Harlem in the late 1960s. in Morningside Heights. It will be the tallest West Side building north of the 47-story Millennium
Tower condo on West 67th Street. 501 W. 123RD ST. JTS is one of several The 985-unit, six-building co-op complex, religious institutions to 3041 BROADWAY known as Morningside Gardens, dates from exploit real estate assets the mid-1950s, when the city teamed with Union Theological Seminary plans to neighborhood groups to develop it as middle- as a means to survive sell 350,000 square feet of air rights class housing for employees and residents. at its campus to private developer and grow. In 2006 the complex voted to amend its L and M Development Partners. That Just across Broadway, bylaws to allow for resales at up to 80% of firm would be able to build a con- a unit’s market value. Previous bylaws kept Union Theological Sem- do tower with faculty housing that prices artificially low. inary plans to sell its air would be no more than 392 feet rights to a private de- high (the height of nearby Riverside Church, which Union has committed veloper to build a high- to not eclipse). The money from rise on its campus. The a sale would go toward what the school, a major hub for school estimates is the $100 mil- lion–plus cost of maintaining and the training of Protestant upgrading its current buildings. The clergy, is pursuing the plan is not without controversy, as move for much the same some staff, students and alumni feel a market-rate condo tower would reason as JTS: to raise clash with the seminary’s progres- money for maintenance sive ideals. 543 W. 122ND ST. and upkeep. Savanna, a Manhattan-based private developer Union estimated that owned by Christopher Schlank and Nick Bienstock, it will cost around $100 million to keep its exist- purchased this vacant parcel and the accompanying air rights on the east end of the Jewish Theological ing buildings up to code. JTS, best-known as the Seminary’s campus for $96 million last year. This birthplace of Conservative Judaism, will use the year the company sought permission to construct nearly $100 million it made from its sale to Savan- a 528-foot building here, though a formal plan has not been filed, and construction has yet to start. na to upgrade its facilities and build a performing 3060 BROADWAY arts center, a student res- The Jewish Theological Seminary idence and a library. sold this 6-story, 48,060-square-foot The Episcopal Church’s building to a joint venture of Coltown Properties, Esplanade Partners and Cathedral of St. John the Avenue Realty Capital for $35.25 Divine kicked off the million in February 2016. The build- 500-540 W. 122ND ST. neighborhood’s modern ing has 36 apartments and five com- Columbia University owns these 12 land swaps. The Gothic mercial spaces. The new owners im- mediately leased the building back buildings, which are used primarily church sold abutting land to the seminary for four years. as student housing. The newest one at West 110th Street and is 517 W. 121st St., which backs up to West 122nd Street. It was built in Columbus Avenue at the 2004 and renovated in 2015. start of the decade to private developers, who in turn built a pair of rental and condo towers. ■
8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P008_CN_20170403.indd 8 3/31/2017 12:47:29 PM REAL ESTATE
Owner puts Astoria Cove site on the market for $350M QUEENS HAVEN: A quar- ter of the units could be Developers bet new tax breaks will spur buyer interest BY DANIEL GEIGER affordable housing.
nticipating the reinstatement State legislators were expected to of the project. To pave of a key a ordable-housing sign 421-a back into law late last week. the way for a renewed tax break, a landowner has Nearly a year and a half earlier, the 421-a, REBNY and the put a sprawling development program expired a er the Real Estate construction unions Asite on the Queens waterfront up for Board of New York, the city’s most pow- agreed that workers sale, with a $350 million asking price. erful real estate lobbying group, could who build near the A partnership led by Alma Realty not come to an agreement with unions Brooklyn and Queens Corp. has hired Cushman & Wake- in the building trades on whether to re- it, the land market will strengthen.” waterfront, like the Astoria Cove proj- eld investment sales executives Bob quire higher wages for certain projects. In order to receive the zoning to ect, would be paid a minimum $45 an Knakal, Robert Shapiro and Adam Without the break, interest in de- build up to 1.7 million square feet of hour. e mandated minimum wage Spies to sell Astoria Cove, a 2.2 million- velopment sites has fallen sharply. housing on the site, Alma reached a would be $60 in Manhattan. square-foot mixed-use development Developers say rental projects are not deal with the city to reserve 25% of the As Crain’s was going to press, Al- project on nearly 9 acres along the East nancially viable without the tax ben- square footage for a ordable housing. bany observers were optimistic that River in Astoria. e t, given the high costs of land and e rm’s plans also included 110,000 a 421-a agreement would be included Alma and its partners brought construction. square feet of retail space, 300,000 in the state budget, which Gov. An- the site to the auction block midway “We wouldn’t have hit the mar- square feet of parking and a roughly drew Cuomo was keen to tie up before through March, signaling con dence ket with Astoria Cove in the past 16 60,000-square-foot school. the new scal year, which began April that the return of 421-a, an expired tax months because of the uncertainty If 421-a is reinstated, the buyer of 1. Even if the policy weren’t included, break for residential development proj- around 421-a,” Knakal said. “But there’s the site could receive 35 years of real developers were hopeful that progress ects, will be rebooted and will stoke a been a sense of optimism in recent estate tax breaks in exchange for build- made thus far would portend the pro- moribund land market. weeks that 421-a will be back and with ing the a ordable-housing component gram’s revival. ■
Game time for brokers Competition for high-performing dealmakers heats up as the market cools
spate of moves by top brokers total about 30 million square feet for Cushman scored a coup late last for $2 billion two years ago and then from big rms may be a sign the year, an uptick from the previous year, when it recruited one of the city’s combined it with other brokerage com- of continued so ening in the two years. top-selling investment sales teams, led panies that it controlled, is planning commercial sales and leas- A. Mitti Liebersohn, a leasing bro- by Doug Harmon and Adam Spies to bring Cushman public. At services Aing markets and increased competition ker who moved from JLL to become from Eastdil Secured. Rumors abound rms, where brokers are still king, the from brokerage upstarts. the president of Avison Young’s New that the company paid a record sum for ability to showcase top talent like Har- Savills Studley hired two investment York operations in 2015, said the move- the team, handing as much as $30 mil- mon and Spies can have an in uence sales brokers, Paul Leibowitz and Da- ment of personnel in the business has lion each to Harmon and Spies to make on the success of a potential IPO like vid Krantz, away from CBRE in Febru- been driven not by a lack of deals but the move. e pair have handled some Cushman’s. ary and last month brought on Louis rather by territorial disputes within of the biggest deals in the city, such as “Cushman needed the big invest- Wolfowitz, a specialist in structuring large rms. Shi ing to smaller services the $2.2 billion sale of the o ce tow- ment sales team to go public,” said acquisition and nancing deals, from companies o ers brokers a chance to er at 1095 Sixth Ave. and the $2 billion Cohen, the sales broker who recently Cushman & Wake eld. compete for deals they may have been sale of the Waldorf Astoria. moved to Colliers. “I don’t know what Cushman, meanwhile, hired Patrick precluded from chasing at a large rm, It is widely believed that investment they paid them, but they’ll get it back in Murphy, a successful o ce-leasing bro- where client relationships are o en rm TPG, which purchased Cushman a multiple when they go public.” —D.G. ker, from CBRE. Colliers International controlled by senior executives. poached a top investment sales team led by Richard Baxter, Ron Cohen and Landing big sh MUSICAL CHAIRS Scott Latham from JLL, as well as Brad “Brokers have started to realize they Mendelson and David Green, leasing don’t want to work in an environment brokers who handle retail spaces, from where they’re getting poked in the eye,” Cushman. Liebersohn said. “A broker will pull o e widespread shu ing of person- a miracle and get a meeting with an nel in the commercial real estate busi- important tenant only to have another ness has traditionally been a sign of a broker in their rm jump in and say, so ening market, as even top-earning ‘You can’t work with this company be- brokers search for greener pastures. cause other people have a lock on that at could explain why so many sales client.’ ” brokers have jumped ship: Real estate By tapping into the networks of es- PATRICK MURPHY LOUIS WOLFOWITZ A. MITTI sales dipped 25% last year, falling to $58 tablished brokers like Liebersohn, Can- Moved from CBRE Moved from LIEBERSOHN billion from $77 billion in 2015, accord- ada-based Avison Young in six years to Cushman & Cushman & Wake eld Moved from JLL to ing to Cushman. has gone from an obscure player in the Wake eld to Savills Studley Avison Young e same rationale can’t be used to city to a competitor. e rm recently explain the departures of leasing bro- represented broadcasting and media kers, however. According to Cushman giant Comcast in a Midtown lease and market data, leasing activity fell only won the assignment to ll the o ce modestly last year, by about 7% to building at 530 Fi h Ave.
roughly 26.3 million square feet from Many rms also have been willing to ➤ ADAM SPIES and DOUG ➤ 28.2 million square feet in 2015. In the lavish big money on prominent brokers, HARMON rst quarter of this year, Cushman ex- who can make an immediate impact, Moved from Eastdil Secured pects about 7.6 million square feet of rather than slowly grooming smaller to Cushman & Wake eld activity. If that pace continues, it would dealmakers into tomorrow’s stars.
