20151012-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 10/9/2015 10:33 PM Page 1 The future of LaGuardia P. 8 NYC’s homeless problem explained P. 9 WHO OWNS THE BLOCK: Rupert Murdoch’s neighborhood P. 10 ® OCTOBER 12-18, 2015 | PRICE $3.00 VOL. XXXI, NO. 41 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM 41 LIGHT SPEED New York’s fastest-growing 5 private companies and the deeply driven, slightly obsessed entrepreneurs making them hum PAGE 15 NEWSPAPER 71486 01068 0 B:11.125” T:10.875” S:10.25” THE ALL-NEW METRIS GIVES YOUR BUSINESS ENDLESS POSSABILITIES. Starting at only $28,950.* B:14.875” T:14.5” S:14” Introducing Metris—the new mid-size commercial van from Mercedes-Benz. The passenger model seats up to eight people, while the front, second, and third-row airbags ensure that every occupant is protected. The cargo model offers 186 cubic feet of storage space and an impressive 2,502-lb payload. Both are equipped with advanced safety features like ATTENTION ASSIST®1 and Crosswind Assist2 for industry-leading protectability. From customizeability to garageability to affordability, Metris gives your business endless possabilities. Visit MBVans.com ©2015 Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC. *Excludes all options, taxes, title, registration, transportation charge, and dealer prep fee. 1 Driving while drowsy or distracted is dangerous and must be avoided. ATTENTION ASSIST may be insufficient to alert a fatigued or distracted driver and cannot be relied on to avoid an accident or serious injury. 2 Crosswind Assist engages automatically when sensing dangerous wind gusts at highway speeds exceeding 50 mph. Performance is limited by wind severity and available traction, which snow, ice, and other conditions can affect. Always drive carefully, consistent with conditions. HEADLINE: 56/26/22 pt. • BODY COPY: 12 pt 200 Varick St. New York, NY 10014 : Phone 212-805-7500 SPT_MET_P53805_B Client: Sprinter WO: Metris Passenger - Page PATH: M.P_MECHANICALS:Sprinter:SPT:MET:P53805:SPT_MET_P53805_B SPECS TEAM MEDIA / PRINT INFO COLORS M-B BLACK CMYK L/S: 10.25” x 14” Creative: Tim O’Malley Eddie Vanbloem Pubs: Crain’s Chicago and Crain’s New Cyan 40/30/30/100 Magenta DOC SIZE: 10.875” x 14.5” Acct: Diane Hernandez York Yellow FONTS B: 11.125” x 14.875” Prod/Traf: None Greg Kucher Media: None Black Minion Pro Regular Corporate S Bold, Regular, Demi, Light G: None Studio: js/kt Line Screen: None TT Slug OTF Bold, Regular IMAGES Printed: 10-5-2015 3:18 PM @ None Helvetica Neue 65 Medium MB_METRIS_SSPVANIP2627_NAFTA_01_CS_300.tif (CMYK; 76.5%; 392 ppi; SuperStudio:ART:MNH:MERCEDES:2015:Vans:Metris:Metris Brochure_Cargo_Passanger_Vans:MB_METRIS_SSPVANIP2627_NAFTA_01_CS_300.tif) Metris_Logo_Master_Print_RichBlack.eps (16.98%; SuperStudio:Logos:Metris:Metris_Logo_Master_Print_RichBlack.eps) MB-wm_claim3_la_ML_n_1C.eps (30%; SuperStudio:Logos:Mercedes:2015 Mercedes-Benz Brand Marks:M-B Wordmark Vans Claim:MB-wm_claim3_la_ML_n_1C.eps) MB-star_M_n_4C.eps (30%; SuperStudio:Logos:Mercedes:2015 Mercedes-Benz Brand Marks:M-B Starmark EPS:MB-star_M_n_4C.eps) 20151012-NEWS--0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 10/10/2015 12:02 AM Page 1 OCTOBERCRAINS 12-18, 2015 FROM THE NEWSROOM | JEREMY SMERD Why we redesigned IN THIS ISSUE 4 AGENDA THE ENTREPRENEURS BEHIND this year’s Fast 50 have Related 6 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT could flip mastered the art of self-invention. For older businesses, 8 ASKED & ANSWERED site of reinvention is harder but no less necessary. As Bob Dylan McDonald’s 9 INSTANT EXPERT building into wrote, “He who’s not busy being born is busy dying.” another 10 WHO OWNS THE BLOCK Crain’s New York Business turned 30 years old this year, mega-tower giving us a reason to reflect on how we approach our 11 REAL ESTATE mission, which is to be an indispensable source of news 12 GREG DAVID and insight for New York professionals, owners, managers and investors. FEATURES Our weekly print newspaper used to be where New What readers Yorkers got their local business news. Now they go to really need from CrainsNewYork.com or sign up for the half-dozen “ email newsletters that we send daily to business a print experience decision makers. We believe that what readers really is refuge from need from a print experience is refuge from today’s today’s perpetual perpetual onslaught of digital information—an oasis of onslaught of smart storytelling and insightful analysis that allows 15 FEATURES busy, thoughtful people to better understand their digital information industries and their city. That’s why we have radically 15 FAST 50 redesigned our flagship print product, transitioning from a newspaper to a 51 GOTHAM GIGS newsmagazine. In tandem with our digital offerings, this change will allow us 52 EXECUTIVE MOVES to serve our audiences with digital immediacy and print foresight. 