20130826-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 8/23/2013 8:55 PM Page 1 INCUBATORS HEAT CITY How tech firms get going CRAIN’S® NEW YORK BUSINESS PAGE 43 VOL. XXIX, NOS. 34, 35 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM DOUBLE ISSUE AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 8, 2013 PRICE: $3.00 Bid for big About that complex boosts tale of S. B’klyn Trio of investors seeks to revive Industry City two cities as business haven Bill de Blasio has made income disparity his campaign centerpiece, BY DANIEL GEIGER A bid by a trio of high-powered in- but oversimplifies a complex issue vestors to take control of Brooklyn’s Industry City, New York’s largest pri- vately held manufacturing property, BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS has raised hopes of local officials and landowners that the deal could In the first live televised mayoral debate, on Aug. 13, most of the help spawn the next Navy candidates used their opening statements to introduce themselves to Yard, a waterfront haven for voters. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio instead reached for a familiar thriving industrial and cre- ative companies. catchphrase. The three firms are in contract “Right now in New York we’re living a tale of two cities,” Mr. de to buy an undisclosed share in the 30- Blasio said, looking directly into the camera. acre property along the Sunset Park shore.With 16 buildings and 6 million “Almost half of New Yorkers are living at or square feet of space, it’s more than below the poverty level.The middle class is twice the size of the Empire State Building. disappearing.” WITH NAVY He brought it up again the next night in an The best known of the developers is YARD FULL interview with MSNBC host Chris Hayes— UP, FIRMS Chelsea Market LOOKING “My whole campaign is about fighting owner Jamestown ELSEWHERE inequality in New York City. I talk about a tale Properties, which in PAGE 40 of two cities”—and again the following afternoon, June hired the person who is arguably the city’s leading au- as he stood in the East Village to tout his plan to thority on revitalizing downtrodden pay for universal preschool programs by taxing industrial properties, Andrew Kim- $500,000-plus earners (despite the fact that the ball.As head of the city-owned Brook- WHAT’S THE BIG lyn Navy Yard for the previous eight SECRET? INSIDE mayor does not have the power to change the years, he oversaw that facility’s rebirth THE BUSINESS income tax). as an industrial hub, one that today CAREER THAT Mr. de Blasio’s slogan is not based on a love for boasts one of the area’s largest film and BILL THOMPSON 19th-century novels about the French television production facilities, Stein- RARELY SHARES er Studios. WITH VOTERS Revolution. As the self-proclaimed “true Jamestown executives recently told SEE PAGE 38 progressive” among the Democratic candidates, Crain’s that if their bid is successful they he regularly describes Dickensian forces would make Mr. Kimball Industry polarizing the city between rich and poor, pinning that contrast on City’s chief executive. It is a notion that sits well with Brooklyn Borough Presi- Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the man who in his outsize wealth dent Marty Markowitz, among others. and power represents the city’s jet-setting 1%. “With Andrew Kimball [and his] “What’s happening now is a sharpening of disparity,” he said record of job creation and economic development onboard at Jamestown, in a recent interview.“Let’s be clear. By the numbers, they have a long-term commitment See TWO CITIES on Page 38 darren thompson darren See INDUSTRY CITY on Page 40 A 20-page section tells the story of Statsand the ELECTRONIC EDITION New York’s economy as a major PAGE 13 NEWSPAPER City political transition approaches 20130826-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 8/23/2013 7:46 PM Page 1 MANAGING EDITOR’S NOTE Stats stories FYICRAINSNEWYORK.COM When I was a transportation reporter for the now-defunct New New laws will rein in York Sun, I came across a grim statistic I wanted to investigate. It NYPD stop-and-frisk tactics was mid-2005. So far that year, 21 he era of unchecked stop-and-frisks by the people had died on the subway New York Police Department ended Aug. 22. tracks. A few weeks later, I was The City Council overrode Mayor Michael riding the train to work when that Jeremy Smerd TBloomberg ’s vetoes of two bills that will greatly story came into focus. “The young increase oversight of the NYPD. One new law will man leaped onto the tracks just as install an inspector general with subpoena power to newscom the downtown A express entered the West Fourth oversee police policy, and the other expands people’s right to sue for alleged racial profiling. Street station yesterday morning,” I wrote. “The train Mr. Bloomberg lamented both votes, but vowed to keep