Crain's New York Business, September 23, 2024

Federal prosecutor sets sights on Adams’ City Hall

U.S. attorney investigating the administration has made corruption a focus

By Nick Garber

At the start of this year, when Damian Williams announced priorities for the powerful Manhattan prosecutor’s o ce he leads, he added a predictive item to the list: public corruption.

Williams appears to be making good on that promise. As U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he is leading three of the four federal corruption probes that touch on Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, which have engulfed City Hall in crisis. ey have also further raised the pro le of 44-year-old Williams, the

Williams convicted crypto magnate Sam BankmanFried last year, and last week indicted music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs.

rst Black person to lead the in uential o ce known as SDNY.

Williams has been widely described by those who know him as driven and diligent. e cases he is now pursuing, which have involved searching the homes and phones of top city o cials, also mark him as unmistakably ambitious. And they may spark inevitable talk about Williams’ ultimate aspirations, given the big names — such as Rudy Giuliani and James Comey — who previously held his post.

“Damian was an aggressive and detail-

WHY ARE ALL THE DINERS CLOSING?

Rising costs, family dynamics take toll on longtime eateries

| By Julianne Cuba

The pandemic years have been especially hard on diners. More than a dozen of the city’s beloved greasy spoons have shuttered for good in the past few years amid the rising costs of food and supplies, in ation and what some longtime owners say is a dwindling number of customers.

Among those casualties were the popular Neptune and Tasty’s diners in Queens, Broadway Restaurant and Neil’s Co ee Shop in Manhattan, Dizzy’s and Arch diners in Brooklyn, and the Royal Coach Diner in the Bronx. Dozens more say they are struggling to survive.

According to one estimate, nearly 150 of the establishments have closed since 2016.

Others are holding on and trying new tactics to retain, and even attract, customers. Some are specializing in speci c cuisines: For example, Williamsburg staple Kellogg’s Diner, which closed last year, plans to rebrand itself this fall with a Tex-Mex-focused menu. And a few, including the Cozy Soup ‘n’ Burger near NYU and La Bonbonniere in the West Village, are attempting to appeal to the younger, Tik Tok-in uenced generation to keep patrons coming in the door.

e city does not keep a record of the number of local diners, and the varying de nitions of what even makes a

See DINERS on Page 18

Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, spoke following the conviction of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez in July. Williams is now pursuing three of the four corruption investigations that touch on Mayor Eric Adams’ administration. YUKI IWAMURA/BLOOMBERG

Some owners of diners that are still in business, such as John Stratidis of the Cozy Soup ‘n’ Burger, say they love their work, but the crazy hours don’t appeal to the new generation. | BUCK ENNIS

See CITY HALL on Page 19

NYPD shooting over fare evasion stokes fresh subway fears

Caroline Spivack

e NYPD likely dealt a setback to whatever progress o cials may have made in making the subway feel safer Sept. 15 when two police o cers initiated what became a dangerous shootout at a Brooklyn station after a man walked through an emergency gate without paying his $2.90 fare.

Minutes later, after the fare beater allegedly took out a knife, ocers unleashed a hail of bullets on the Sutter Avenue L train station platform, striking the man who evaded the fare, two bystanders and one of the cops. One of the bystanders was hit in the head and is in critical condition.

Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at the nonpro t transit advocacy group Riders Alliance, described the situation as a jarring display of police violence on the subway that will only serve to ratchet up riders’ anxieties about the system, and demonstrates what can go wrong when police are deployed to enforce fare payment.

“No one should have ever been hurt — no collateral damage, no bystander injured over $2.90,” Pearlstein told Crain’s. “ at’s a complete outrage and should have never happened.”

Pearlstein said Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul are sending “con icting messages” to

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Larry Silverstein, the founder and chairman of Silverstein Properties. He’s perhaps best known as the developer of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan and the ultra-luxury 82-story residential tower 30 Park Place. His eponymous 400-employee rm owns and operates a portfolio of of ce towers and residential properties that encompass more than 16 million square feet and are valued at over $10 billion.

riders by sending more cops and National Guard soldiers into the system to ostensibly prevent violent crime, while touting that the system is safe. e MTA, meanwhile, has stepped up e orts to curb fare evasion at emergency exit gates, and is increasingly relying on private security guards (who are unarmed) alongside NYPD o cers to deter subway fare evasion.

“Plenty of people carry a pocket knife for whatever reason, but a lot of the rhetoric about crime in the subway has caused more people to try and defend themselves, I think,” added Pearlstein. “ e anxiety level has been raised in a way that can make things unsafe that weren’t otherwise.”

City Councilwoman Sandy Nurse, whose Brooklyn district includes the Sutton Avenue station, called for an independent investigation and the immediate public release of the involved o cers’ body camera footage.

“No one’s life should be endangered over fare evasion,” Nurse said in a Sept. 16 statement. “Our city resources should not be used for punitive fare enforcement and instead should be invested in services that truly bene t our residents and keep them safe.”

e NYPD identi ed the man who evaded the fare as Derrell Mickles, 37, who police say they’ve arrested several times before including for burglary and gun pos-

session; a records search did not show any charges led against anyone with his name.

Police followed him to the elevated station platform and asked him to stop, but he refused and threatened the o cers, said Je rey Maddrey, chief of department at the NYPD, at a press conference Sept. 15. Mickles allegedly told the o cers, “I’m going to kill you if you don’t stop following me.” Maddrey said the o cers then caught up to Mickles on the platform and asked him to take his hands out of his pockets. Mickles then produced a knife before running onto a train, said Maddrey.

Of cers opened re

e o cers tried to use their Tasers but they didn’t stop Mickles, who then allegedly approached one of the o cers with his knife, said Maddrey. e two o cers then opened re on the subway platform, striking a 49-year-old man in the head and grazing a 26-year-old woman in the buttock, Maddrey added. Mickles was struck multiple times in the chest, while one of the o cers was struck under an armpit, o cials said. (A bystander video shows a bleeding Mickles cu ed on the oor of a train car.)

NYPD acknowledged all of the gun re came from police weapons.

MTA chair and chief executive Janno Lieber pointed blame at the

man who had evaded the fare and produced a knife. “Let’s not forget why this started. It started because somebody wanted to come to the transit system with a weapon,” Lieber said at a press conference Sept. 15.

When asked if the MTA believes opening re on a person who is evading the fare is an appropriate use of force by the NYPD, authority spokeswoman Joana Flores referred Crain’s to the NYPD, which did not respond to requests for comment.

At that same Sept. 15 news conference Mayor Eric Adams’ rst words were not to reassure New Yorkers who may have a fresh fear of traveling on the subway, but to back his police department: “First of all, thank God our o cers are okay and clearly they averted an even greater tragedy.”

Adams may feel the need to keep the NYPD on his side as the incident took place just three days after Edward Caban resigned as the city’s police commissioner amid an FBI investigation, said Christina Greer, associate professor of political science at Fordham University.

“I think at this point in time, Adams can’t a ord to have the NYPD turn against him in any capacity,” Greer said of the former cop

turned mayor. “I’m sure some are looking to him: ‘Where’s our leadership? What is happening?’ We’re on our third police commissioner in a few months.”

e Sept. 15 shooting comes just seven months after a shooting inside an A train at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Downtown Brooklyn erupted into chaos during the evening rush, and is likely to fuel concern for riders who rely on the subway to get around the city.

All of which is bad news for the MTA as ridership continues to hover around 70% of pre-pandemic levels, and transit o cials work to lure back commuters to generate greater fare revenue. e shootings fan fears about safety in the system and spur a new political challenge for elected o cials, said Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant.

“It makes it di cult for the mayor and governor to say things are safer, even though it may be, because the public doesn’t read statistics, they read fear,” said Sheinkopf. “What makes news is not, ‘subway safe,’ what makes news is ‘shooting, crazy person, two people injured, cop shot.’”  Nick Garber contributed reporting.

What the Federal Reserve interest rate cut will mean for New York real estate market

By Eddie Small

Stubbornly high interest rates have been cited as the main factor behind real estate trends ranging from slow property sales to high rents for more than two years now, but the industry nally got its long-awaited rate cut Sept. 18.

e Federal Reserve chopped its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point and indicated that further declines were in store going forward, an aggressive move that is widely expected to boost activity in the city’s still somewhat quiet investment sales market.

e main questions now are how quickly and by how much.

“Next year will be a lot more robust in terms of volume of transactions,” said Ariel Property Advisors President Shimon Shkury, “but I think we’ll start seeing it this year.”

e city’s investment sales got o to a historically slow start in 2024, according to data from Ariel, and many in the industry pointed to high interest rates as the culprit. Activity did pick up a bit during the second quarter, and it now seems likely to continue increasing going forward.

“A lot of people are calling us, especially institutional clients, to say, ‘Hey, guys, what can we get in

the market?’” said Shkury. “And when that happens, usually you see transactions happen 12 to 18 months down the road.”

Activity surge is not instant

Additional rate cuts are necessary for the property market to truly stabilize, says David Schwartz, principal at the developer Slate Property Group, and these will likely happen at the two remaining Fed meetings this year. Although the cut is certainly good news for the industry in general, Schwartz stressed that real estate deals take time to put together, so a surge in activity will not happen immediately.

“We’re not like bond traders where immediately, tomorrow, you have all this activity. I would say typically deals are 60 to 120 days out,” he said. “I’d imagine three to four months from now, we’ll see a real impact.”

e rate cut should also help the city’s renters see some long-awaited relief. High interest rates have been one of the main factors behind the city’s recent

run of record-high rents. eir related high mortgage rates have kept many would-be buyers trapped in the rental market, contributing to increased competition and higher prices for apartments.

e cut should open the door for at least some of these renters to break into the sales market, although a major rent decrease is probably not in the cards anytime

soon, nor is a huge uptick in sales activity, said Miller Samuel CEO Jonathan Miller. Mortgage rates may be going down, but they are still twice as high as they were about four years ago, he said.

“It doesn’t mean that a ordability either for the sales market or the rental market is going to improve dramatically overnight,” he said, “but it is the rst step in about a two-and-a-half year wait.”

