20110815-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 8/12/2011 8:48 PM Page 1 INSIDE THE 9/11 TOP STORIES DIASPORA Heads up, Giants. From the people Local football fans who fled, a message for those who stayed are going green ® PAGE 3 PAGE 2 VOL. XXVII, NO. 33 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM AUGUST 15-24, 2011 PRICE: $3.00 FOCUS: THE ECONOMY Privatizing the new Goethals Bridge PAGE 4 DOUBLE DIPPER An uphill climb for ‘Little Nepal’ NYC weathered one downturn surprisingly NEIGHBORHOODS, PAGE 4 well. Question is, how will we fare this time? REPORT: Banking palaces BY DANIEL MASSEY As uncertainty grips the financial markets, New Yorkers are “back to the way they were in get bold new lives Robert Schwartz wants to fill the 2008, shopping when they need to shop, only void left by competitors who have for what they need,” Mr. Schwartz said. Peo- Plus: Why folks gone out of business and expand his ple are “super scared,” he added. are digging the Eneslow shoe stores into new Manhattan lo- He’s not the only one to notice. Business Gowanus Canal cations. But the financial turmoil of the past owners across the city said the debt-ceiling PAGE 13 few weeks has given him pause. drama in Washington, the downgrade of “It doesn’t stop me from acting, the nation’s debt, trouble in European but certainly you have to credit markets and wild stock market think twice,” Mr. Schwartz said. See DOUBLE DIPPER on Page 22 BUSINESS LIVES GOTHAM GIGS Trimming the trees that grow in Brooklyn P. 23 ● ANNE FISHER Bar Rescue’s Jon Taffer serves up success P. 23 ● MOVERS & SHAKERS Hedge fund expert assesses the market P. 24 istockphoto ● GAEL GREENE revisits Nick & Toni’s P. 26 Firmer footing for property Media INDEX storm Distressed no longer: Manhattan’s real BIG IMPROVEMENT THE INSIDER _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _8 estate in hands of richer, sturdier owners Value of distressed properties in VIEWPOINT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ clouds 10 Manhattan, in billions. OPINION _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _11 would enter a prolonged depres- BY THERESA AGOVINO sion following the collapse of $30.6 FOR THE RECORD _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _12 Network, cable TV Lehman Brothers, recently passed CLASSIFIEDS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _18 Manhattan real estate—a poster a key milestone: The total dollar remain strong, but EXECUTIVE MOVES _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _23 child of the excess that led to the amount of assets classified as dis- other outlets shaky THE WEEK AHEAD _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _26 last downturn—appears oddly tressed has been cut in half. $15.2 THE WEEK ON THE WEB _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _27 sturdy, despite last week’s turmoil. Since 2008, $30.6 billion of as- BY MATTHEW FLAMM CHEAT SHEET _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _27 The boroughs commercial real sets in Manhattan have been in estate market, which many feared foreclosure, bankruptcy or in the process of having its loans modi- AFTER 2008 TODAY Last week,as the stock market dipped fied. The figure now stands at Source: Real Capital Analytics and heaved like a sailboat in a hur- $15.2 billion, and a third of that ricane, media executives seemed to amount is tied to one apartment be watching from a freighter. They complex, Stuyvesant Town/Peter Capital Analytics. had seen the storm coming, but it ELECTRONIC EDITION Cooper Village. The market is in a better posi- was too early to say whether they “This happened faster than we tion to weather whatever storms would have to change course. would have imagined,” said Dan result from the latest upheavals. Despite comparisons to the fi- NEWSPAPER Fasulo, managing director of Real See REAL ESTATE on Page 22 See MEDIA on Page 22 20110815-NEWS--0002,0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 8/12/2011 7:50 PM Page 1 IN BRIEF The Great Escape DEVELOPER SHELDON SOLOW HAS OFFERED AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN TO THE ONE CITY officials are preparing to let the United Nations build an additional tower. Mr. Solow The fears of those proposed building a tower on a site he owns nearby or constructing one on a neighboring who left the city playground while creating a new recreation area on his land. But local officials want the reflect the unease U.N. to agree to buy the playground and expand there. The proceeds from the sale of those who stayed would help the city fund construction of a promenade on the East River that would fill in a 21-block gap on the waterfront walkway. BY ELIZABETH MACBRIDE THE CITY IS SEEKING DEVELOPERS FOR MORE Debbie Rosenfeld was in Tower One in THAN 14 ACRES OF WATERFRONT LAND NEAR 1993 and still remembers the harsh taste of the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. The two the smoke pouring from the vents after the sites, which flank the Richmond County bomb went off beneath the building. She Bank Ballpark, are currently parking lots for soaked a teal cashmere scarf with water and the sports facility and the ferry. Proposals are tied it around her mouth in a vain attempt due Nov. 10. The Staten Island Economic to filter the air. Development Corp., which has been working “I need a nap,” she remembers telling for six years to redevelop the site, cheered the co-workers from the Port Authority of city’s formal call for proposals. The nonprofit New York and New group backs a multiuse plan, called St. Jersey just before she George Station, that would include about 9/11 lay down in the office 340 housing units, retail, more than 3,800 TEN on the 48th floor. “I parking spaces, open space and waterfront YEARS was never more calm, access. n warm, sleepy and re- LATER laxed in my life.That is how carbon monoxide takes you.” BY THE NUMBERS A rush of February air through a broken window revived her. Weekly shift of the city’s economy On Sept. 11, 2001, she was still work- é SURPRISE, SURPRISE We survived global ing in Tower One, though for the New markets’ Fright Week. The bad news is what those York Society of Security Analysts. She gyrations have done to the confidence that helps happened to have the day off that Tuesday, companies hire and consumers spend. and ended up in a crowd outside a midtown office building, watching the attacks un- fold on a big-screen TV in the lobby. “Oh $1,800 650K 4 BYE, ANXIETY: Fearful for years after the my God, that’s my office,” she sobbed into attacks, Yvonne Tran and John Boyd moved RECORD gold VISITORS to DAYS in a row the arms of a woman, a stranger. spot price Alexander the Dow swung to Ridgefield, Conn. “I’m glad,” she said, reached last week McQueen show at more than 400 Ms. Rosenfeld and her husband started “my kids are where nobody is interested.” Source: Certified the Met, among points, a record looking for a new place to live less than a Gold Exchange the top 10 ever Source: Dow Jones week later. “I wasn’t waiting for the third Source: Metropolitan industrial average Museum of Art time,”she said recently from her apartment in downtown Columbus, Ohio. In the days and months following the MORE ROOM AT THE INN Occupancy rates at Manhattan attacks 10 years ago, some New Yorkers hotels have slipped of late. An average room rate of $279 looked at the city and at themselves, and in June, up 10% from a year ago, may have helped. decided that the risk of living or working See ESCAPE on Page 21 Several mixed-use blessings f Source: PKF Consulting whole tower’s worth of condos, they are Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in the works.