CRAINSNEW YORK BUSINESS Knicks nd right mix P. 3 | The bizarre saga of P.S. 64 P. 7 | The List: Top health insurers P. 10 NEW YORK BUSINESS® NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017 | PRICE $3.00 RETAIL REALITY VOL. XXXIII, NO. 47 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM CHECK Merchants like Jay Goltz of Jayson Home—and the landlords who rent to them—are finding new ways to compete in the Amazon age PAGE 12 NEWSPAPER P001_CN_20171120.indd 1 11/17/17 7:57 PM NOVEMBER 20 - 26, 2017 CRAINSNEW YORK BUSINESS FROM THE NEWSROOM | AARON ELSTEIN | SENIOR REPORTER IN THIS ISSUE Not all bleak on Bleecker 4 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 5 HEALTH CARE ANTHONY CIRONE loved Li-Lac Chocolates so much that six 6 ASKED & ANSWERED years ago he bought the company. Its roots go back to a shop Too many New that opened on Christopher Street in 1923, when the owner 7 REAL ESTATE York losers in 8 WORKPLACE Washington’s still made the candy on the premises. tax plan Cirone, who had been a customer since the early 1990s, 9 VIEWPOINTS saw big potential for the neighborhood mainstay and in re- 10 THE LIST cent years has opened three more Li-Lac locations around FEATURE: THE STATE OF RETAIL the city, including one on Bleecker Street, long the prime re- tail corridor in Greenwich Village. Unfortunately foot trac 12 THE NEW LEASING LANDSCAPE has been increasingly disappointing there of late. 14 POLITICIANS SHOP FOR SOLUTIONS “It’s not where it should be,” said Cirone, a former mar- The causes of 15 FOOD HALLS AT THE TABLE keting executive at Bath & Body Works and consumer goods retail’s woes are 16 URGENT CARE IS GOOD MEDICINE giant Unilever. “Our other stores are more vibrant.” Retailers of all kinds are struggling in this age of Amazon, hard to pinpoint, but Cirone doubts his little shop has been all that hurt by the but the results e-tail revolution. Aer all, when folks need a chocolate x, are plain they aren’t likely to wait for it to arrive in the mail. Rather, he reckons, shoppers who in the past would have spent the day P. browsing around the Village have instead been lured over to P. 20 Zachary and the Meatpacking District, Chelsea Market—where Cirone also has a Li-Lac—and JacobJacob Smith the shops around the World Trade Center and inside the Oculus mall. But if the causes are hard to pinpoint, the results are plain. e past few years 20 GOTHAM GIGS have been especially dicult for business owners on Bleecker. Most of the record 21 SNAPS stores, bookshops and tchotchke emporiums that once lined the street have suc- 22 FOR THE RECORD cumbed to rocketing rents. Even the pricey boutiques and chains that replaced 23 PHOTO FINISH them aren’t faring so well. e blocks between Hudson Street and the Bowery are littered with deserted storefronts bearing For Lease signs. Desolation row it is not, CORRECTIONS The landlord for 36 E. 31st St., the Rosen family, but it’s still a jarring sight. was represented by Koeppel Rosen in the deal with As our feature package on the state of retail (beginning on page 12) shows, mer- Arlee Home Fashions. This information was mis- chants all over the city—and the landlords looking to rent to them—are a resilient stated in For the Record, published Nov. 6. lot, consistently seeking new and better ways to make things work. On Bleecker, for Corey Johnson remarked “That’s government” at a Nov. 1 Crain’s event. This quote was misattributed example, retailers are banding together to boost trac by oering discounts, gis, in “The most important city election is happening raes, even classes to customers who utter the magic words #ShopBleecker. behind closed doors,” published Nov. 13. So if you nd yourself there this holiday season, consider stopping at Li-Lac. Everyone in the Crain’s newsroom agrees: e dark chocolate mints are sublime. Mary Kramer named group publisher ON THE COVER AS CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS, parent company of Crain’s New York PHOTO: BUCK ENNIS Business, continues to expand its national media footprint, longtime company executive Mary Kramer has been named group publisher of DIGITAL DISPATCHES Crain’s New York Business and Crain’s Chicago Business. Kramer joined the company in 1989 as the editor of Crain’s Detroit Business and in Go to CrainsNewYork.com 2012 became group publisher of Crain’s Detroit Business and Crain’s Cleveland Business. She is a member of the International Women’s Fo- READ In approving a rezoning, the City rum and the Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame. Planning Commission opened the door for a supertall Sutton Place tower to be