Larry Silverstein

Hip-hop icon Doug E. Fresh’s brownstone goes back to lender after years of litigation

Deutsche Bank was the only bidder to show up at a Sept. 11 auction of the foreclosed Harlem home

By C. J. Hughes

Abank is now the owner of a brownstone that belonged to hip-hop icon Doug E. Fresh.

Deutsche Bank was the only bidder to show up Sept. 11 to a Lower Manhattan courtroom for the mortgage foreclosure-prompted auction of 251 W. 131st, a four-level home in Harlem.

e lender was able to take control of the property by bidding what Fresh owes on the brownstone, or $1.7 million, a largely technical maneuver used by lenders to set a bottom price for the property and make sure other buyers don’t swoop in with a low-ball o er and walk away with a building that represents their best chance of being repaid. As a result, no money should actually change hands.

After a long and twisting case stretching back to 2010, a Manhattan state Supreme Court judge ruled in 2023 that Deutsche Bank was entitled to Fresh’s home, a decision that was held up on appeal earlier this year.

Fresh’s mother, Arlene Davis,

purchased the 3,200-square-foot No. 251, which is on a block where Fresh still owns another similar property, for about $1 million in 2007. e loan behind the site was in default by 2010, according to court documents. But the death of Davis in 2014, after which time Fresh took over her estate, appears to have complicated an initial foreclosure proceeding against the property.

Legal challenges

Fresh’s lawyers later mounted legal challenges alleging the interest charged by Deutsche Bank on the overdue loan was onerous and unfair, especially as the bank had apparently dragged its feet. But after years of litigation, which included Fresh switching legal teams, Justice Francis Kahn eventually sided with the lender.

A Zillow estimate submitted as evidence in 2023 suggested No. 251, a prewar multifamily home that seems to contain several apartments, was worth $1.9 million.

A spokesman for Deutsche Bank and lawyers for Fresh had no com-

ment, and Fresh, whose birth name is Douglas Davis, could not be reached by press time. Fresh still owns a building on the same block.

e “world’s greatest entertain-

er,” Fresh averaged 200 shows a year for 20 straight years before Covid slammed the city in 2020, according to his website. Beyonce, the Beastie Boys and Miley Cyrus all sampled his 1980s hit “La Di Da

Di.” e Barbados-born rapper, known as the “human beat box,” is also credited with inventing the technique of creating polyrhythmic drum e ects by using little more than his own mouth.

A Zillow estimate submitted as evidence in 2023 suggested No. 251, a prewar multifamily home that seems to contain several apartments, was worth $1.9 million.

251 W. 131st St., Harlem | GOOGLE STREET VIEW

Doug E. Fresh WLA TALENT AGENCY

Hedge fund exec lists Manhattan townhouse

Ellington Management Group’s John Geanakoplos is selling 320 Convent Ave. in Hamilton Heights

Yale economist John Geanakoplos, a principal of Ellington Management Group, a residential-mortgage-focused hedge fund, is looking to exit from his investment in a Manhattan townhouse.

e nancier has listed 320 Convent Ave., a 5,900-square-foot brickand-limestone landmark dating to 1890 in Hamilton Heights, for $5.4 million, based on an ad that appeared this month.

lion, Geanakoplos apparently structured the deal so that he would end up having to pay less than that if the market swooned down the road, according to a story about the transaction in e New York Times

$5.4M

Sale price for No. 320 Convent Ave. at Hamilton Heights.

e six-bedroom corner prewar property at West 143rd Street features a garden-level kitchen and library, a living room with a replace and original woodwork, and

The six-bedroom corner prewar property at West 143rd Street features a garden-level kitchen and library, a living room with a replace and original woodwork, and a formal dining room.

a formal dining room that can seat a dozen people, according to the brokerage Compass. What Geanakoplos paid for the property when he bought the site in 2006 is somewhat unclear. ough the deed in the city register spells out the price as $3.9 mil-

Geanakoplos’s unique hedgestyle strategy came at a time when storm clouds were forming for the Great Recession and also as his rm was reportedly grappling with exposure to souring subprime loans, a situation that appears to have prompted Ellington to temporarily suspend investor redemptions in 2007. Whether Geanakoplos ever got credited back some of his real estate payment if 320 Covent did decline in value is unknown. e city register does not show any additional transactions involving the property after the 2006 purchase, though a refund along the lines of what was being discussed would likely not be documented in public records. e seller at the time, Robert F. Van Lierop, an entertainment lawyer and former diplomat who has taught at New York University’s law school, could not be reached through his NYU email address by press time.

But the buyer of 320 Convent this time around probably should not count on the same kind of hedge, “which has not been part of the discussion or listing process,” Com-

pass agent or ors told Crain’s

For his part, Geanakoplos, a teenage chess whiz who co-founded Ellington in 1994, works as a full-time professor of economics at Yale’s New Haven campus today. Ellington’s strong run

Meanwhile, Connecticut-headquartered Ellington, which appears to have around $9 billion in assets under management, has had a strong run in recent years. Bloomberg reported in April that an Ellington fund focused on residential mortgage debt had generated a 24% return since 2023.

Ellington’s stock price closed around $13 a share on Wednesday, after hitting a recent peak of $19 in 2021. A spokeswoman for Ellington had no comment by press time.

Seven Sunset Park buildings trade hands in $20M deal

By Eddie Small

A septet of apartment buildings in Sunset Park has traded hands for $20 million, property records show.

e properties, addressed at 437, 438, 442, 445, 446, 449 and 450 61st St., all stand 4 stories tall and contain more than 120 apartments across about 106,000 square feet among them, according to city records. Bensonhurst real estate rm Sterling Group bought the buildings from multiple limited liability companies based in Sunset Park, according to property records.

e deal included about $32.5 million in nancing from Virginia-based real estate and investment company Greystone, records show.

e vast majority of units in the buildings are rent-stabilized, and Sterling plans to do minor renovations at the portfolio, according to the Commercial Observer, which

rst reported news of the deal. Many of the rent-stabilized units will be eligible for rent increases if they become vacant, the Observer reported.

A representative for Sterling did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

e buildings are all located between Fourth and Fifth avenues in the Brooklyn neighborhood, close to the Belt Parkway.

Rosewood Realty Group’s Ben Khakshoor, Alex Fuchs and Aaron Jungreis, along with Marcus & Millichap’s John Brennan, brokered both sides of the deal.

Commercial properties

Sunset Park is still better known for its commercial real estate than its residential properties. e area is home to the sprawling Industry City campus, and FedEx made a massive industrial real estate purchase in the neighborhood in late 2023, buying the 18-acre site at 75 20th St. for $248 million for a distribution center. Developers have long been trying to build an ambitious project at 6128 Eighth Ave.

for $5.4M

320 Convent Ave., Hamilton Heights. | COMPASS

C. J. Hughes

The townhouse’s exterior. | COMPASS

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Caban’s resignation amid corruption probe raises more questions than it answers

The police commissioner’s departure won’t take much heat off of Eric Adams or Phil Banks as investigation continues

In three years, Mayor Eric Adams has appointed three di erent police commissioners.

is bare fact alone can tell the story of an administration that has been embroiled in one form of scandal or another for just about the entirety of its existence. Edward Caban, a close Adams ally, is gone, forced out after the FBI seized his phone in a corruption probe that appears to be penetrating deep into Adams’ inner ring. omas Donlon, himself a former FBI ocial, has taken his place.

Adams has denied wrongdoing and there’s no evidence he himself will be indicted. But with as many as four federal investigations into his administration and 2021 campaign ongoing, anything truly is possible. At the minimum, it seems increasingly likely that someone in his administration will be indicted.

Ross Barkan

And that will be quite damaging for Adams’ political future.

e federal probe that forced Edward Caban’s resignation reportedly touches on police enforcement of nightlife facilities,

and whether James Caban, his twin brother, pro ted from the power Edward Caban wielded over the NYPD. James ran a consulting rm that helped business owners mediate quality-of-life complaints with the police, and several outlets have reported police lieutenants were told to ease up on bars that were James’ clients. At least one bar owner claimed James tried to “extort” him over noise complaints, telling reporters James informed him he could help him with his problems with the police if he paid $2,500 up front. If true, this amounts to a brazen, petty form of corruption right out of 20th century machine politics — and speaks to the inherent rot inside the Adams administration. is probe, it should be noted, is unrelated to the investigation into Adams’ 2021 campaign for potential campaign nance violations. at probe is tied to a possible straw donor scheme to conceal illegal contributions to Adams’ campaign from the Turkish government or Turkish nationals.

What’s also interesting about the Caban resignation is that Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety, was not pressured to leave with him. e feds seized Banks’ phone, along with Sheena Wright’s. Wright is a deputy mayor who lives with David Banks, Philip’s brother and the chancellor of the Department of Education.

Philip Banks is very close to Adams, and this led to his surprising return to city government after he resigned from the NYPD a decade ago following an FBI investigation into unexplained cash in his bank account. He was never charged with a crime. Now, in a di erent case, the feds are drawing closer, and Banks cannot be breathing easily.

Newly created position

e deputy mayor position he holds was created explicitly for him by Adams. It did not exist under Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio, and it brought him into con ict with the rst Adams police commissioner, Keechant Sewell. Sewell, the department’s rst-ever female commissioner, resigned after interference from Adams and

Banks made it virtually impossible for her to properly discipline ocers and run the department the way she was promised. For now, Adams and Banks can only hope the federal investigations lead to nothing. Even if they do, he will have a tough ght in the Democratic primary next year. Yet another challenger, a Queens state senator named Jessica Ramos, emerged to take him on, and the eld could include even more

candidates. Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor, might be looming. Brad Lander, the current city comptroller, and Scott Stringer, his predecessor, are already raising cash for campaigns next year.

All of them are waiting for the next shoe to drop. Given the chaos of the last few years, they shouldn’t be waiting too long.

Ross Barkan is a journalist and author in New York City.

City triples Local Law 97 enforcement staff as lawsuit looms

By Caroline Spivack

e Adams administration has more than tripled the number of sta to enforce New York’s building climate law, Local Law 97, even in the face of a drawn-out legal ght that threatens to upend the contentious law ahead of a fast-approaching 2025 deadline for property owners to prove their buildings comply or face nancial

up to the May 2025 deadline for building owners to submit reports to the city proving that they’ve begun to slash their carbon emissions.

