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® JANUARY 4-10, 2016 | PRICE $3.00 NEW YORK BUSINESS

HIGH TIMES IN THE OLD TOWN Legalization across the nation has flooded New York with marijuana. Crain’s goes underground to see how the city’s illegal-weed industry is dealing P. 13 ALSO Inside one of New York’s last buyers clubs P. 17

Building small Tax changes PLUS VOL. XXXII, NO. 1 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM has never you need THE LIST 01

5 been so big to know about NYC’s largest (or lucrative) in 2016 P. 7 business P. 5 improvement districts P. 11 NEWSPAPER 71486 01068 0 20160104-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 5:43 PM Page 1

JANUARYCRAINS 4-10, 2016

FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD The rules Crain’s lives by IN THIS ISSUE 3 AGENDA 4 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT “THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW YEAR seems an appropriate time to state what Crain’s New York Business is, as well as our 5 REAL ESTATE A scorecard to track journalistic philosophy.” Those words were written years 6 ASKED & ANSWERED opposition to the mayor’s ago by Greg David, the editor of Crain’s from 1985 until 7 SMALL BUSINESS affordable- 2008, who took the opportunity each January to remind housing plan 8 INSTANT EXPERT readers of the rules we live by. I quote him because I share 9 SPOTLIGHT his belief that it’s important to regularly reintroduce ourselves to readers—and to note how we changed during 11 THE LIST the previous year. So who are we? Greg, who is now a columnist here, I want stories that FEATURES used to call Crain’s a newspaper, but technology and an 13 increasingly competitive media landscape have moved us “inform me, interest COVER STORY far beyond our roots on the printed page. We are a news me, sometimes 20 GOTHAM GIGS organization that connects New York business owners, amuse me, and are so 21 SNAPS managers and investors with the information and analysis 22 FOR THE RECORD they need—online, in print and in person. Our daily online well written they are 23 PHOTO FINISH output keeps pace with today’s news, which changes by the a pleasure to read second. And it’s available almost anywhere: on our website or picked up by a competitor, or via email alerts and, increasingly, social media. P. 20 Late last year, we redesigned our flagship print product to reflect the changes in how news is consumed. As a result, we’re more newsmagazine than newspaper. The emphasis remains on news, but in print, we are less concerned with capturing the activities of the week than helping readers cut through the cacophony of it all. Our original reporting is less centered on ephemera and more on the issues, ideas, businesses and people that help us better understand our Frank Raffaele industries and our city. CORRECTIONS Sometimes readers thank us for writing about them; often we get angry letters ASTORIA BANK’S ADDRESS is 1 Astoria Bank Plaza, Lake and calls from those who don’t like what we’ve written or how we’ve written it, Success, N.Y. It was misstated as 1 Astoria Federal Plaza in the list of the New York area’s largest thrifts that ran in the even if it was accurate. This tells me we’re doing our jobs right. Greg put it best April 20, 2015, and Dec. 21, 2015, issues. when he wrote: “I want stories that inform me, interest me, sometimes amuse THE JANUS PROPERTY CO. developed and continues to me, and often make me mad and are so well written they are a pleasure to read.” own and manage 129-135 W. 138th St. This information was misstated in the “Properties still owned by Abyssinian” We don’t have an ax to grind, nor do we advocate on any individual’s behalf. chart in the Nov. 23 story “Abyssinian Agonistes.” Abyssinian has no ownership interest in this property Advertisers receive no preference. We accept ideas from any source. Those who and merely rents a small community facility space at know what appeals to us will have more success, especially if they go to our staff this location. page online and email or call the reporter they believe is best suited to the story. We are busier than ever, so we can’t possibly respond to every pitch. Keep it short. What we want in 2016 is to continue what we’ve been doing since this paper launched in 1985: to provide news, information and insight that New Yorkers Ⅲ and those interested in New York business still cannot get anywhere else. ON THE COVER PHOTO: BUCK ENNIS CONFERENCE CALLOUT JANUARY 14 DIGITAL DISPATCHES CRAIN’S BUSINESS Go to CrainsNewYork.com BREAKFAST FORUM READ Related Cos. is in talks to invest in Meera Joshi, chairman and chief an 11-acre site on the Williamsburg water- executive of the city’s front that was the site of a huge warehouse Taxi and Limousine Commission, fire last year. But community members want will speak about the the city to follow through on a plan to annex future of the taxi industry, part of the site into Bushwick Inlet Park. the impact of Uber and much more. ■ Developers Michael Stern and Joe Chetrit com- NEW YORK pleted their $90 million > ATHLETIC CLUB purchase of the Dime 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Savings Bank building [email protected] in Brooklyn, allowing them to build the tallest tower outside Manhattan.

Vol. XXXII, No. 1, January 4, 2016—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for double issues LISTEN Get the inside dope on New York’s the weeks of June 27, July 11, July 25, Aug. 8, Aug. 22 and Dec. 19, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY underground marijuana economy on this 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s week’s podcast. With music by the BUCK ENNIS New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. Brain Cloud. 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) CrainsNewYork.com/podcast ©Entire contents copyright 2016 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

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AGENDAWHAT’S NEW JANUARY 4, 2016 Giving interest groups the power to legislate is looking worse by the day

pecial interests have long had too much power to warp the leg- islative process in Albany. But rather than curtail this phenom- enon, lawmakers last year codified it—an unprecedented move that went overlooked as the public focused on the headline- Sgrabbing issue of corruption. Last June, Albany revised New York City’s 421-a tax abatement, a program that awards property-tax breaks to virtually every new apart- ment here. Legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo were under pressure to extend the program before it expired, but could not agree on a union- backed proposal to mandate higher wages for construction workers on some 421-a projects. So they approved a seven-month extension and a four-year revision with a truly incredible footnote: The new version Albany’s thinking was that the unions and developers both have would take effect only if the unions and developers on opposite sides of something to gain by continuing 421-a, so they’ll surely come up with a the wage fight come to terms on the wage mandate by Jan. 15. plan to save it before it lapses. But even if they do, a deal was never going In other words, the lawmakers asked the special interests to do the to happen until the last minute. The only thing lawmakers guaranteed lawmakers’ jobs. Representatives of con- was months of uncertainty when builders struction unions and developers were Albany lawmakers left New York City’s could have been producing units to alleviate empowered to decide if the law is to be the affordable-housing crunch and boost enacted and if so, under what terms. largest incentive program for new the city’s economy. What was a bad idea then is looking housing at the mercy of unions Moreover, the unions have tremendous worse by the day. To the surprise of no leverage. They don’t depend on 421-a near- one, unions and developers have been ly as much as developers do, so they have unable to compromise, putting the entire program in jeopardy of expir- less to lose if no agreement is reached and the program dies. ing when the current iteration sunsets next week. But the larger point is that the governor, Assembly and Senate—not Building apartments in New York City is hard enough without Albany special interests—should write the laws of the state. It was Cuomo who making the landscape even more unpredictable. And lawmakers’ abdi- championed the troublesome 421-a wage provision, so as the legisla- cation of their jobs to unelected interest groups with a major financial ture returns to Albany he should push it to pass a new bill that resolves stake in the outcome is hardly going to improve New Yorkers’ low opin- the matter. This experience has proved that if there is one thing law- ion of their state government. makers should not outsource, it is lawmaking. – THE EDITORS

FINE PRINT Some 300 national retail chains expanded their footprint in New York City last year, for a total of 7,550 stores, a 1% increase over 2014. For the eighth year running, Dunkin’ Donuts was the largest national retailer in the city, with 568 locations, according to an annual study by the Center for an Urban Future. Sprint had the biggest growth, adding 42 stores in 2015 for a total of 70.

BY GERALD SCHIFMAN STATS

25 WORDS OR LESS JAMAICA, QUEENS, TOPS REAL estate site StreetEasy’s QUEENS SCENE new list of the hottest neighborhoods in the city.

I want to do better. Median asking rent in Jamaica in CITY AND THE “ $1,750 2015, 57% of the projected overall … I’m not going to median asking rent in NYC

Median sales price for a home change my belief in Jamaica in 2015, 48% of the $299,500 projected overall median sales that a lot of things price in NYC

have to change in Crimes per 1,000 residents in Jamaica’s 113th Precinct last year, this city. 12.04 down 16% from 2014

—Mayor Bill de Blasio, speaking to Travel time, in minutes, from reporters at City Hall about his first Jamaica to Penn Station on the two years in office 20 LIRR during morning rush hour

ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY SOURCES StreetEasy, NYC.gov, LIRR BUCK ENNIS

JANUARY 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3 20160104-NEWS--0004-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 5:44 PM Page 1

