20140217-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 2/14/2014 4:00 PM Page 1 GOTHAM GIG BRONX BOOSTER She’s making the Grand Concourse grander CRAIN’S® NEW YORK BUSINESS PAGE 7 VOL. XXX, NO. 7 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM FEBRUARY 17-23, 2014 PRICE: $3.00 Wage bill may mean pricier shops Push by de Blasio, City Council could scare off discounters BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI New York City has always had its share of pricey boutiques and upscale shops. And if a proposed expansion of the city’s living-wage law moves forward, it might see even more—hardly the re- sult its proponents intended. In his State of the City address last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio pledged to FLYING HIGH: extend the existing law,which current- Danny Meyer spends ly excludes tenants of city-subsidized more time globe- trotting as his development projects,to cover “tens of culinary company thousands of additional New Yorkers.” expands The law,enacted in 2012,forces devel- internationally. opers receiving substantial city subsidies for proj- $10 The HOURLY WAGE, ects to pay its with benefits, BY LISA FICKENSCHER workers at those required of some sites at least $10 an workers at city- Danny Meyer used to stroll through the Union hour plus benefits, backed projects Evolution Square neighborhood to visit all of his restau- or $11.50 without rants. These days, he has to hop on an airplane benefits. But com- mercial tenants— WAGE$8 OFFERED to keep tabs on his vast empire. Recently, he notably retailers— by Marshalls for traveled to London, where he visited the first are exempt,a major part-time jobs in of Danny Shake Shack to open in the United Kingdom, carve-out that now Queens last week one of 10 located abroad. faces elimination. But as the company he founded 29 years ago Experts say that continues to grow rapidly, Mr. Meyer does not would make projects harder, if not im- want to lose the values that have served Union possible, to put together, as stores would avoid leasing space where the Meyer Square Hospitality Group so well all this time. additional labor costs are required.De- Late last year, he hired two executives to help velopers would have to turn to retailers promote his philosophy of hospitality—cen- that already offer higher wages: luxury As Union Square Hospitality tered on superior customer service and a re- shops and high-end mass-market re- spectful workplace—throughout the 3,000- tailers,rather than the discounters that grows, its founder tries to hang employee company. sell the items that ordinary New York- redux / “I spend a lot of time thinking about how we ers can afford. onto the small-company culture “It can be a disincentive to develop- can use our growth to advance our culture,” ment,”said Herb Tyson,vice president See DANNY MEYER on Page 20 that keeps the business cooking of state and local government relations camera press / at the International Council of Shop- ping Centers.To finance their projects, builders often have to line up an an- john careyjohn chor tenant or two,giving lenders con- fidence that the rest of the space will be leased later on. Mr.Tyson said that in- 07 creased labor costs could impair a ten- 5 ant’s ability to get financing to open. REPORT TECHNOLOGY Following a weak holiday season, New Yorkers pay more for broadband but the retail industry is already wary. “They’re watching costs across the get less for the money. Discuss PAGE 11 board because there’s so much uncer- NEWSPAPER See WAGE BILL on Page 18 71486 01068 0 20140217-NEWS--0002-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 2/14/2014 4:05 PM Page 1 EDITOR’S NOTE Urge to purge FYICRAINSNEWYORK.COM Oh, the things you learn when it’s time to move to a new office Derek Jeter’s farewell gift building. For instance: Altoids mints have expiration dates. (Best to the New York Yankees if used by February 2007, the tin erek Jeter has been the New York states, yet still curiously strong in Yankees’ shortstop for so long that only February 2014.) These past few the most fervent fans can remember Glenn Coleman weeks, my newsroom staff has D Tony Fernandez his predecessor ( ). So when the been filling Dumpsters with more most popular Yankee since Mickey Mantle said than 15 years’ worth of yellowed this season will be his last, the cash register reporter notebooks, dust-coated background files, quickly started ringing.Tickets for his final never-cracked-open blue-ribbon commission scheduled regular-season game at Yankee reports and all sorts of scraps in preparation for the Stadium on Sept. 25 soared to as high as big move this past weekend from our longtime home world photos wide $11,000 each on StubHub.The price of his 