The city contributed $4 million in this year’s budget and secured a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy that will partially go toward increasing the staff.

consequences.

As of September, the Department of Buildings has a team of 30 full-time sta members dedicated to overseeing the building decarbonization law, and is onboarding another eight people that will imminently join the Local Law 97 team, DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky told Crain’s. ere are an additional 20 positions that the city says it’s rushing to ll leading

For months, the City Council and climate advocates have criticized the city’s Buildings Department as being woefully understa ed to e ectively enforce the decarbonization law, which began to take e ect for some 50,000 buildings at the start of the year but that won’t begin to be enforced with nes and other mechanisms until next spring. A state court lawsuit seeking to block the law also has the city on the defensive and continues to fuel hope for some property owners who aren’t eager to make green building investments. On Sept. 9, a judge paused the lawsuit until at least Dec. 9 while the city tries to get the case dismissed on appeal, court records show.

e Adams administration has responded with a concentrated effort to sta up its Local Law 97 team within the Buildings Department, kicking in $4 million in this year’s budget toward the e ort and on Sept. 9 securing a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy that will partially

go toward increasing the sta of the Buildings Department’s sustainability team.

ose e orts are the city broadcasting to property owners that it fully intends to go after those who fail to meet the law’s requirements by next spring — regardless of if the state court lawsuit continues to loom over the process. City Law Department spokesman Nicholas Paolucci con rmed to Crain’s that Local Law 97 remains in e ect and will continue to be implemented; it’s unclear if the court case will be

resolved by December, he added. e Buildings Department’s current sta of 38 to oversee the law is more than triple the sparse team of 11 the agency had focused on the issue at the start of the year. It’s still a relatively small team to enforce compliance for thousands of city buildings, but the Adams administration is grappling with recruitment challenges for the positions since they require occupational licenses, and the Buildings Department is up against robust competition from the private sector.

Once May arrives, sta dedicated to Local Law 97 will be tasked with collecting and analyzing thousands of building emissions reports, along with doling out and enforcing penalties to building owners who fail to meet their new carbon emissions targets under the law. If a building exceeds its carbon cap, owners will face fees of $268 for every ton of carbon dioxide over the limit. at could add up to nes of tens of thousands of dollars against a property each year.

Police Commissioner Edward Caban (center) may have resigned under pressure, but headaches remain for Mayor Eric Adams and his Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks (left). ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

Local Law 97 took effect for many of the city’s large buildings at the start of the year. BLOOMBERG

Mayor must work for all New Yorkers, not just for the Police Department

Cracking down on subway fare evasion is critical to keeping the transit system funded and safe, but, as with everything, there are limits.

When NYPD o cers opened re on a 37-year-old man who allegedly outed the $2.90 fare on Sunday, Sept. 15, at a Brooklyn L station — striking four people, including a 49-year-old bystander who was hit in the head and gravely injured — they crossed a line. And by praising the o cers involved for showing what he called “a great level of restraint,” Mayor Eric Adams also crossed a line. His inability to condemn what appears to be an overuse of force and take up for his fellow New Yorkers — innocent bystanders who should not feel at risk of gun re in the subway system, especially not from o cers tasked with ensuring their safety — is an epic misstep.

O cers began their pursuit over an unpaid train fare and escalated it from there. Police allege the man threatened them and brandished a knife, but it was nonetheless a reckless move for o cers to open re on a crowded subway platform. e shooting left four injured, including the

fare evasion suspect, a second bystander and a cop hit by friendly re.  Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at the Riders Alliance, told Crain’s reporter Caroline Spivack in reaction to the incident (story on Page 2): “No one should have ever been hurt — no collateral damage, no bystander injured over $2.90. at’s a complete outrage and should have never happened.”

At a news conference, Adams said it was “unfortunate that innocent people were shot. ... But they were shot because they had a dangerous repeat o ender on our subway system.” Adams may feel the need to keep the NYPD on his side as the incident took place just three days after Edward Caban resigned as the city’s police commissioner amid an FBI investigation, said Christina Greer, associate professor of

Investing in the MTA will help connect people to opportunities, create new ones

In the coming weeks, the MTA will release its 2025 – 2029 capital plan, which details the investments necessary to keep New Yorkers on the move and support the entire region’s growth while creating union jobs that provide a pathway to the middle class. For decades, leaders in Albany have passed ve-year capital plans to fund the critical upgrades our transit system requires. While it may not be one of our bestknown New York traditions, it is the most important one to keep millions of New Yorkers moving. Funding the capital plan is a no-brainer. Previous capital plans are responsible for the bene ts we take for granted today, including new train cars, new signal upgrades, and new expansions to service. Transformational projects like the Second Avenue Subway, Grand Central Madison, and ird Track were achieved because leaders in Albany funded them through the capital plan. It is impossible to use transit without experiencing a bene t that was funded through the MTA’s capital program.

plan investments expand transit access and connect New Yorkers with more opportunities across the region. Additionally, signi cant investments in infrastructure create and sustain good-paying union jobs, fueling our regional economy. Our leaders in Albany must fund the plan to deliver bene ts for residents across the region.

e 2025-2029 capital plan is crucial to maintaining the mass transit system that New Yorkers rely on. From new train cars to replacing aging ones that are prone to breakdowns, to subway signal upgrades that improve service, these investments will signi cantly improve the rider experience. Resiliency projects and back-ofhouse improvements at train yards, depots, and substations may be invisible to riders, but these are projects that are necessary to keep New Yorkers moving and the system functioning. ese investments are vital to sustain the transit system as it stands and to set the stage for further improvements.

Transit riders will see more of the improvements they know and love. Capital

Investments in the capital plan are not limited to ensuring our transit system functions well. e 2025-2029 capital plan will detail projects that expand access to public

transportation. Accessibility upgrades will allow more New Yorkers to reach more parts of the region. e Interborough Express will connect neighborhoods across Brooklyn and Queens, allowing residents to reach new options for jobs, education, health care, recreation, and more. ese improvements will do more than connect people to opportunities, they will create new ones. Union construction jobs are critical to supporting New York’s economy. When we invest in mass transit, we create good-paying, dependable jobs that strengthen the region, and sustain the working- and middle class. When union labor wins, everybody wins. Workers who build your station’s elevator or upgrade your bus depot will spend their wages at local businesses, supporting other jobs, families, and communities in turn. We don’t just build the infrastructure New Yorkers rely on. We also fuel the growth our region depends on. at’s why investing in infrastructure — especially our public transportation system — is critical for powering New York’s future. Adjusted for in ation, the MTA’s previous 2020-2024 Capital Plan would cost over $70 billion today. When you consider the benets for riders, workers, and the regional economy, funding the Capital Plan doesn’t just make sense, it is absolutely necessary. Now is the right time to make these in-

political science at Fordham University.

Even as the NYPD acknowledged that all the gun re emanated from police weapons, Adams’ rst words were not to reassure New Yorkers, who may now have a fresh fear of traveling on the subway, but to back his former colleagues. He shouldn’t require a reminder that o cers are not tasked with being judge, jury and executioner when it comes to suspected crime.

As the mayor’s legal woes mount and more Democrats announce they will run against him as he seeks re-election, showing some concern for his fellow New Yorkers, not just the NYPD, would be wise. His cop- rst mentality, even in an incident where the police clearly deserve criticism for their escalation of a minor infraction into a life-threatening situation, is an insult to the very constituents he claims to be trying to keep safe.

New Yorkers deserve to feel safe as they use the transit system to get to work, school and home. When o cers are the source of the violence, the mayor must condemn them and hold them accountable.

vestments. Since the pandemic, o ce and commercial development in New York has slowed. Meanwhile, transit ridership continues to recover and the MTA continues to provide union workers with reliable opportunities in construction. As other industries lull, it makes perfect sense to put construction workers to work so we can do what we do best: build the infrastructure that millions of New Yorkers rely on.

e MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan is an important investment that will keep New York moving in many ways. Transit improvements for New Yorkers, expanding transit access, and putting union construction tradespeople to work is a win-win-win. Our residents, our region, and our economy will see a multitude of bene ts that will last for generations. Our leaders in Albany must do their part in funding this program to ensure New Yorkers continue to access good-paying jobs and world-class public transit. We’ll take it from there.

Gary LaBarbera is the president of the New York City and New York State Building and Construction Trades Council.

Funding the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan is critical for powering New York’s future, writes Gary LaBarbera. | BLOOMBERG

Restrictive child care access is costing economy billions

Working parents in New York City deserve easier access to child care. Many of us have had to reschedule a meeting or leave work early to pick up the kids before day care closes, while many others struggle to nd a convenient and affordable option in the rst place. In a pre-pandemic study of working parents, the EDC cited 65% reported productivity was hampered by scheduling issues and 29% was directly related to lack of child care, among other factors — an issue that disproportionately a ects working mothers.

We don’t have enough supply to keep up with the demand for child care. ere are 445,000 children under the age of ve living in New York City. According to a recent report by the 5BORO Institute, licensed child care centers in the city only have the capacity to serve 46% of those children. So the options we do have are wildly competitive and expensive, forcing many parents to choose whether or not to continue working and stay in the city. is is not only an issue for families, it’s also costing the city. According to the city’s EDC, parents cutting work hours or leaving New York altogether because of

PERSONAL VIEW

child care needs ended up costing the city $23 billion in lost economic output in 2022. Nearly three-quarters of respondents in a recent Downtown Alliance ofce worker survey cited child care needs as a barrier to coming into their o ces as opposed to working remotely. As the summer comes to a close and we begin the school year, we must work toward a better future for our children and a stronger economic outlook for our city.

