20111128-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 11/23/2011 5:09 PM Page 1 INSIDE 40 UNDER TOP STORIES FORTY It’s time to rein in NOMINATIONS the horse carriage Closing Dec. 2! neigh-sayers www.crainsnewyork.com/ ® 40under40 MICHAEL GROSS PAGE 2 VOL. XXVII, NO. 48 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM NOV. 28-DEC. 4, 2011 PRICE: $3.00 Two fashion greats, THE RISE AND STALL OF Inside Ira two business fates PAGE 2 Rennert’s Arg! Digital pirates dirtiest target the e-book FOODTRUCKS PAGE 3 business The wheel deal: Cyclery openings Epic pollution mess switch to high gear in Peru puts reclusive PAGE 7 mogul and his biz B’klyn’s Myrtle Ave. practices in spotlight transformed from dicey to delightful BY AARON ELSTEIN NEIGHBORHOODS PAGE 9 In 2004, a public health expert in Mis- souri named Fernando Serrano got a call from an archbishop in Peru. High BUSINESS LIVES up in the Andes, a metals refinery was spewing pollution that coated the fac- tory town of La Oroya. The archbish- op wanted Mr. Serrano to assess the damage. Mr. Serrano, a professor at Jesuit institution Saint Louis University, flew to the Peruvian capital of Lima and took the long, winding road five hours east and 12,000 feet up to the town whose soil had turned too acidic for plants to grow. He tested La Oroya’s ground,air and water,and took GOTHAM GIGS blood samples from some of its 35,000 A “Ninja” master—in residents. The results took his breath customer service P. 29 away: The town was not only laden ● ANNE FISHER How to with arsenic, antimony and cadmium, market your brand P. 29 but an estimated 97% of the children BY LISA FICKENSCHER between ages six and 12 had elevated ● MOVERS & SHAKERS levels of lead in their blood—levels Chris Burch checks out See IRA RENNERT on Page 27 a new retail concept for The Urban Oasis Traveling Organic Café the holidays P. 30 called it quits earlier this year.The owners, George and Elaine Karaisarides, are selling ● GAEL GREENE Over the moon about Kibo P. 31 their “completely renovated” vehicle on Craigslist for $55,000. It was straining their relationship, the couple wrote on their blog, and a city clampdown on food trucks INDEX only compounded their pressures. “There are plenty of people who are se- IN THE MARKETS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _4 riously questioning the viability of this THE INSIDER _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _8 business,” said David Weber, president of VIEWPOINT _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _10 the 10-month-old New York City Food OPINION _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _11 NOT SO SWEET: Treats Truck Truck Association and co-owner of Rick- SMALL BUSINESS _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _13 owner Kim Ima says tougher FOR THE RECORD shaw Dumpling Bar, which owns four _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _14 new city rules make good trucks and two restaurants. CLASSIFIEDS parking spaces harder to find. trucks and two restaurants. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _22 The Karaisarides’ experience is just one EXECUTIVE MOVES _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _29 See FOOD TRUCKS on Page 28 gettyimages THE WEEK AHEAD _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _31 THE BILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR: Ira Rennert’s buck ennis overseas troubles may be coming home to roost. REPORT REAL ESTATE STARCHITECTS Name-brand residential towers outperform the market P. 15 ELECTRONIC EDITION HOT PROPERTIES Why office condos are so popular with foreign buyers P. 15 CRAIN’S LIST New York City’s Top Commercial Property Managers P. 20 NEWSPAPER 20111128-NEWS--0002,0003-NAT-CCI-CN_-- 11/23/2011 6:22 PM Page 1 COMMENTARY Designer greats, Let’s talk Liz label sold off TWO FASHION ICONS, TWO FINANCIAL O horse sense to J.C. Penney, ’ve often taken issue with the mayor of New while DVF rises. York City,but he deserves praise when he gets A cautionary tale § something right. I’m going to lose friends for that statement—and even more over my next: The pandering grandstanders braying to ban BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI carriage horses from Central Park are wrong. I Last summer, New York’s elite gathered at Typically, Mayor One-Percent has stressed a fi- the New York Public Library for an elegant nancial argument (“Tourists love ’em”) in making his black-tie event to honor fashion designer case to keep the horses.This is one rare instance when Diane von Furstenberg, who was being awarded the Municipal Arts Society’s I am all for his at- ing to torture prestigious Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis tempts to turn poor, defenseless Medal.Ms.von Furstenberg,credited with midtown into a animals on our rejuvenating the meatpacking district into tourist petting crowded, noisy, a fashion destination, regaled the crowd zoo. dangerous city with tales of her relationship with Mrs. I once lived in streets? Person- Onassis, while stressing the importance of the Village be- ally, I love the the fashion industry in New York. fore I moved sounds of clip- “She was a really inspiring honoree,” closer to our cen- clops, whinnies said MAS President Vin Cipolla. “Diane tral business dis- and neighs.I find has absolutely helped keep New York at trict,and much as the horses a civi- the forefront as a fashion leader and has I am now incon- MICHAEL lizing presence, a been a neighborhood catalyst as well.” venienced by the GROSS reminder of a As Ms. von Furstenberg was receiving thronging slower-paced, far her award, the fashion brand of another tourists in mid- more gracious powerful and charismatic visionary, Liz town—many of whom are in New York,where carriage rid- Claiborne, was being sold off to value de- dire need of urban walking ing in Central Park was the partment store J.C. Penney. Once upon a lessons—they are less of a height of fashion. Today, a time, it was the biggest women’s fashion nuisance than the NYU stu- holiday carriage ride may be a label in the world and the lead division in dents in my old hood who got cliché, but that’s only because multibillion dollar conglomerate Liz their kicks by tossing full the appeal is real—there’s Claiborne Inc., where it raked in some paint cans and fireworks from truth in the enchanted faces $2.2 billion in sales. It sold to Penney last dorm windows. (Can we ban of the children of all ages in month for less than $270 million. NYU students? No, that’s the carriages. “To go from [being] the largest iconic probably a nonstarter.) I wonder how Tony Avel- fashion brand in the country and the Those students presum- la’s forebears got around be- world, to being a proprietary brand at a ably explain the remarkable fore the internal combustion large retailer is an uncommon journey,” persistence of the hissing engine? And I wonder if he’ll said Marshal Cohen,chief industry analyst “Pssst … smoke?” guys in adopt some of those lovely, at market research firm NPD Group Inc. Washington Square Park. newly unemployed horses? The divergent fate of the two brands Tourists explain the persist- Horseburgers, anyone? is, at its heart, a cautionary tale for any ence of the world-class shop- Mostly, though, I find it company whose success is intimately con- ping districts of Madison and curious that one of the leaders nected to an iconic leader. In both cases, Fifth avenues.They of the anti-carriage See DESIGNERS’ FATES on Page 26 also explain the A carriage horse forces,which persistence of the propose that they carriage horse,even ride may be be replaced by as the steeds appear a cliché, electric-powered to be anachronisms faux Model Ts (the to some.