AGENDA ICYMI CRAINS EDITOR IN CHIEF Rance Crain publisher, vp Jill R. Kaplan assistant to the publisher Alexis Sinclair, 212.210.0701 EDITORIAL Amid criticism, City Hall editor Jeremy Smerd assistant managing editors Barbara Benson, Erik Engquist, Peter S. Green steps up efforts on homeless web editor Amanda Fung copy desk chief Steve Noveck art director Carolyn McClain or years, the city has counted the number of people photographer Buck Ennis living on the streets only once annually, usually in senior reporters Joe Anuta, Aaron Elstein, Matthew Flamm, Daniel Geiger January. That’s why this past summer, when reporters Rosa Goldensohn, Jonathan LaMantia, Caroline Lewis F Bill tabloids sounded alarms on street homelessness, Mayor data reporter Gerald Schifman de Blasio could only trot out a statistic from the previous web producer Peter D’Amato columnist Greg David February showing a year-over-year decline. His outgoing contributing editors Tom Acitelli, Theresa Agovino, Paul Bennett, Department of Homeless Services commissioner, Gilbert Taylor, Erik Ipsen, Judith Messina, Cara S. Trager recently admitted that the population had increased, but ADVERTISING www.crainsnewyork.com/advertise could not say by how much. advertising director Irene Bar-Am [email protected] or So starting this year, DHS will canvass the streets daily, 212.210.0133 tracking individuals and matching them with services. The senior account managers Zita Doktor, Jill Bottomley Kunkes, Rob Pierce, city will do a more comprehensive count four times a year. DHS will move about 140 staffers to street teams, Stuart Smilowitz account managers Jake Musiker and the NYPD will add 40 officers to its outreach unit. The mayor promises an average response time of one hour marketing coordinator LeAnn Richardson to service requests, such as 311 complaints about homeless people, once the program gets going. sales/events coordinator Ashlee Schuppius 212.210.0282 Police Commissioner Bill Bratton (pictured), who said the street population has “exploded” and chastised the [email protected] ONLINE mayor for minimizing the problem, now wants to beef up laws against behaviors such as begging. general manager Rosemary Maggiore “Since we have so few powers to arrest under criminal law that are available to us now, let us try to use the 212.210.0237 [email protected] social initiatives,” he said after an Association for a Better New York breakfast. “And then we will take a fresh look at CUSTOM CONTENT director of custom content the criminal laws around the country [to] see if any of them can withstand muster here in New York City.” Patty Oppenheimer 212.210.0711 Bratton said his officers must follow the law, which allows people to sit on the sidewalk if they are not [email protected] EVENTS obstructing it. “We’re not going to create a whole new stop-question controversy over the behavior of two, www.crainsnewyork.com/events three thousand people on the street,” he said. — ROSA GOLDENSOHN director of conferences & events Courtney Williams, 212.210.0257 [email protected] manager of conferences & events Weights and countermeasures DATA POINT municipal ID cards as proof of identity, Adrienne Yee Whole Foods agreed to pay the city RISING INCOME AND PROPERTY-TAX a New York Times investigation found, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT $500,000 after Department of Consu- leaving many low-income New director of audience & content REVENUE WILL GIVE THE CITY A $963 partnership development mer Affairs inspectors found that every Yorkers without banking services, Michael O’Connor, 212.210.0738 one of 80 products it checked at vari- MILLION BUDGET SURPLUS IN despite approval for use of the cards [email protected] ous stores had mislabeled weights. from federal and state regulators. CRAIN’S 5BOROS 2016, SEVEN TIMES MORE THAN www.5boros.com Whole Foods also agreed to conduct Irene Bar-Am, 212.210.0133 quarterly audits to ensure food is prop- ANTICIPATED IN THE MAYOR’S [email protected] erly weighed and labeled. SPECIAL PROJECTS BUDGET, THE INDEPENDENT BUDGET manager Alexis Sinclair 212.210.0701 OFFICE REPORTS [email protected] Crime drop REPRINTS Police Commissioner Bill Bratton reprint account executive Krista Bora 212.210.0750 called 2015 the “safest year” in the PRODUCTION city’s history. Through Dec. 20, seri- Silver and state Senate Majority Leader production and pre-press director ous crime dropped 2% and arrests Dean Skelos, U.S. Attorney Preet Simone Pryce media services manager Nicole Spell were down 13%, even as murders Bharara turned his sights on New York SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE edged up 5.3%, to 339, from 322 in the City’s elementary schools. He found www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe same period a year earlier. that 83% are not fully handicapped- [email protected] accessible and has given the city until 877-824-9379 (in the U.S. and Canada). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $99.95 Family leave Jan. 20 to respond. one year, $179.95 two years, for print New York City will offer six weeks of subscriptions with digital access. A tree sells in Brooklyn to contact the newsroom: paid parental leave to its 20,000 Chocolate wars On Dec. 25, sad piles of unsold www.crainsnewyork.com/staff nonunionized municipal employees. Bearded Brooklyn craft-food pioneers 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4024 Christmas trees are left on Rick and Michael Mast conceded they phone: 212-210-0100 fax: 212-210-0799 sidewalks around the city. Except in Triangle fire memorial once used mass-produced chocolate Entire contents ©copyright 2016 Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, the Crain Communications Inc. All rights Gov. Andrew Cuomo said New York in their treats, after accusations by a heavily Russian neighborhood where reserved. ®CityBusiness is a registered state will provide the $1.5 million Dallas-based food blogger that they trademark of MCP Inc., used under license Orthodox Christmas arrives on the agreement. needed for a memorial at 29 remelted commercial chocolate in Julian calendar: Jan. 7. That’s an CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. Washington Place, the site of the 1911 their Mast Brothers candy bars. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that opportunity for some hardy tree chairman Keith E. Crain killed 146 garment workers. Silver’s son-in-law sentenced sellers, who take unsold stock from president Rance Crain locations like Park Slope and the treasurer Mary Kay Crain, Cindi Crain Marcello Trebitsch, a son-in-law of executive vp, operations William Morrow City Hall pay hike? convicted former Assembly Speaker Upper West Side and rebrand it for executive vp, director of strategic the Russian market. But one operations Chris Crain The Mayor’s Quadrennial Commission Sheldon Silver, was sentenced to two executive vp, director of corporate recommended raising pay for City years in prison and ordered to pay back established Brighton Beach tree operations K.C. Crain Council members by 23%, to $138,315 nearly $6 million he stole in a Ponzi seller who said he sold out for Dec. senior vp, group publisher David Klein vp/production, manufacturing David Kamis annually, and barring outside income. scheme that was not related to Silver’s 25 noted that many families who chief financial officer Thomas Stevens The mayor’s salary would increase by case. celebrate Orthodox Christmas chief information officer Anthony DiPonio 15%, to $258,750. simply wait until their non-Orthodox founder G.D. Crain Jr. [1885-1973] IDNYC hits roadblock neighbors toss their trees to the chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. [1911-1996] secretary Merrilee Crain [1942-2012] Bharara faults schools Banks including JPMorgan Chase, curb. “It’s not a good business for Fresh from corruption convictions of Bank of America and Citigroup aren’t us,” he said.

NEWSCOM former Assembly Speaker Sheldon accepting the city’s new IDNYC

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AGENDA REAL ESTATE

61 NINTH AVE. Commercial developers build small to score big Boutique projects cost a fraction to build, but command double the rent BY DANIEL GEIGER

growing number lion. Both properties will developer Sedesco built for of builders have charge office rents that start $60 million at 34 E. 51st St. seized on what at $150 per square foot— will feature a golf simulator they believe is an almost double the average when it opens this month. Aunderserved segment of the asking rent for Class A office city’s office market: pint- space in midtown. Creating a presence size, yet deep-pocketed ten- Working with real estate Boutique buildings also ants who want to be in new, investment firm the offer businesses a rare high-end buildings tailored Albanese Group, Vornado is opportunity in New York to their diminutive foot- gearing up to break ground City: to be a big fish in a ELITE OFFICE SUITES prints. in the coming months on its small pond. LISTED BY SQUARE FOOTAGE At least six developers other boutique project, a “Tenants value the kind are constructing or ready- 140,000-square-foot office of presence they can have in 540 W. 26TH ST. building at 510 W. 22nd St. ing to break ground on bou- a boutique building,” said VITAL STATS: Nine stories; 166,525 square feet tique office properties. The “There have been ques- Stuart Romanoff, whose START DATE: Broke ground in 2015 buildings are generally tions—isn’t it risky to build family real estate firm is fin- smaller than 200,000 two buildings completely on ishing development of 860 ESTIMATED COMPLETION: 2017 square feet, a fraction of the spec?—but we believe it’s a Washington St., a 113,848- ASKING RENTS: Starting at $120 per square foot size of recently opened 1 prudent decision,” said Jared square-foot office building DEVELOPMENT COST: $150 million World Trade Center, which Epstein, a vice president at in the meatpacking district DEVELOPERS: Savanna and the Silvermintz family is 3 million square feet, or Aurora. “We’re taking very that will open in April. DESIGNER: Morris Adjmi Architects the 2.6 million-square-foot little risk because these are “Rather than be one of two office skyscraper rising at small spaces, and there is so or three tenants on a floor in 61 NINTH AVE. 30 Hudson Yards. much demand and such a a normal high-rise building, small amount of supply of they can have their names on VITAL STATS: Nine stories; 115,000 square feet of office Huge demand this kind of product.” the doors and an entire floor space; 37,000 square feet of retail Builders point to several Several other owners are to themselves.” ESTIMATED START DATE: Breaks ground 2Q 2016 factors in boutique office buying into the formula that Boutique office buildings ESTIMATED COMPLETION: Early 2018 development’s allure. The going small is the new recipe have traditionally attracted ASKING RENTS: Starting at $150 per square foot projects generally cost $100 for success. private-equity firms and DEVELOPMENT COST: $100 million million or less to build and Eric Gural, a principal of hedge funds. Many develop- DEVELOPERS: Aurora Capital and Vornado Realty Trust are relatively easy to the family-owned landlord ers believe the universe of Rafael Viñoly finance, don’t require elu- Newmark Holdings, said he takers is expanding to DESIGNER: sive anchor tenants, and is considering a boutique booming sectors such as can achieve annual rents office building for an technology and other cre- 40 TENTH AVE. reaching well above $100 80,000-square-foot devel- ative industries. Delos VITAL STATS: 10 stories; 130,000 square feet of office per square foot, near the top opment at a property he Living, a builder of high-end space; 35,000 square feet of retail end of the market. owns at 27 Union Square residential space with well- ESTIMATED START DATE: Breaks ground by end of 2016 Developers Aurora West. ness amenities, for example, ESTIMATED COMPLETION: 2018 Capital and Vornado Realty Chris Schlank, a manag- has leased two floors, each a Starting at $150 per square foot Trust are so bullish on the ing partner of the real estate little more than 10,000 ASKING RENTS: demand for such space that investment firm Savanna, square feet, at 860 DEVELOPMENT COST: $100 million they plan to begin a nine- said he is planning a Washington St. for rents DEVELOPERS: William Gottlieb Real Estate and Aurora Capital story boutique property 100,000-square-foot bou- around $150 per square foot. DESIGNER: Studio Gang together at 61 Ninth Ave. tique office building in mid- Boutique office develop- and, concurrently, two sim- town. He wouldn’t identify ment does come with its 860 WASHINGTON ST. ilar office projects nearby the project’s location own set of hurdles. Builders VITAL STATS: 10 stories; 95,000 square feet of office space; with separate partners. because the deal is not yet say it is almost impossible to 20,000 square feet of retail They expect to start con- completed. pre-lease such projects struction in the second Savanna, in partnership because small tenants gener- START DATE: 2014 quarter on the $100 million, with the Silvermintz family, ally make space commit- ESTIMATED COMPLETION: April 2016 cube-shaped building is already in the process of ments very close to when ASKING RENTS: Starting at $150 per square foot designed by Rafael Viñoly building a nine-story, they are ready to move and DEVELOPMENT COST: Undisclosed with 115,000 square feet of 166,525-square-foot bou- often want to see a finished DEVELOPERS: Romanoff Equities and Property Group Partners office and 37,000 square feet tique property designed by product before they commit. DESIGNER: James Carpenter Design Associates of retail. In partnership with Morris Adjmi at 540 W. 26th “It takes so long to plan William Gottlieb Real Estate, St. It is scheduled for com- and execute these projects Aurora is also looking to pletion in 2017 and will that yes, sometimes the 34 E. 51ST ST. erect a curvaceous 10-story charge rents of $120 per music stops and the market VITAL STATS: 20 stories; 75,000 square feet boutique office property at square foot and higher. does drop by the time you’re START DATE: 2013 40 Tenth Ave., designed by Boutique buildings offer done,” said Michael Cohen, ESTIMATED COMPLETION: January 2016 Studio Gang, with 130,000 tenants amenities such as the tristate president of ASKING RENTS: Starting at $100 per square foot square feet of office space outdoor space, private office-leasing firm Colliers DEVELOPMENT COST: $60 million and 35,000 square feet of workout facilities and International. “I think in DEVELOPER: Sedesco Inc. retail, by the end of 2016. concierge services. The 20- this case, though, the That project, too, is estimat- story, 75,000-square-foot music still has some time DESIGNER: Skidmore Owings & Merrill ed to cost about $100 mil- office property that Turkish to keep playing.” Ⅲ

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AGENDA ASKED & ANSWERED SPORTS

BRETT YORMARK INTERVIEW BY JONATHAN LAMANTIA

rett Yormark, chief executive of Brooklyn Sports & Well north of 5,000 Entertainment, runs business operations for the “people are taking Barclays Center, the Brooklyn Nets and the New the Long Island Rail York Islanders.This season is the first in Brooklyn Road for every Bfor the Islanders, as well as Yormark’s first running a hockey team. He’s off to a strong start; the team’s revenue was up [Islanders] game 35% through mid-December, compared with the entirety of the Islanders’ final season at Nassau Coliseum, mostly because of the premium seating at Barclays. But the transition has received an icy reception from some Islanders fans who complain the team has shed some of its Long Island charm. More ominously, fans aren’t showing up—for either the Nets or Islanders—and both teams rank near the bottom of NBA and NHL attendance.

What is your vision for the Islanders’ brand in Brooklyn? It’s been about a balance. Not alienating the core, not departing from this traditional brand that has been on Long Island for years. For me, it’s been about how to infuse Brooklyn in an appropriate way. How have you tried to preserve tradition? DOSSIER The same organ and organ player from Nassau Coliseum are now at Barclays Center. We brought the championship and conference finals NAME Brett Yormark banners over, and the retired jerseys. The same PA announcer. The WHO HE IS Chief Blue and Orange Army, the most avid fans, have made their way to executive, Brooklyn Sports & Brooklyn. We want the Islander fans to feel at home. Entertainment AGE 49 Why isn’t the arena full every night in this first season, as you expected? BORN Newark, N.J. The Islander fan base coming from Long Island has exceeded our EDUCATION Indiana University, expectations. Well north of 5,000 people are taking the Long Island B.S. in management Rail Road for every game. Where I need to grow the base is new fans. SPIN CITY Yormark said he often When you think about the markets we’re trying to attack, it’s spends weekends with his family at Manhattan, it’s Queens and it’s Brooklyn. SoulCycle. BLOODLINES His twin brother, How do you plan to draw more fans? Michael, is president and chief of Three ways. We have to continue to market very aggressively, we’ve branding and strategy at Jay Z’s entertainment company, Roc got to continue to do community outreach and humanize the players Nation. His wife Elaina Scotto’s and get them to the grassroots level, and we have to create a family runs the East Side sampling environment, getting people to experience hockey live. restaurant Fresco by Scotto, and sister-in-law Rosanna Scotto is an But how? anchor at Fox 5. In the third week of January, we’ll kick off a multifaceted, seven-figure THE SWEET SCIENCE marketing campaign that gets people excited about this season and Barclays Center will host the first the run to the playoffs and next season. A lot of people don’t get heavyweight title bout in Brooklyn since 1900 on Jan. 16. excited about hockey when it starts in October. The enthusiasm rises Yormark is a fan of boxing and in January, and most teams experience between a 10% to 20% lift. says the sport is good for Barclays from an economic and The Nets are off to a lousy start. How do you keep fans engaged? strategic perspective. The team has to play better. We’ve got to give people a reason to NEW SPONSORS Yormark’s staff recently landed

show up every night. One area we’ve lagged from last year is the show BUCK ENNIS rate: the portion of people who buy tickets and show up. We’re Zappos.com, Steve Madden and Xerox as sponsors thinking very proactively about how we keep people engaged, create value for them and amplify the in-arena experience—so people have a wonderful experience, win or lose.

