ASKED & ANSWERED: A Queens bank sticks to its knitting PAGE 10 IN THE MARKETS The $1.2 trillion shadow bank market may be looking for a government handout PAGE 5 CRAINSNEWYORK.COM | MARCH 30, 2020 | $3.00 CORONAVIRUS ALERT TRIAGE: Nurse examines a patient Small business before he can enter St. Barnabas Hospital leaders blast in the Bronx. loan program Many complain SBA money won’t get to those who need it the most BY BRIAN PASCUS loan program raises many ques- tions for ownerse and advocates. ew York's small business “Loans are risky in an envi- community is skeptical ronment when you’re being told that the $350 billion set to return sta , pay bills, and be Naside for small busi- expected to gener- ness in the federal ate revenue,” Meat- stimulas bill will packing Business help them survive INSIDE Improvement Dis- the widespread dev- trict head Je rey astation the corona- CITY makes LeFrancois said. virus has left in its $1.14 million “If that’s just wake. more debt then Businesses will be in small business why would you able to borrow up to grants. Page 2 want to take it on?” $10 million through Rosetti said, al- the Small Business BUSINESSES though he ac- Administration's adjust to the knowledged the network of 1,800 ‘new normal’ deal’s $33.5 billion lenders. e loans, Page 3 payroll tax credit which will be guar- will help. anteed by the SBA, SL GREEN looks Rosetti also ques- will carry a 4% inter- to unload tioned the timeline est rate and be avail- and implementa- able to businesses $150 milion tion of the loan pro- with up to 500 em- loan portfolio gram. GETTY IMAGES ployees. Page 3 “If it’s a six- Portions of the month timeline to loans used for pay- RESTAURANTS’ get these funds out roll, rent, mortgage insurance the door, then how obligations or utility are they going to BREAKING POINT: claims denied. payments could be Page 4 process it? Are they forgiven, and the setting up a website program favors bus- HOTEL and how is the Hospitals in distress inesses that have not occupancy money coming laid o employees. continues to from Point A to “It’s better than Point B?” Health care workers ew York’s battle with Covid-19 has brought the nothing,” said plummet Treasury Secre- region’s hospital system to its knees. Brooklyn Running Page 4 tary Steven say they’ve never e state is asking hospitals to double their bed Company owner Mnuchin said he counts and is desperately trying to nd 10 times as Matthew Rosetti. “I anticipates loans experienced a many ventilators as they currently have. Convention think there is some will begin to be dis- medical emergency centers and college dorms have been enlisted to make room for an social safety net elements to it, tributed by the end of next week Nanticipated surge of patients. Doctors and nurses have turned to but it’s still wait-and-see mode through all FDIC-insured banks. of this scale before social media to beg for the protective gear that will keep them for me.” e expanded small business See SMALL BIZ on page 27 BY JONATHAN LAMANTIA See HOSPITAL on page 27 VOL. 36, NO. 11 © 2020 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. INSTANT EXPERT A PRIMER ON THE SMALL BUSINESS NEWSPAPER BAILOUT PAGE 11 PAGE 12 P001_CN_20200330.indd 1 3/27/20 8:11 PM CORONAVIRUS ALERT $1.4M allocated by city in stop- NOMINATIONS gap small-biz relief grants BY GWEN EVERETT To pay for the loan program, the city entered a public-private part- he city doled out $1.4 mil- nership with coding education and lion under its small-busi- technology rm Pursuit, and foun- ness Covid-19 bailout pro- dations at Goldman Sachs, Tapes- gram—a stop-gap try Inc. Tmeasure geared at helping shut- Two Goldman Sachs programs, ISTOCK tered mom-and-pop shops until 10,000 Small Businesses and the federal relief money can be se- Goldman Sachs Foundation, part- cured. nered with the city, alongside Tap- Additionally, last Friday the De- estry Inc.’s Coach Foundation. partment of Small Business Ser- Under the so-called Employee vices launched its loan program to Retention Grant Program, business help small companies slammed by BUCK ENNIS with less the ve employees are eli- travel restrictions imposed during gible for up to $27,000. e average DO YOU KNOW A NOTABLE LGBTQ the pandemic. grams will not by themselves be cized at $2 trillion relief bill for not allotment, however was about LEADER AND EXECUTIVE? More than 10,000 business own- able to meet the full demand of providing enough support. at $9,000. ers led pre-applications for the businesses across the city, which package, signed by President Don- e city approved 155 applica- Crain’s is seeking Notable LGBTQ loan, SBS spokeswoman Samantha have seen revenue plummet after