20110404-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 4/1/2011 8:43 PM Page 1 INSIDE HOW A WEAK TOP STORIES UPSTATE Tea Room family THREATENS eyes opening a new DOWNSTATE GREG DAVID Russian restaurant ® PAGE 2 PAGE 11 Amazon, e-books find fresh ways to VOL. XXVII, NO. 14 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM APRIL 4-10, 2011 PRICE: $3.00 torment publishers PAGE 2 DEJA VU: Brought in to save Carver Federal Savings Bank Stilettos get in 1999, CEO Deborah Wright, pictured in 2003, is competition now dealing with similarly CARVER from the grave financial strains at the largest bank founded and kitten heel run by African-Americans. PAGE 3 Rising store rents ON THE spark a boomlet in retail condos PAGE 3 Nasdaq’s bid for BRINK rival NYSE: less than meets the eye Feds order Harlem bank IN THE MARKETS, PAGE 4 to raise new capital. Or else BY AARON ELSTEIN The parent of Carver Federal Savings Bank holds its an- nual stockholders meeting April 4 at The Studio Museum in Harlem, near the bank’s 125th Street headquarters. It could be the last. CRAIN’S LISTS Time may be running out for Carver, the na- TOP BANKS tion’s largest bank founded and run by African- TOP THRIFTS NY area’s largest Americans and an integral part of the city for 63 commercial lenders years.Staggering under a load of delinquent real es- PAGES 18, 19 tate loans, the bank is under orders from the U.S. BUSINESS LIVES Office of Thrift Supervision to raise $20 million in fresh capital by the end of this month.That’s a steep climb GOTHAM GIGS for a bank that at best posts annual profits of $5 million.Yet if Carver can’t raise the cash, regulators can either seize the A master barista spreads redux See CARVER on Page 22 the gospel of coffee P. 25 ● ANNE FISHER on how criticism is vital to a growing business P. 25 St. Vincent’s bankruptcy: one year later ● MOVERS & SHAKERS Kathleen Turner gets n n High on stage P. 26 THE DRAMA OVER ‘TRAUMA’ THE LINGERING IMPACT ● GAEL GREENE savors the pasta at Spasso P. 27 A new kind of ER looks to future, Shops, eateries still struggling but locals gripe it’s not enough with loss of 5,000 people a day INDEX an artery and implanted a stent pointing out one shuttered store- BY BARBARA BENSON during an elective procedure. BY MIRIAM KREININ SOUCCAR front after the next, at one point THE INSIDER 8 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ The fact that Mr.Dowling was beginning to cry.“I lost 25% of my 10 VIEWPOINT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Michael Dowling was at home not rushed to a Level 1 trauma It’s nearly impossible to keep business after they shut down St. 12 REAL ESTATE DEALS PLUS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ on Long Island last year when he emergency department speaks up with Nicky Perry as she races Vincent’s,but I said,‘I am not go- NEIGHBORHOOD JOURNAL _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _13 felt chest pains. At nearby Hunt- volumes about the routine “treat- through the West Village streets ing to let that hospital beat me.’ ” ington Hospital, doctors found it and-release” emergency care that surrounding the former St. Vin- A year after the April 2010 CLASSIFIEDS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _20 FOR THE RECORD 24 wasn’t a heart attack. He was sta- most New Yorkers need. cent’s Hospital Manhattan, rag- bankruptcy of St. Vincent’s Hos- _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ bilized and transferred by ambu- Mr. Dowling, president and ing at anyone who will listen. pital, the sidewalks surrounding HOT JOBS 25 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ lance to North Shore University chief executive of the North “Gone, gone, gone, gone,” said its empty buildings on Seventh 25 EXECUTIVE MOVES _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Hospital in Manhasset, where Shore-LIJ Health System, pre- the owner of the British-style Avenue between West 11th and THE WEEK AHEAD _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _27 cardiologists detected blockage in See “TRAUMA” DRAMA on Page 23 restaurant Tea & Sympathy, See IMPACT on Page 23 REPORT SMALL BUSINESS Lean, mean startup machines Launching a venture with ridiculously little money Plus Those darn government rules! P. 15 NEWSPAPER 20110404-NEWS--0002,0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 4/1/2011 8:46 PM Page 1 IN BRIEF THERE IS STILL A CHANCE THAT THE MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE WILL PASS through Times Square next year. Robert Steel, deputy mayor for economic development, met last week with Times Square business leaders for the second time to discuss the issue, which erupted into a fight last month when Macy’s announced that the parade would proceed down Sixth Avenue next year and in 2013.The parade currently goes down Seventh Avenue and crosses over to Broadway at Times Square, finishing on Sixth Avenue at Herald Square, where Macy’s flagship store is located. Businesses along the current route fear a substantial loss of revenue from the switch. People who attended last week’s meeting said it was productive. A spokesman for the mayor described the meeting as “constructive” but declined to provide more details. Macy’s wants to move the parade to Sixth Avenue because, it MOSCOW BUREAU: says, it is safer and wider.The parade was Partners Seth Goldman moved to Seventh Avenue in 2009 from its and Ellen Kaye will longtime route along Broadway after the city decorate their spot with n items from the original built pedestrian plazas in Times Square. restaurant, which her family owned for almost 50 years. BY THE NUMBERS Weekly shift of the city’s economy WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE? Hiring gains pushed unemployment to a two-year low. Exports hit é record heights, plus consumers and businesses are loosening their death grip on their wallets. -11.4% 206,368 +16.3% FromFrom thethe RussianRussian DROP in NYC’s TWITTER RISE in imports local bus riders followers of into NY/NJ Port on average Jan. @BronxZoosCobra in January vs. weekday vs. on the day that a year earlier a year earlier the escaped viper Source: Port Source: Metropolitan Authority of TeaTea Room,Room, withwith lovelove was nabbed Transportation Source: Twitter.com NY & NJ Authority buck ennis open as soon as September, according to GAS ATTACK The price of gasoline at pumps across the city has soared 26% in the past year. The pace has only Former owner to create new restaurant investors in the project. accelerated in the past two months. After three years of planning, Ms. Kaye kitchen helping the chef make chicken and her business partner, Seth Goldman, BY LISA FICKENSCHER Kiev. are negotiating a lease for a theater district “I had the most amazing birthday par- space where they hope to put a 125-seat Ellen Kaye has many memories of the ties at the restaurant,” recalled Ms. Kaye, restaurant. They have lined up investors Russian Tea Room, the storied restaurant 51. “It was our home.” and written a 94-page business plan, and her family owned from 1947 to 1996. are currently vetting chefs. Ms. Kaye has As a tyke, she helped the staff fill salt Moscow 57 to evoke memories even begun wearing a gold necklace with and pepper shakers and count the money Ms. Kaye has worked for many other the Moscow 57 name, as if to ensure its ar- behind the bar while she popped eateries over the years but is now close to rival. maraschino cherries into her mouth. She opening her own place, inspired by her “Ellen was born with the kind of back- Source: Energy Information Administration got to meet many stars, including Sidney childhood. Moscow 57, a contemporary story that other restaurateurs would kill Poitier,a regular customer in the 1960s and version of the Russian Tea Room and a play for,” said consultant Clark Wolf, who is ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? her first crush.