nb22p01.qxp 5/25/2007 7:07 PM Page 1 TOP STORIES TABLE TALK Plaza plans Gilt complex: Lape a pool, finds 4-star site rushes for PAGE 39 fall opening PAGE 2 ® Chill in the bond market makes life tough for buyers VOL. XXIII, NO. 22 WWW.NEWYORKBUSINESS.COM MAY 28-JUNE 3, 2007 PRICE: $3.00 of office buildings PAGE 3 WATER COMMUTES Chris Rock’s mom More flights, shops a book. He’ll write the foreword NY opening way NEW YORK, NEW YORK, P. 6 more delays Tempers flare over for ferries congestion pricing as mayor plots Firms compete for East River at airports Albany strategy contract as City Hall looks But developments on the THE INSIDER, PAGE 14 New schedules, ground won’t be able to keep up, to future population boom facilities won’t be not this summer anyway. At the Most profitable big area’s busiest airport, John F. companies; Crain’s BY ANNE MICHAUD enough to keep up Kennedy International, American top public firms list with passengers Airlines has just opened its new traveling up the east river from Wall Street on a sun- terminal, but the 1.6 million- BIGGEST COMPANIES, P. 19 ny spring morning, the skipper of the NY Waterway ferry square-foot facility will not be ful- BY HILARY POTKEWITZ ly operational until the winter.The calls out the time it takes to reach each of its destinations. new terminal being built by JetBlue BUSINESS LIVES “Eight minutes,” he reports as the ferry passes Queens West, just eight months after the Fed- Airways,the airport’s busiest carri- a proposed riverfront housing development. eral Aviation Administration la- er, will not open until next year. TACKLING “Eleven minutes,” he says at Roosevelt Island.Then he hits beled last summer’s flight delays “In the short term,we’ll need to A MAN’S GAME the 20-minute mark as the Peter Weiss passes Randall’s Island. “the worst in history,” all do the best we can with the Women put on The trip illustrates a prospective East River commute for indications point to this resources we have,” says the pads and find summer being even Anthony Shorris, execu- camaraderie, thousands of New Yorkers that could finally be realized af- 43M ter city government awards a ferry service contract in the worse—especially in hy- NUMBER tive director of airports for competition per-congested New York. of travelers the Port Authority. on the field next few weeks. Waterway, one of the bidders, is eager to The Port Authority of passing Flight delays are up 6% PAGE 35 through JFK capitalize on the waterfront population boom forecast by the New York and New Jersey Airport last year to 10% at the city’s airports Bloomberg administration: 27,500 new housing units in anticipates a 4.6% rise in so far this year, with JFK northern Brooklyn and western Queens by 2013. passenger volumes over last sum- being hardest hit. The airport re- The city solicited bids for the East River service eight mer at the metro area’s three air- ported 34% of flights delayed, months ago, and the project languished unaccountably— ports. All told, the agency expects compared with 24% a year ago. until now. With Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s release of to see an additional 8,900 flights, Nationally,delays are up 4 percent- PlaNYC 2030 and his edict that New York prepare for 1.2 million more passengers and age points, and that’s before peak AT DEADLINE four new airlines this summer. See MORE FLIGHTS on Page 10 See FERRIES on Page 8 THE ART INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTED $21.2 billion in 2005 to the New York City economy, a 61% jump since Potter’s wizardry 1993, according to a new study by the Alliance for the Arts. The sector—film businesses, a puff of smoke Broadway producers and nonprofit cultural institutions, among others—created more Final book in series than 160,000 jobs and contributed $904 million in will boost sales; can local tax revenues. A record Scholastic follow up? $5.4 billion in income was generated by 7.5 million visitors who came to the city BY MATTHEW FLAMM expressly for a cultural purpose. whoever gets killed off by the end of Harry Potter and the Death- NEW YORK COULD SEE AN ly Hallows, one thing is certain EXPANSION of airline service to about the seventh and final install- China under a trade deal ment of the blockbuster series: J.K. reached last week in Rawlings’ bookselling phenome- Washington. China and U.S. non will go out with a bang, not a See AT DEADLINE on Page 2 whimper. buck ennis Scholastic is printing 12 million copies of the book—which lands in 22 stores one week after the movie HALLOWS will start with 12 million copies. 