ald Trump Friday, included $350 tions and issued nearly half of the Leaders and Executives in New York. Keitt said. After the screening, the government ordered 100% of billion for small business loans, up funds to businesses already. ey This list will honor those who are businesses will need to ll out a the state's workforce to state at to $10 million per company. plan to distribute the remaining making the biggest impact in the local formal application. e city agency home, a decision that left many e SBS is working to determine $600,000 soon. business community. is expecting to disburse around $20 small businesses scrambling. how to use federal relief, in tandem Nearly 466 small businesses ap- million in loans. De Blasio has called on the fed- with city programs, to meet needs plied to the grant program, and the Mayor Bill de Blasio has made it eral government to intervene and among the city's businesses, Keitt SBS plans to disburse another $8.7 CrainsNewYork.com/ clear that these grant and loan pro- provide additional aid. He criti- said. million more in grants. ■ NotableLGBTQ Vol. 36, No. 11, March 30, 2020—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for bimonthly in January, July and August and the last issue in December, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing ofces. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, PO Box 433279, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9681. For subscriber service: call 877-824-9379; fax 313-446-6777. $3.00 a copy; $129.00 per year. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2020 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. Miller Time Herman Miller furnished tower suites available for immediate move-in Newly designed pre-builts ranging from 2,080RSF–6,475RSF Prestigious Fifth Avenue address 100% commission paid on signing 650fifth.com Barry Zeller Jonathan Fales 212.841.5913 212.841.5989 Haley Fisher Michael Tranfalia 212.841.7892 212.841.5981 Pierce Hance 212.841.7641 2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | MARCH 30, 2020 P002_CN_20200330.indd 2 3/27/20 8:26 PM CORONAVIRUS ALERT SPECIAL DELIVERY Apthorp Pharmacy owner Gellis Russell looks on as a messenger picks up an order. CORONAVIRUS TESTS METTLE OF BUSINESSES, NONPROFITS BUCK ENNIS PHOTOGRAPHY Crain’s follows six executives as they confront new challenges SETH PINSKY took over as and navigate the ‘new normal’ head of the 92nd Street Y in January. BY CARA EISENPRESS AND GREG DAVID What follows are the stories of six New York executives as they cope with the coronavirus. Crain’s will continue to check pharmacist and food executive cope with soaring in with them to track how the leaders of these representative demand for prescription drugs and grocery deliv- businesses are meeting the challenge. eries. A restaurant owner works to survive on takeout, while a restaurant supplier pivots, o er- 92nd Street Y ing its products to supermarkets and consumers. Longtime city o cial and real estate executive Seth Pinsky e head of the Brooklyn Navy Yard tries to keep open for took over as chief executive of the 92nd Street Y in January. Amanufacturers—some producing hand sanitizer. e new Now he has to move as much of its extensive programing boss at the 92nd Street Y moves his programming online and worries about his nances. See NORMAL on page 24 REAL ESTATE SL Green tries to unload $150 million in loans Company, whose shares are down 50%, says it’s not a distress sale BY DANIEL GEIGER million worth of debt for sale, a per- the market now —we haven't team from Newmark Knight Frank, lenders and concurred with the son with knowledge of the o ering stopped doing business,” company led by executives Dustin Stolly and company’s position that it was ega-landlord SL Green is told Crain’s. spokesman Jeremy So n said. Jordan Roeschlaub, to help it sell seeking to selectively liquidate as- trying to shed a package of SL Green insisted the loan sale “ ese deals don't happen over- the debt. sets to raise money as part of the loans tied to city real es- was business as usual for the rm, night, and we will only move for- e sale comes as several lenders normal course of its business, in- Mtate assets in an e ort to raise cash. which periodically monetizes as- ward if we like the terms.” in the real estate market have expe- cluding buying back stock while it e company, whose share price sets to recycle capital into new e source said the loans were rienced tumult in recent days as the feels the shares are trading at a has plummeted by as much as 50% deals, pay dividends and buy back performing and that the $3.75 bil- pandemic crisis has ltered into the sharply discounted value.