Now, the Better Child Care NYC coalition, which includes 35 business, labor and nonpro t groups, aims to increase child care access for families across New York. e group includes the District Council 37 labor union, the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the Alliance for Downtown New York, the Committee for Hispanic Children & Families, Phipps Houses, Vivvi, and all ve New York City borough chambers of commerce, among others. Better Child Care NYC advocates for policies that would allow the city to create more child care centers, get new ones online faster and expand much-needed service to more New Yorkers.  ere are policy tools that we could use

to generate tens of thousands of valuable seats citywide, including in Lower Manhattan. For example, the city could work with Albany to update the state’s tax credit program for property owners who retrot spaces into new child care centers. An existing $25 million allotment for this is already set aside in the state budget, but the funds aren’t being used to their full potential. e city is leaving millions of state dollars on the table because property owners aren’t adequately incentivized to make the costly renovations. e current program is capped at $15 per square foot in child care deserts and $7 per square foot otherwise, covering up to

$225,000 of construction costs. rough reforms, the coalition wants to make sure the credit is optimally allocated, and also wants to ensure a multi-sector outreach so more child care centers can bene t. ese fully utilized abatement funds could create up to 11,000 additional child care seats, according to the EDC. Increasing the value of each individual tax credit within the current budget parameters could spur much needed action and more fully maximize impact, but support from the city and legislature are needed to make this proposal a reality.

Our children are our future. e time to invest in them is now.

Reimagining the carbon story of commercial real estate

As New York is facing concurrent housing and climate crises, it’s time to think about how we can more efciently and sustainably utilize our built environment. e buildings that comprise New York City’s expansive skyline are more than just iconic, they’re incredibly carbon intensive. Globally, the built environment accounts for a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, and in New York, roughly 70 percent of greenhouse emissions come from buildings. Meanwhile, the city is facing a severe housing crisis where, in 2023, just over 1 percent of apartments were empty and available to rent.

Over the past few years, the city has undergone a major transformation of how we use our buildings, particularly our commercial spaces. Class B and C o ces, which are aging and facing less demand, are on the path to extinction unless signicant investments are made to upgrade or adapt them to meet the city’s needs. To meet the dual-demands of realizing more housing and reducing carbon emissions, our team of engineers at Arup recently studied the potential carbon savings of ofce-to-residential conversions in New York to understand the bene ts of conversions from an energy-saving, and ulti-

mately cost-saving, perspective.

David Farnsworth leads Arup’s property team in the Americas and is currently working on a number of o ce-toresidential conversion projects in New York.

Our research shows that if New York took the step to expand conversion eligibility to all Manhattan o ce buildings below 59th Street built between the 1960s and 1990s, we could create 20,000 new apartments and reduce whole life carbon emissions by 54% by 2050. at’s the equivalent of taking 2.3 million passenger vehicles o the road each year just by converting existing commercial space to housing rather than building 20,000 new units of housing from the ground up. e signi cance of these ndings cannot be understated. ese striking numbers should propel us — developers, engineers, designers, planners and city leaders alike — to act now and start the process of decarbonizing our built environment while re ecting our city’s needs.

Both New York State and New York City are already taking steps toward embracing o ce-to-residential conversions as a key tool to create more housing. e state legislature recently eliminated the 12 FAR ( oor area ratio) cap for residential projects and introduced tax incentives for conversion projects which include 25% a ordable housing. But these tools can only be impactful if eligibility requirements for residential conversions are eased and inclusive of underutilized com-

mercial buildings citywide.

Mayor Adams proposed the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, a citywide zoning reform plan that will expand outdated eligibility requirements for residential conversions and ease barriers to convert more underutilized commercial spaces into housing. Proposals like this one are critical to put us on a path to use our buildings more e ciently, unlock new housing opportunities and take pressure o our highly-strained residential market — all while reducing emissions.

Not only are o ce-to-residential conversions a commonsense policy that meets multiple objectives, it’s also the more sustainable option that aligns with New York’s ambitious climate goals of reducing econo-

my-wide emissions 40% by 2030. e city has taken important steps to tackle emissions from buildings, including the adoption of Local Law 97 in 2019. While this is a major step to upgrade buildings and address their operational carbon emissions, adaptive reuse of buildings will push us even further in the right direction by addressing and reducing the whole life cycle, embodied carbon of existing buildings.  New York’s progress toward a cleaner built environment should be celebrated, and while we face challenges of climate change, housing availability and o ce vacancy, the city and its property owners should reinforce the importance of these investments and remain at the helm of progress.

Jessica Lappin is the president of the Alliance for Downtown New York.

Of ce-to-residential conversion is a sustainable option that aligns with New York’s ambitious climate goals, writes David Farnsworth of Arup. | BLOOMBERG

We must work toward a better future for our children and a stronger economic outlook for our city, writes Jessica Lappin, president of the Alliance for Downtown New York. | BLOOMBERG

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

To place your listing, visit www.crainsnewyork.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

FINANCE

Gantry, Inc.

Gantry, the largest independent commercial mortgage banking rm in the U.S., welcomes Andy Weiss as the newest addition to its production team, where he assumes the role of Director. Weiss will be directly responsible for loan origination with Gantry’s more than 100 correspondent and af liated lenders, working nationally from the rm’s production of ce in New York. Weiss joins Gantry with over a decade of real estate and transaction experience.

LEGAL

Tannenbaum Helpern Syracuse & Hirschritt LLP

COMPANIES ON THE MOVE

FINANCE

J.P. Morgan Private Bank

Nicole Steinwedell has joined J.P. Morgan Private Bank in New York as Vice President and Banker. Nicole specializes in advising families, individuals and entertainment professionals. She brings a meticulous approach to wealth planning and navigating nancial complexities for her clients. Nicole joins the rm from The Colony Group.

• Logo Licensing • Social Media Images

• Plaques/Frames

Celebrate your success with promotional products! Contact: Lauren Melesio Sales Manager lmelesio@crain.com • Digital Reprint

Tannenbaum Helpern is proud to announce the arrival of Daniel J. Horwitz as partner in the Firm’s Criminal Defense and Litigation and Dispute Resolution practices. With a distinguished career in white collar criminal and regulatory defense, Dan brings extensive experience in defending individuals and corporations in high-stakes criminal and regulatory investigations and prosecutions, as well as decades of experience in complex commercial litigation matters.

To place your listing, visit crainsnewyork.com/ company-on-the-move

Womble Bond Dickinson

LEGAL

Vinson & Elkins

Sara (Bussiere) Brauerman has joined Vinson & Elkins as a New York-based partner in the rm’s Complex Commercial Litigation Practice. She represents public and private companies, underwriters, lenders, professional services rms, and their partners, corporate directors, and others in a variety of industries, including nancial services, professional services, insurance, and pharmaceuticals. Sara is admitted to the Delaware bar and began her career litigating in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

LEGAL

Vinson & Elkins

Jason Halper has joined Vinson & Elkins as a New York-based partner in the rm’s Complex Commercial Litigation practice group. He has decades of experience practicing in the areas of nancial services and securities law, complex commercial disputes and corporate governance. Prior to joining Vinson & Elkins, Jason served as Chair of the Global Litigation Group and was a member of the Management Committee of a New York-based global law rm.

The of ce serves clients across sectors in areas that include IP/ trademark services, business litigation, and corporate and nance. MERGERS &

Womble Bond Dickinson and Lewis Roca announced a merger, effective Jan 1, 2025. The combination of two large, multi-practice rms creates a powerhouse law rm of over 1,300 attorneys in 37 US and UK of ces. Womble opened its New York of ce in 2022 as part of a strong growth trajectory focused on expanding in markets driving innovation and technological change.

Banc of California welcomed Chris Hague as EVP and Head of Specialty Finance to oversee Lender Finance, Asset-Based Lending, and Corporate Asset Finance and Commercial Aviation. Hague managed Lender Finance at Paci c Western Bank until the portfolio was sold before the merger with Banc of California. Banc of California has repurchased some loans from that portfolio, and Hague was rejoined by industry leaders Jeff Galle, Managing Director; Scott Lisman, Senior Director; and Thomas Scott, Investment Of cer.

Banc of California is a premier, relationship-focused, full-service business bank. It’s the thirdlargest bank based in California, with $35.2 billion in total assets. It provides a range of banking and treasury management services.

New Hires / Promotions Board Appointments Retirements

City expands behemoth migrant hotel contract to $1 billion

By Nick Garber

New York City is extending its contract with the middleman that has helped shelter thousands of asylum-seekers in hotel rooms, bringing the cost of that deal to an even $1 billion.

e Department of Homeless Services’ $987 million deal with the Hotel Association of New York City Foundation that began in 2022 was set to expire in August, but will now be extended through Dec. 31, according to records published Sept. 9. at $50 million extension pushes the contract past the billion-dollar mark.

e contract covers the cost of up to 14,000 privately-owned hotel rooms in which newly arrived migrants are being housed. A DHS spokesman said the relatively short extension and modest cost increase re ect the slowed pace of new arrivals into the city: 700 migrants entered the city’s care between Sept. 2 and Sept. 8, down from a peak of about 4,000 during a week in January.

e trade group representing hotel owners used its linked charitable foundation to coordinate the placement of unhoused people in hotel rooms during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was able to spin that work into a similar city contract during the migrant crisis, signing what was

initially a $237 million contract with DHS in 2022 to secure rooms in privately-owned hotels to house newly arrived migrants.

e city’s budget has been strained by the costs of caring for the more than 215,000 asylum seekers that have entered New York since 2022. e entire crisis is now estimated to cost the city about $5.5 billion through June 2025, with those nightly hotel rentals making up a signi cant chunk.

e HANYC Foundation funnels payments from the city to hotel operators for the use of their rooms. e foundation negotiates nightly room rates based on a price range set by the city, which has paid an average of $156 per room. at is generally in line with the market value of similar hotels, according to a July report by the city comptroller.

Likely to be renewed

“Since the early stages of this humanitarian crisis, HANYC has been a critical partner in our efforts to meet the unprecedented need for shelter, helping us rapidly open scores of emergency DHS facilities by streamlining the process of identifying potential hotels and then managing and paying hotels serving as shelters,” DHS spokesman Nicholas Jacobelli said in a statement.

