MARTHA GRAHAM’S BALANCING ACT Dance co. seeks board chair, donors CRAIN’S® NEW YORK BUSINESS PAGE 4 getty images VOL. XXIX, NO. 47 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM NOVEMBER 25-DECEMBER 1, 2013 PRICE: $3.00 Corporate holiday parties are back Best year since 1990s. Don’t order bubbly just yet—the house wine will have to do BY LISA FICKENSCHER Corporate bean counters slashed holi- day parties at posh venues like the Waldorf Astoria during the economic downturn, choosing less ostentatious spots or forgoing festivities altogether. But next month, the luxury property’s regal ballrooms will be overflowing with celebrations. “This year is the first year since 2007 that we’ve seen a significant change in interest and demand—de- mand we can’t even accommodate,” said James Blauvelt, executive director of catering for the hotel. “We haven’t been at the front of the roster for these Lot owners: parties for several years, because if you See PARTIES on Page 27 Put up or pay up Print it! buck ennis De Blasio bid to close tax loophole could force landlords to build Catalogs new housing on their vacant plots or sell out to those who will still sell And yet, because most of the proper- more than 10,500 lots in the five bor- BY JOE ANUTA $6.8K ty is zoned for residential use, and is as- oughs, with the largest concentration on PROPERTY sessed in the same low-density class as Staten Island. The plan, after a five-year Even e-commerce Call it Exhibit A. On part of an irregu- TAXES paid single-family homes, the Olnick Orga- phase-in period, would hike yearly rates annually by Frank brands jump on larly shaped block in the Highbridge sec- Fristachi and nization, which owns the land, pays less by an average of $15,300, according to tion of the Bronx, a chain-link fence Suzannah than $8,000 annually in property taxes on estimates by the Independent Budget the paper sales pitch wraps around a three-acre property that Matalon on their that residential portion. Office. has sat vacant for decades. Trees and Williamsburg lot Cases like that spurred Public Advo- As for the long-vacant Highbridge weeds have run riot, in the process en- cate Bill de Blasio in April to push for tax lot, the city property taxes on the large BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI croaching upon the sidewalks along hikes on vacant land to force owners ei- residential portion would balloon to University Avenue,even as the property’s AMOUNT$17K they ther to put it to use and build housing or about $180,000. Fans of e-commerce apparel company assessed value in the past decade has qui- would pay under to sell it to those who will. As mayor- By increasing the cost of inactivity to Bonobos, a digital pioneer when it de- etly soared from $716,000 to $9 million, Bill de Blasio’s elect, Mr. de Blasio is pledging to carry prohibitive levels, the hope is that more buted six years ago, might be surprised according to city records. plan out his idea, which today would affect See LOT on Page 28 to open their snail-mailboxes this hol- iday season and find a paper catalog from the trendy brand inside.The 52- 47 REPORT SMALL BUSINESS page book, filled with photos of hand- 5 The young and the restless: Owners learn some men in cashmere overcoats and wool caps standing in snowy fields,fol- to manage millennials P. 15 lows a successful test catalog sent out this past spring. THE LIST City’s largest BIDs P. 18 “At Bonobos, we’re constantly test- NEWSPAPER See BRANDS on Page 27 71486 01068 0 EDITOR’S NOTE Think bigger FYICRAINSNEWYORK.COM New York City has lost 100,000 middle-class jobs since 2008, After JPM settlement, big despite a rebound from the crash that has pushed employment in the banks not out of woods yet city to nearly 4 million, and that PMorgan Chase & Co.’s $13 billion disconnect explains why Bill de settlement last week with the Justice Blasio becomes mayor on Jan. 1. At Department and other regulators Glenn Coleman Crain’s Future of New York City J resolves a lot of the bank’s legal problems conference last week, I heard plenty on the mortgage front. But criminal of ideas for growing middle-class investigations remain open, and the bank jobs (some of them featured in “The New City Hall” faces a host of probes and litigation related stories on Page 3), but little from the panelists with to Bernie Madoff, overseas hiring practices two-cities politics about the real engine for growth and so on. newscom here. Start with those 100,000 middle-class jobs. For other banks, the settlement comes as a warning that the government demands substantial Most every reference to this heartbreaking statistic penalties for those who engaged in similar bubble-era