built. The While other prominent news organizations scale back their local City Council plans to move quickly to quash coverage, Crain’s New York Business continues to serve as the leading source of information on the opportunity. the New York economy and the companies, industries, institutions and innovators driving the ■ city’s growth. Crain’s remains committed to the highest standards of journalism, connecting Wall Street’s nanciers will pocket an average bonus of around $150,000 this businesses across the ve boroughs and delivering top-notch services that enable advertisers, year, according to a forecast from Johnson sponsors and partners to reach inuential audiences in New York and other top markets across Associates. the country. ■ Billie, a SoHo-based service offering razor subscriptions to women, launched last week. It charges $9 per month for Vol. XXXIII, No. 47, Nov. 20, 2017—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for double four ve-blade razor issues the weeks of June 26, July 10, July 24, Aug. 7, Aug. 21 and Dec. 19, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., cartridges. New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing ofces. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, MI 48207-2912. ■ Subway For subscriber service: Call 877-824-9379. Fax 313-446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. ridership is down (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2017 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. despite the city’s > rising population. BUCK ENNIS 2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 20, 2017 P002_CN_20171120.indd 2 11/17/17 7:52 PM WHAT’S NEW NOVEMBER 20, 2017 AGENDATrade secret: Knicks’ makeover exemplifies addition by subtraction wo years ago we blasted the Knicks for acquiring faded star Derrick Rose in a move that screamed “quick x” when they desperately needed a new business plan. e team went on to an awful season and let Rose go when it mercifully ended. TLast May we implored the Knicks to start fresh by trading Car melo Anthony, a marquee player whose teams never win much because of his too-oen-overlooked weaknesses, including that he fails to make his team- PORZINGIS is mates better and probably makes them worse. third in scoring in the NBA, but his at editorial concluded: “e Knicks ... have failed to deal Anthony points don’t come and are now watching his age and his trade value move in opposite direc- at the expense of teammates. tions. Knicks President Phil Jackson gured out long ago that his star will never play the kind of team basketball that the Knicks were known for when they won their only two titles, in 1970 and 1973. As a role-playing thusiasm they have not shown for years. e under, meanwhile, have be- forward on those squads and a six-time champion as a coach, he knows come the most ball-hogging outt in the National Basketball Association, that hoops teams are like businesses: ey function best as a cohesive averaging 100 fewer passes per game than the second-most-selsh team. group—something the ball-dominating Anthony renders impossible. We Oklahoma City’s once-adoring crowds now watch in stultied disbelief can only guess that Jackson has held on to his leading scorer on orders as under players stand around and jack up shots. Customers want wins from team owner James Dolan. Otherwise, more than big names—although Anthony’s his failure to act is inexcusable.” Without Anthony, the Knicks are departure has allowed Kristaps Porzingis to Jackson was red, but his successors become a star in his own right, at the age of soon fullled his goal and sent Anthony sharing the ball, developing new stars 22 no less. An even younger Knick, 19-year- packing. So far it has worked out nicely for and rocking the Garden again old Frank Ntilikina, has already established the Knicks and poorly for Anthony’s new himself as a defensive stopper. Suddenly the squad, the Oklahoma City under. At team’s future looks promising. press time the Knicks, coming o a 31-51 season, were 8-6 and have been We would be remiss to omit that Jackson draed Porzingis and Ntiliki- playing to raucous crowds at Madison Square Garden. e under, who na and created the impetus to trade Anthony. Many have labeled Jackson’s a year ago went 47-35 and made the playos, were 7-7 despite also bring- stint in the Knicks front oce a failure, but he laid a foundation that prom- ing in superstar Paul George. ises to bring glory back to the Garden. Fans who bid him good riddance e Knicks are sharing the ball and playing with a togetherness and en- might wish they had chosen two other words: ank you.