What’s the status of the Nassau Coliseum redevelopment? We plan to open in the winter of 2016. We’re very excited. It will be home to a lot of college sports, music, boxing, minor-league sports. Ⅲ

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AGENDA SMALL BUSINESS

Four big tax changes New York corporations need to know about Who wins, who loses under Albany’s tax-code moves BY ROSA GOLDENSOHN

slew of cor- bill. Earnings from stocks as LLCs to avoid the in sales from New and other states, New corporations based in porate tax- held less than a year and change. Yorkers in 2015 must York wants a piece of other states did not pay code chan- from bonds are now now pay income tax in out-of-state companies’ income tax here if they ges handed business income. Mac- Targeting outsiders the state—whether they revenue for online sales did not employ New Adown from Albany dur- Avery believes more Businesses that generat- have an office here or and virtual services. Yorkers or have an out- ing the past two years is businesses may register ed more than $1 million not. Like California, Ohio Prior to the new rule, post in the state. good news for New York manufacturers and traditional busi- nesses, but bad news for out-of-state online merchants and corpo- rations with short-term investments, according to Manhattan-based J. Terence MacAvery, a Thanks managing director at tax firm CBIZ. He gave Crain’s his top take- to our aways on the changes, which do not apply to individuals or certain Business firms such as limited- liability companies. Tax-rate change Customers. The tax rate decreases to 6.5% from 7.1% on business income earned in 2016. For 2015 “Highest in income, businesses will no longer have to pay the alternative mini- Customer mum tax or the tax on subsidiary capital. The Satisfaction with capital base tax began its six-year phase-out Small Business in 2015. Banking in MTA surcharge Corporations that oper- the Northeast ate in the 12 counties served by the Metro- Region” politan Transportation Authority will pay a higher rate on an MTA – J.D. Power surcharge on their busi- ness income taxes. It is increasing to more than 25% from 17%. But other changes will lower the base to which that rate is applied for some businesses, and they could pay less than before. State budget officials predict the overall change will be revenue-neutral. Many small firms are exempt from the surcharge.

Business vs. invest- ment income TD Bank, N.A. | TD Bank, N.A. received the highest numerical score in More earnings from the northeast in the proprietary J.D. Power 2015 Small Business Banking Satisfaction 2015 and future years StudySM. Study based on 8,086 total responses, measuring 8 fi nancial institutions in the will be deemed business northeast (CT, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT) and measures opinions of small business customers with annual revenues from $100,000 to $10 million. Proprietary study results income, rather than are based on experiences and perceptions of customers surveyed in July-August 2015. investment income, Your experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com triggering a higher tax

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AGENDA INSTANT EXPERT AFFORDABLE HOUSING BY JOE ANUTA Why are New Yorkers rejecting the mayor’s housing plans? [in 5 steps]

THE ISSUE Affordable housing is THE PLAYERS a top priority for The 59 community boards across the city and five borough 1Mayor Bill de Blasio, presidents have overwhelmingly recommended that the City whose proposals are as 2 Council reject the plans as submitted. Many communities object complex as their names. to increases in allowable building height, reductions in parking for One would allow taller affordable apartments near subways, and income levels that some buildings and more call too high—and others too low—for the “affordable” units. Critics diverse architecture. The have also said the proposal does not require developers to build other would require enough below-market-rate units. Some groups have lodged complaints developers to include so granular that only a zoning expert could understand them. These affordable housing in concerns, which will likely lead to negotiations with the city, are new developments made sometimes mixed in with demands that appeal to populist anger over more valuable by development and gentrification but have little to do with the plan and rezoning. De Blasio are of questionable legality. (pictured) says they’ll create better-quality buildings, with more affordable and senior housing, for the fewest taxpayer dollars. Community boards and borough presidents have hammered the plans, in some cases for diametrically opposed reasons. Some areas want more higher-income households, while others want them banned.

SOME BACKSTORY Few object to better architecture and more 4 affordable and senior housing. But the way the ideas were presented has caused Community YEAH,BUT... problems. City Planning boards and introduced the complex borough The administration says it is open to revisions proposals at the same time, but that complaints stem from its poor saddling unpaid community presidents have 3 communication and community boards’ being representatives with an hammered the inherently negative and resistant to change. estimated 500 pages of dense Interest groups including the AARP and the Hotel zoning text to digest in 60 days. plans, at times Trades Council have supported the plans. And a The degree of opposition might for diametrically public hearing in December revealed more backing also be a matter of perception: opposed for the mayor from community groups and Every corner of the five boroughs organizations. is weighing in on the policy at reasons once—something that rarely happens in the already contentious world of zoning changes. WHAT’S NEXT The City Planning Commission is set to vote in February, and the City Council will cast its 5 deciding vote in March. Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. (right), a political rival of the mayor, has made dire predictions about the proposals’ chances. But while nearly all the opponents have taken issue with specific portions of the plans, they haven’t called for them to be scrapped outright, which is why Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said that a compromise leading to passage is likely. BUCK ENNIS, NEWSCOM

8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JANUARY 4, 2016 20160104-NEWS--0009-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/29/2015 6:03 PM Page 1

AGENDA SPOTLIGHT THE BRONX

On City Island, bridge tension RESTAURANT OWNER Joe points to deeper issue Mandarino doesn’t want people to think his eatery is hard to get to. Residents could do without visitors,but businesses can’t BY AARON ELSTEIN

o one argues that City Island didn’t need a new bridge. The old one that connected the neighborhood to the rest of the Bronx for 114 years shook and rattled when trucks and cars crossed it. But the new one that opened Dec. 18 is “a mon- ster,” groaned Skip Giacco, president of the City Island NChamber of Commerce. “We’ve got a growing traffic problem and this is going to make it worse.” The source of the angst is a temporary structure that will carry traffic until the old bridge is demolished and replaced, a year-long project. A portion of the provisional span buckled under the weight of an asphalt truck last summer, and a sharp curve just before the bridge empties out onto City Island Avenue “is going to be lethal,” predicted Barbara Hoffman, a City Island native. Residents’ unease about the new bridge reflects their mixed feelings toward the growing popularity of City Island, one of the Bronx’s most prosperous and picturesque neighborhoods—and a tourist destination since the 1850s. Residents like to keep their enclave quiet and even secret, but without tourists and visitors from the mainland, the restau- rants and other businesses they enjoy could not survive. One reason for the crowds may be that City Island’s quaint streets and handsome houses have been featured in movies, including the 2009 comedy City Island. Jerry Seinfeld and Ricky Gervais in 2012 stopped by the City Island Diner to chat on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Last month, scenes for an ABC show called The Family were shot inside Barbara Dolensek’s 116-year-old Queen Anne Victorian house. “We now get tour groups stopping at the nautical museum,” said Dolensek, a former Metropolitan Museum of Art staffer who helps run the CITY ISLAND’S rickety old bridge museum. “We love the attention. But of course there’s a flip side to it.” has been around for 114 years, but some residents are not happy with That would be the traffic jams that are now commonplace during the its temporary replacement. tourist season. On summer and holiday weekends, it can take 45 minutes to drive the one-and-a-half-mile length of the island. Traffic sometimes backs up to Pelham Parkway, about two miles away. It all gets to be a bit much for even the most welcoming clamdigger— the local term for City Island natives. “What draws a lot of people here is how quiet it is,” said resident Kevin Odau.

Public transit Last year saw the first condos built on the island in 15 years. Big trucks lugging construction materials are now routine. As word gets around that City Island is a great place to get away from it all without going far, serenity and solitude are getting rarer. “I used to see [the late neurologist and author] Oliver Sacks swim- ming in the sound,” said Jackie Kyle Kall, a 90-year-old real estate bro- ker. “I’d invite him to my house for a bite and he’d always tell me, ‘Don’t tell anyone I live here!’ ” Of course, more visitors mean better business for the island’s 30-plus Italian and seafood restaurants. “I get more customers from Queens than anywhere else, and the last thing I want is people to think my restaurant is hard to get to,” said Joe Mandarino, owner of City Island Lobster House, which overlooks Long Island Sound. To minimize traffic while keeping the tourist dollars flowing, business leaders are trying to encourage people to come without cars. But City Island is a tough place to reach without one. So far, city officials have shunned pleas for more buses. FOCAL POINTS “We generate $4.5 million a year in sales taxes,” grumbled Paul Klein, who runs Kaleidoscope Gallery, speaking of the retailers and restaurants ORIGINS Formerly known as Great Minnefords Island, in the 1760s the site lining City Island Avenue. “We should get something for our money.” was named New City Island by a developer who hoped to build a commercial To ease traffic, Bronx civic leaders chipped in for a trolley that picks center to rival Manhattan up people on Friday nights from the nearest subway station—the 6 line’s Pelham Bay Park. The trolley takes up to 400 people per night and has LINKED City Island got its first bridge to the mainland in 1873 standing-room crowds, said Olga Tirado, executive director of the Bronx OLD BRIDGE The current bridge carried more than 16,000 vehicles daily in Tourism Council. 2012, or nearly quadruple City Island’s population Last year, a school-bus company donated an old vehicle that was fixed NEW BRIDGE The cost of new bridge is $102 million up to become the City Island Land Ferry. It delivers up to 16 visitors from a Residence Inn Hotel on Eastchester Road Tuesday evenings, and plans ISOLATION City Island has no ferryboat service, and the sole city bus line to run are to run it at least three times a week during the summer. to the island, the Bx29, operates only four times an hour at most, and often only “That means 16 people who aren’t using cars to get here,” Giacco said. every 30 minutes

BUCK ENNIS “It’s a start.”