APRIL 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9
P009_CN_20170403.indd 9 3/31/17 6:40 PM AGENDA INSTANT EXPERT URBAN RENEWAL BY ROSS BARKAN
Will the latest fix to inner-city problems succeed? [in 5 steps]
THE ISSUE THE PLAYERS Gov. Andrew Cuomo Vital Brooklyn was part of Cuomo’s budget proposal and needed came to central Brook- the blessing of the state Legislature, but Republicans, who control 1lyn last month to make 2the Senate, do not represent any of the neighborhoods covered by one of the more ambitious the plan. Assembly Democrats, who have long had a political power base announcements of his ten- in Brooklyn, embraced the proposal. Cuomo for his part is the state’s ure: The state would invest most powerful political figure $1.4 billion to curb the and usually wins approval for obesity, poverty and violence his priorities. He will, however, that have plagued the area need the cooperation of local for decades. Some $700 leaders and nonprofits for million would be allotted to Vital Brooklyn to work well. health care, in part to create 36 outpatient clinics. Another The governor’s rival, Mayor Bill $563 million would be used to construct more than 3,000 afford- de Blasio, was dismissive of it, able apartments, and $140 million would go toward community noting that it lacked specifics. gardens, school yards and recreation space. The initiative, dubbed Expect Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Vital Brooklyn, was likened to Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion, a stimulus Cuomo ally who represents the area, to champion its implementation. program popular in western New York but tainted last year by Any discussion of new parkland will have to go through the de Blasio– corruption charges. Even if the Brooklyn version avoids scandal, controlled Department of Parks and Recreation. it’s far from clear that it can fix such entrenched social problems given the failure of so many previous efforts.
YEAH, BUT... Antipoverty experts praised Cuomo’s holistic Brooklyn plan despite its being light on details. The neighborhoods marked for extra help—Bedford- WHAT’S NEXT 3Stuyvesant, Brownsville and East New York—have long been plagued by New York’s strong governorship crime, low wages, health problems and unemployment. Cuomo’s Vital Brook- and Cuomo’s high approval Concentrating lyn recalls Bill Clinton’s “empowerment zones,” a mix of spending and tax 5 rating give him leverage to see poor people in breaks to revitalize urban neighborhoods such as Harlem, which today would the Brooklyn plan to fruition. But will be unrecognizable to a New Yorker from a generation ago. Yet urban-renewal it make a difference in health and one area efforts have a checkered history. Empowerment zones couldn’t fix impoverished incomes in areas where both have has been West Philadelphia and Baltimore. Other been woeful for generations? While ambitious programs similar to Cuomo’s— the $1.4 billion figure sounds large, most problematic, as dating back to the community-develop- of it is being pulled from existing funding they miss the ment initiatives championed by Robert streams and will be spread over a pop- benefits of F. Kennedy in the mid-1960s—haven’t ulation of several hundred thousand. moved the needle as much as was hoped And many questions remain: Where having in places including Brownsville, where will the affordable housing and parks middle-class 37% of residents live below the poverty be located? Will federal prosecutors neighbors and line, compared with 21% citywide. The step in if Cuomo campaign donors area also endures the city’s highest rate of assaults requiring hospitalization. are awarded contracts to build units classmates Housing programs that concentrate low-income residents in one area have or provide services? Will gentrification been problematic. “It was not a wise and productive thing to do,” Colvin Gran- push residents out before the new num, president and CEO of the nonprofit Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corp., services arrive? The answers could said of such policies. Poorer residents miss out on the benefits of having take months or years. middle-class neighbors and classmates, and are targeted by fast-food chains and ads for junk food, exacerbating health problems.
SOME BACKSTORY The shadow of the Buffalo Billion looms large here. With the economy and the governor’s popularity strong downstate but weak upstate, Cuomo in 2012 announced he would spend $1 billion to revitalize Buffalo, once a vibrant manufacturing hub. Gener- 4ous subsidies were supposed to lure businesses to the Queen City. Five years later, results are mixed. More young people are moving to Buffalo, and its economic outlook is less grim. But 10 people, including former top Cuomo aide Joseph Percoco and the leader of SUNY Polytechnic Institute, were indicted in a bid-rigging scheme. Cuomo was not implicated, but the allegations pointed to poor oversight. Cuomo remains undeterred, however, and promised this year to spend another $500 million on western New York projects. The Brooklyn plan invests in an area where the governor is already well liked, but it could burnish his credentials for a poten- tial presidential campaign in 2020 and make his nemesis, de Blasio, look ineffective for not doing something like it himself. GETTY IMAGES, BLOOMBERG
10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P010_CN_20170403.indd 10 3/31/2017 1:07:55 PM AGENDA VIEWPOINTS
GOP pivots to tax reform,
but it won’t be any easier NY PROFITS STUCK ABROAD
As with health care, New York has much at stake IBM $68 billion Citigroup $45 billion PepsiCo $40 billion HAVING FAILED in their The state’s political leaders are like- ly discounted tax rate—something like Goldman Sachs $29 billion first attempt at health ly to join forces with business groups 10%—on repatriated income, and they’d Morgan Stanley $10 billion care reform, President to defend deductibility and tax-free like to see a reduction in the regular Donald Trump and bonds. The Partnership for New York U.S. corporate rate of 35%, the highest American Express $10 billion the Republican leader- City, the Real Estate Board of New among industrial nations. Hess $8 billion ship are turning their York and especially Wall Street will Local Democrats might be willing Bank of New York Mellon $6 billion attention to tax policy. sign on initially. Whether they perse- to sign on to a repatriation deal and the MetLife $5 billion It won’t be much fun vere if offered more immediate benefits lower corporate rate that comes with the BlackRock $5 billion GREG DAVID for them, and it could for their companies or their highest- closing of some loopholes, but it won’t be treacherous for the paid workers remains to be seen. be easy for them to figure out where to SOURCE: Citizens for Tax Justice, May 2016 New York business community. Move on to the issue of un- draw the line. Even if they do For Trump, putting together the taxed earnings abroad. Amer- oppose reform, they may be campaign against it. So businesses will votes to pass a bill amid so many con- ican corporations do not have % powerless to stop it. If Republi- be divided. Being in bed with Wal-Mart flicting interests will be a herculean to pay taxes on overseas prof- cans use the tax windfall from will be an unhappy prospect for Dem- task. For executives, deciding what to its until the money is repatri- repatriated overseas profits to ocrats, many of whom follow the lead 35U.S. CORPORATE support will be very complicated. ated to the United States. That tax rate, a offset the revenue loss from of unions, which may be in favor of the Begin with the deductibility of state cash stockpile is estimated at world high slashing individual tax rates, proposal. It will be a sticky situation. and local taxes. New Yorkers deduct something approaching $3 Senate rules would require If those issues seem daunting, con- $100 billion from their federal tax re- trillion (yes, with a T), and a only majority approval, avert- sider the epic fights that could ensue turns (second only to California). They lot of it belongs to New York–area com- ing a Democratic filibuster. over Ivanka Trump’s child care incen- save billions more on tax-free state and panies (see chart). Then there’s the issue of the so-called tives and closing loopholes, to name local bonds, which allow governments Many are desperate to bring the border adjustment tax proposed to pe- only two. Tax reform will be much hard- to pay lower interest rates. The initial money home so they can boost their nalize imports and encourage exports. er than health care reform. ■ GOP proposals eliminate both breaks dividends and presumably their stock Exporters support the idea. Big retailers in return for lower tax rates, which prices. Some firms also want to invest such as Wal-Mart and importers have GREG DAVID blogs regularly at would benefit the rich. it in their business. They want a sharp- made it clear they will launch a national CrainsNewYork.com.