1996 / at 711 Third Ave. all the way across the street to 685 rookie baseball card on eBay doubled, to $51. ¶ ap Third Ave. “What’s that?” a 30-year-old asked as a But here’s perhaps the most telling stat: When Mr. Jeter joined the Yankees in 1995, the team colleague held up a cassette that showed the little was worth $200 million, according to Forbes. It’s now worth an estimated $2.3 billion, and the brown ribbon of recording tape.The curled fax YES Network, created to broadcast Mr. Jeter and his teammates, is worth $3.8 billion. Mr. Jeter pages.The X-acto knife blades.The Bear Stearns deserves more credit than anyone for that. ¶ In 2011, he was rated the most marketable star in notepads.The “Honk if you’ve been threatened by baseball by E-Poll Market Research and Nielsen. His score of 165 dwarfed those of such stars as Eliot!” bumper sticker.The November 1999 issue of Alex Rodriguez (35), Boston’s David Ortiz (34) and former teammate Robinson Cano (23). Of Talk magazine (232 pages of pure stupid).The 1998 course, A-Rod may never play for the Yankees again, and Mr. Cano is now in Seattle.That only Forbes column that argued Michael Bloomberg magnifies Mr. Jeter’s importance. Attendance fell by 7% last year, but it looks sure to pick up with should sell his company because it probably had fans streaming in for one last look at a baseball legend. —aaron elsten peaked in value at $6 billion to $10 billion. (An expert quoted in the piece was one of Bernie CABLE LOVE TRIANGLE. Comcast City residents—49% of them—back HOORAY! Madoff ’s kids.) The pearls from our purge offered agreed to buy Time Warner Cable for Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s no-tax fund- $45 billion, which would create the ing plan, while 40% of them support TWELVE NEW younger staffers evidence that, yes, there once was a largest cable company in the U.S., Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tax-the-rich YORKERS, functioning world without Google and PDFs, and with about 30 million subscribers. proposal, according to a Quinnipiac including former AVON’S PRICEY MAKEUP. Mayor Michael reminded older hands here that, yes, we are old. My The merger is expected to take effect poll. … Bloomberg, by the end of the year.This comes af- Avon Products Inc.said it may end up made The favorite: an ancient memo from my predecessor ter Charter Communications’ earlier owing the feds $132 million relating Chronicle of Greg David, sternly reminding all reporters they Philanthropy’s attempts to purchase Time Warner to alleged bribes paid in 2008, when “Philanthropy “must file a Web news item each week.” One Web Cable failed.Though Comcast exec- the cosmetics giant was entering new 500” list of big utives project $1.5 billion in operat- markets, including China. The set- givers, donating news story a week? Most Crain’s reporters now file a cumulative ing efficiencies as a result of the deal, tlement could be one of the largest $1.6 billion. one story a day; some even more. And still we many analysts expressed skepticism ever paid by a U.S. company in a produce that newspaper, week after week after week. that it will pass regulatory hurdles. bribery case. … YOGURT GETS Goodbye, old 711 Third Ave. Hello, new 685 Third. OPPONENTS CRY ‘PARK.’ … Advoca- REROUTED.After more than a week of OY VEY! cy groups filed a lawsuit accusing de- detention in a fridge in New Jersey, SEVENTY NEW YORKERS were arrested velopers of the $3 mil- 5,000 single-serving after authorities seized 3,000 birds in THIS WEEK IN CRAIN’S lion multiuse project cups and large con- the city’s largest-ever cockfighting bust. in Willets Point, ‘I remain the tainers of Chobani DIGITAL NY ---------------------------------------------------- 3 Queens, of illegally luckiest guy I yogurt, once des- building on parkland. tined for U.S. IN THE BOROUGHS--------------------------- 3 Part of the project in- know’ Olympic athletes in —NBC News’ IN THE MARKETS----------------------------------4 cludes a 1.4 million- Sochi until they fell square-foot mall to Tom Brokaw, revealing victim to a Russian THE INSIDER ----------------------------------------------- 6 rise in a Citi Field he had been diagnosed ban on American with cancer BUSINESS PEOPLE ---------------------------7 parking lot that was dairy products, will originally designated instead be donated to include a 250-room hotel. … DE OPINION------------------------------------------------------------- 8 as parkland but was leased to the New food banks in New York and New BLASIO’S CALL.After an ally of Bill de GREG DAVID ------------------------------------------------9 York Mets. The developers say that Jersey. … SYNAGOGUE’S NEW HOME. Blasio was arrested last week, the the law permits the retail center.