JANUARY 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9 20160104-NEWS--0010-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/29/2015 6:19 PM Page 1

AGENDA VIEWPOINTS

Despite warning signs, city’s DIFFERENCE OF OPINION: IBO’S VIEW ON JOB GROWTH

economy will keep humming 120,000 Wall Street, tech, construction and tourism will maintain momentum in 2016 95,000*

THIS COLUMN should (for Europeans) to more than 50% Construction 77,000* be forecasting a slow- (for Brazilians). is still gaining down in the city But I’m going to go against the momentum. 63,000* economy, in line conventional wisdom and predict “Duh,” will say 55,000* 46,000* with most of the another year of record or near-record anyone who has experts who track growth. Here’s why. walked the city’s New York. Wall Street is highly resilient. As streets. Whether After all, the now of November, the financial sector had it is the mixed- GREG DAVID seven-year eco- added a surprising 8,000 jobs in the use buildings 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 nomic expansion previous 12 months. Although the going up at would normally be coming to an cutbacks at the big-name firms get Hudson Yards or *Projected Source: Independent Budget Office end—it is unprecedented in duration all the attention, expansion is the the 50,000 and strength, as the Independent order of the day at hedge funds, apartments per- Budget Office said in late December. private-equity shops and M&A bou- mitted last year Wall Street firms from Morgan tiques. Pay is rising again, too. A (to beat the potential expiration of city affordable. Domestic visitors Stanley to Citigroup announced comprehensive October report from the 421-a tax break) or the work benefit from those discounts as well. year-end layoffs. And signs of trou- the state comptroller showed that from the newly financed Airbnb may just make this state of ble are emerging in the real estate average annual Wall Street compen- Metropolitan Transportation affairs permanent. This isn’t good markets: Apartment rents have sation topped $400,000 in 2014 for Authority capital plan, this crucial for hotel owners but is great for weakened in recent months, and res- only the second time ever. sector is guaranteed to grow for the tourists and the city as a whole. idential developer Toll Brothers is It’s a new world because of tech- next two or three years. We’ve seen this story before. lowering prices and reconfiguring nology. To understand that the city’s Tourism may be immune to the Cautious economists have spent the one of its ultraluxury towers, a sign economy has fundamentally changed, dollar’s rise. Despite the decline in past several Decembers suggesting a that this small but high-profile sector look at the very strong job gains in foreign currencies, the city set a slowdown was inevitable. At some is headed for problems. Retail rents advertising, which is booming because record for visitors last year. point they will be right. But not have softened as well. it is at the center of the tech revolution International tourists keep coming in 2016.Ⅲ Even tourism faces trouble, with a in marketing. That is only one example because so many hotel rooms have strong dollar making New York more of the multiplier effect from the robust been added that the industry cuts GREG DAVID blogs regularly at expensive by anywhere from 20% activity in Silicon Valley. rates to fill them, and that makes the CrainsNewYork.com.

overall building stock, buildings “massive structures,” “towers,” A B- for Big Bill? Bah! measuring 50,000 square feet or etc., the authors seem to be lump- more use up an astonishing 45% of ing these older, medium-size Readers call op-ed misleading, praise editorial on Brooklyn park the city’s energy” (CrainsNewYork buildings together with the likes of .com). Without more information, supertall “pencil” buildings such as Grade inflation for de Blasio to tackle a major new social- this isn’t a particularly useful state- One57 and 432 Park Avenue. While Sorry, but I give Greg David’s rating of service area—in this case, mental- ment and may even be misleading. such supertall towers can be debat- Mayor Bill de Blasio’s first two terms a health care—without the support of Considering that vast swaths of ed for their height and shadows, solid F (“Mayor de Blasio’s midterm the state or federal governments. the four outer boroughs consist of the fact is that new buildings are report card yields GPA of B-,” Dec. During flush budget times, such small buildings—one- and two- generally LEED-certified and far 14). The job growth of the past two decisions may seem rational, but family homes, garden apartments, more energy-efficient than build- years was set in stone by three forces once the sweet fiscal music stops, etc.—the fact that larger apartment ings of the prewar era. Equating the beyond de Blasio’s control: the the city’s beleaguered taxpayers buildings make up only 2% of all two makes sense as a rhetorical national economy; the appeal of New will not be able to afford such ini- the city’s buildings would not be device, but it’s a false equivalency. York City real estate to foreigners; and tiatives on their own. surprising. A more apt statistic FRANK CHANEY the pro-business policies of his prede- Here again, the mayor’s failure would be the percentage of total cessor that created a favorable trajec- to collaborate with others of his floor area. A park is a park tory over the 12-year period leading party in higher office has been a Also, a 50,000-square-foot I very much agree with “To pay for up to de Blasio’s election. Without any disservice to his constituents. He building is not particularly “mas- Brooklyn Bridge Park, don’t build one of these factors, the city’s econo- gets no more than a D for fiscal sive”—a five- or six-story structure any more than necessary” (Editorial, my would be in deep trouble. responsibility. on a 100- by 100-foot lot would fit Nov. 16). It’s sad that we simply De Blasio’s record in supporting Boy, I wish Greg David had been this description. A substantial num- can’t just have a beautiful lush park. important programs that are key to one of my college professors. My ber of these sorts of buildings are We already have a major highway economic development in the bor- GPA would have been doubled, just older walk-up and elevator build- behind us along with the new glitzy oughs has been abysmal. In fairness, as he doubled the mayor’s. ings with older and inefficient tech- construction blocking the landmark he barely scores a D in my book. MICHAEL RICHARD PRESS nology. The city has already begun views of the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s Regarding crime, his early months the retrofitting process by mandat- sad what this city is doing. of seeming to side with cop-haters Big buildings get bad rap ing that all buildings switch from Having a park should be a right damaged his anti-crime record forev- In their op-ed, “The mayor must dirty No. 6 heating oil to cleaner- for all, but here we are with securi- er. Here again, a D would be generous. get tough with NYC’s biggest ener- burning No. 4 and No. 2 oil or even ty issues and fighting off overpopu- And on fiscal responsibility, not gy guzzlers: its buildings,” Daisy cleaner-burning natural gas, and lation and overbuilding in the park. since the fiscal crisis of the ’70s has a Chung and Eddie Bautista write, that they perform energy audits. It’s a circus already. mayor decided to force city taxpayers “While making up only 2% of the Finally, with their references to MONICA PATEL-COHN

CRAIN’S WELCOMES SUBMISSIONS to its opinion pages. Send letters to [email protected]. Send columns of 475 words or fewer to [email protected]. Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number.

10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JANUARY 4, 2016 20160104-NEWS--0011-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/29/2015 6:06 PM Page 1

AGENDA THE LIST NYC’S LARGEST BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS Ranked by assessment budget

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JANUARY 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11 20160104-NEWS--0012-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/29/2015 6:06 PM Page 1

AGENDA THE LIST NYC’S LARGEST BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS

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FOR THE FULL LIST OF NYC’S 25 LARGEST BIDS, GO TO CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/LISTS

Invitation to Bid Turner Construction Company, an EEO Employer, is currently soliciting cost proposals from qualified subcontractors/ January 6–10 • Javits Center vendors/service providers (including certified M/WBE and Small Business (13 CFR 121) companies), for the Rehabilitation and Flood Mitigation of the New York Aquarium, Brooklyn, NY. Construction schedule is expected to last 12 to 16 months starting in the 2nd quarter of 2016. Qualified bidders must be bondable with an acceptable EMR, and will be subjected to government regulations such as CFR 44 and Executive Order 11246. Subcontractor will Reap the rewards of your success! be required to use a certified compliance verification software such as LCP Tracker. You’ve conquered the business world…now it’s time to chart your next course. For further information concerning Explore the best in boats and marine gear, engines and electronics at New York’s subcontracting opportunities on this project premier marine sales event. and to prequalify as a subcontractor/vendor, please contact Mandy Yeung at NYBoatShow.com [email protected]. Potential bidders must Pre-shop, tickets and details at prequalify by January 15, 2016 to be Show Hours: Wednesday–Friday Noon–9pm; Saturday 10am–9pm; Sunday 10am–6pm considered for this project.

FIND US ON

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BUCK ENNIS DILEMMA DEALER’S THE O innovating ByMatthew Flamm any entrepreneurwould tosurvive: aredoingwhat market, black wherepotpeddlers city’s bustling Marijuana legalizationisdrivingdown prices andprofitsonthe lubricant; and high; cannabis-infusedpersonal anxiety thatdoesnotproducea medicinal extractusedforpainand overs; organiccannabidiol,orCBD,a cannabis tinctureforcuringhang- four differentflavors,orstrains; nal-grade “honeyoil”concentratein standard forextractproduction);medici- filled withCO2-processedcannabisoil(thegold term thesedaysforweed—Zachcarriesvapepens phase inNewYork’smarijuanaindustry. goods hepulledoutmakehimaharbingerofthenext ries everywhere,likeatravelingapothecary.The reached deepintothatlargeblackbag,whichhecar- back onthesubwaytoBrooklyn.Thistime,he Zach’s prepaidburnerphone,whichsenthim sweet chocolate,areatopseller.) tion. (Thepretzelsandwiches,drizzledwithsemi- Harlem restaurantworkerboughtthesamecombina- $20. Three1-trainstopsandafive-blockwalknorth, cannabis-infused peanut-butterpretzelsandwichesfor ounce ofpremiumSuperSilverHazefor$80andtwo Morningside Heights,hesoldanacademiceighthof from aBrooklynHeightsmasseuse.Around6:30p.m.,in nym—bartered $120inweedforadeep-tissuemassage story, agreedtobeinterviewedonlyunderapseudo- minute. a marijuanadealer’sday,clientsplaceordersatthelast where hewouldendup.Asoftenhappensinthecourseof in hismid-30s,heknewwherewasgoingbutnot Beyond theusualvarietiesofquality“flower”—the At about8p.m.,aclientinBoerumHilltexted At hisfirststop,Zach—who,likeotherdealersinthis OTNE NPG 14 PAGE ON CONTINUED bag overhisshoulder.Aslightfigure Side apartmentwithablack,zippered fedora setoutfromhisUpperWest Lauren suitandnarrow-brimmed their day,amanincreamRalph the timemostpeoplewinddown n arecentTuesdayafternoon,around DRUG AUR ,2016 4, JANUARY MARIJUANA | RI’ E OKBUSINESS YORK CRAIN’S NEW | SMALL BUSINESS | 13 20160104-NEWS--0014,0015-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 2:10 PM Page 1

MARIJUANA|SMALL BUSINESS

an inhaler-shaped vaporizer packed with wax. While other dealers might carry cannabis- infused candies or cookies, Zach’s edibles include buckeye brownies, granola bites, cereal bars, fruit roll-ups and Cheeba Chews— candies from Boulder, Colo. (He is trying to build a sideline catering business that extends the marijuana menu to lobster rolls, cremini mushroom quesadillas and Irish pound cake with berries and whipped cream. The cannabis adds $500 to $1,000 to the bill.) The city is full of high-end pot-delivery serv- ices in addition to solo dealers who make house calls. But with its gourmet edibles and pharma- cy-like range of products, Zach’s business illus- HOME DELIVERY: Zach brings a package to a trates what the legalization wave nationwide is customer. Door-to-door service keeps sales out doing to the black market in New York. of public view. Zach collaborates with a professional pastry chef on the edibles but gets most of his inven- tory from California, where a lax medical- marijuana program going back two decades has fueled a bustling gray market. Colorado, which has legalized recreational use, is another source. A network of local wholesalers saves him the trip out West. A fan of the more exotic products in Zach’s bag, the Boerum Hill client chose the faux asthma inhaler ($125, and good for 200 puffs), the vape pen ($200 for about 500 puffs) and $80 worth of edibles. By 10 o’clock Zach was head- ed home. It had been a profitable evening—and a pleasant one. “It’s like the best part of every relationship,” he said of his house calls. “Everybody’s excit- ed, and then it’s ‘See you in a week or so.’ ” A onetime restaurant owner and occasional are a lot of patients who may not go through “Legalization creates awareness,” he said. counterculture journalist, Zach launched his the mandated avenues,” said Derek Peterson, “There’s more variety of product out there, and cannabis enterprise last May after spending chief executive of Terra Tech, an Irvine, Calif.- I have to cater to the client.” three months as a runner for a Manhattan- based medical-marijuana provider that chose He is not alone in recognizing how forces based pot-delivery service. The “traveling not to bid for a New York license. He cited the beyond New York are shaping local tastes and shaman” branded his business Psy City and ease of delivering illegal weed in the city and purchasing decisions. printed up bright yellow business cards the fact that the medical program can provide “The impact has been huge,” a dealer named (“Healing the mind, body & soul”) and fridge only cannabis extracts and not flower, which Eric said of the legalization of recreational use magnets decorated with a quaintly psychedelic some patients prefer. in four states and the District of Columbia, and Lady Liberty logo. It appears on all his packag- The legalization wave is bringing new energy of medicinal use in 23 states plus D.C. A ing, including the prescription bottles with to the city’s illicit market, but also unsettling it. Bushwick resident in his mid-30s who hails heat-sealed caps that hold his weed. Dealers are offering more cannabis strains and from Portland, Ore., and wears Stan Smith Zach exemplifies the tradition of innovation products than ever before. Lower wholesale sneakers and a black watch cap, he has been in the local cannabis scene. While New York prices, driven by a glut in California—where riding that momentum since the early 2000s. state’s medical-marijuana program launching growers are producing more marijuana than That was when he started “moving weight” as this month has regulations so strict that they medical dispensaries can buy—have put some a middleman to supplement dry spells in the threaten its success, the city has long been a middlemen out of business. And in some neigh- bar and restaurant business. A couple of years place where underground entrepreneurs could borhoods, retail prices are falling so fast that the ago he jumped to the retail side as a dealer, and thrive. Its estimated $2 billion-a-year black future is uncertain for some sellers. last June co-founded a “serve”—a delivery market is a magnet for quality marijuana, which “A lot of old-time dealers I know can’t com- service—with 75 clients. Six months later, it can be ordered as easily as pizza. Delivery serv- mand the same high prices they used to has 500. because there’s so much com- petition from guys who’ve got MONG THE CHANGES he attributes to “IT’S LIKE THE BEST PART OF the same high-quality [prod- the erosion of prohibition are local deal- uct],” said Rick Curtis, an A ers using more professional packaging, EVERY RELATIONSHIP,” HE SAID OF anthropology professor at John in line with that of legal shops, and a feeling HIS HOUSE CALLS.“EVERYBODY’S Jay College of Criminal Justice among law-enforcement agencies that they who has studied New York’s have bigger fish to fry than small-time purvey- EXCITED, AND THEN IT’S,‘SEE YOU black market. He sees ors like him. (New York City downgraded pos- California weed even pushing session of less than an ounce to a violation from IN A WEEK OR SO.’” out the lower-quality Mexican a misdemeanor in November 2014.) product in poorer parts of the Best of all, California growers and whole- city. “It’s hard to say how the salers, facing depressed prices in their own ices that emerged as beepers did in the 1980s are market is going to play out, but it’s becoming state, are vying for his business. “New York is a so mainstream now that they serve as fallback saturated,” he said. huge market, and they can get rid of stuff for employers for college students. Zach’s response to growing competition has more money here than they can get rid of it at The popularity of the outlaw market could been to employ traditional small-business home,” Eric said. pose a challenge for New York’s program, strategies: Develop multiple revenue streams Though he hasn’t felt pressure on his pric- which tightly restricts the ailments that qualify and focus on branding and service. He sees Psy ing, he has had to adjust his footing. As a mid- for treatment and is opening just four dispen- City meeting the higher standards for the dleman a decade ago, he could flip a few saries in the city. Some black-market cus- cannabis customer experience set by the states pounds a week that friends mailed him from