“Because of this support, we have been able to provide appropriate shelter to tens of thousands of asylum-seeking families and individuals while also minimizing administrative burdens on the agency and providers alike. is contract extension will simply allow HANYC to continue providing these critical services through the end of this year.” e contract appears likely to be

renewed again after Dec. 31, since the current migrant shelter population of 119,400 is unlikely to drop signi cantly by then. About 9,500 rooms were occupied through the contract as of January, the comptroller found, although the exact number uctuates from day to day. e department said it expects minimal growth in the number of people housed in hotels through the end of 2024. More than 1,200 migrants left the city’s care during

the same week that 700 people arrived, driven partly by limits on shelter stays that Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has imposed. Sheltering so many migrants in hotels has buoyed the city’s hospitality industry, helping it recover from the pandemic. It has also driven up costs for consumers: Revenue per available room, a widely used metric, reached $301 in May, a 12.5% increase from 2023, according to CoStar.

Thousands of hotel rooms across the city have served as temporary shelter through a city contract with the Hotel Association of New York City, now expanded to run through 2024 at a total cost of $1 billion. | BUCK ENNIS

Extell plans to open Kimpton hotel near Rockefeller Center

Eddie Small

Kimpton Hotels will open its newest Manhattan location at Extell Development’s long-gestating hospitality project near Rockefeller Center, the rms announced Sept. 12.

Kimpton Rockefeller Center will be located at 32 W. 48th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, where Extell has spent years planning a major hotel development. It will stand 33 stories tall with 529

Kimpton has 75 locations across the globe and 57 scheduled to open within the next ve years. Its other Manhattan spots are at 790 Eighth Ave. in Times Square and 851 Sixth Ave. in Chelsea.

$220 million in nancing

Extell led plans with the Department of Buildings in late 2020 for the hotel project, which should span about 226,000 square feet overall, according to the ling. e Gary Barnett-led rm landed $220 million innancing for the hotel in late 2023, property records show.

The 33-story, 529-room development from Gary Barnett’s rm should open in late 2025.

rooms, and its amenities will include two restaurants, a rooftop bar and a tness center. e pet-friendly project is scheduled to open in late 2025 and will be Kimpton’s third location in the city.

Extell is planning another major project just steps away at 574 Fifth Ave., where it recently led plans for a 32-story o ce tower that will have Manhattan’s rst Ikea on the rst two oors.

Kimpton was founded in 1981 and was a pioneer of the boutique hotel concept. Its rst hotel was in San Francisco. e brand is now

part of the massive IHG Hotels & Resorts portfolio, which agreed to purchase it in late 2014 for $430 million.

New York’s hotel industry has enjoyed a solid rebound from the

depths of the pandemic, with occupancy rates approaching 90% over the spring and summer, according to data from the New York City Economic Development Corp. However, some in the in-

dustry have attributed this more to government policies around issues such as the migrant crisis and illegal short-term rentals than to a pure turnaround in the market.

Extell is developing a 33-story Kimpton hotel at 32 W. 48th St. near Rockefeller Center. COSTAR

Reviving congestion pricing with lower tolls would start new review process, delay program for years, report says

By Caroline Spivack

Gov. Kathy Hochul has said she’s open to reinstating congestion pricing with a lower toll, but such a change would be politically tough to achieve and could restart a years-long review process, State Comptroller omas DiNapoli warns in a new report.

MTA o cials settled on the $15 base fee for the tolling program after transit o cials spent years studying potential scenarios between $9 and $23 for drivers enter-

“The choices that the MTA and the state make in the coming months will determine the future of the transportation system for years to come.”

Thomas DiNapoli, New York State

comptroller

ing Manhattan south of 60th Street. But in June the governor said the fee was “too much for New Yorkers at this time” and hit the brakes on the toll. Now if Hochul introduces a new plan to lower the tolls, the state Legislature would have to amend the 2019 law that created the program to require less revenue, since the program was set to generate some $15 billion for mass transit upgrades, said DiNapoli.

Such a change would open up a political can of worms by requiring state lawmakers to again vote on the Manhattan toll, which opens elected o cials up to fresh ire from their constituents. Some lawmakers also see a vote as an opportunity to ght for new exemptions, and could further alter the program. Crucially, federal regulators would need to conduct new analysis of the reduced tolls, and if Hochul seeks to set the base fee below the $9 minimum transit o cials have already explored, that could mean years more of additional review. It’s currently unclear what gure the governor believes would be a politically palatable base toll.

DiNapoli’s report warns that depending on new analysis the federal government “could remove approvals of adjustments to a new tolling plan, based on its impact on tra c patterns and environmental qualities such as air pollution, creating additional uncertainty.”

Any process that promises additional review makes the tolling program vulnerable to being scrapped by former President Donald Trump if he is reelected to the White House this fall. In May, the Republican presidential candidate pledged to kill congestion pricing in his rst week in o ce. If that unfolds it means the toll is unlikely to take e ect for several

years, if ever.

Plenty of ‘pitfalls’

A lower toll is far from an easy x and comes with plenty of “pitfalls,” reinforced Lisa Daglian, the executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

“It’s not just as simple as saying, oh, I’d like to do this or I’d like to do that,” said Daglian in a recent interview. “If you move the pieces

on the board too much you have to reopen the federal process and remodel everything.”

In the meantime Hochul’s decision to halt congestion pricing has blown a $15 billion hole in the MTA’s current capital budget, which has forced the agency to stall $16 billion in work to modernize and expand service on the subway, buses and commuter rail. e problem is about to get much worse with the MTA required to submit a new ve-year capital plan by Oct. 1 that could come

with an eye-popping price tag of somewhere between $57 billion to $92 billion — on top of the $15 billion the agency is currently missing from congestion pricing, according to DiNapoli.

“ e choices that the MTA and the state make in the coming months will determine the future of the transportation system for years to come,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Understanding the options and what’s at stake is key for all stakeholders and riders in particular.”

Hotel owners vow to kill licensing bill, defying powerful union

Nick Garber

Hotel owners descended on City Hall on Sept. 12 in a show of force against a bill that they say would cripple the city’s hospitality industry. But the powerful hotel workers’ union backing the legislation is making progress in its quest to push it through the City Council.

e bill, by Manhattan Councilwoman Julie Menin, would for the rst time require hotels to get a license to operate in New York City. To get a license, owners would need to show compliance with various safety rules and also be barred from hiring non-union subcontractors for jobs like housekeeping and the front desk — satisfying a key goal of the Hotel Gaming and Trades Council union.

Chanting “kill the bill,” hotel owners held a rally on the steps of City Hall on Sept. 12, joined by workers from the newly formed Coalition of Hotel Subcontractors. at group appears to be connected to Rhode Island-based hotel investment rm Magna Hospitality, according to a lobbying ling by the coalition that shares an address with the company.

“It’s a sweeping overreach, and one that would impose arbitrary

sta ng requirements, onerous new costs, and ban hotels from using subcontractors,” said Kevin Carey, interim president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, on Sept. 12. Hotel owners argue the bill would create major new costs for smaller operators that rely on subcontracted work, potentially resulting in layo s, hotel closures and higher costs for consumers.

Although several hundred subcontractors turned out to rail against the bill, HTC provided reporters with text messages showing that some workers had been encouraged by their superiors to attend, including with the promise of up to $150 in pay. e union published a recording in which one hotel’s housekeeping manager tells employees they “have to go” to the rally. (John DeSio, a spokesman for the hoteliers, rejected the claims as a “desperate stunt” and said employers are free to encourage their workers to attend events on a voluntary basis. No workers received extra pay for attending, DeSio said.)

e speakers opposed to the bill were drowned out at moments by a counter-rally by HTC, whose sta ers also huddled inside City Hall with Menin, the bill’s sponsor. e bill has scrambled political al-

legiances, with two former leaders of the union now advising the hoteliers who oppose it, Crain’s reported last month.

e campaigns against the bill have had a limited e ect: It now has support from 35 members of the 51-person council, a veto-proof supermajority and an increase from 31 sponsors in August.

e widespread support points to the in uence of HTC, which has been credited with persuading city lawmakers to severely curtail the construction of new hotels through a 2021 law.

Mayor Eric Adams has hinted at support for the bill, telling reporters last month that “I love working with the City Council when they talk about how we make our city safer.”

Bill has won some support

Menin, who represents the Upper East Side, abruptly canceled a scheduled hearing on the bill in July to address concerns raised by the restaurant industry that have since been resolved. But she said in an interview on Sept. 12 that she hopes a new hearing will be scheduled “soon,” setting the stage for a possible vote.

Menin has defended the bill as a modest attempt to improve safety

at hotels, responding to rising consumer complaints. e bill has won support from the city’s ve district attorneys and a major police union, thanks to provisions that would require owners to provide workers with panic buttons and require the continuous presence of a security guard in large hotels.

An initial broad ban on subcontracted workers has been narrowed and no longer applies to positions like cooks and security.

Menin said she was open to more

changes, although the hotel industry alleges it has been largely shut out of negotiations.

“No one is going to lose their job, and the hotel can hire those workers directly and those workers will now make more money,” Menin said.

Menin is expected to run for City Council speaker in 2026 and could bene t greatly from HTC’s support, but she has denied that such calculations factored into her decision to sponsor the bill.

Kevin Carey, interim president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, spoke alongside hotel subcontractors during a Sept. 12 City Hall rally against the City Council’s licensing bill. | NICK GARBER

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli | UNSPLASH/NEW YORK STATE COMPTROLLER’S OFFICE

Mandatory composting arrives: What landlords need to know

By Caroline Spivack

New York’s quest to implement the largest composting program in the U.S. will take a big step forward on Oct. 6, when all residential buildings in M anhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island will be required to separate food scraps from other garbage each week in curbside bins.

T he mandatory composting program stems from a

bill passed by the City Council in 2023. T he effort rst launched in Queens in 2022, then expanded to Brooklyn in 2023, and now it’s the rest of the boroughs’ turn. Originally, the Department of Sanitation intended to start the program in the Bronx and Staten Island in M arch, followed by M anhattan this fall, but budget cuts ordered by M ayor Eric Adams forced the agency to delay the rollout by seven months. Now the three boroughs are

WHAT HAPPENS IF MY BUILDING DOESN’T PARTICIPATE?

At rst, essentially nothing. Buildings are supposed to comply starting the week of Oct. 6, but the city will only send out written warnings to buildings that aren’t composting until April 1, 2025.