Mayor’s rent and eviction policies are pure politics
Low incomes, not landlords, are the problem BY JOSEPH STRASBURG
ayor Bill de Blasio’s hous- Board, for example, exempted owners ing policies have been of one-, two- and three-family homes more politics than sub- from a rate increase but not landlords at stance from the day he larger buildings. A state Supreme Court Mfirst campaigned for freezing rents on judge ruled the board’s move illegal, and 1 million apartments. His latest quick the Appellate Division agreed. But the fix is hiring more lawyers for tenants mayor continues to appeal the case and facing eviction. is also pushing for a third consecutive Rent freezes and the right to coun- rent freeze. With de Blasio running for sel are bad affordable-housing poli- re-election this year, is there any chance cies, hurting not only owners of rent- the rent board won’t do his bidding? stabilized apartments but low-income Rent freezes and taxpayer-funded tenants, as well. litigation deny landlords the resourc- PUPPETEER: The mayor dictates decisions to purportedly independent boards. Despite a state judge’s ruling last es they need to pay property taxes and week, which we will appeal, housing water bills (de Blasio raised both—17% affordability is not allowed by law to and 12%, respectively—over the past 168,000 New Yorkers with an income twice passed unanimously in the state be part of the equation when the Rent three years) and to repair, improve and in excess of $100,000 (39% of whom Senate. As in the existing exemption Guidelines Board votes every June preserve prewar affordable housing. make at least $150,000 a year) occupy programs for senior citizens and the dis- on lease increases for rent-regulated Rent freezes and free legal services rent-regulated apartments. abled, all tenants with an annual income apartments. This is supposed to be in- are not the answer when low-income Poor and low-income tenants need of up to $50,000 who pay half of it to- dependent of City Hall’s influence. But tenants can’t even afford cheap rent. sound policies that provide permanent ward rent would have their rent frozen. the board, whose nine members are ap- The root cause of the affordability prob- relief. But de Blasio inexplicably re- Shouldn’t de Blasio explain why he pointed by de Blasio, advanced his polit- lem is inadequate incomes. mains silent on Assemblyman Andrew favors a rent freeze for households with ical agenda in 2015 by voting for a rent The right to counsel is a positive Hevesi’s widely praised subsidy pro- a six-figure income but does not sup- freeze for the first time in its nearly 50- concept, but it only delays inevitable posal, Home Stability Support, which port federal and state rent supplements year history, then did so again last year. additions to the homeless population would address the city’s record home- to keep poor and income-challenged The mayor took ownership of when eviction cases involve tenants’ in- lessness by providing a federally and tenants in their apartments? ■ the rent freeze in a taxpayer-funded, ability to pay rent, as most of them do. state-funded rent supplement for ten- $1 million advertising campaign— Census numbers tell the real story: ants eligible for public assistance and Joseph Strasburg is president of the proof that City Hall is calling the shots While 176,000 tenants with an annual facing homelessness or eviction. Rent Stabilization Association, which with the board as it does with other income of less than $25,000 can’t get Nor has de Blasio supported the Rent represents 25,000 owners of 1 million
AP IMAGES independent city boards. The Water the affordable housing they need, some Increase Exemption legislation that has rent-stabilized apartments.
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11
P011_CN_20170403.indd 11 3/31/2017 12:48:58 PM AGENDA THE LIST NYC’S LARGEST PUBLIC EVENTS AND TRADE SHOWS Ranked by number of attendees in 2016
PUBLIC EVENTS
(AX`6PSFT`S@`IIV7G`4EGG7CA`"7GGPXAAI`07S7@A NUMER OF MEDIA 2U`07USE9FT`7Y`07S7@A impressions 13.3B generated by the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (7UEPI7G`0VASUP`1E97I`7Y`07S7@A IIV7G`UG7IUE9`IUE9` ATUEW7G TOTAL ANNUAL expenditure to organize the West PGVH8VT`7Y`07S7@A $1M Indian American Day Parade (AX`6PSF`#IUASI7UEPI7G`VUP`2DPX 3EHAT`2RV7SA`(AX`6A7ST`WA 'ASH7E@`07S7@A &VI7S`(AX`6A7S`07S7@A 3SE8A97` EGH` ATUEW7G "ETQ7IE9`7Y`07S7@A ¡
ESTIMATED economic impact TRADE SHOWS $90M of the Village Halloween Parade on city tourism AMOUNT spent on site to produce the $100K Mermaid Parade NUMBER OF COMBINED media impressions 67.8M generated by the summer and winter NY Now trade shows
TOTAL RISE in attendance at the top GETTY IMAGES 3.4% 10 trade shows
12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P012_CN_20170403.indd 12 3/31/2017 12:49:48 PM COMMISSO’s SPORTS BIZ | NEW COSMOS quest to revive the Cosmos— the one-time American home of Brazilian legend Pelé— is no easy feat.
THE LONG SHOT Once the brightest star in New York’s sports universe, the Cosmos vanished 30 years ago. Can a self-made magnate from the Bronx rekindle the soccer magic? BY AARON ELSTEIN
occo Commisso wants to make American soccer great again. And his quest begins right here at home, with the revitaliza- tion of one of the sport’s most storied franchises. In Decem- ber the 67-year-old media mogul purchased the New York Cosmos, a formerly star-studded squad that once dominated RU.S. soccer but had since sunk to the minor leagues and was on the brink of failure for the second time in its colorful history. To start rebuilding the brand, Commisso moved matches from Long Island’s Hofstra Uni- versity to Coney Island, where the team played its April 1 home opener
BUCK ENNIS, GETTY IMAGES CONTINUED ON PAGE 14
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13
P013_P015_CN_20170403.indd 13 3/31/2017 12:51:31 PM COMMISSO MaurerandleftbackAyoze. Mendes, Carlos goalkeeper Jimmy new kit,by teamcaptain sported P013_P015_CN_20170403.indd 14
BUCK ENNIS, ISTOCK SPORTS BIZ 14 |
CRAIN’S NEWYORKBUSINESS soccer scholarship scholarshipsoccer soccer to Columbia to Columbia University, University, where where ly, and eventually Bronx. inthe settled He scored a story. At agehe 12, immigratedfrom Ita- Calabria, sional teams top inthe 10.What kindof crap is that?” Here we are, 80years later, and we have no profes- only U.S. the time made it to a World Cup semi nal. said. “ of was in1930,the American soccer epeak is braggingeryone about great the jobwe’re doing,” he U.S. is nowhere soccer near where it should “Ev- be. can squads. But says Commisso that rated European and Ameri- Latin competitive against more highly World Cups and is increasingly has quali fored consecutive seven game. e men’s national team erage better than 20,000fans per Newthe York Bulls—that Red av- New York City Football Club and thriving league, with area teams— appears sport the to at last have a ofin need shaking up. A ofer decades ts and starts, U.S. business. soccer misso’s plan. His bigger is goal to shake up entire the Cyclones play. Brooklyn venue 7,000-seat where baseball’s the at MCU Park, introducing the Cosmos introducing theCosmos he co-captainedhe co-captained team. the A team. the A er gettinger getting his his Commisso himselfCommisso is agreat New York success surface,On the professional doesn’t soccer seem But resurrecting is only Cosmos of the part Com- M.B.A.M.B.A. in1975,he landed ajobat in1975,he landed ajobat Chase Chase
ManhattanManhattan making loans Bank making to loans Bank a to a | new breednew breed ofnew enterprises of enterprises called called NEW COSMOS cable televisioncable television companies. companies. own, own,building building Media- Media- In 1995he launched his com Communicationscom Communications Corp.Corp. into into nation’s the nation’s the
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APRIL 3,2017 fifth-largestfifth-largest cable systemcable system FINAL IN1930. HEREWEARE,80YEARS LATER, WITH NOTEAMSINTHETOP10. “THE U.S.MADETHEWORLDCUPSEMI- WHAT KIND OF CRAPISTHAT?” One For p. All, 15). eformula has helped league the budgets player so contracts don’t get out of hand (see tional and international revenue TV and are assigned didunder Ross. MLSteams Cosmos the share na- one team from outspending into rivals oblivion—like 1996 with abusiness to designed prevent model any fans are already daring to dream. has money.certainly the alumni And and Cosmos arguablyCommisso has drive the to pull it o . He mos and return to them glory. U.S. league, Major Soccer, League to accept Cos- the package, perhapsTV he could force sport’s the top Soccer League—in which it which League—in playsSoccer again. If it catches on, and North the American mos, plans Commisso to make team the ascendant nue, and $250millioncash infree ow. day Mediacom generates $1.8billion inannual reve- such as Death Valley, and Calif., Keokuk, Iowa. To- by acquiring dozens of providers markets insmall “I was there owner, original the when Steve Ross, Long shots don’t come much longer than but this, By pouring some of dollars those into Cos- the so. Manhattan-based MLSwas spawned in from Warner Communications, owned the power brokers about nervous Commis- team, and great Isee parallels between that makes some established soccer the twothe men,” said Shep Messing, a Cosmos goalie during goalie team’sCosmos the hey- over New the York Cosmos.” giantmedia today steps up and takes day and now abroadcaster. “Another Yet it’s precisely comparison this lands alucrative ing to have a third team,” he said. “I wish luck.”them Cosmos. the Garber made clear he has no interest in bringing in cember press conference, MLSCommissioner Don expand to 22teams from its 10,but original at aDe- things up. He understood New Yorkers wouldn’t pay interests to Warner for $1. at’s Ross shook when on Randall’s um Island. In despair investors sold their crowds at Hofstra University and Downing Stadi- utive of Warner Communications, now Time Warner. Brooklyn-born Steve Ross, chairman and chief exec- founder his Ahmetbrother Ertegun, Nesuhi and byed Istanbul native and Atlantic legendary Records joined in1971. eCosmos eteam was co-found- formationthe of North the League. American Soccer agement professor at New York University. other countries,” said Brandon Brown, a man-sports there was real resistance to adopting from sports andbasketball football. “For tackle along time, embraced like made-in-America sports baseball, ly played only by immigrants. eirchildren soon pro soccer, and beautifulgame the was most- then na. But Great the Depression out wiped American Worldthe Cup semi nal, losing 6-1to Argenti- team, aided by U.K.-born several players, reached governingal body, in1913.In national 1930the squads. eU.S. joined FIFA, soccer’s internation- istles, Kearnythe Rangers and six Newark-based York and New Jersey teams, including New the York Commisso swatsCommisso such naysayers aside. “People “We have two teams inNew York. We’re not go- At wererst Cosmos the nomads, playing to tiny Pro didn’t soccer return to U.S. the until 1967,with has been ablehas been to shut me down.” a loud voice,” he said, “and no one know inmy that industry Ihave and was with mostlylled New Association, was founded in1884 rst league, American the Football andfootball, basketball hockey. e played U.S. inthe much longer than Price ofsuccess Professional has been soccer 3/31/2017 12:51:54 PM