BUCK ENNIS tomers will stick with what they know. “There that have lifted prohibition. California and clear $1,000 per pound. That

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number kept shrinking. About three years ago, what market you’re in,” Curtis said. $50. But, citing the time he spends making as a flood of marijuana hit New York, bargain- deliveries, he is not open to negotiation. “I ing power shifted dramatically to the dealers. OT SURPRISINGLY, retail prices can be meet people from California who tell me what Eric was lucky to clear $100. a sensitive topic for dealers. Callacious they pay,” Jones said one night at a neighbor- “Everybody’s got a friend who can mail N Jones (his professional name, not his hood bar. “That falls on deaf ears. This is not them something now,” he said. real one), a Caribbean-born dealer in his late California.” The mode of transport for weed moving from 20s based in Bedford-Stuyvesant, charges $60 Last year, Mel, a dealer who receives clients California to New York has also shifted. A for an eighth of an ounce of the two strains he inside his tidy Upper East Side studio apart- decade ago, big operators used trucks. Now carries. Longtime customers might get a deal at ment, cut his price to $80 from $100 for 4 growers or wholesalers ship a few pounds by mail or maybe 100 pounds by car. Rather than go back to managing restaurants, Eric started dealing and eventually teamed up with a partner on the delivery service. ODD MEN OUT: DOWNSIDES OF DEALING Retailing weed in New York is still highly profitable, though not remotely as lucrative as RUNNING AN ILLEGAL MARIJUANA BUSINESS leads to some odd habits, as Crain’s reporter dealing cocaine was in the 1980s. Eric obsesses Matthew Flamm learned when he sat down with four dealers. (No real names have been used.) over customer data—despite smoking two joints a day—and says his profit margins run at What do you tell strangers you do for a living? 35%. He does not sell extracts, because posses- ZACH: “I run a catering business.” It’s not far from the truth, and it’s in my background, so I can talk sion of even small amounts is a felony, com- about it. And I strategically steer a lot of conversations away from work. pared with a violation or misdemeanor for CALLACIOUS JONES: Jones has a day job in construction. To explain his after-work activities, he flower. His business’ distinguishing feature is says, “I’m a bar-hopper.” its selection: from six to 10 strains of weed, ERIC: “I own an audio consulting company.” It’s obscure enough. And I used to do audio engineering. which he buys in quantities of about half a MEL: I’m retired. This is a hobby. It pays for the ounce a week that I smoke. pound and rotates in and out of the menu. “Here’s the rub about owning a serve: You Does it bother you to have to conceal what you do? have to keep the inventory fresh,” Eric said. “I like to give everybody what they want, or they ERIC: My parents are cool and probably wouldn’t care, as long as I’m happy, which I am. But I don’t think they want, and put in something they want to incriminate them. That’s the hardest part: not being able to share my success honestly with the ones I care about most. don’t know they want—yet.” Prices run from $50 to $80 for an eighth of an ounce, with his ZACH: It bothers my girlfriend more than it bothers me. I enjoy being mysterious. wholesale costs starting at $150 an ounce and JONES: This isn’t how I’d want [my family] to view me. I will keep it quiet forever. reaching $230 for the “Triple-A” strain, which MEL: I was a big cocaine trafficker in the ’70s. I was brilliant at it. It bothered me nobody knew how is currently U2 Kush (“powerful euphoric buzz, exceptional I was. with sedating full-body effects,” according to pot review site Leafly). Overhead includes the How do you deal with the fear of getting caught? 10% in commissions his two bike-riding run- ERIC: I never do two illegal things at the same time. So I’m very respectful of all laws and rules. But I ners pull in on their daily eight-hour shifts, do worry, and try not to let it drive me crazy. which begin at 2 p.m. Their takes can add up to ZACH: Recently I was in the [Brooklyn] Borough Hall subway station, and the police were checking $80 to $200 a night. bags. My view is: They’re looking for terrorists [not dealers], and they can only search your bag if you “I make about what a coffee-shop owner give them permission. I stayed relaxed and walked through. If you spend that much time thinking makes,” Eric said. “Or someone who owns a about the “what if,” you shouldn’t be doing this. small but busy bar.” MEL: I only ever have a few ounces at a time. Zach is also doing well. With a roster of 80 JONES: I don’t show fear, and I don’t make eye contact [with police]. And I would never pull out all of clients, of whom about 50 are weekly buyers, my phones. he works seven days a week—taking personal days off as needed—making three to 10 deliver- How many phones do you have? ies a night. Sales average $100 to $120 per visit, JONES: Three. One for friends and family, one for business, one for women, which I turn off when I with a minimum order of $60. don’t want interruptions. “That’s going up to $100,” he said with a ERIC: Six. Two for the [delivery] service. One that’s for reference—it’s just data. A fourth to contact touch of weariness over a beer between runners when they’re out. A fifth for my partner and me to contact each other. And a sixth that’s just a appointments. phone. Profit margins vary by product, but he esti- ZACH: Two. One dumb, for work. One smart, for personal. I’m working to get clients onto an encrypt- mates his overall markup at about 100%. Gross ed text-message service to eliminate the dumb phone. sales have been averaging $12,000 a month, MEL: One cellphone, and my home phone [landline]. And everyone on my cellphone is respectable. with profits going back into the business and toward paying off student debts. (Like other dealers interviewed for this story, he pays taxes through a “legitimate” company, which he declined to describe.) Working in Zach’s favor is the trend that drove Eric out of his old busi- ness: The wholesale price of weed, which in New York comes mainly from the “Emerald Triangle” counties in Northern California, keeps falling. A pound that a decade ago would have cost more than $5,000 by the time it reached New York goes for about $3,000 today, according to Danny Danko, the longtime cultivation editor at High Times magazine. Curtis, at John Jay College, said that with the recent harvest in California, high-quality weed is wholesaling in VARIETY PACK: Zach totes around New York for as low as $2,300 a pound. everything from oils and tinctures to candies and capsules. One dealer Curtis is in touch with is selling ounces for $250—while Zach and Eric’s sales of

BUCK ENNIS top-grade weed add up to $640. “It depends on

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MARIJUANA|SMALL BUSINESS FACTS grams, or to $560 an ounce from $700. That was a pounds of Mexican or Colombian The federal government has year or so after the wholesale price for his premi- marijuana to New York. By con- sent mixed signals on prohibition, um Sour Diesel dropped by 25%, to $300 an trast, local delivery services and starting with Barack Obama’s ounce. Mel, who is in his late 60s and retired from “mom-and-pop” producers “fly $2,300 2008 campaign pledge that he a straight career in retail sales (and stints as a under our radar,” Hunt said. COST IN NYC per pound of would leave states’ medical- cocaine trafficker), caters to an older crowd that “They know they can stay small- high-grade marijuana, down marijuana programs alone. That knows nothing of the wholesale trends. He sus- er and last a lot longer than if from $5,000 a decade ago promise, along with the recession pects most of his clients wouldn’t know where to they got bigger.” and California’s loosely run pro- look if they wanted to buy weed for less. The changes in local policing gram, contributed to overpro- “It was Jewish guilt,” he said of the price cut. and the focus on big operators duction in the Emerald Triangle. Zach gives a discount on larger orders, but help explain how dealers can The Obama administration did sees weed as a fairly limited revenue stream. stroll around with more than $2B crack down on state programs, His focus is on edibles, which he produces with enough cannabis to be charged ANNUAL SALES of marijuana then backed off. Meanwhile, its quality flower, not the leftover bits of plant, or with a felony. on the city’s black market director of drug-control policy, “shake,” that are typically used. Even so, his “I’ve seen cops give people Michael Botticelli, says legaliza- $20 cereal bar has just 50 cents’ worth of weed, back their weed,” said Jones of tion is encouraging teens to think and yet packs enough punch that he recom- stop-and-frisks by undercover the drug is harmless. mends eating only a quarter of it at a time. officers in his neighborhood. But change is coming He estimates his edibles account for about a “They say, ‘I don’t want that.’ 24 nonetheless. California and sev- third of sales but two-thirds of profits—and They want the real criminals, the GRAMS OF POT that can be eral other states could have that’s with the price cuts he gives to move guys with guns.” possessed without risk of recreational legalization on the products faster (like any food purveyor, he Still, the current system leaves arrest under city policy ballot in November. Some hates having goods go stale). He believes the no one happy—not the police, reformers face a paradox, how- snacks and candies will only grow more popu- who are charged with enforcing a ever: They see states moving too lar as health-conscious clients look for ways to law for which political support fast to change laws that haven’t get high without smoking. “Edibles have has waned, and not drug-reform worked for some time. unlimited growth potential,” he said. advocates, who has pushed for 43% “We are currently lurching from Though New York is a long way from full the change. They point out that DECLINE IN ARRESTS for mari- a pretty dumb prohibition to a legalization, Zach and other dealers can thank young, black and Hispanic males juana possession in 2015 pretty dumb legalization,” warned the new climate for their ability to move about make up nearly 90% of those Mark Kleiman, a professor of public the city relatively free of paranoia. Arrests for arrested for possession, despite studies that show policy at NYU’s Marron Institute and co-author of marijuana possession in the city plunged 43% higher marijuana use among young whites. Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to from last January through October, to 14,023, Kassandra Frederique, New York policy man- Know. “If I had to choose, I would go for the dumb compared with the same period in 2014, accord- ager for the Drug Policy Alliance, would like to legalization, but that shouldn’t be the choice.” ing to the New York State Division of Criminal see the mayor’s directive put into state law, and Justice Services. That’s a result of the 2014 deci- provisions made for striking or sealing arrest S AN INDICATION of how badly prohi- sion by Mayor Bill de Blasio making possession of records for those caught with small quantities. bition has worked, Kleiman points to a up to 24 grams—slightly less than an ounce—just Those provisions can be found in the Fairness A Rand Corp. estimate of $40 billion in a violation, which warrants a ticket, not an and Equity Act that state Sen. Daniel Squadron, annual illegal marijuana sales in the U.S. He arrest. Smoking marijuana in public and selling a Brooklyn Democrat, co-sponsored in 2014—a puts New York City’s share at about $2 billion. small quantities are still misdemeanors. bill that was met with “complete silence” from He says some states are letting legal pot become Even federal law enforcement finds that the the Republican Senate majority, he said. too cheap, and cites prices in Colorado and best use of resources is to target major offend- State Sen. Liz Krueger, D-Manhattan, is Washington state of as low as $5 to $7 a gram. ers, not small-time dealers. hoping a legalization bill she submitted last He would use taxes and other means to keep “We’re really trying to get the high-level year will gain momentum in the session that prices at black-market levels—ideally, $20 a violator,” said James Hunt, special agent in begins this week in Albany. Her bill would gram, but no lower than $10—to discourage use charge of the New York Field Division of the decriminalize possession and small amounts of by teens and make weed prohibitive for people Drug Enforcement Administration. That means cultivation for people over 21 and would tax prone to abusing it. pursuing Mexican cartel operations that are still marijuana sales. Proceeds would go toward “You don’t want smart people getting rich off sending tractor-trailers with thousands of drug treatment and prevention programs. someone else’s drug addiction,” Kleiman said, adding that a federal program is needed to keep states from undercutting each other on price. Dealers interviewed for this story generally favored the kind of legalization that keeps a place for them. Jones, who wears a “Legalize it” bracelet on his wrist, is confident his clients will stay loyal no matter what. Mel would like a decriminalization program that regards dealers as an established network that could save the trouble of creating dispensaries. Eric—who is sure he could beat any sanctioned cannabis program on price—envisions starting a legal business, most likely a bar. And Zach, who wants the government to stay out of his line of work, is preparing for changes he expects will come sooner than legalization, mainly a growing number of clients who want cannabis in forms other than old-fashioned weed. “Just selling high-end flower is not going to fly once the East Coast gets 10% closer to catching up with the West,” he said. “The [big dealers and delivery services] will be forced to change. What I’m doing will not be uncom- LEGAL MARIJUANA will soon be available at this East mon. And right now, nobody in New York City 37th Street building and three other city locations. has the variety of selection every single day that I have. Who else makes Nutri-Grain bars