From then on the city will begin ning buildings: Homes and buildings with up to eight units will get hit with a $25 fee that will climb to $50 for a second offense and then $100 for the third and all future offenses. Larger buildings, with nine or more units, will be ned with a $100 ne at rst, a $200 fee for a second offense and then all future tickets will be $300.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Department of Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch kicked off the mandatory composting program at the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens August 2022. |

“We’re not doing this to try and ne people,” said Day. “At the end of the day, our goal is really to just try and divert this material from land lls.”

HOW DOES PICKUP WORK?

A building’s compost collection day will be the same as its recycling day. So if tenants typically lug their recyclables out to the bin the night before a Wednesday pickup, that’ll also be when they bring their organic waste to the compost bin. Residents can store their compost in their fridge or freezer in a zip-lock bag or other low-tech container until it’s time to dump the refuse (the cold will prevent the food from rotting and stinking up the place). Most of the waste will end up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where large metal “digester eggs” at a sanitation facility convert the waste into renewable fuel (biogas) that goes back into the grid to power homes.

getting the program at the same time.

C omposting more organic waste is part of the city’s strategy to combat climate change by keeping food scraps out of land lls where it produces planet-warming methane gas. Here’s what New Yorkers who manage properties, whether it’s their home or a larger portfolio, can expect when curbside composting arrives in their area.

WHEN WILL CURBSIDE COMPOSTING COME TO MY BOROUGH?

As of Oct. 6, the city will begin weekly pickups for compost in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island. All residential buildings are required to participate as of this fall, but the city is giving property owners a grace period up to April 1, 2025, before it’ll begin issuing nes. “This is basically a way to give people a chance to get used to the correct behavior before we really start cracking down,” said Richard Day, the enrollment coordinator for organics outreach with the city’s Sanitation Department, during a Sept. 12 event on how curbside composting will work for building management.

DO I NEED TO BUY A BIN FOR MY BUILDING, AND WHERE SHOULD IT GO?

The short answer is no. You can order a free brown composting bin from the city. But any bin with a capacity of 55 gallons or less and a tight lid will work (you’ll just need to order a free composting decal from the city to slap on the side of it). Building staff can simply place the bins alongside where they usually put their garbage and recycling bins.

WHAT GOES IN A CURBSIDE COMPOST BIN, AND WHAT’S OFF LIMITS?

“Really if you can eat it, you can compost it,” said Day. Fruits, vegetables, dairy products, meats, bones, shell sh, and so on, can be plopped in a compost bin for weekly pickup. Soiled paper products — think dirty napkins, coffee lters, greasy pizza boxes — and leaf and grass scraps from yards can also go in the compost bin. In terms of what’s off limits, the big no-no is any animal or human waste. If it’s not some sort of organic food-related scrap or plant trimming then chuck it in the garbage or recycling.

HOW DO I GET TENANTS ON BOARD WITH COMPOSTING?

“Early communication is the most important thing when it comes to this program,” said Day. The city offers informational sheets on the program that can be ordered online and hung up around building common areas and shared at tenant or board meetings, added Day.

Curbside composting will be mandatory for residential buildings in Manhattan, the Bronx and Staten Island in October. | CAROLINE SPIVACK

Of ce tower owner makes higher-than-expected down payment to secure new Park Avenue mortgage

By Aaron Elstein

e owner of 277 Park Ave. put up a higher-than-expected down payment in order to re nance its mortgage, a sign of continued reluctance among banks to lend to even the nest o ce buildings.

e Stahl Organization kicked in $283 million to secure a new $750 million mortgage from Deutsche Bank, which replaces the one for 277 Park that expired last month, bond-rating rm KBRA said in a report Sept. 11. Stahl had been expected to contribute $250 million toward the re nancing,

$120 per square foot in base rent for space near the top, according to KBRA.

Leases set to expire

But JPMorgan’s leases expire between 2026 and 2028, according to KBRA, and the rm said the bank is expected to move out shortly after its new headquarters across the street is nished next year. A JPMorgan spokesman said “it is too early to comment on our plans for 277 Park.”

KBRA reported earlier.

e property at 277 Park is a 51-story, 1.9 million-square-foot tower at East 47th Street that is 98% leased. Stahl, which has owned the tower since 1963, recently invested $150 million in new entrances and elevators, along with a restaurant and other amenities. JPMorgan Chase occupies almost half the tower, and other tenants include Japanese bank Sumitomo Mitsui, M&T Bank and Visa, which pays almost

Stahl has already leased most of a 300,000-square-foot slug of space that JPMorgan left behind in 2021, but the prospect of lling another 900,000 square feet seems to have given the landlord’s lender pause.

In addition to demanding a higher down payment, Deutsche Bank’s new mortgage for 277 Park has a ve-year term, half the length of the building’s previous loan, and an interest rate nearly twice as high at 7.01%, according to KBRA.

A spokesman for Stahl said its $283 million payment would create a reserve fund for the building. Costs covered by the fund would include tenant improvements and free rent, KBRA said. Deutsche Bank had no immediate comment.

Banks are frequently demanding that landlords pony up larger sums of cash before re nancing their mortgages at higher rates

French skin care rm Caudalie buys SoHo retail space for $9.7M

Julianne Cuba

French skin care company Caudalie is expanding its presence in the city through its purchase of a SoHo retail property for just under $10 million, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Sept. 11.

e luxury brand, started by Mathilde and Bertrand omas in Bordeaux in 1995, will likely set up

Stahl owns 3,000 apartments and more than 5 million square feet of commercial space in New York. The luxury brand signed a lease for of ce space at 381 Park Ave. South in January.

shop in its new storefront at 130 Greene St. Laurent Fromigue, the chiefnancial o cer for Caudalie USA, signed the $9.7 million deed for the ground- oor berth in the

than they required in a pre-Covid environment. In June, for instance, Vornado Realty Trust contributed $100 million toward a new $300 million loan for 640 Fifth Ave., a 300,000-square-foot o ce and re-

tail building. Stahl owns 3,000 apartments and more than 5 million square feet of commercial space in New York, including the landmarked Chanin Building on East 42nd

Street. Founder Stanley Stahl died in 1999. His business partner of 40 years, Abe Hirschfeld, was convicted of paying a hitman to kill him in 1996 and served two years in prison. He passed away in 2005.

6-story building between Prince and West Houston streets, records show, through the limited liability company Soixante Dix. Attempts to reach Fromigue were unsuccessful by press time.

In historic district

It’s unclear if this is Caudalie’s rst real estate purchase in the city. e acquisition comes months after the European company signed a 10-year lease for 14,000 square feet of o ce space on the 16th oor of 381 Park Ave. South, where the asking rent was $69 per square foot, the Commercial Observer reported in January. It’s the same Midtown address associated with the private entity Caudalie used to purchase the commercial unit.

e company sells its serums and elixirs, developed using natural ingredients from grapes and vines, in beauty stores such as Sephora and Bluemercury. Caudalie also has a boutique spa at

823 Washington St. in the Meatpacking District, which city records indicate is leased. e terms of the lease agreement were not immediately clear, but retail space available in the same building is listed at $185 per square foot, according to LoopNet.

e property at 130 Greene St., a circa-1910 building that sits within the city’s SoHo-Cast Iron Historic

District, has 3,568 square feet of commercial space as well as 8,386 square feet of residential, records show. e retail portion was previously occupied by the clothing store Icon, which appears to have already vacated the space. e seller was Joseph Edery, a principal at the related rm Icon Luxury Group and Tristate Equities, records show. Attorney Morris Miss-

ry, a managing partner at the Midtown rm Wachtel Missry, represented Edery in the sale, records show. Missry did not return a request for comment.

Caudalie did not immediately respond to a request for comment. e company took in about $374 million in revenue in 2022, up about 14% from the previous year, according to Vogue Business.

277 Park Ave. BUCK ENNIS

130 Greene St. | COSTAR / CAUDALIE

Home care agencies lead NYC in wage theft violations

By Ethan Geringer-Sameth

New York’s booming home care industry has produced some of the worst violators of wage theft laws in the city as policymakers look at how to better regulate an industry that takes place behind closed doors. e companies owing the most in wages in New York City from 2020 to 2023 were all home heath care agencies, according to state and federal Department of Labor records kept by the city Comptroller’s o ce. e worst o enders owed tens of millions of dollars to hundreds of workers providing inhome care.

the state Labor Department in 2023, committed by Chipotle Mexican Grill, which amounted to $352,000.

From 2020 to 2022, the top seventeen wage theft o enders investigated by the state Department of Labor were all home health care agencies. Topping that list was Flushing-based American Business Institute, which owed $14.3 million to 175 workers. American Business Institute’s president, Hao Li made $961,000 in salary plus $4.85 million in bonuses in 2022, according to records kept by the state. Its next four top executives each made more than $1 million in bonuses that year, the records show.

“It’s taxpayer dollars that they are stealing for themselves rather than paying workers what they are owed.”

Helen Schaub, interim political director of 1199SEIU

East Shore-based Fadmo Health and Home Care Agency Inc. on Staten Island owed $1.4 million to 22 workers for failing to pay minimum wage or compensating meal hours in 2023, the highest value of unpaid wages in the city that year, according to the Comptroller’s records. at was four times the next highest violation investigated by

e second-place violator was another Flushing-based provider, Royal Care, which was found to owe $10.5 million.

“It’s taxpayer dollars that they are stealing for themselves rather than paying workers what they are owed,” said Helen Schaub, interim political director of 1199SEIU.

Concerns over fair labor practices have perennially plagued the home care industry, where workers are often low-wage and immigrant and lack some of the protections that come with traditional workplaces. e industry has ballooned

in recent years thanks to a popular state program known as Consumer Directed Personal Assistance, which allows individuals to hire and manage their own home health aide. at program has grown to serve roughly 250,000 people across the state and has led to the creation of more than 600 middlemen companies brokering Medicaid payments to workers.

Move to restructure

Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders moved to restructure the program earlier this year over concerns about soaring Medicaid costs and a lack of accountability

for those brokers. Under the changes, New York State will reduce the number of brokers, known as scal intermediaries, to one, which Hochul says will help rein in spending and improve oversight under the largely unregulated middleman industry.