AP IMAGES attention unless the team had stars, so in 1975 he spent But without their benefactor, the Cosmos were in Red Bulls have near Newark. Chances are slim that about $4.5 million of the company’s money to sign trouble—and so was the NASL. Rival owners were the city would pay for a facility, as it did when base- Brazilian legend Pelé, making the world’s greatest soc- spending themselves broke trying to match the sal- ball fan Rudy Giuliani built MCU Park and a minor cer player the world’s highest-paid athlete. Ross’s strat- aries Ross offered. Pelé had retired, attendance and league stadium for the Staten Island Yankees. May- egy of spending huge sums for stars who could win TV ratings fell leaguewide, and ABC dropped NASL or Bill de Blasio claims to be a soccer fan, but he is games and headlines had plenty of imitators, including games. The league hobbled along until 1985, when it clearly focused on affordable housing, not sports. George Steinbrenner, who signed Catfish Hunter that suspended operations, and the Cosmos vanished. “I’m not asking for money right now; I’m not even same year to revitalize the Yankees. In 2009 the NASL was reborn, and four years later asking for a stadium,” Commisso said. “But there’s Ross’s big bet paid off immediately. The Cosmos a revived Cosmos franchise joined the league. But in got to be a discussion of what the future of soccer is began winning, and Pelé was soon joined by other the interim, MLS had been sanctioned as the nation’s in the center of the world.” international stars, including West German defender top soccer league, relegating the new NASL to the Before those discussions get serious, Commisso Franz Beckenbauer, Brazilian national team captain second tier. Just like in the pre-Pelé days, the Cosmos needs to field a team that wins not only games but Carlos Alberto and Italian striker Giorgio Chinaglia. played at Hofstra, where an average of 3,500 dedicat- fans. The Cosmos’ recent history shows success is not The team became the talk of the town, winning three ed fans turned out per game last season. In Decem- enough to ensure financial viability: The team won titles in four years, and in 1978 averaged nearly 48,000 ber 2016, after piling up a reported $30 million in three championships since rejoining the NASL, but fans at Giants Stadium—almost twice as many as the losses, the former owner released his players, fired few people noticed. defending World Champion Yankees were drawing. much of the staff and was prepared to turn out the Among those in the crowd was Commisso, who at the lights. That’s when Commisso stepped in. Temptation to spend time was getting his start in banking while running a He won’t say what he paid, but it is likely a fraction Commisso could endeavor to build a fan base Bronx disco called Act III with his brother. of NYCFC’s $255 million value, according to Forbes. gradually by developing young players and occa- “The Cosmos were so beautiful to watch,” Com- In just their second MLS season, NYCFC drew 27,000 sionally signing established stars from overseas. It misso recalled. “People called them Los Galácticos fans per game at Yankee Stadium. is a financially responsible route but a tough sell in [the Superstars] for good reason.” Commisso said diamonds in the rough are his spe- New York, where sports fans’ plates are already pret- Andy Warhol painted Pelé’s portrait. Cosmos play- cialty. “I took junk systems in rural markets no one ty full. That probably means sooner rather than later ers spent Monday nights at their “second locker room,” else wanted, with as few as 50 customers, and I made Commisso will have to make a Steve Ross–like Studio 54. “I can still picture [Pelé], a blonde Velcroed a company out of it,” he said. “I always liked the un- splash and pay top dollar for a superstar. In an effort to each arm, looking like a Roman emperor reclin- derdog status, making something out of shambles.” to tamp down hopes for Lionel Messi in a Cosmos ing on a gilded divan with toga-clad damsels feeding His top priority is stabilizing the Cosmos and en- uniform—and probably to avoid freaking out his fel- him grapes,” wrote David Hirshey, co-author of goalie suring the NASL’s caliber of play rises to a level where low NASL owners—Commisso said that spending Shep Messing’s memoir, The Education of an American major networks will broadcast games. The way Com- huge sums for talent would be premature. Soccer Player. misso sees it, he only needs a drop of the $18 billion “We have the ability to pay whatever we want, unlike And then, with breathtaking speed, it all fell apart. gusher of rights fees that ESPN, Fox Sports, NBC and the MLS,” he said, referring to NASL’s lack of a salary What ultimately killed the Cosmos and the NASL is others pay professional leagues annually, a sum that cap. “Having said that, if you have only 5,000 people in one of sports’ great whodunits. But Rupert Murdoch has grown by a stunning 50% since 2011, according the stadium, you won’t pay players all kinds of money.” surely played a role. to PricewaterhouseCoopers. (MLS pulls in about To fill seats Commisso is instead focused on a $90 million of that annually.) charm offensive. He has met with Brooklyn political Collapse and resurrection He also needs a better place to play than MCU and business leaders to promote the team and last In 1983 Murdoch bought large amounts of Warner Park, which was designed for baseball. The previ- month introduced the players and coaches to the lo- Communications stock. To fend off a hostile takeover ous Cosmos ownership group tried to build a soccer cal press. He used his contacts in the media world to and cut operating costs, Ross sold Warner assets, stadium by Belmont Park racetrack, but in Decem- sign a deal with the MSG network to broadcast most including the unit that controlled the Cosmos. That ber the Cuomo administration dismissed the bid. of the team’s games locally, and his rebuilt front of- helped Ross keep Warner out of Murdoch’s clutches. Commisso would love a soccer-only venue like the fice is doing its best on outreach. Considering that 3 million New Yorkers are foreign born, there’s a large potential audience for them to woo. “They just asked me if their cheerleaders could ONE FOR ALL come to the Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Day parade,” said Vincent Gentile, a City Council member who rep- WHEN NBA, NFL, MLB OR NHL owners want to improve their clubs, resents the area. they’re free to open their checkbooks and sign as much top talent as Gentile said there is “a lot of untapped potential,” they can. That’s not how it works in Major League Soccer. To a degree but because the Cosmos are not in the MLS, they unequaled in U.S. pro sports, it is the league, and not the team owners, don’t regularly face NYCFC or the Red Bulls, the sort that determines where players play and how much they’re paid. of intracity rivalries that spur local interest. “This That’s no accident. When it was originally founded, the National Amer- isn’t the Knicks versus Nets, Mets versus Yankees ican Soccer League was the country’s top pro circuit. It failed largely be- kind of thing,” he said. cause the Cosmos paid huge sums to sign stars like PELÉ (top right) and Commisso knows that the field may not be tilted Franz Beckenbauer, setting off bidding wars that bankrupted rival teams. in his favor, but he swears that in time he will make To avoid a similar fate, MLS is structured as a single-entity, limited the Cosmos matter again. “Eventually, we will have a liability corporation whose shareholders are the club owners. As such, long-term strategy. It could take three years; it could the league sets budgets to determine how much each club can spend take a month. Give me time; let me get my feet wet,” on its roster, with many foreign-born players assigned to teams based he said. “I tell my guys, ‘Don’t give me too much time, on an allocation process also controlled by MLS. because then I’ll learn more than you and I won’t “The system has been good for competitive balance,” said Sarbit need you.’ You follow me?” Singh, a sports management professor at Long Island’s Farmingdale For the moment, about the best Commisso can State College. “But some feel the league controls too much.” do is sell fans on the joys of supporting an underdog Despite the restrictions, several of the sport’s biggest stars have in its quest for greatness. He also wants them to un- found their way into major U.S. markets. Top Spanish midfielder DAVID derstand that the Cosmos, once a collection of inter- VILLA (bottom right), for one, signed with NYCFC in 2014 and was last national superstars playing for the benefit of Warner year’s league MVP. French legend Thierry Henry finished his career with shareholders, is now New York’s genuine hometown the Red Bulls, while David Beckham, one of the world’s most recog- soccer club. NYCFC is majority-owned by an Emi- nizable athletes, won two MLS cups with the L.A. Galaxy. Those deals rati and Chinese investment group that also controls happened because the league allows each club to sign up to two “desig- Manchester City of the English Premiere League, nated players” who aren’t subject to the salary cap. while the Red Bulls are owned by the Austrian con- MLS maintains control of domestic pro soccer in another key way: Poorly performing teams don’t cern that makes the uber-stimulating beverage for face relegation to a lower division, as they do in most international leagues. Likewise, lower-division which the team is named. teams can’t play their way up to the MLS. If new owner Rocco Commisso wants to return the Cosmos “I’m from the Bronx. My kids grew up in New to the big leagues, he’ll likely have to buy his way in. How much would that cost? About $150 million, Jersey. My team is in Brooklyn,” Commisso said. according to Singh. “That’s a lot of money just to put a team on the field,” he said. — A.E. “I’m local, local, local. That’s the message I want to
AP IMAGES send out.” ■
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 15
P013_P015_CN_20170403.indd 15 3/31/2017 12:52:11 PM INFRASTRUCTURE | WALL BIDDERS
O’LEARY’S ber-optic network could alert of cials to wall breaches.