BUCK ENNIS with hemp seed and dried fruit? Nobody.” Ⅲ

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MEMBERS choose bud from California or Colombia.

It’s far easier to join the buyers club than to become a certified patient in New York’s new medical-marijuana program. Many members have one of the 10 conditions that would quali- fy them for the program but are unsure whether their doctors would help them get certified. After buying her pot, Kate, a 60-year-old school aide in a tie-dyed T-shirt, sat on the edge of the bed, rolling joints for later. She stacked them in a Tupperware container to keep the smell from filling her purse. Kate said she was referred to the buyers club by her psychologist. Smoking weed, she said, helps with her chronic pain and insomnia. Painkillers that she’s been prescribed—first Vicodin, then Percocet, then OxyContin—have left her “zombie-eyed,” she said. “I would rather do this and be natural and take it one day at a time,” she said. n a recent Thursday evening in an Alejandro, 52, who treats his cancer symp- apartment somewhere in Manhattan, toms with oil he extracts from cannabis he INSIDE A R&B pumped from a set of speakers in buys at the club, said he fears the limited a dimly lit bedroom—and Tom, a tall, number of companies authorized by the state Oslim guy in a green shirt, parceled out marijuana to grow and sell marijuana will create a “car- into plastic bags. He labeled each bag with a red tel” and price the drug beyond his reach. Like MARIJUANA cross covered by a pot leaf and the words, “New many members, he receives disability pay- York City Buyers Club.” In smaller print below, ments and lives on a fixed income. stickers read “For Patient’s Use Only.” Some members are simply uninterested in BUYERS CLUB The New York City Buyers Club was open legal weed. “Yawn,” said Jack, 50, who works for business—just as it has been, in one form or in television. His HIV-positive status now Secretive groups that have another, for the past 20 years. One of the last qualifies him to buy legal cannabis medica- of its kind in the city, the club sells cannabis to tion, if his doctor recommends it, but he’d run their own medical-weed people for their medical conditions. Members rather keep buying $50 of the club’s low-grade programs for decades say must submit proof of a diagnosis to join. pot every couple of weeks than the processed they’ll continue to fill a need Mike, a 57-year-old Wall Streeter in a suit cannabis extracts authorized for legal sale. and peacoat who suffers from multiple sclero- “Nothing like the real thing, baby,” he said. BY CAROLINE LEWIS sis, poked his head into the bedroom and was The buyers club no longer subsidizes its greeted with a big smile. weed, as it did when it was born in the mid- “What can I do for you?” asked Tom, also in his 90s in the basement of the long-gone TriBeCa 50s, and also carrying a serious diagnosis—HIV. music venue Wetlands. At first, the founders “Can I get a hundred of the good stuff?” gave away weed, then started charging $3 per Long before Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the gram. Today, the California bud goes for $18, Compassionate Care Act in July 2014 legalizing about $2 below the market rate. The closest medical marijuana, the buyers club was on a thing the club has to a financial assistance pro- mission to bring relief to sick patients. Tom and gram is less-potent marijuana for $9 a gram. others (who all agreed to be interviewed if their Because the club sells grams only, higher real names were not used) have volunteered quantities of pot sometimes end up costing their apartments, screened new members and members more than they would on the street. procured marijuana to keep the group going. But here, the weed comes with the club logo The club has weathered changing marijuana and a sense of solidarity. policies, arrests and even a gunpoint robbery. The group has remained in legal limbo since Most members say they will continue to 1996, when then-Manhattan District Attorney SOME MEMBERS ARE patronize the club, even as 20 legal marijuana Robert Morgenthau agreed to dismiss a case dispensaries are scheduled to open across the against founder Johann Moore, a member of UNINTERESTED IN LEGAL state this month, including two in Manhattan HIV/AIDS organization ACT UP, for selling WEED, MADE FROM and one each in the Bronx and Queens. weed to members on the street. Meetings rotate through the homes of “We made a tacit agreement with the D.A. CANNABIS EXTRACTS. members, and on that Thursday, 21 people that they would not prosecute legitimate looking to buy pot passed through a cozy, medical-marijuana use in Manhattan,” said “NOTHING LIKE THE REAL rent-stabilized apartment over the course of Ruth Liebesman, who was Moore’s attorney. THING, BABY.” two hours. Arriving guests took off their shoes At least one buyers club has shut down and waited in the living room for their names since medical marijuana was legalized. to be called. Some stuck around afterward to “Because my club operated in a legal gray share a joint and a chat. area, it was better served by no law than this “I haven’t been smoking much lately,” said ridiculous law,” said Kenneth Toglia, 49, Cole, a decade-long member of the club, as he whose club had operated since 1998 out of a watched the host sit on his Oriental rug, Lower East Side cultural organization called rolling a joint. Cole said he’d come to “get out University of the Streets. He said police were of the house, relax and see familiar faces,” not aware of the group and mostly tolerated it. He to buy weed. He confided that his mother had also had charges against him dismissed when passed away a few days earlier. he was caught distributing pot to members in “It’s nice to be around like-minded people Manhattan in 2000. who are dealing with similar health issues,” Tom said he has no interest in changing his said Tom, a member since 1997. Organizers club’s legal status. strive to give the club an air of safety and legit- “I don’t really need it to be legalized,” he imacy, even printing photo IDs (which carry said, “to make it seem like suddenly I’m doing Ⅲ

BUCK ENNIS no legal weight) for new members. something right.”

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Cert. of Form. State on 12/15/15. Office location: NY Notice of formation of Kismet Eleven, AVENUE PROPERTY INVESTORS III, filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 County. Sec. of State designated agent LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. of LLC upon whom process against it State of NY (SSNY) on 8/6/15. Office of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/17/15. Purpose: Any lawful activity. may be served and shall mail process Location: NY County. SSNY desig- Office location: NY County. LLC to: c/o Windels Marx Lane & nated agent upon whom process may be formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/06/15. Mittendorf, LLP, 156 W. 56th St., NY, NY served and shall mail copy of process Princ. office of LLC: 430 Park Ave., Notice of Qualification of MPNYC GP I LLC. 10019, Attn: Jeanine Margiano, Esq. against LLC to principal business 12th Fl., NY, NY 10022. SSNY desig- Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on Purpose: all lawful purposes. address: 53 N. Moore Street, NY, NY nated as agent of LLC upon whom 11/25/15. Office location: NY County. 10013. Purpose: any lawful act. process against it may be served. Princ. bus. addr.: 18 W. 21st St., NY, NY SSNY shall mail process to Corporation 10010. LLC formed in DE on 11/4/15. NY Notice of Formation of Pez Loco Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, Sec. of State designated agent of LLC Partners LLC, Art. of Org. filed with Notice of Formation of Favelukes NY 12207-2543, regd. agent upon upon whom process against it may be Sec’y of State (SSNY) on 5/29/15. Consulting LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. whom and at which process may be served and shall mail process to: c/o CT Office location: NY County. SSNY of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/5/2015. served. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY designated as agent of LLC upon whom Office location: NY County. SSNY desig- 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, 10011, regd. agent upon whom process process against it may be served. nated agent upon whom process may Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. may be served. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 SSNY shall mail copy of process to be served and shall mail copy of filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. Seward & Kissel, Att: Hume Steyer, process against LLC to principal busi- Corps., John B. Townsend Bldg., of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, P.O. One Battery Park Plaza, NY, NY ness address: 302 W. 86th St. #3C NY, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: all 10004. Purpose: any lawful activities. NY 10024. Purpose: any lawful act. 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. lawful purposes.

18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JANUARY 4, 2016 P034-35CL_CN_20160104.qxp 12/29/2015 2:00 PM Page 19

