Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community.
Barnes & Noble bookstore Potential Management bidders to remain in Bay Plaza tour Co-op City; bids due Nov. 19 for another two years © Copyright 2014 Co-op City Times
Vol. 49 No. 43
Less than one week after the Co-op City Times reported about the possibility that the borough may lose its only large bookstore by the ending of the year, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr., came to Barnes & Noble Bay Plaza on Thursday for a noon press conference at which he announced that the store will remain open for business for the next 2 years. Joined by a host of elected officials,
BY ROZAAN BOONE
Saturday, October 25, 2014
executives of both Barnes & Noble (B&N) and Prestige Properties and Development Corporation, managers of Bay Plaza; patrons and B&N employees, the borough president reported that after focused negotiations, the store will remain open at its current location for the next 2 years since B&N and Prestige were finally able to negotiate a two-year extension of the store’s current lease.
25¢
The competition could be fierce in the bidding to win the management contract to run Co-op City for the next year. More than two dozen representatives took part in a three-and-one-half tour of Co-op City on Oct. 22 as part of the pre-bid conference that gave potential bidders a first-hand look at the
BY JIM ROBERTS
buildings and facilities they would be responsible for if they win the job. Bids are due on Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. The Riverbay Board of Directors will select the winning bid. The law firm of Smith, Buss and Jacobs, under the direction of Jeffrey Buss, Riverbay’s General Counsel, is (Continued on page 4)
(Continued on page 2)
Potential bidders to win the contract to manage Co-op City attended a three-andone-half hour tour of some of the community’s buildings and facilities as part of a pre-bid conference held here on Oct. 22. Bids are due by Nov. 19 Photo by Jim Roberts Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. announced this week that Barnes & Noble and Prestige Properties have negotiated an agreement that would extend the bookstore’s lease at Bay Plaza in Co-op City for another 2 years. He was joined by local elected officials, executives from B&N and Prestige Properties, business leaders and some of the B&N booksellers as he made the announcement on Thursday. Photo by Rozaan Boone
3 burglars arrested on roof of Debs Place townhouses
uals kicked a light pole and tried to Two alert officers assigned to Public break the light, at which point, the offiSafety’s Emergency Services Unit (ESU) are being credited with the swift (Continued on page 4) arrest of 3 burglars on Monday night in Co-op City. Officers Matthew BrownColetti and his partner, Michael Marsanico, were on routine patrol in the ESU vehicle when they ob-served 3 individuals, one of whom was being chased by the other two, in the vicinity of DeFoe Place at around 10 p.m. The officers approached the individual who was being chased and asked if there was a problem and he responded that there was no problem, he was fine. The officers decided to pull away but keep an eye on the individuals. Officers Matthew Brown-Coletti (right) and As the group approached Michael Marsanico (left) of CCPD’s ESU. Debs Place, one of the individ-
Tour de Bronx passes through Co-op City tomorrow (See page 3)
BY ROZAAN BOONE
Several hundred job seekers attended a Job Fair in the Dreiser Center on Oct. 23 held by the New York State Department of Labor and hosted by Riverbay Corp. “We’re happy to have our Career Fair here because we have a lot of businesses offering jobs,” said Cullen Burnell, spokesman for the Labor Department. Photo by Jim Roberts