resident Donald Trump is pushing politicians—many of whom can in uence which ahead with his plans to construct an rms land municipal projects—the applicants from impenetrable border wall between the the city remain undeterred. U.S. and Mexico. Hundreds of compa- “I see this as a business opportunity, and I’d be BUILDING nies across the country have expressed foolish to dismiss it for political reasons, whether I Pinterest in helping him, lured at least in part by agree with it or not,” said Matthew Orent, chief op- an estimated budget of more than $20 billion. But erating o cer at EIA, a tech-focused engineering despite the potential windfall, only 11 New York– and construction company in Long Island City that based rms have so far been attracted to the job. provides security for airports, seaports, transit au- ey are contractors, architects and little-known thorities and energy companies. small businesses from But EIA isn’t in the Manhattan, Queens wall-building business. and Brooklyn, and “THIS IS A BUSINESS Rather, the rm is look- their plans range from OPPORTUNITY. I’D BE ing to install a monitor- political statements to ing system that includes high-tech virtual de- FOOLISH TO DISMISS IT lasers, cameras and fense barriers. Crain’s other detection devic- As New York pols line up spoke to four of them. FOR POLITICAL REASONS, es that would be used against the president’s border Others declined to WHETHER I AGREE alongside special so - comment, did not ware to automatically barrier, a handful of local provide coherent pro- WITH IT OR NOT.” alert authorities of un- rms are readying bids for a posal information or authorized activity on, did not respond, perhaps sensing that, in New York under or above the wall. e network could also be piece of the project. at least, even mere talk of being part of Trump’s wall installed in lieu of a physical barrier where the ter- ambitions comes with risks of its own. rain is too rough to support giant slabs of concrete. BY JOE ANUTA Local elected o cials have denounced the wall, e company’s technology has been used by gov- saying it runs counter to New York’s legacy as a city ernment agencies to prevent train accidents and in- of immigrants. One lawmaker has even penned leg- trusions at airports, Orent said, and needs only minor islation to penalize companies that participate in the modi cations to be used as part of the border wall.
BUCK ENNIS, ISTOCK barrier’s creation. Yet despite the risk of alienating e principle behind the submission—and others
16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 3, 2017
P016_P017_CN_20170403.indd 16 3/31/17 7:13 PM from the five boroughs—is that on its own, a large Under Duggal’s plan, however, the wall would concrete wall, no matter how robust, would ultimately pay for itself. In his designs, the barrier is covered prove insufficient to prevent illegal crossings. WALL in solar panels and outfitted with wind turbines that would generate massive amounts of electricity. OVER OR UNDER “I think Mexico will come as an investment part- In February U.S. Customs and Border Protection, PAPER ner, not as a reimburser,” he said. “It really changes the government agency charged with managing the The government’s request for the dynamics of the debate.” wall undertaking, issued a request for information bids was notable for both its Duggal said his enhancements would add about from vendors looking to participate. As of last week, specificity and its lack of detail. $10 billion to the baseline price tag, which the De- 734 companies had signed up. In mid-March the partment of Homeland Security estimated in an in- agency issued a more specific request for proposals, ternal memo to be $21.6 billion. But the electricity “THE WALL DESIGN SHALL … which included the minimum-bid requirements that generated would be worth $1.2 billion annually, he the reinforced concrete structure would need to be ➤ “be constructed with reinforced said, enough to pay off the wall in 30 years, a typical at least 18 feet high (though the department would concrete.” repayment time frame for municipal bonds. In other prefer 30 feet) and run underground to a depth of ➤ “be physically imposing in height.” words, the government could issue bonds to inves- at least 6 feet (see “Wall Paper”). Roughly 200 firms The government wants a 30-foot- tors, and the revenue from electricity sales could be have so far expressed interest in submitting bids. tall wall but says 18 feet may be used to pay off the debt, alleviating the need for tax- But the RFP detailed few other technical guide- acceptable. payers or a foreign country to foot the bill. The wall lines. Instead, it described a variety of potential ➤ not allow “a human to climb to the could also provide free power to border towns that breaches that the wall would need to thwart. The top” or “access the top of the wall might otherwise resent living in the shadow of the barrier must stymie climbers armed with ladders, from either side unassisted (e.g. via imposing partition, Duggal said. grappling hooks or the type of handholds that can be the use of a ladder, etc.).” affixed to the surface, often found in indoor-climbing ➤ “include anti-climb topping features EXPERIENCE COUNTS gyms. The cement and other reinforcement materials that prevent scaling using common Regardless of their intentions, the New York bid- would also need to delay for at least one hour would- and more sophisticated climbing aids ders could face roadblocks set up hundreds of miles be intruders armed with sledgehammers, pickaxes, (e.g. grappling hooks, handholds, etc.).” from the nearest crossing. Shortly after Trump was in- car jacks and acetylene torches. Lastly, the wall should ➤ “prevent digging or tunneling.” The augurated, Assemblywoman Nily Rozic introduced a be aesthetically pleasing—on the U.S.-facing side. wall must extend 6 feet below bill that would allow the state to bar companies work- After two rounds of culling during the next ground. ing on the wall from getting public contracts, a policy few months, a handful of firms will be selected to ➤ “prevent/deter for a minimum of similar to what several other states are considering. build a pair of prototypes: one 30-foot-long sec- one hour the creation of a physical Legislators hope the threat of retaliation will dissuade tion to demonstrate a design’s full capabilities and breach (e.g., punching through the contractors across the country from working on the a 10-foot-by-10-foot sample that officials will try to wall) no larger than 12 inches in partition, effectively leading to a builders’ boycott. smash their way through in a test of resiliency. diameter or square using sledge- “This legislation puts a mark in the sand of where But many of the companies applying for the gig hammer, car jack, pickax, chisel, New York values are,” said Rozic, a Democrat who have said that the government’s specifications will battery-operated impact tools, represents immigrant communities in Queens, not be sufficient to effectively prevent illegal cross- battery-operated cutting tools, Oxy/ where residents have expressed alarm at the Trump O’LEARY’S fiber-optic ings. After all, whether the wall can stave off a jack- acetylene torch or other similar hand- administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants network could alert held tools.” officials to wall breaches. hammer for one hour or one week is irrelevant if and attempts to restrict immigration from certain remote areas are not monitored. Plus, the barrier’s ➤ “be aesthetically pleasing in color, Muslim-majority countries. minimum 6-foot subterranean depth, intended to anti-climb texture, etc.,” on the The bill would put any company participating prevent tunneling, will likely prove an easy work- U.S.-facing side. in the wall’s construction on a list that would be around. “A dog could dig that hole if you threw its ➤ “be constructible to slopes up reviewed each year by the state’s commissioner of bone down there,” said Dennis O’Leary, who runs to 45 [degrees].” the Office of General Services, which oversees large DarkPulse Technologies, a Manhattan firm that uses ➤ have fittings and fixtures infrastructure projects. The chances of the proposal its patented products to monitor the structural in- “secured on the north side to becoming law are slim. Nonetheless, it could serve as tegrity of large pipelines as well as seismic activity in shield from external attack.” a warning to businesses considering bidding: Elect- the rock walls of mine shafts. ed officials could punish companies by holding up ➤ “be cost-effective to construct, O’Leary was born on the Upper East Side, where maintain and repair.” or meddling in projects that require their approval. he now lives, and worked for the NYPD as a narcot- While some major national companies that op- ics officer before getting into the security and safety erate in New York, such as Tutor Perini Corp., have business. He’s a firm believer that the border needs submitted bids, the potential political backlash may to be better fortified and is convinced that a wall on explain why other big New York–area players, such its own is not up to the task. His solution calls for as AECOM and Skanska USA Building, aren’t on the outfitting the barrier with a network of fiber-optic list. “These people are titans of the world for a rea- cables that can be embedded in dirt, concrete or son,” said one construction industry insider. “They other surfaces to detect the slightest changes in the know how to sidestep a political land mine.” surrounding environment. Another obstacle for New York firms may be a Because the RFP is open to companies offering lack of experience, regardless of how many complex high-tech solutions, DarkPulse is hoping that its infrastructure projects they may have under their product will catch the government’s eye. Its proposal belt. That’s because the RFP asks respondents to de- includes laying a carpetlike network of cables along Benatar’s bid comes in response to the depart- scribe their experience with “high visibility and po- and within the barrier, allowing the feds to remote- ment’s request for “other” types of border protec- litically contentious design-build projects.” ly pinpoint anyone attempting to breach the border. tions, a category broad enough to entice designers Design-build, a bidding process that allows engi- O’Leary estimates that the technology would cost who don’t necessarily agree with the concept of a neering and construction projects to be contracted around $88,700 per mile, or $110 million for the partition. Her plan calls for constructing a series of together rather than separately, is used extensively 1,250 miles of the 2,000-mile Southern border that “cultural centers” along the path of the border, giving throughout the rest of the country. But not in New is not currently barricaded. Americans and Mexicans a place to come together York, where various construction groups have long to learn about each other’s countries. “I’d rather do prevented the framework’s wide implementation out GOOD FENCES something that helps grow and activate the border in of fear that streamlining the building process could Customs and Border Protection concurrently a positive way,” she said. mean less work. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed kicked off a second RFP process in February, and Queens architect Vijay Duggal, likewise, does expanding the policy in the state budget, but that this one caught the eye of Victoria Benatar, head of not support the wall concept, but he is nonetheless won’t make up for years of lost opportunities. her eponymous architecture firm based on East 57th interested in addressing the politically charged con- Both EIA and DarkPulse have done some de- Street and a part-time faculty member at The New troversy over who will pay for it. Although Trump sign-build projects, and Duggal is partnering with a School. Last week she was preparing a proposal in has repeatedly asserted that Mexico will pick up the Texas contractor in order to check that box. But for advance of the April 4 submission deadline. tab, late last month the White House asked Congress other local businesses, the obstacles may prove too “I call it the anti-wall,” she said. to allocate $1.5 billion to begin work. big to surmount. ■
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 17
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Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on as agent of LLC upon whom process mail process to Joel Handel, c/o State, DE Div. of Corps., 401 Federal 03/10/17. Office location: NY County. against it may be served. SSNY shall Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP, St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Pur- LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on mail process to c/o A&E Real Estate 140 Broadway, Ste. 3100, NY, NY pose: Any lawful activity. 03/07/17. Princ. office of LLC: 60 Co- Holdings, LLC, 1065 Ave. of the 10005. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Americas, NY, NY 10018. DE addr. of lumbus Circle, NY, NY 10023. SSNY Notice of Qualification of PRANA CUR- designated as agent of LLC upon whom LLC: Corporation Service Co., 2711 Notice of Formation of Glitterati Arts RENT YIELD FUND V, L.P. Appl. for Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, process against it may be served. Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corpo- LLC with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with on 2/7/2017. Office location: NEW (SSNY) on 03/02/17. Office location: Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. ration Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., NY County. LP formed in Delaware Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of YORK County. SSNY designated agent Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. upon whom process may be served (DE) on 02/27/17. Princ. office of LP: 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any LLC: c/o CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., 665 Third St., Ste. 450, San Francis- Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. and shall mail copy of process against lawful activity. LLC to: 600 Third Avenue, 2nd Floor, co, CA 94107. SSNY designated as of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, agent of LP upon whom process John G. Townsend Bldg., Federal and New York, NY 10017. Purpose: any Notice of Formation of CITRIN lawful act. against it may be served. SSNY shall Duke of York Sts., Dover, DE 19901. mail process to the Partnership, Attn: COOPERMAN ALLIANCE, LLC Arts. of Purpose: Any lawful activity. Richard Esposito, 1995 Broadway, Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY Notice of Formation of 34P ST LLC. (SSNY) on 03/07/17. Office location: Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of 10th Fl., NY, NY 10023. Name and addr. of each general partner are avail- NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 529 Notice of Qualification of Prince’s Point NY (SSNY) on 3/2/17. Office location: 5th Ave., NY, NY 10017. SSNY desig- Venture LLC. Authority filed with NY NY County. SSNY designated as agent able from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o Corporation Service Co., 2711 nated as agent of LLC upon whom proc- Dept. of State on 2/28/17. Office loca- of LLC upon whom process against it ess against it may be served. SSNY tion: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 5 Un- may be served. SSNY shall mail proc- Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. shall mail process to c/o Citrin ion Square West, Ste. 602, NY, NY ess to: c/o Hirschen Singer & Epstein Cooperman, Attn: Joel Cooperman at 10003. LLC formed in DE on 1/13/17. LLP, 902 Broadway, 13th Fl., NY, NY of State, DE, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: NY Sec. of State designated agent of 10010. Purpose: any lawful activity. Any lawful activity. LLC upon whom process against it may 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any be served and shall mail process to: CT lawful activity. NOTICE OF FORMATION of Salon 85 Notice of Formation of APO NYC 4 Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, West LLC.Arts of Org filed with Secy. of EMPIRE PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT OWNER, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with NY 10011. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Or- State of NY (SSNY) on 01/11/2017. (EPM, LLC) Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. of Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on ange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. Office location: NY County. SSNY desig- State of NY 9/7/2016. Off. Loc.: New 02/28/17. Office location: NY County. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, nated agent upon whom process may York. Mahamadou Maiga designated as SSNY designated as agent of LLC 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Pur- be served against LLC to: c/o agent upon whom process against it upon whom process against it may be pose: all lawful purposes. M.D.Seidenberg, CPA, 627 RT. 304, may be served. SSNY to mail copy of served. SSNY shall mail process to New City, NY 10956. Principal busi- process to The LLC, 150-14 127th Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Lemayny LLC Arts. of Org. filed w/ ness address: 520 West End Ave, #9, Street, New York, NY 11420. Purpose: Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any SSNY on 2/6/17 Off. in New York Co. NY, NY 10024 Purpose: any lawful act. Any lawful act or activity. lawful activity. SSNY desig. as agt. of LLC whom proc- ess may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Incorp Services, Inc., One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Ave, Ste. 805-A, Albany, NY 12210. The reg. WANT TO GET YOUR COMPANY agt. is Incorp Services, Inc. at same ad- dress. Purpose: any lawful activity. IN FRONT OF 250,000 INFLUENTIAL Notice of Formation of PERCEPTIVE BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS? THINGS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/20/17. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon Contact Joanne Barbieri whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o at 212-210-0189 U.S. Corp. Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave., Ste. 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228, for classi ed advertising regd. agent upon whom and at which opportunities. process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 3, 2017
P018-19_CN_20170403.indd 18 3/31/2017 1:00:57 PM EXECUTIVE MOVES Advertising Section New hires, promotions and board appointments. Place your listing at crainsnewyork.com/execmoves or contact [email protected]
❚ CONSTRUCTION ❚ FINANCE ❚ INSURANCE ❚ TECHNOLOGY