fighting only the latter, calling it “a screeched to a violent halt.The operator watched dangerous piece of legislation.” helplessly.” I worried I was reducing the young man’s The council votes came less than two weeks after U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin ruled that life to a number:The 22nd subway death that year, on aspects of stop-and-frisk violated the constitutional rights of minorities. Ms. Scheindlin said police par with the year before.Track jumpers accounted for engaged in “indirect racial profiling by targeting racially defined groups for stops based on local about 7% of all suicides in the city. I hoped, however, crime suspect data,” which resulted in disproportionate stopping of African-Americans and that putting No. 22 in context gave it meaning to Hispanics. more New Yorkers.That’s something to keep in mind The city appealed the decision and defended the tactic for driving down crime—murders, in as you read this year’s Stats and the City, a desk-side particular—and taking some 8,000 guns off the streets. Illegal guns are still a big problem in the trove of data highlighting the city’s economy.The city; the NYPD recently made its largest gun bust in history by seizing 254 weapons, resulting in print edition alone contains 1,226 statistics, compiled 19 arrests.The NYPD has been using stop-and-frisk for decades, but it wasn’t questioned until and contextualized in a months-long project led by 2003, when police began reporting the number of stops to the City Council. Assistant Managing Editor Erik Engquist and Assistant Data Editor Emily Laermer. Senior Producer/News Elisabeth Cordova has created BROOKLYN HOSPITAL WOES. In a ma- investigation into his tenure at the HOORAY! interactive graphics at crainsnewyork.com/stats, jor reversal, a state Supreme Court prestigious social services nonprofit. judge yanked the beleaguered Long A week after terminating Mr. Rap- VERIZON enough to keep you company all year. By themselves Island College Hospital from the fogel, who had led the nonprofit WIRELESS the numbers may not mean much: 62.1 million control of SUNY Downstate, which since 1992, the group tapped David became the last major U.S. carrier passengers ride a subway from Times Square each had been trying to shutter it. The Frankel, the city’s finance commis- to agree to offer same judge who approved the trans- sioner, to succeed him. … ONLY THE cellphone service year; 10.4% of New Yorkers walk to work. But taken fer of the Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, fa- NAME REMAINS. Four years after Bank in some city subway stations. together, in print, online and in video, they shed light cility to the state two years ago now of America acquired Merrill Lynch on the lives and livelihoods of working New Yorkers. says the state made a false promise to for $18.5 billion, the bank has decid- keep the hospital open. LICH could ed to dissolve the subsidiary and as- OY VEY! now be turned over to a court-ap- sume Merrill’s roughly $62 billion in THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S proved receiver. … B&N SHELVED. long-term debt.BofA will still use the Barnes & Noble Chairman Leonard 99-year-old Merrill brand name for Riggio dropped his plan to buy the its retail brokerage and investment IN THE BOROUGHS-------------------------- 3 bookseller’s stores. His announce- bank, but Merrill will no longer exist IN THE MARKETS----------------------------------4 ment followed a as a legal entity as ear- musty earnings re- ly as the fourth quar- SMALL BUSINESS ----------------------------- 5 ‘It’s a tax on TRADING ON THE NASDAQ stock market port wherein the ter. … STREETEASY halted for three hours Thursday due to a THE INSIDER -----------------------------------------------6 company stated a loss small SOLD. Seattle-based technical glitch. of $87 million for the real estate informa- EXECUTIVE MOVES ---------------------------- 8 second quarter, more businesses tion website Zillow GREG DAVID--------------------------------------------11 than double from the and their acquired smaller rival end. The Department of Housing same time a year ear- StreetEasy.com for Preservation and Development com- ALAIR TOWNSEND ------------------------- 11 lier. Also, instead of customers’ $50 million to gain a missioner is joining RHR Funding, a STATS AND THE CITY ------------------13 selling its Nook Me- Brad Gerstman, NY Assoc. stronger foothold in mortgage lender. RuthAnne Vis- GOTHAM GIGS dia division to Mi- of Grocery Stores, in the New York City nauskas, deputy commissioner of the CLASSIFIEDS -----------------------------------------33 Hurricane Sandy flooded crosoft Corp., which opposition to forcing market. StreetEasy, a agency, will succeed him. … BAR- Robert Ferrarin’s basement, NEW YORK, NEW YORK ----------41 owns 17.6% of the grocers to charge 10 cents seven-year-old site CLAYS TEAM SCORES.