Ruth Kraft, a lawyer at Falcon Rappaport & Berkman who represents Fadmo, the Staten Island provider, said accountability problems work both ways.“

Can the owner of the agency disprove [wage law violations] when they’re not there in the house,” she asked.

A coalition of brokers known as the Alliance to Protect Home Care

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has waged a pitched lobbying and advertising campaign to preserve their efdom, arguing that shifting to a single intermediary will upend the program for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that rely on it.

“We and our members have been asking the state for increased regulation to achieve this for twelve years, and for twelve years the state has rejected or stalled our calls,” said Bryan O’Malley, executive director of the Alliance. “Like any industry, di erences in hours and wages can occur but they are resolved between the home care users, workers and providers. ree agencies that backed the coalition together owe close to $1 million to more than 160 workers, according to the Comptroller’s records. One of them, Borough Parkbased X-Treme Home Care, was found to owe $522,000 to 12 claimants in 2022. Another, Paramount Homecare Agency in Gravesend, owed nearly $300,000 to 153 workers. at company is run by CEO Mariya O engeym, who earned over $1 million in salary in 2022, according to state records.

Paramount Homecare Agency and American Business Institute did not respond to requests for comment. A message left with the answering service of Royal Care was not returned by press time.

The home health care industry has ballooned in recent years. | BLOOMBERG

place a diner — locals refer to anything from local co ee shops that serve breakfast all day to holes in the wall where one can order a hamburger or a lobster dinner to the eateries in prefabricated structures that look like motorhomes as diners — makes keeping a tally all the more di cult.

But according to Riley Arthur, a photographer who has been documenting such establishments across the city since 2016, nearly 150 have closed in the past eight years, at least 18 of them since 2020. Manhattan is still home to the most diners out of all ve boroughs, with 99, although the borough also has lost the most, 50, since the year she started counting. Brooklyn and Queens are nearly tied, with 89 and 87 diners still open, respectively, having both lost 31 since 2016. e Bronx has 50 remaining and has lost 10 in a little less than a decade. And on Staten Island, 21 are still up and running, and one has closed since 2016, she said. She told Crain’s the amount lost in such a short period is concerning.

“ is is like an epidemic,” Arthur said.

Closing the doors

Nikolas Milatos opened Tasty’s at 33-04 Ditmars Blvd. in 2009. He had signed a lease for the space in 2008, and the renovations to transform the Astoria storefront from a hair salon into a 24/7 diner took him a year, he said.

Tasty’s opened in the aftermath of the world’s worst nancial crisis since the Great Depression and managed to stay open every single hour throughout the destruction of Superstorm Sandy in 2012. What nally became too much of a burden to bear, Milatos said, was the cost of rent — $13,800 a month — forcing him to lock up for good on May 31.

Milatos declined to talk specifics about money but said he was pro table prior to 2020 — even as he was operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It wasn’t until the pandemic started that he scaled back his hours from 8 a.m. to midnight and started hemorrhaging revenue, citing the skyrocketing costs of milk, eggs, oil,

avocados and utilities, which he was unable to make up for in the price of a ham-and-cheese omelet. e nal straw, Milatos said, came when his longtime landlord tried to jack up the rent and refused to negotiate.

“I tried to absorb the increase as much as I could. I was operating at break-even — even losing money from Covid,” he told Crain’s. “ e economy never came back, and everything went up.”

Not too far from Tasty’s, on Astoria Boulevard, was Neptune Diner, which closed for good during the summer after four decades in business. e property had recently been sold to new owners and would likely be redeveloped, a member of the family-run diner, which leased the building, told Crain’s in July.

Another of the city’s eateries to close in just the past few months was the Royal Coach Diner in the Laconia section of the Bronx.

“Unfortunately, we had to endure Covid, in ation, increase[d] cost[s], in turn increasing pricing, which a ected our customers,” the diner posted on social media in July. “ e current administration has made it intensely di cult for all small-business owners, not to mention the increase in violent crimes.”

Owner omas Urena said he had become beset by rising costs, and an unfortunate uptick in

come along with helming what are often family-run businesses.

“For us, it’s a family legacy. I’m just hoping that we can push through these hard times.”

Alex Meskouris, Jackson Hole Diner owner

crime in the neighborhood. He served the last meal at 3260 Boston Road during the summer after business hadn’t bounced back enough since the pandemic began for him to keep operating.

“[In ation] dips into pro ts; there’s only so much you can do,” Urena said. “Everything will close the way it’s going.”

The family factor

Although the rising costs of food and utilities have put some diners out of business, others have struggled to survive the strains that

Alex Meskouris, who comes from a Greek family, as do many diner owners, runs the Jackson Hole Diner in Astoria with his brother, Peter. He told Crain’s that many members of the younger generation of often-immigrant families don’t want the responsibility of running a restaurant. It’s a tough business that only got tougher during the pandemic, he said. e two brothers took over the Jackson Hole in 2016 after their father, who started the diner in 1972, retired. Meskouris didn’t want to discuss the Jackson Hole’s nances but conceded that revenue is down. But he and his brother keep the place going because of what the restaurant means to their family.

“For us, it’s a family legacy,” he said. “I’m just hoping that we can push through these hard times.”

John Stratidis is also a second-generation Greek American. In March the 40-year-old took over the diner his father opened in 1972, the Cozy Soup ‘n’ Burger. e prefabricated structure moved from its original location under the Queensboro Bridge in 1982, and it’s been chugging along for 42 years — although recently, he says, it’s seen better days.

He is content with the work, but Stratidis, who has a degree in mechanical engineering, is not looking to replicate the life he experienced growing up for his own child.

“My dad worked crazy hours. My mom stayed home to provide for three kids. A lot of the new generation doesn’t want this,” he said. “I don’t do it because I’m forced to. I do it because I love it.”

As with Meskouris, he’s not in it for the money. Stratidis was also wary to talk about revenue but said it’s down by more than half since the pandemic began and is struggling to bounce back.

“Money is running out,” he said. “It’s not what it used to be.”

A second chance

Despite the closures and the widespread nancial di culties, there are some bright spots. Milatos and Urena are still ring up the grill in other locations.

Milatos has plans to reopen Tasty’s at the end of next month in the same neighborhood, just down the block at 35-12 Ditmars Blvd. in the space of what used to be the Australian restaurant irsty Koala. He signed a 15-year lease and declined to say exactly how much he’ll be spending on rent but said it’s “way less” than

what he was paying at the original location. Commercial spaces available nearby are renting for between $13 and $60 per square foot, according to LoopNet. And Urena did not only own the Royal Coach. He took over the Lindenwood Diner in East New York in 1997, having worked his way up in the business after getting his start as a busboy at 15 years old. He and his two business partners, John Mavrikis and Nick Tsakonas, didn’t know each other before they all started working there but are “basically family now,” he said. Lindenwood is more established in the community than the Royal Coach was, Urena said, and has been serving customers for more than ve decades. It has ourished over the years in part by adapting to the changing demographics of the Brooklyn neighborhood, o ering a lot of Caribbean and Southern dishes on its expansive menu. Urena says he has about 10 years left on the lease and has no plans to close anytime soon. He couldn’t do that to his loyal customers who come in nearly every day for breakfast, he said.

“We know them on a rst name basis,” said Urena. “When they come in, the waitresses already have their co ee on the table and their order in.”

The now-shuttered Royal Coach Diner in the Bronx. | BUCK ENNIS

The old Tasty’s Diner in Astoria at 33-04 Ditmars Blvd. | BUCK ENNIS

Alex Meskouris owns the Jackson Hole Diner in Astoria. BUCK ENNIS

oriented prosecutor, meaning he rolled up his sleeves to gure out the facts but he wasn’t afraid to bring a tough case,” said Joshua Naftalis, a partner at the law rm Pallas who worked closely with Williams when the two were prosecutors at SDNY.

Williams, a skilled trial lawyer who sometimes addresses juries without using notes, appears to have been eyeing Adams’ orbit for about a year — ever since the November 2023 FBI raid on Adams’ chief fundraiser exposed the rst of the three known SDNY investigations. Naftalis said Williams would not have stuck with the probes “unless he were on the path to something.”

“What’s going on is a careful, methodical investigation,” Naftalis said. “He’s continuing to gather evidence, and it appears that some sort of momentum is gathering.”

immigrants from Jamaica, Williams went to Harvard University followed by Yale Law School before landing a series of legal clerkships in Washington — including with Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. After a short stint in the private sector, Williams was hired as an assistant U.S. attorney at SDNY in 2012, where he remained until President Joe Biden promoted him to U.S. attorney in 2021.

Williams called public corruption “a stubborn problem” for New York in an appearance at a Crain’s event in April 2023.

“ e goal is that by bringing those kinds of prosecutions, you can reduce the amount of public corruption in the state and in the city,” he said. “Time will tell whether that’s possible — the incentives are always going to be there.”

The de nition of corruption

“Anyone in that position is an ambitious individual. I hardly think that someone in their early 40s wants this to be their last big-ticket item.”

Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University

A spokesman for SDNY declined to make Williams available for an interview. Neither Adams nor anyone in his administration has been charged or accused of wrongdoing.

Raised in Atlanta as the son of

Williams also alluded last year to an obstacle he may face if he brings any cases against Adams or his associates: e Supreme Court in recent years has narrowed the de nition of corruption, starting in 2016 with a case involving the former governor of Virginia; the court has effectively held that that anything short of explicit quid pro quo may no longer count.

“We have to make sure that everything we do is done in a way that’s going to pass muster, not only with the rules as they exist today but also with the rules that may exist down the road,” Williams said. “ e view, I think, of a person on the street of what is a corrupt politician and

the view of an appellate court, for instance, may be very di erent. So we have to make sure that everything we’re doing is aligned with the more narrow view.”

Williams has plenty of experience in corruption cases, having won the conviction of once-powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in a wide-ranging 2015 case that involved illicit payments tied to real estate developers. And he is fresh o a victory in the corruption trial of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who was found guilty on all 16 counts in July. (In non-corruption cases, Williams also convicted crypto magnate Sam Bankman-Fried for fraud and conspiracy last year, and last week indicted the music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs on charges including sex tra cking and racketeering.)