shenanigans. Institutions like Bank of painted these folks as manufacturing workers.The America might face even stiffer penalties than JPMorgan because it’s taken longer for them to most popular policy prescription was to encourage settle. innovative startups that use new technologies to One thing seems certain: CEO Jamie Dimon’s job is safe, at least for now. His bank’s stock produce high-quality goods. Pop quiz, people: Which price rose when the settlement, which had been telegraphed long in advance, was finally occupation has lost the most jobs in New York since resolved.That suggests investors are happy this phase of the government investigation is over. 2005? It’s not garment worker or machinist. It’s CLSA analyst Mike Mayo estimates JPMorgan has set aside $10 billion to resolve its remaining executive administrative assistant.The city has lost legal disputes. —aaron elstein 31,000 such corporate jobs, at a median hourly wage of $30, according to a report published earlier this CITY HOTEL CRACKDOWN. The city browser and allowed Google to mon- year by the Partnership for New York City, our co- reached a $1 million settlement with itor consumer Web surfing. New HOORAY! sponsor of last week’s conference.That’s $1.9 billion Smart Apartments and Toshi Inc., York state will get close to $900,000 AMTRAK will use $86 million in Sandy which operated illegal hotels out of as part of the deal. … TEAM DE BLA- funds to improve four East River tunnels in total annual wages. Show me the 3-D printer SIO UNVEILED. that it uses along with scores of Long about 50 residential buildings in Mayor-elect Bill de Island Rail Road trains. churning out that kind of cash.The politicos who Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Blasio named his 60-person transi- talk of nursing creative-class startups ignore a core short-stay rooms were rented to tion team Wednesday.Almost half of economic fact:The typical small business lives off tourists, who can now seek reim- them contributed to his mayoral bursement for security deposits and campaign, donating a total of either the bigger businesses that are its customers or rental fees.Meanwhile,the state’s top $50,000. … TOBACCO SALE BAN. the employees of bigger businesses who are its court ruled that New York City can Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a customers. We are home to the highest concentration impose a 6% hotel occupancy tax on law banning the sale of tobacco prod- bloomberg news of Fortune 500 companies in the country, with tens of Internet booking services such as Ex- ucts to individuals under the age of pedia and Priceline. The firms argue 21. New York is the first major city to OY VEY! thousands of smaller firms rooted in this ecosystem. that the city doesn’t have the right to prohibit sales to young adults, who AFTER JUST TWO YEARS and several If our city becomes too expensive a place to operate a tax them because they facilitate reser- can still find ways to possess ciga- legal disputes, the $75 million Broadway corporate headquarters employing thousands of vations,which is not the same as rent- rettes legally.… GRAFFITI-ART MECCA production of Spider-Man: Turn Off the A DOW MILESTONE. Dark will close in January and try its luck people, then those companies will shed the middle- ing a room. … WHITEWASHED. Last week,5Pointz,a in Las Vegas. The Dow Jones in- Long Island City, class jobs that can be performed elsewhere, be it in dustrial average ‘I think it’s Queens,cultural des- Mumbai or a Microsoft cloud, and no tech campus or topped 16,000 for the tination, was painted neighborhood-based incubator will fill that hole. first time on Nov. 21. good for over as NYPD offi- The index is on pace cers stood guard.The for its best year in a business. … property owner plans decade. It’s a sign of They drink a to raze the complex, THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S confidence in the once home to light- market’s ability to lot, and go industrial users and September 11 Memorial and Muse- IN THE BOROUGHS-------------------------- 4 hold its own as the from bar artists, and replace it um.The $50 million greenway,which Federal Reserve pre- with two residential will connect Battery Park City to the IN THE MARKETS----------------------------------6 pares to scale back its to bar’ towers. Local artists financial district, is slated to open in THE INSIDER -----------------------------------------------8 economic stimulus —Bartender Alex Barrett, plan to sue the devel- 2015. … SEA OF PROTESTS. Animal- GOOGLE BUSINESS PEOPLE-----------------------10 program. … on the NYPD’s urging bars oper, claiming that rights activists are fighting the inclu- SNOOPED ON USERS.