53 SNAPS To make the reading experience better, we’ve organized ourselves into three parts: An opening Agenda section mixes timely news with interesting 54 FOR THE RECORD revelation, leading with our editorial and concluding with our signature lists. 55 PHOTO FINISH Then, an expanded feature section offers deep reportage and expansive CORRECTIONS Benefits consulting firm packages that tell the city’s best stories. In the back of the new Crain’s, you’ll Towers Watson & Co. will soon merge with the see familiar and popular elements reimagined, like Gotham Gigs and Executive Willis Group. Towers Watson’s name was stated incorrectly in the Oct. 5 Scoop. Moves. A new back-page feature, Photo Finish, offers a parting shot that tells Beauty salon Kolorbar signed a 10-year lease for you something important about what makes New York a unique place to do 2,700 square feet at 306 E. 86th St. The address business. Our timing for all this reinvention couldn’t be better. was misstated in the Oct. 5 For the Record. After years of decline, the printed word is making a comeback, not just here at Crain’s but across the media world, where book publishers are firing up the presses and e-reader sales are slowing for the first time. Like readers, ON THE COVER advertisers want a restful place far from the cacophony of the information PHOTO: BUCK ENNIS SIGN: LET THERE BE NEON superhighway. The reinvented Crain’s is an off-ramp, a destination and a road map for the next 30 years. DIGITAL DISPATCHES Go To crainsnewyork.com CONFERENCE CALL OUT READ Judge reconsiders ruling OCTOBER 28th that taxis must compete with MADE IN Uber or die NEW YORK ■ New York doctors are performing A trade show featuring the too many C-sections best of New York’s ■ Going to a Broadway show is not food and drink producers, just fun, it’s key to developing job including Cafe Grumpy. skills FASHION INSTITUTE LISTEN Get the inside story on OF TECHNOLOGY our new print design from the 28th Street and 7th Avenue people who put it together. And learn how New York, NY 10001 this year’s Fast 50 reflect Manhattan’s waning Cafe 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. influence. Plus, music by Brooklyn-based Grumpy C. Gibbs at crainsnewyork.com/podcast. Vol. XXXI, No. 41, October 12, 2015—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for double issues the weeks of June 29, July 13, July 27, Aug. 10, Aug. 24 and Dec. 21, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. For subscriber service: Call (877) 824-9379. Fax (313) 446-6777. $3.00 a copy, $99.95 one year, $179.95 two years. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. BUCK ENNIS OCTOBER 12, 2015 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3 20151012-NEWS--0004-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 10/9/2015 9:53 PM Page 1 AGENDAWHAT’S NEW OCTOBER 12, 2015 Unwilling to raise the gas tax to pay for transportation, Congress taps ... Wall Street? eep in a bill passed by the U.S. Senate is a clause that would divert about $1.5 billion a year from banks to pay for transportation projects. The legislation says a lot about what is wrong with Congress today. DThe money would come from reducing the 6% annual dividend that the Federal Reserve pays to the largest 292 banks holding Fed stock. One could argue that 6% is generous—the new rate would be 1.5%, which is closer to what the banks pay their own shareholders—but the real story here is how Congress funds transportation. The federal gasoline tax has long been the primary means of paying for highways. But lawmakers lack the courage or the common sense to raise the tax on gasoline, which has remained at 18.4 cents per gallon more than two years was 2005. BULL: Washington since 1993. Obviously, 18.4 cents buys a lot less today than it did 22 The issue is especially important for New York City, because federal lawmakers years ago. Gains in fuel transportation funding goes not just to want to milk banks to efficiency—a good thing—have The issue is crucial for New York City, roads, but also to mass transit, bridges and help close a also curbed gas-tax revenue, because mass transit, tunnels, which form the circulatory system $16 billion funding gap. which is now about $34 billion a bridges and tunnels form our for the city’s economy. New York, in turn, year. That is $16 billion short of generates lots of tax revenue—far more what Washington spends on economy’s circulatory system than Washington sends back to the city.