AECOM Thrivest Specialty Funding, Lawley NewsCred Paul Praylo was named LLC David Feldman joins Charles Hough joins Chief Operating Officer Joseph Genovesi is Lawley, a Top 100 NewsCred as President of AECOM’s Construc- the President and Chief Independent Insurance and Chief Operating tion Services business, Investment Officer (CIO) Broker, as an Employee Officer. Hough brings a global construction more than 20 years of of Thrivest Specialty Benefits Consultant division that grew from Funding. He manages domain expertise in scal- in the expanding Long nearly $2B to $7B in the day to day operations ing enterprise software companies (leading Island office. Originally from Carmel, NY, revenue in just five years. In this elevated of the company. That includes managing two IPO processes), a deep appreciation position, Praylo will oversee operations employees, launching the company’s sales, Feldman focuses on human resource con- for the power of content to deliver business across all CS businesses – including marketing, and business development sulting, private benefit exchanges, health- outcomes, and an exceptional product and AECOM Tishman and Hunt – playing a efforts, overseeing the portfolio, performing care reform and creating executive risk and services background. role in key initiatives including operational due diligence on investments, and raising employee benefit plans for companies of all excellence, strong project performance capital. Thrivest is a leading legal and spe- sizes. He was formerly Business Strategist and comprehensive risk management and cialty finance firm, providing non-recourse at Marsh. safety efforts. A well-respected leader at the financing related to the factoring of various company for over 15 years, Mr. Praylo most consumer claims and business receivables. ❚ TRANSPORTATION recently led finance and administration for We provide a customized approach to ❚ LAW CS. Before AECOM, he held leadership roles serving the financial needs of our clients STV at Deloitte Consulting servicing Fortune 100 via our proprietary receivable acceleration Windels Marx Lane & companies. products. Thomas Prendergast Mittendorf, LLP has joined STV as Exec- Patrick Deyhle, 35, utive Vice President and ❚ CONSULTING ENGINEERING was promoted to Part- Chief Strategic Placement Guaranteed ner. He previously held Officer. In this role he HAKS the position of will work on strategic projects and will forge Alberto Villaman, Associate.Patrick’s NY and maintain relationships with transit P.E., has been named City National Bank / NJ practice focuses on agencies across the country and in Canada. President of HAKS. He Tej Brahmbhatt has representing lenders in commercial real He will also serve as principal on major will oversee the consult- joined City National estate financing transactions, including Bank as a senior vice transportation projects. “Working in the ing engineering firm’s acquisition, construction and permanent president and team public sector was an exciting and rewarding operations in its leader of business bank- mortgage financing, as well representing 24/7 work experience. Now, I am looking 15 corporate offices throughout the U.S. and ing. Based out lenders in commercial and corporate forward to rejoining the private sector, international offices in India and Bahrain, of the bank’s Park financing matters. Additionally, Patrick which will enable me to continue to serve with responsibility across all practice areas: Avenue office, he leads has experience in working out distressed the industry while also providing me with engineering design, construction manage- the business banking team for City Nation- loans, and documenting both restructuring the opportunity to once again balance work ment/inspection, architecture/facilities, en- al’s New York region and expanding East with my personal life,” said Prendergast. vironmental, and surveying and mapping. Coast markets. arrangements and loan modifications. After a 12-year career at NYSDOT, Villaman joined HAKS in 2000 and has held a variety of management roles at the firm, most recently serving as Executive Vice President Executive Promotions and Head of the Construction Inspection Department. He has managed some of the The fastest way to get an announcement into Crain’s is to submit online. metropolitan area’s largest infrastructure improvement projects for the firm. Fill out form at www.crainsnewyork.com/execmoves
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PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES
Notice of Qualification of 217 HAVEN Notice of Qualification of 5 Beekman Notice of Qualification of PERMANENS AL- Notice of Qualification of FREEMAN CON- AVENUE, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Hotel Owner LLC. Authority filed with TERNATIVES FUND LP Appl. for Auth. SULTING SERVICES LLC Appl. for Auth. Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on NY Secy of State (SSNY) on 2/22/17. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/23/16. Office location: NY County. Office location: New York County. LLC 03/20/17. Office location: NY County. 02/27/17. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on formed in Delaware (DE) on 2/15/17. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/12/16. SSNY designated as agent SSNY is designated as agent of LLC 01/17/17. SSNY designated as agent of 02/24/17. Princ. office of LLC: Susan of LLC upon whom process against it upon whom process against it may be LP upon whom process against it may be Laskey, 444 Madison Ave., 12th Fl., NY, may be served. SSNY shall mail proc- served. SSNY shall mail process to: served. SSNY shall mail process to the NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of ess to c/o A&E Real Estate Holdings, 140 Broadway, Fl. 4, NY, NY 10005. Partnership, 545 Madison Ave., 12th Fl., LLC upon whom process against it may LLC, 1065 Ave. of the Americas, NY, DE address of LLC: 160 Greentree NY, NY 10022. Name and addr. of each be served. SSNY shall mail process to NY 10018. DE addr. of LLC: Corpora- Dr., Ste 101, Dover, DE 19904. The general partner are available from SSNY. the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. tion Service Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., name and address of the Reg. Agent DE addr. of LP: c/o Corporation Service DE addr. of LLC: 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. is National Registered Agents Inc, 111 Co., 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wil- Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. 8th Ave, NY, NY 10011. Cert. of For- mington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., mation filed with DE Secy of State, Secy. of State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 401 Federal St. Ste 4, Dover, DE of Corps., John Townsend Bldg., Dover, Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity. DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
APRIL 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 19
P018-19_CN_20170403.indd 19 3/31/2017 11:07:22 AM GOTHAM GIGS
SET IN MOTION: Castro graduated from cleaning out freezers to owning a fleet of ice cream delivery trucks.
BY LANCE PIERCE
Success never tasted so sweet After leaving prison behind, a high school dropout becomes the city’s largest ice cream subdistributor
oy Castro has a Kennedyesque attitude about one at Edy’s Ice Cream, where he swabbed out freezers. business. “I don’t go to a meeting asking what Eventually, he became a manager, handling Edy’s subdis- ROY CASTRO you can do for me,” said Castro. “I say ‘I know tributors. Soon he was able to purchase a house, and in 2013 how to make you money, and by coincidence he jumped at the chance to buy into D.M. in Long Island RI’m going to make a little bit of money myself.’ ’’ City, taking out a $350,000 home-equity loan. AGE 42 The South Bronx native doubled the revenue of D.M. Ice Last year, still frustrated by what he didn’t know about BORN South Bronx Cream Corp. to $6 million in his first three years as CEO, managing a business, Castro fished out a card he’d tucked in RESIDES Pelham making the company the city’s biggest ice his wallet six years earlier at a Strive event. EDUCATION GED certificate cream subdistributor by area and revenue— “I didn’t go to It belonged to Dina Powell, then president PRICELESS ADVICE As part of the supplying 2,000 grocery stores and bodegas college. I’m of the Goldman Sachs Foundation (she is 10,000 Small Businesses program, in the five boroughs. just a guy with now U.S. deputy national security adviser to Castro presented a growth plan to “I didn’t go to college,” he said. “I’m just a President Donald Trump). Within weeks he Lloyd Blankfein, who advised him to focus on customers who deliver big guy that had an idea and somehow managed an idea was in a classroom at LaGuardia Communi- ” margins and scale back on those to make it come to fruition.” ty College with 30 other business owners in who don’t. His partner was skeptical, Life wasn’t always sweet. His father left the family when the investment firm’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. He but Castro insisted: “If the head of Castro was an infant, and Castro spent his youth getting in learned how to better manage his balance sheet, margins Goldman Sachs is telling me, ‘This is trouble. He dropped out of high school, and landed in fed- and profit and master analytic tools. the way,’ we’re doing it.” Within two months margins had jumped to 35% eral prison on a drug charge when he was 20. There he hung D.M.’s revenue was $7.5 million in 2016. To help bodega from 27%. out with the white-collar prisoners. Intrigued watching customers compete with national chains like 7-Eleven, he’s THE NEXT GENERATION Castro them tune in to CNBC and read Barron’s, he had his sister added frozen items such as pizzas to his line. is married with two small children. send him Stock Investing for Dummies and a book of the 400 “I’m always looking for ways to grow the business,” he He’s made sure his nieces and neph- most-used business words. He earned his GED certificate said. Every day he maps out the strategy for his 15 employ- ews get an education. Five of them and helped others get theirs. Most important, he decided: ees and 10 trucks. “Last week my target was stores with high are in college. “Nobody in my gener- ation graduated from high school,” “Enough already. I don’t want to sell drugs.” margins where we are only selling a little bit of product,” he he said. “Now the next generation is With help from workforce organization Strive, Castro said. “This week we’re concentrating on getting more prod- writing college essays on ‘my uncle.’ ”
BUCK ENNIS began working three jobs after his 2002 release, including uct to them.” — JUDITH MESSINA
20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P020_CN_20170403.indd 20 3/31/2017 1:04:08 PM SNAPS
Dining out to feed others at home Restaurateur and chef Daniel Boulud hosted his 20th annual dinner to raise money for Citymeals on Wheels. Celebrated chefs from around the world, including Raymond Weber of Cut by Wolfgang Puck, helped him prepare the meal. The event raised $840,000, enough to provide nearly 114,000 meals for elderly homebound New Yorkers.