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Notice of Qualification of Magma Finco 13, Notice of Qualification of MetaProp Advisors Notice of Qualification of AmeriNational Notice of Formation of UES EAST 82ND LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on Community Services, LLC. Authority filed STREET L.P. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. on 11/2/15. Office location: NY County. 11/25/15. Office location: NY County. Princ. with NY Dept. of State on 10/28/15. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/17/15. Princ. bus. addr.: 345 Park Ave., NY, NY bus. addr.: 18 W. 21st St., NY, NY 10010. LLC Office location: NY County. LLC registered Office location: NY County. Latest date 10154. LLC formed in DE on 10/20/15. formed in DE on 5/26/15. NY Sec. of State in MN on 6/1/15. NY Sec. of State on which the LP may dissolve is NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC designated agent of LLC upon whom process designated agent of LLC upon whom 9/25/2045. SSNY designated as upon whom process against it may be against it may be served and shall mail process against it may be served and agent of LP upon whom process against served and shall mail process to: CT process to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 shall mail process to: c/o CT it may be served. SSNY shall mail process Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon Corporation System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY to Ballon Stoll Bader & Nadler, P.C., 729 10011. DE addr. of LLC: 1209 Orange whom process may be served. DE addr. of 10011, regd. agent upon whom process Seventh Ave., 17th Fl., NY, NY 10019. St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of LLC: 2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, may be served. MN and principal business Name and addr. of each general partner Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed address: 217 S. Newton Ave., Albert Lea, are available from SSNY. Purpose: Any Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: with DE Sec. of State, P.O. Box 898, Dover, MN 56007. Cert. of Reg. filed with MN lawful activity. all lawful purposes. DE 19903. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Sec. of State, 60 Empire Dr. #100, St. Paul, MN 55103. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Formation of FIZZLE TOV LLC. Notice of Qualification of LFD Malone NY Name of Foreign LLC: AMRO Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State Construction Services LLC. Auth. filed with Notice of formation of SEGELOV PHYSI- (SSNY) on 07/31/2015. Office location: NY on 12/16/15. Office location: NY County. NY Dept. of State: 11/3/15. Office loc.: CAL THERAPY, PLLC. Art. of Org filed w/ County. SSNY designated agent upon LLC formed in DE on 12/11/15. NY Sec. NY Co. LLC formed in DE: 3/24/08. NY secy of state of NY (SSNY) on whom process may be served and shall of State designated agent of LLC upon Sec. of State designated agent of LLC 12/07/15. Office location: NY County. mail copy of process against LLC to whom process against it may be served upon whom process against it may be SSNY designated as agent for services principal business address: 308 Lenox and shall mail process to: c/o Ladder served and shall mail process to: c/o of process. SSNY shall mail process to Avenue, Suite B, New York, NY 10027. Capital, 345 Park Ave., 8th Fl., NY, NY Business Filings Inc., 187 Wolf Rd., 80 State Street, Albany NY, 12207. Purpose: any lawful act. 10154, principal business address. DE Ste. 101, Albany, NY 12205. DE addr. Purpose: Any lawful activity. address of LLC: 1209 Orange St., of LLC: 108 W. 13th St., Wilmington, Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, Notice of Qualification of Argentem Creek Notice of Qual. of 110 Greene GP LLC, Auth. filed St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful act. Holdings LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. Sec’y of State (SSNY) 7/30/15. Office loc: purposes. of State on 11/13/15. Office location: NY NY Co. LLC org. in DE 6/1/15. SSNY desig. County. Princ. bus. addr.: 165 W. 91st St., as agent of LLC upon whom proc. against it Apt. 8E, NY, NY 10024. LLC formed in DE may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of Notice of Formation of Tick Tock on 9/18/15. NY Sec. of State designated proc. to NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY Notice of formation of We Do Strong, LLC. Series, LLC. Arts of Org filed with agent of LLC upon whom process against 10011, the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may Arts of Org filed with Secy. Of State of NY SSNY on 9/3/2015. Office location: it may be served and shall mail process be served. DE office addr.: 160 Greentree (SSNY) on 10/7/2015. Office location: NY NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 838 to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of County. SSNY designated agent upon Greenwich St. PHB, NY, NY 10014. Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon Form. on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, whom process may be served and shall SSNY designated agent upon whom whom process may be served. DE addr. DE 19901. Purp: any lawful activities. mail copy of process against LLC to process may be served against LLC of LLC: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, principle business address: 222 to: 440 W 47 St. #3i NY, NY 10036. DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Riverside Dr. #8A NY, NY 10025. Purpose: Purpose: any lawful act. Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, Notice of Formation of Mighty Industries Any lawful act. DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/10/15. Office loca- tion: NY County. SSNY designated as Notice of Formation of KAGAOAN ENGINEERING, agent of LLC upon whom process against P.L.L.C.,a Professional Limited Liability Notice of Qual. of Lakewood Discovery Notice of Formation of LDL Chatham it may be served. SSNY shall mail Company. Art. of Org. filed with the Fund, LP, Auth. filed Sec’y of State (SSNY) Retail LLC, Art. of Org. filed with Sec’y process to: 15 W. 63rd St., Apt. 26A, NY, SSNY on10/28/2015. Office Location: 5/29/15. Off. loc: NY Co. LP org. in DE of State (SSNY) on 8/3/15. Office location: NY 10023. Purpose: any lawful activity. NY County. SSNY designated as agent of Richmond County. SSNY has been des- 5/28/15. SSNY desig. as agent of LP upon LLC upon whom process against it may be ignated as agent upon whom process whom proc. against it may be served. SSNY served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to against it may be served. SSNY shall shall mail copy of proc. to 650 Madison NRAI, 111 Eighth Ave., NY, NY 10011, mail a copy of process to: c/o The PLLC, Ave., 25th Fl., NY, NY 10022. DE off. addr.: Notice of Formation of NU VINTAGE the Reg. Agt. upon whom proc. may be 224 Livermore Avenue, Staten Island, NY CSC, 2711 Centerville Rd., Wilmington, DE RECORDS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with served. Purpose: any lawful activities. 10314. Purpose: Any Lawful act or activity 19808. Cert. of LP on file: SSDE, Townsend Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/13/15. Bldg., Dover, DE 19901. Name/addr. of Office location: NY County. SSNY desig- each gen. ptr. avail. at SSNY. Purp: any nated as agent of LLC upon whom process lawful activities against it may be served. SSNY shall NOTICE OF FORMATION of ANNETTE LO Notice of Formation of S7HARRISON, LLC mail process to Corporation Service Co., LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of Ny Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, regd. (SSNY) on 10/15/2015. Office location: (SSNY) on 11/12/15. Office location: NY agent upon whom and at which NY County. SSNY designated agent upon County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon BENKSHAW ENTERPRISES LLC Articles process may be served. Purpose: Any whom process may be served and shall mail whom process against it may be served. of Org. filed NY Sec. of State (SSNY) lawful activity. copy of process against LLC to principal SSNY shall mail process to Corporation 11/16/2015. Office in NY Co. SSNY desig. business address: 247 W 46th St. Apt. 3804 Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY agent of LLC upon whom process may NY, NY 10036. Purpose: any lawful act. 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity. be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to 343 E. 74th St., #17CD, NY, NY Notice of Qualification of Panorama Music 10021. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Festival, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/25/15. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: c/o AEG Live, 145 W. 45th St., 9th Fl., NY, NY 10036. LLC Notice of formation of The Range NYC formed in DE on 11/20/15. NY Sec. of LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ Secy. of State of State designated agent of LLC upon whom Do you want to State of NY (SSNY) on 11/2/15. Office process against it may be served and location: NY County. SSNY designated shall mail process to: c/o CT Corporation get your company as agent for service of process. SSNY System, 111 8th Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. shall mail process to 155 E. 49th St. #6B, agent upon whom process may be served. in front of NY, NY 10017. Purpose: Any lawful activity. DE addr. of LLC: c/o The Corporation Trust Co., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with DE New York City’s Influential Business Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, Notice of Qualification of Argentem Creek DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Professionals? Partners LP. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 11/13/15. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 165 W. 91st St., CONTACT Apt. 8E, NY, NY 10024. LP formed in DE Notice of Qual. of Kudu Investment Fund on 9/18/15. NY Sec. of State designated Partners I, LP, Auth. filed Sec’y of State Joanne Barbieri at agent of LP upon whom process against (SSNY) 2/20/15. Off. loc: NY Co. LP org. in it may be served and shall mail process DE 12/9/14. SSNY desig. as agent of LP upon to: c/o CT Corporation System, 111 8th whom proc. against it may be served. 212.210.0819 Ave., NY, NY 10011, regd. agent upon SSNY shall mail copy of proc. to 515 whom process may be served. DE addr. Madison Ave., 24th Fl., NY, NY 10022. for Classifed of LP: 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE DE office addr.: CSC, 2711 Centerville 19801. Name/addr. of genl. ptr. available Rd., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP advertising opportunities. from NY Sec. of State. Cert. of LP filed with on file: SSDE, Townsend Bldg., Dover, DE DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, 19901. Name/addr. of each gen. ptr. avail. DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes. at SSNY. Purp: any lawful activities.

JANUARY 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 19 20160104-NEWS--0020-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 2:14 PM Page 1

GOTHAM GIGS

SWEETENING THE POT: Founder Frank Raffaele hopes to make Coffeed a billion-dollar company.

Coffee firm well grounded in philanthropy Frank Raffaele’s Coffeed donates a share of its sales to local nonprofits.Who gets credit for his success? Landlords.

rank Raffaele has donated more than social-services group the New York Foundling. When $200,000 to local charities through his Raffaele, a former trader, left Wall Street in 2011, he FRANK RAFFAELE philanthropic artisanal coffee company, wanted to do something socially responsible, and Coffeed, and he wants to give more. linked to what he knew growing up. His grandfather AGE 42 Raffaele is looking to raise $6 million to $10 million owned a soda factory, and his parents ran Totonno’s F BORN Howard Beach, Queens, but from outside investors for the Long Island City-based pizza in Coney Island. “Coffee shops lend themselves raised in Coney Island coffee-shop concept he founded in 2012 to the charitable space.” and hopes to one day make into a billion- Coffee shops Raffaele credits much of Coffeed’s RESIDES Upper East Side with his “ wife and three daughters dollar company. So far, he has grown the lend success to landlords who are willing to it organically, to a dozen locations in the accept variable rents below market rate EDUCATION Yale University, New York area, from Bryant Park and themselves largely because of the company’s mis- anthropology major Korea Town to Port Washington, L.I., sion. In some cases, building owners to the FAVE COFFEE BEAN From and a branch in Seoul, South Korea. have cut rents or selected a charity to get charitable Burundi in central Africa Raffaele estimates that revenue grew a cut of sales instead of a fixed monthly 300%, to $5 million, in 2015 from a year space ” rent. “Landlords get the model,” he said. CALL HIM ‘TURTLE’ Raffaele earlier. But the real key is offering customers earned this nickname in 1995 while He plans to launch a loyalty program in which good food and coffee. Everything that Coffeed serves working for New York City Parks customers can preselect a nonprofit to donate to each is locally sourced and prepared from its own com- Commissioner Henry Stern, who time they purchase a cup of joe. missary. Greens, herbs and even honey come from named him after a Teenage Mutant “I’ve been talking to customers for a few years,” said Brooklyn Grange, the rooftop farm on the old Ninja Turtle. Raffaele’s dad was Raffaele, who spends the bulk of his 16-hour workday Standard Oil Building in Long Island City. Coffeed known as Hot Dog in Coney Island, at his cafés, either working in the kitchen or at the staff also roasts its own beans. but he can’t explain that one. counter taking orders. “It will be huge for the brand.” “Even if you give to charity, if the food and Coffeed now donates 3% to 10% of its sales to local beverage is horrible [customers] won’t come on a

BUCK ENNIS charities, including urban farmers City Growers and day-to-day basis,” Raffaele said. — AMANDA FUNG

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JANUARY 4, 2016 20160104-NEWS--0021-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 2:15 PM Page 1

SNAPS

New York Cares fetes Goldman Sachs for its charitable efforts New York Cares was especially busy in December. Not only did it host its annual winter fundraiser, but it also held coat and gift drives—two of its signature events. The nonprofit responds to the needs of more than 400,000 disadvantaged people by sending volunteers to work with social-service organizations. This year, it honored Goldman Sachs Community Team Works for its fundraising and volunteer efforts. Goldman Sachs has mobilized nearly 7,000 volunteers for New York Cares and provided $5 million in financial support since 1997.

Gary Bagley, New York Cares’ executive director, Dina Habib Powell, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, and David Lehman, global head of real estate finance at Goldman Sachs, at the gala, which raised $1.6 million. Paul Taubman, founder of PJT Partners and president of the New York Cares board of directors, and his wife, Danielle Taubman, at the New York Cares Winter Benefit, held at the Plaza on Dec. 9.

Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights gala Child Mind Institute fundraiser

Actor Sam Waterston and Rep. John Lewis at a benefit for the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, which raised more than $3 Katie Couric, Yahoo global news anchor, Dr. Gail Saltz, psychiatrist and best- million to pro- selling author, Jane Rosenthal, producer and co-founder of TriBeCa mote social jus- Productions, and Cynthia McFadden, NBC’s legal and investigative correspon- tice around the dent, at a Dec. 9 fundraiser for the Child Mind Institute, which helps young world. people cope with mental-health issues and learning challenges.