5 COMINGNEXT WEEK version of Harry Potter and the Or- Three homegrown chains that thrive in der of the Phoenix is released in the- New York highlight Crain’s first RETAIL aters, sparking paperback sales of bookstores at 12:01 on the morn- ELECTRONIC EDITION REPORT. Also, luxury apartment that title. ing of July 21, not everyone is buildings chase the upscale stores. But while costume parties are celebrating. NEWSPAPER welcoming the teenage wizard into See POTTER on Page 8 71486 01068 0 CNYB 05-28-07 A 2 5/25/2007 6:58 PM Page 1 AT DEADLINE Continued from Page 1 ended the station’s experiment government negotiators agreed as all-talk Free FM last to increase the number of Thursday, and began playing passenger flights between the rock songs from the 1990s to two countries—including an the present. “It was a very smart additional nonstop flight slated move,” says Richard Cotter, to start by August. Continental director of local broadcast for Airlines will again bid for a Mindshare. “The young male Newark to Shanghai nonstop audience that’s into the music for which it had lobbied hard it’s going to play is not being but failed to win in April. served by current stations.” THE COCA-COLA CO. SAYS THAT IT THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WILL RETAIN Glacéau Chief CORP. IS SETTING UP one-on-one Executive and founder J. Darius meetings with Willets Point, Bikoff and other top executives Queens, business owners after for at least three years following they complained they were its announcement Friday that it being ignored as the Bloomberg will acquire the maker of administration proceeds with FASTER, FASTER: Vitaminwater for $4.1 billion. the redevelopment process of “I wish we could Glacéau will continue to operate the industrial area (Crain’s,May work 24/7,” says from its Whitestone, Queens, 21).The city plans housing, a Miki Naftali, headquarters. convention center, stores, a hotel president of Elad and green space for the 66-acre Properties. RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION IN site and will relocate businesses, NEW YORK CITY in the first four using eminent domain if months of 2007 surpassed the necessary, to make room. levinekarjean level of activity in the comparable period last year, EPIC RECORDS IS CONSIDERING according to the Census Bureau. STARTING A DIVISION to generate A total of 10,073 units were business beyond recorded music permitted, compared with 9,741 sales, according to a company Waiting on the Plaza units in 2006. In the broader executive.The department metropolitan region, excluding would focus on deals related to the city, permitted units licensing and merchandising, as Crews work overtime to meet October deadline declined 32% to 6,723. well as entertainment ventures such as its new arrangement BY LISA FICKENSCHER THE RETURN OF K-ROCK AND with Jennifer Lopez to create a ROCK MUSIC TO 92.3 FM is miniseries for Univision. Epic is for the first time in its 100-year history, the Plaza Hotel will have a swimming pool getting a mostly good reception a unit of Sony BMG Music when it reopens later this year—fewer than 20 hotels in the city have one.The landmark from media buyers. CBS Radio Entertainment. I building will also boast a private courtyard garden with a reflective pool and fountain. But right now, a dingy tar roof occupies the space where the courtyard area will be. And the CORRECTIONS lap pool two levels below the Fifth Avenue lobby exists only on paper. The city’s Economic Development Corp. in February invited developers to respond to a request for proposals for the redevelopment of Willets Point, Queens. Mayor Michael Bloomberg Elad Properties, which bought the Plaza in 2004 for $675 million, is converting it into formally announced the plan in May. The source of these announcements was misstated in condos and a small hotel.Transforming the run-down building into a state-of-the-art luxury the May 21 “Neighborhood Journal” column. The story also should have noted that the project will include 5.5 million square feet of housing as well as a convention center, hotel and retail See WAITING on Page 8 complex. Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. was the subject of the May 21 “In the Markets” story. The company’s name was misstated. THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S Microsoft snaps up digital ALAIR TOWNSEND -------------------13 Uniting software king’s MICRO-ECONOMICS THE INSIDER------------------------------------14 products, Avenue A’s U.S. online advertising revenues, in millions of dollars. NEIGHBORHOOD online ad savvy could 2004 2005 2006 20071 JOURNAL------------------------------------------ expand both brands 15 Google $1,264 $2,410 $4,095 $6,265 WEEK IN REVIEW -----------------------16 Yahoo $1,776 $2,439 $2,996 $3,641 BY AMANDA FUNG SMALL BUSINESS ------------------- 17 AOL $655 $905 $1,235 $1,772 2 microsoft corp.’s acquisition of a MSN $906 $979 $1,092 $1,318 37 REAL ESTATE DEALS--------------18 digital ad company will give the Red- 1-Estimates.