20100308-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 3/5/2010 8:07 PM Page 1 INSIDE REPORT TOP STORIES SMALL BUSINESS Why eatery startups Gowanus Canal’s are booming. Plus: neighbors should our Restaurateurs dig in for 12 years ® Hall of Fame P. 13 (and counting) of EPA cleanup PAGE 2 VOL. XXVI, NO. 10 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM MARCH 8-14, 2010 PRICE: $3.00 Wall Street’s M&A machine spewing profits once again Delta tries PAGE 2 to land Hmmm! new JFK terminal Airline in talks to secure $1.5 billion in The divorce math financing for project could soon multiply PAGE 3 BY HILARY POTKEWITZ Your doorman delta air lines’ terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport rank expects a raise among the dingiest, most cramped fa- PAGE 2 cilities in the area—JFK’s “disasters,” according to one local official. After nearly a decade of on-again, off-again plans to demolish the 1960s relics and start anew, Delta is trying again. The airline is in talks with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns New York’s airports, about moving forward with a new terminal, according to sources close to the nego- RICHARD RAVITCH: tiations. Delta hopes to secure $1.5 bil- Fixing the state’s lion in financing for the project. Given budget mess will be the Port Authority’s capital budget his No. 1 mission. constraints—it’s embroiled in a multi- BUSINESS LIVES billion-dollar project to rebuild the World Trade Center site—the state GOTHAM GIGS See DELTA on Page 22 This teacher doesn’t zuma pull his punches P. 25 G ANNE FISHER on how to hire the right people, not the wrong ones P. 25 The home G MOVERS & SHAKERS Moveon.org’s Justin truth about Ruben moves in P. 26 G GAEL GREENE eats to the beat at Bagatelle P. 27 NEXT! St. Vincent If there’s one thing Paterson did better than Not the neighborhood INDEX hospital it claims to be, THE INSIDER _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _8 Spitzer, it was choosing a lieutenant governor state health data show CRAIN’S ONLINE POLL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _10 NEIGHBORHOOD JOURNAL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _12 ingly inevitable, expectations were palpable that Mr. BY ERIK ENGQUIST BY BARBARA BENSON REAL ESTATE DEALS PLUS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _17 Ravitch would soon become governor—and just in time to rescue the state from fiscal disaster. FOR THE RECORD _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _18 lt. gov. richard ravitch was in his element as he Should the 76-year-old pull off such a budgetary at a rally last month to save financial- CLASSIFIEDS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _20 worked the room last week at the Citizens Budget feat, it would not be the first time. He played a key ly troubled St. Vincent’s Hospital HOT JOBS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _25 Commission’s annual fundraising gala.At table after role in saving New York City from bankruptcy in the Manhattan, local politicians urged EXECUTIVE MOVES _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _25 table,he was received like a rock star,and not just be- 1970s. “Apparently, these things happen in 35-year community members to place hun- THE WEEK AHEAD _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _27 cause he is a commission trustee and a former chair- cycles,” says an elected official who requested dreds of “Save St. Vincent’s” signs in man. With Gov. David Paterson’s resignation seem- See NEXT! on Page 22 the windows of businesses and homes across Greenwich Village, Chelsea, SoHo, Chinatown and the rest of low- 10 5 GREG DAVID: IF ONLY WE er Manhattan. The more posters dis- played,“the greater the opportunity we HAD ACTUALLY LISTENED have to show support for our neighbor- TO CHARLIE RANGEL hood hospital!” urged a Web site creat- ELECTRONIC EDITION ed by St. Vincent’s medical staff. But a closer look at market share NEWSPAPER PAGE 11 See ST. VINCENT’S on Page 22 71486 01068 0 20100308-NEWS--0002,0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 3/5/2010 8:24 PM Page 1 COMING CLEAN ON THE GOWANUS Wall St. NOW THAT BROOKLYN’S GOWANUS CANAL is officially one of the most hazardous sites in the nation, development will take a backseat to cleaning up the toxins. Following last week’s Superfund designation by the Environmental Protection Agency, HOTELS regains developer Toll Brothers Inc. quickly did what it had long promised: It abandoned plans to build a sprawling residential complex along the canal’s banks. At least a dozen smaller resi- dential projects have also perished in the shadow of what the EPA says could be a 12-year cleanup, according to the Clean Gowanus Now Coalition, a business group that lobbied its mojo against the designation. Only city-backed Gowanus Green, a mixed-income development, remains on track. The EPA estimates it will cost as much as $500 million to clean up the 1.8-mile canal. M&A volume soars, Others argue that it will cost far more and take far longer. —AMANDA FUNG but don’t break out the champagne yet HOTEL LE BLEU Owner: Globiwest Hospitality OLD AMERICAN CAN FACTORY Group BY AARON ELSTEIN Description: 19th-century Open: 2007 industrial complex Rooms: 48 after running into the mother of all ditch- Tenants: Filmmakers, designers, es two years ago,Wall Street’s dealmaking ma- artists, manufacturers chine is back on the road. HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS Flush with record amounts of cash and em- Size: 130,000 square feet Owner: Sam Chang/ boldened by signs that the economy has bot- in six buildings LANDMARK InterContinental Hotels Group tomed out, corporations are on the prowl for Open: 2006 purchases. And elated Wall Street bankers are Rooms: 115 gearing up for a mergers and acquisitions feast rich enough to fatten not just themselves but legions of Manhattan lawyers, accountants and other finance professionals—many of whom are hiring for the first time in years. POLLUTANTS: Cancer-causing PCPs, “People are actually thinking about transac- heavy metals, mercury tions again,”says James Tanenbaum,chairman of global capital markets at law firm Morrison & Foerster. “Business is pretty good for us.” WHOLE FOODS And with reason.The volume of corporate Status: Unknown. The grocer began remediation of the site in January but mergers so far this year is up 43% over year- says it has yet to decide whether it will earlier levels in the United States and up 24% build the store, which was initially globally,according to Thomson Reuters.That scheduled for a 2007 opening See WALL STREET’S MOJO on Page 24 POLLUTERS Location: Third Street and Third Avenue Size: 64,000 square feet BROOKLYN UNION GAS (NOW NATIONAL GRID) Sources: Three manufactured-gas LOWE’S HOME Doormen plants IMPROVEMENT WAREHOUSE Timing: The 1890s through the early Open: 2004 1950s Location: 118 Second Ave. get ready Size: 136,000 square feet, plus a parking lot CITY OF NEW YORK RETAIL Sources: Asphalt plant, coal-burning power plants, garbage incinerators, to rumble other plants Timing: From canal opening in 1869 to present (asphalt plant) Forget the property bust: Union to demand raises U.S. NAVY GOWANUS GREEN DEVELOPMENTS Sources: Facilities for shipbuilding, Developers: The Hudson Cos., BY DANIEL MASSEY ship repair and naval support Jonathan Rose Cos., City of New York, Timing: World War I through 1960s others against the backdrop of a Location: Near intersection of Smith and Fifth streets sputtering economy, and with a new chief CONSOLIDATED EDISON Description: Nine buildings with 774 Sources: Power station, units of housing, 65,000 square feet negotiator doing the substation, service yard of community and retail space, park- bidding for the city’s Timing: 1925 to present (substation) ing, three acres of open space residential building Completion: To be determined in owners, talks will kick wake of Superfund listing off this week over a OTHER POLLUTERS new four-year contract Rapid American Corp. (now Burns Brothers Co. and Glen Alden Corp.); to cover 30,000 door- The Brink’s Co.