Lisa Rosenblum, vice chairman of Altice USA; Beth Shapiro, executive director of Citymeals Fashion designer Lela Rose with Daniel Boulud, Citymeals on Wheels board co-president, who hosted on Wheels; and Suri Kasirer, president of the March 12 dinner at his restaurant Daniel. Kasirer Consulting, were among the attendees.
Big art for Protecting people everywhere a big city The Art Production Fund raised $500,000 at its March 13 gala in support of its goal of commissioning large public art projects. Among those attending were John Demsey, president of Estée Lauder Cos., and Alina Cho, editor-at-large at Ballantine Bantam Dell.
At its annual dinner in the city, Human Rights Watch raised a record $2.2 million, in- cluding $330,000 to support refugees. Bob Kissane, chairman of CCS Fundraising; Kevin P. Ryan, chairman and chief executive of AlleyCorp; Angela Kissane; Amy Rao, founder and chief executive of Integrated Archive Systems; and Huma Abedin, vice chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, were in attendance.
Kristen Durkin and Susan Kath, director of the Environment Program at the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, co-chaired the event Artist Rachel Feinstein and Aby Rosen, founder of RFR Holding, at the party in at Cipriani 42nd Street. the new eatery Landmark Rooms, which will open this spring after a controversial renovation. Rosen owns the space, formerly the site of the Four Seasons restaurant.
ERIC VITALE PHOTOGRAPHY, STEPHANIE BADINI, LEANDRO JUSTEN/BFA.COM, MONIKA GRAFF FOR HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH STEPHANIE BADINI, LEANDRO JUSTEN/BFA.COM, PHOTOGRAPHY, ERIC VITALE SEE MORE OF THIS WEEK’S SNAPS AT CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/SNAPS. GET YOUR GALA IN SNAPS. EMAIL THERESA AGOVINO: [email protected].
April 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21
P021_CN_20170403.indd 21 3/31/2017 1:05:13 PM FOR THE RECORD*
NEW IN TOWN Kitchen establishment after $500,001 to $1 million and ■ Medley Capital Corp. the tenant. RKF represent- square feet at 7 Penn his mother, who cooked liabilities of $1,000,001 to (MCC-N) ed the landlord, Park 430 Plaza. The cross-platform ■ Bb.q Chicken in a small restaurant in $10 million. The creditors Brook Taube, chief exec- Operating Co. The asking measurement firm currently 25 W. 32nd St. Mexico. The seafood- with the largest unsecured utive officer, purchased rent was not disclosed. occupies 24,855 square feet The South Korean fried focused restaurant serves claims are Uriel Tabah 117,680 shares of common on the 10th floor of the chicken chain where BBQ lionfish, squid, oysters and Moreira, owed $221,987; stock at prices ranging from COMMERCIAL 18-story building. The ask- stands for “best of the best other sustainable species. Verizon Inc., owed $60,000; $7.47 to $7.50 per share ■ Teachers Pay Teachers ing rent was $65 per square quality” opened its first city and City National Bank, from March 7 to March signed a sublease for 27,000 foot. CBRE represented location, in Koreatown. owed $51,584. 9 in a transaction worth square feet at 225 Park the tenant. The landlord, MOVES AND EXPANSIONS $880,534. He now holds Ave. South. The education- Feil Organization, was ■ Elie Saab ■ Y&F Developer Inc. 2,844,365 shares. al marketplace will move represented in-house. 860 Madison Ave. ■ Blue Ribbon 100A Broadway, Brooklyn into the 11th floor space The Lebanese designer, Federal Grill The company filed for BuzzFeed was using as a ■ Luxor Limousine who has made many of the 84 William St. Chapter 11 bankruptcy REAL ESTATE warehouse. The asking rent purchased a 10,000-square- glitzy gowns worn on the Blue Ribbon Group’s latest March 8. The filing cites was $80 per square foot. foot, 1-story warehouse at red carpet by celebrities restaurant, in the Financial estimated assets and RETAIL Olmstead Properties 100 Huntington St., Brook- like Janelle Monáe, opened District, doesn’t offer the liabilities of $500,001 to ■ Joe & the Juice signed represented the subland- lyn, for $5 million. The his first U.S. store, on the fried chicken and sushi its $1 million but did not a 10-year lease for 1,620 lord, Orda Management. limousine company plans to Upper East Side. sister hubs are famous for, disclose any creditors square feet at 430 Park Savills Studley represented use the space as a parking opting instead for a diverse with unsecured claims. Ave. The Copenhagen, the subtenant. venue and maintenance ■ Elsa range of pub fare, from Denmark–based juice facility. Kalmon Dolgin 136 Atlantic Ave., burgers to crawfish boils. chain plans to open its ■ ComScore signed a Affiliates represented the Brooklyn STOCK TRANSACTIONS fifth Manhattan spot this 10-year expansion deal seller, Alliota Realty, and After closing its doors summer. CBRE represented for an additional 14,855 the buyer in the deal. ■ in 2014, the cocktail bar BANKRUPTCIES ■ Bankrate Inc. (RATE-N) named after 20th-century Steven D. Barnhart, chief GET YOUR NEWS ON THE RECORD fashion designer Elsa ■ Human Condition financial officer, sold 12,142 * To submit company openings, moves or real estate deals, or to receive further information, Schiaparelli has made a Safety Inc. shares of common stock at email [email protected]. comeback in Cobble Hill. 61 Broadway prices ranging from $10.03 The occupational-health to $10.25 per share from For the Record is a listing to help businesspeople in New York find opportunities, potential ■ Gloria technology company filed March 13 to March 14 new clients and updates on customers. Bankruptcy filings from the eastern and southern districts of New York are listed alphabetically. Stock transactions are insider transactions at 401 W. 53rd St. for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a transaction worth New York companies obtained from Thomson Reuters and listed by size. Real estate listings Chef and co-owner Diego March 10. The filing cites $123,016. He now holds are in order of square footage. Garcia named this Hell’s estimated assets of 222,703 shares.
Richard Merkin, MD and
PRESENT THE 2ND ANNUAL Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards 2017 Do you know a leader or organization making a difference in healthcare?
NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY! EXTENDED DEADLINE: APRIL 6 crainsnewyork.com/heritage Save the date: NYC Awards Luncheon, May 22, 2017 Hosted by Richard Merkin, MD, President and CEO, Heritage Provider Network Mark Wagar, President, Heritage Medical Systems, Master of Ceremonies Finalists will be awarded in the following categories: ■ Heritage Innovation in Healthcare Delivery Award ■ Heritage Research Investigators in Translational Medicine Award ■ Heritage Healthcare Leadership Award ■ Heritage Healthcare Organizational Leadership Award ■ Heritage Innovators in Healthcare Award
Winners will be profiled in a Crain’s New York Business custom section
The judging and selection process for fi nalists and winners in the 2017 Heritage Healthcare Innovation Awards is independent of the Crain’s New York Business newsroom
22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | April 3, 2017
P022_CN_20170403.indd 22 3/31/2017 1:06:01 PM PHOTO FINISH
Forgotten but not gone t no longer occurs to New Yorkers to use anything other than a phone to report an emergency, yet the city still maintains 14,813 alarm boxes, like Ithis one on Third Avenue and East 38th Street. Both the Giuliani and the Bloomberg administrations tried to get rid of the archaic red pedestals, but a deaf-rights group sued. In 2011 a judge required that the call boxes be kept in working order until the city developed an alternative suitable for deaf people. e city’s failure to nd one—or to reargue the case, given that cellphones are now nearly universal and New Yorkers are oblivious to call boxes—has come at a cost, in dollars and possibly lives. e city spends about $6.8 million a year, mostly on electri- cians, to repair the boxes as well as paint over gra ti. e boxes were used 11,440 times to call the Fire Department last year. at is less than once per box, on average. Only 13% of those calls were for actual emergencies, and less than 1.5%, or 167, were about res, including just 10 for serious structural res. A staggering 86% of the FDNY calls were false alarms, which divert re ghters and can slow their responses to real emergencies. e Fire Department is not a fan of the wild-goose chases triggered by the call boxes. “If the court order did not exist,” Fire Com- missioner Daniel Nigro recently said, “we’d start removing them tomorrow.” — ERIK ENGQUIST BUCK ENNIS
APRIL 3, 2017 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 23
P023_CN_20170403.indd 23 3/31/2017 1:07:41 PM Last chance to get 2 months free. (Excludes equip. charges. Requires 2-yr agmt.)
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CN018186.indd 1 3/8/17 11:57 AM