Brandon Marshall of the New York Jets and his wife, Michi Marshall, at the Child Mind Institute bene- fit. The event, held at the Plaza Hotel, Tim Cook, Apple CEO, and Ethel Kennedy, widow of Robert F. Kennedy, at raised $6.8 million. the Dec. 8 Center for Justice and Human Rights event, held at the New York Hilton Midtown. SEE MORE OF THIS WEEK’S SNAPS ONLINE AT CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/SNAPS

TOP: CHRIS BOJANOVICH,ANN BILLINGSLEY,TOP: BOTTOM: GETTY IMAGES, PATRICK MCMULLAN GET YOUR GALA IN SNAPS. EMAIL THERESA AGOVINO, [email protected]

JANUARY 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21 20160104-NEWS--0022-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 2:15 PM Page 1

FOR THE RECORD*

$23,516,694.00; Town of Vendors may also request ed the landlord, TF on 20,577 shares of com- NEW IN TOWN Greenburgh Comptroller, the bid by contacting Cornerstone. The asking STOCK TRANSACTIONS mon stock at prices ranging owed $1,178,263.61; and Vendor Relations (212) rent was not disclosed. from $84.58 to $136.37 per Repetto Ann Clark, c/o Peter 386-0044 or dcasdmss C.R. Bard Inc. (BCR) share on Dec. 14, in a trans- 400 West Broadway Clark, owed $499,500.00. [email protected]. To Italian shoe retailer John Weiland, president action worth $2,126,528. Parisian clothing and shoe make inquiries, contact Aquazzura signed a 10- and COO, exercised On the same day, he sold retailer Repetto opened its Wendy Almonte at (212) year lease for 2,221 square options on 47,159 shares of 20,577 shares of common first U.S. store, in SoHo. GOVERNMENT 386-0471 or walmonte@ feet for its first U.S. store, common stock at prices stock at prices ranging from The shop has its own bal- CONTRACT dcas.nyc.gov. at 935 Madison Ave. The ranging from $84.58 to $183.34 to $186.09 per let slipper atelier, where OPPORTUNITIES high-end shop will occu- $97.69 per share on Dec. share, in a transaction men and women can cus- py the ground and lower 14 and 15, in a transaction worth $3,802,149. He now tomize a pair of shoes. CONSTRUCTION REAL ESTATE DEALS levels of the building worth $4,428,562. directly holds 27,414 Housing Authority between East 74th and Between Dec. 14 and 16, shares. Kith Seeks competitive sealed COMMERCIAL 75th streets. Brandon he sold 53,255 shares of 64 Bleecker St. bids by 11 a.m. on Feb. 4 for Digital marketing firm Elias, Ariel Schuster and common stock at prices Henry Schein Inc. (HSIC) The streetwear clothing job order contracts for gen- Criteo is expanding its U.S. Jackie Totolo of RKF, ranging from $183.34 to Stanley Bergman, chief retailer opened its first- eral construction at various headquarters office six along with and Isaacs & $191.61 per share, in a executive, sold 61,800 ever women’s clothing developments in the five months after moving in. Co.’s Joel Isaacs and transaction worth shares of common stock at store in SoHo. Its new boroughs. A prebid meeting The Paris-based company Joshua Lewin, represented $9,895,566. He now prices ranging from $154.77 women’s clothing line will be held from 1 to 4 has signed a 10-year lease the landlord, JZS Madison. directly holds 73,241 to $157.44 per share on Dec. touts exclusive sneakers p.m. on Jan. 21 at 90 for 19,269 square feet at Marc Simon of Isaacs & Co. shares. 9 and 10, in a transaction and Illesteva’s popular Church St., fifth floor. 387 Park Ave. S., bringing represented the tenant. worth $9,606,976. He now sunglasses. Nonelectronic bid docu- its total space there to The asking rent was Jim Beasley, group pres- indirectly holds 712,341 ments are available Monday 60,000 square feet. Asking $1,000 per square foot. ident, exercised options shares. through Friday, from 9 a.m. rents are about $77 per COMPANY MOVES to 4 p.m., at 90 Church St., square foot. David sixth floor, for a $25 fee in Hollander of CBRE repre- Associated Press the form of a money order sented the tenant, while DEALS ROUNDUP 200 Liberty St. or certified check made Matt Leon of Newmark TARGET/SELLERS TRANSACTION BUYERS/INVESTORS TRANSACTION TYPE The international news payable to NYCHA. Grubb Knight Frank rep- SIZE [IN MILLIONS] organization moved from Documents can also be resented the landlord, TF its West 33rd Street loca- obtained by registering Cornerstone. National multifamily-unit $2,000.0 Blackstone Real Estate SB M&A real estate portfolio/ Advisors (Manhattan) tion to the financial dis- with I-supplier and down- Greystar Investment Group trict. AP signed a 20-year loading documents. To Atlantic Group signed a lease for four floors in the make inquiries, contact 10-year lease for 10,537 Wilshire Bancorp Inc./ $1,021.2 BBCN Bancorp Inc. SB M&A 40-story tower, and will Quinsinetta Clark-Davis at square feet at 19 W. 34th AmBex Venture Partners; Maltese Capital Management move its headquarters, (212) 306-3063 or St. The recruitment firm (Manhattan); SSGA Funds broadcast studio and quinsinetta.clark@ will occupy part of the Management Inc. newsroom to the down- nycha.gov. eighth floor in the 14-story town location. building between Fifth and Blount International Inc./ $882.0 American Securities FB M&A P2 Capital Partners (Manhattan) (Manhattan); Management of Department of Parks Sixth avenues. The land- Blount International Inc.; P2 and Recreation lord, PRD Realty, was rep- Capital Partners (Manhattan) BANKRUPTCIES Seeks competitive sealed resented in-house by Scott L-3 National Security $550.0 CACI Inc.-Federal SB M&A bids by 10:30 a.m. on Jan. Domansky. Elliot Zelinger Solutions Inc. and L.R.B. Nurses Registry 21 for the reconstruction of of Savitt Partners repre- L-3 Data Tactics Inc./ Inc. the esplanade and con- sented the tenant. The L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. (Manhattan) 4212 Church Ave., struction of beach access asking rent in the building Brooklyn in Hermon A. MacNeil is $54 per square foot. Hines 600 Lexington $284.1 SL Green Realty Corp. (Manhattan) SB M&A Avenue (Manhattan)/ (remaining 45%) Filed for Chapter 11 bank- Park in College Point, Canada Pension Plan ruptcy on Dec. 9. The fil- Queens. Bid documents Third Rail Projects Investment Board ing cites estimated assets are available between 8 signed a lease for 5,000 Fox Chase Bancorp Inc./ $222.6 Univest Corp. of Pennsylvania SB M&A of $0 to $50,000 and esti- a.m. and 3 p.m. in the square feet of warehouse Broad Park Investors; mated liabilities of $0 to Blueprint Room, Room 64, space at 383 Troutman St. CBPS (Manhattan); Clover $50,000. Olmsted Center, Flushing in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Partners; LSBK06-08; Maltese Capital Management Meadows Corona Park, for The award-winning the- (Manhattan); Seidman and Coling Medical a $25 fee payable by com- ater company will occupy Associates; Veteri Place Corp. Transport Inc. pany check or money the entire ground-floor 130-acre Loudon County $212.5 American Real Estate Partners; SB M&A 347 Rockaway Ave., order to the City of New building and remodel it as Parkway property/ Davidson Kempner Capital Brooklyn York, Parks and a dance theater. Max Lu Verizon Communications Inc. Management (Manhattan) Filed for Chapter 11 bank- Recreation. A prebid and Lane Sanders of M (Manhattan) ruptcy on Dec. 15. The fil- meeting will be held at 10 Properties group repre- Accretive Health Inc./ $200.0 Ascension Ventures; TowerBrook GCI ing cites estimated assets a.m. on Jan. 12 at the sented both the landlord, not disclosed Capital Partners (Manhattan) of $0 to $50,000 and esti- Olmsted Center in the the Mann Group, and the Selected deals announced for the week ended Dec. 10 involving companies in metro New York. SB M&A: mated liabilities of Annex Bidroom. To make tenant. The asking rent Strategic buyer M&A represents a minority or majority acquisition of existing shares of a company without the $100,001 to $500,000. inquiries, contact Michael was $41 per square foot. participation of a financial buyer. FB M&A: Financial buyer M&A represents a minority or majority acquisition Shipman at (718) 760-6705 of existing shares of a company with the participation of a financial buyer. GCI: Growth capital investment rep- resents new money invested in a company for a minority stake. Hebrew Hospital Senior or michael.shipman@ RETAIL SOURCE: CAPITALIQ Housing Inc. parks.nyc.gov. Allouche Gallery signed 55 Grasslands Road, a 15-year lease for 5,200 Valhalla, N.Y. GOODS AND SERVICES square feet at 90 GET YOUR NEWS ON THE RECORD Filed for Chapter 11 bank- Citywide Administrative Gansevoort St. The SoHo- *To submit company openings, moves or real estate deals, or to receive further information, ruptcy on Dec. 9. The fil- Services based art gallery will email [email protected]. ing cites estimated assets Seeks competitive sealed occupy the ground floor of For the Record is a weekly listing to help businesspeople in New York find opportunities, of $10,000,001 to $50 mil- bids by 10:30 a.m. on Jan. the 10-story building potential new clients and updates on customers. Bankruptcy filings from the Eastern and lion and estimated liabili- 13 for a two-color printing between 10th Avenue and Southern districts of New York are listed alphabetically, as are recently announced New ties of $10,000,001 to $50 press. A copy of the bid Washington Street. The York City agency contract opportunities. Real estate listings are provided in order of square million. The creditors with can be downloaded from tenant was represented by footage. Stock transactions at New York’s largest publicly held companies were filed with the largest unsecured City Record Online at Dan Harroch of Thor Retail the Securities and Exchange Commission. Listings are in order of transaction value, and the information was obtained from Thomson Reuters. claims are 1199 SEIU nyc.gov/cityrecord. Advisors. Karen Bellantoni Funds, owed Enrollment is free. and Tess Jacoby represent-

22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JANUARY 4, 2016 20160104-NEWS--0023-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 12/30/2015 2:16 PM Page 1

PHOTO FINISH

New York: the ice burg

he sun had already set over Prospect Park, but Blaze had no intention of stepping off the ice just yet. The 8- year-old from Gowanus zipped Tbetween the two dozen others on an unseason- ably mild December evening at the outdoor rink at LeFrak Center, putting her skating lessons to work chasing her brother, until the final whistle blew at 6:30. Itai Shoffman knows how exciting an open sheet of ice can be. In 2006, his company, Upsilon Ventures, transformed Bryant Park from an empty snow-covered lawn into a winter wonderland, complete with skating rink. As temperatures topped 70 degrees Christmas Eve, skaters donned T-shirts and stepped onto the only admission-free rink in the city. The entire operation, including the restaurant and sur- rounding holiday shops, runs up an electric bill between $500,000 to $700,000 every winter, but brings in money through sponsorships, skate rentals and concessions. In 2013, Upsilon headed to Brooklyn, remod- eling Prospect Park’s aging rink. The LeFrak Center now attracts more than 100,000 visitors yearly. Between its two facilities, Upsilon hand- ily beats attendance at Rockefeller Center, where 250,000 skate annually, and edges out the Trump Organization’s Wollman Rink, which draws nearly 300,000. — PETER D’AMATO PETER D’AMATO

JANUARY 4, 2016 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 23 CRAIN’S: Business Breakfast Forum Photo Credit: Buck Ennis, Crain’s New York Business

Meera Joshi Commissioner, NYC Taxi & Limousine Commission

Commissioner Joshi will discuss the struggles Tuesday, January 14, 2016 of taxi medallion owners, the rise of Uber, and New York Athletic Club the future of innovation in the city’s for–hire 180 Central Park South vehicle industry. 8:00 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.: Registration and Moderators: Networking Breakfast 8:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.: Program – Erik Engquist, Assistant Managing Editor, Crain’s New York Business Cost to Attend: – Dana Rubinstein, Senior Reporter, POLITICO $125 individual ticket(s) New York $1,250 table(s) of ten You must be pre-registered to attend this event. No refunds permitted. @crainsnewyork will be tweeting live from the event. Follow #crainsforum and join the conversation at 8:00 a.m. on the For event information: day of the event. Ashlee Schuppius I 212-210-0739 [email protected]

For sponsorship opportunities: <> Irene Bar-Am I 212-210-0133 crainsnewyork.com/events-TLCJoshi [email protected]

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