On the other hand, SDNY’s 2022 indictment of New York Lieutenant Gov. Brian Benjamin was thrown out by a judge later that year; an appeals court revived it this March. at case has not gone to trial yet, but it points to the high scrutiny Williams’ arguments will face if he indicts Adams or other high-level city o cials.

“Yes, Brian Benjamin’s political career is no longer,” said Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University. “But if you’re going to go after these incredibly powerful executives, you have to make sure all your I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed.”

A campaign volunteer for John Kerry in 2004 and former sta er for the Democratic National Committee, Williams is no doubt aware of the political stakes of the investigations, which have contributed to Adams’ eroding popularity among voters and emboldened

four people to announce primary campaigns against him. Naftalis said prosecutors are bound by an “understanding that when you’re dealing with public gures, you need to move the investigation so that you don’t keep a cloud over someone unnecessarily.”

Greer said that Adams, the city’s second Black mayor, has argued both “fairly and unfairly” that he is subjected to unfair scrutiny because of his race. at line of defense has been complicated by the fact that Williams, too, is Black.

Any top prosecutor at SDNY, especially one pursuing such high-pro le probes, may face questions about their own political ambitions. Some of Williams’ predecessors used the platform to run for o ce — like Giuliani, who became mayor, and Robert Morgenthau, who became Manhattan district attorney. Others ascended to roles in Washington: Mary Jo

CRAIN’S PARTNER

Williams is not known to hold such ambitions. But the attention on him will only intensify if the City Hall probes deepen.

“Anyone in that position is an ambitious individual,” Greer said.

“I hardly think that someone in their early 40s wants this to be their last big-ticket item.”

Williams has not spoken publicly about the three probes connected to the Adams administration.

But he delivered a pointed message on Sept. 16 during a press conference announcing the indictment of two re chiefs accused of taking bribes to expedite safety inspections.

“If you are aware of and participated in corrupt activity in our government,” he said, “now is the time to come forward to get on the right side of the law.”

White became chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Comey ran the FBI.

Damian Williams alluded to the courts’ narrowing de nition of corruption during a Crain’s event in April 2023. | BUCK ENNIS

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Global Technology, Corporate Financial Systems Associate Director (Apollo Management Holdings, LP – New York, NY); Mult. Pos. Avail. Job duties incl: Create, maintain, & prov. tech. supp. & change mgmt. of OneStream application sols., incl. but not limited to the dvlpmnt. & maintenance of bus. rules & member formulas, user security & access rights, metadata & mapping transformations, dashboards, cube views, & report books, & connections to source systems. F/T. Position based in NY, NY. Telecommuting permitted up to 4 days per week. Salary range $170,000 to $210,000/yr. To apply, send resume to pkotakonda@apollo.com. Reference Job ID: 7986688.

Sr. Producer positions (Turner Services, Inc.; New York, NY). Lead effort w/ Exec Prod, Suprvs’ng Prod, & show-team membrs to decde on strategy selction, editor’l treatmnt, & presntation of assignd newscast(s). Salary range is $140,338/yr - $155,000/yr, based on qualifications. Email resume to wbdi@wbd.com. Ref: 7818090LN.

Producer positions (Turner Services, Inc.; New York, NY). Work closely w/ Executive Editor to build & output daily business news program, featuring most relevant int’l business stories. Salary range is $102,003/yr - $120,000/yr, based on qualifications. Email resume to wbdi@wbd.com. Ref: 7786992LN

Desk Analyst (Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO) – New York, NY); Mult. pos. avail. Duties incl: Assist in sourcing, eval., & struct. a range of potential invstmts. incl., but not limtd. to: unsec. cons. loans, aircraft leas., equip. leas., life settlmts., royalty strms., SME loans, trade fin., litig. fin., & reg. cap. trans. F/T. Sal. range $160,000 – $200,000/yr. Apply w/ resume to Lupe.Rubalcaba@pimco.com. Ref. Job ID: 7194393.

Principal Consultant (PA Consulting Group, Inc. – New York, NY); Mult. pos. avail. Job duties incl: Work with clients to optimize their company’s performance, through implementation or optimization of Agile practices, methodologies, mindsets and cultures. Identify Agile consulting leads and create relationships with decision makers in the market. F/T. Sal. range $145,000-$170,000/yr. Apply w/ resume to MaryAnn.Bettencourt@PAConsulting.com. Ref. JobID: 7380995.

Notice of Qualification of RADIATE CAPITAL, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/19/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/27/22. Princ. office of LLC: 3 Columbus Circle, 24th Fl., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of FOUR LION CAPITAL, LP Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/22/24. Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/09/24. NYS fictitious name: FOUR LION CAPITAL, L.P. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Partnership, 575 5th Ave., 15th Fl., NY, NY 10017. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of State of DE, Dept. of State, Div. of Corps., John Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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Notice of Formation of AURORA BLISS COMPANY, LLC

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Notice of Formation of BUCK RIDGE PRINTING LLC

Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/5/24. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process shall be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC, to 21 W 38TH ST, FL 10, New York, NY 10018. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice is hereby given that a license, Serial Number: ‘Pending’, for beer and wine has been applied for the undersigned to sell beer and wine at retail in a restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 408 East 64th Street, New York, New York 10065 for on premises consumption. BAYON CAMBODIAN RESTAURANT, INC.

Notice of Formation SKOPE CONSULTING LLC. Arts

Inc., 7014

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Notice of Formation RMMAP LLC. Arts of Org Filed 7/3/24. Office: NY Co. SSNY designated as agent for process & shall mail to: 222 W. 77th ST. #324228, NY, NY 10024. Registered Agent: United States Corporation Agents, Inc., 7014 13th Ave , Ste 202, Bklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful actvity.

Notice of Qualification of RADIATE CAPITAL PARTNERS, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/19/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/21/23. Princ. office of LLC: 3 Columbus Circle, 24th Fl., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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FIFTH AVENUE LENDER LLC

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Notice of Qualification of VerisFi, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/14/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/17/22. Princ. office of LLC: 222 Lakeview Ave., Ste. 800, W. Palm Beach, FL 33401. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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New legislation seeks to limit how much hospitals can charge for routine outpatient procedures

By Amanda D’Ambrosio

Lawmakers are pursuing a new way to tamp down hospital costs, aiming to ght skyrocketing prices for common medical procedures that they say result from widespread hospital consolidation.

State legislators are drafting a bill that would allow New York to cap prices for outpatient treatments. In doing so, they want to reduce prices for procedures including mammograms or colonoscopies, said state Sen. Liz Krueger, a Manhattan representative and the bill’s sponsor.

The Fair Pricing Act

e Fair Pricing Act, which was rst reported on by the Albany Times Union, would limit and standardize how much health systems could charge for uncomplicated procedures performed in doctor’s o ces or clinics, Krueger said. It would also authorize the state to ne hospital systems that overcharge and allow patients to sue providers.

e legislation is being co-sponsored by Assemblywoman Chantal Jackson, who represents parts of the Bronx.

e bill is one of the latest legislative attempts to quell the rising costs of health care. New York spends more money per patient on medical care than anywhere else in the U.S., paying $14,000 per person in 2020 — 37% higher than

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Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of ZACHARY COLIN DREW LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/26/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 15 E. 30th St Apt 31E, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: Any lawful activity

the national average, federal data shows.

Higher spending on health care has followed a trend of large hospital systems buying up small clinics and independent doctor’s ofces in recent years, Krueger said. Hospital networks that own lots of

clinics have the market power to charge more for procedures than independent practices, driving up the costs for routine and necessary services, she added.

“We are talking about pretty standard, common types of health care that most of us need,” Krueger

Prices for routine medical procedures such as colonoscopies have gone up as hospitals buy doctor’s of ces and clinics.

said. “What’s the big deal with putting a cap on the price?”

Capping the cost could save patients up to $1 billion a year, an estimate determined by labor union 32BJ SEIU, which analyzed health care claims it paid on behalf of its members. Krueger called the estimate “conservative.”

Krueger said she plans to introduce the bill before the end of the year and would like to pass it in next year’s legislative session. A bill limiting hospital prices is likely to get some pushback from the state’s hospital sector, which has a powerful lobbying presence in Albany. But Krueger said she is not deterred by the opposition.

“It always means that it takes longer to win,” she said. “But I’m persistent.”

Notice of Formation of 34 WEST 95TH STREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/22/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 34 W. 95th St., NY, NY 10025. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of TENFORTY

CENTRAL LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/13/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 590 Madison Ave., 6th Fl., NY, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

CL VISTA HOLDINGS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/02/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to; 1293 Broadway, NY, NY 10001, USA Purpose: Any lawful activity

MTA pitches $68B wish list to modernize transit despite congestion pricing hold

By Caroline Spivack

e Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Sept. 18 unveiled an ambitious $68 billion plan to keep the region’s mass transit from falling into disarray, but transit o cials concede that funding for nearly half of the ve-year plan is up in the air and will likely come down to Albany’s budgeting.

e proposed capital plan, which would run from 2025 through 2029, lays out investments primarily focused on keeping the city’s 120-year-old subway, along with the city’s bus system, functioning. Transit infrastructure from power systems to signals to tunnels have been “basically untouched and allowed to decay” for decades, admitted Janno Lieber, the MTA’s board chair and chief executive during a Sept. 18 news conference at a Queens train yard.

“If the MTA system is going to survive, let alone grow and prosper, we’re going to need to deal with that stu ,” said Lieber. “But I need to emphasize, all this unsexy work I’m talking about will bring improvements to riders.”

Transit o cials are aiming high with the capital plan, proposing a 24% spending increase compared

to the current $55 billion 20202024 capital budget (which is not fully funded due to a June halt on congestion pricing by Gov. Kathy Hochul). Roughly $47 billion of the MTA’s newly proposed capital plan — which is separate from the MTA’s annual operating budget — would go toward the city’s subway and buses, including new railcars to replace 1980s models, accessibility projects at 66 more stations and modern turnstiles to help curb fare evasion at 150 stations.

Paying for the upgrades

How the MTA will pay for the latest upgrades is a big open question. e authority intends to issue $10 billion in MTA bonds to help fund the new capital plan, and would likely receive $21 billion from federal funding and state and city bonds, according to the MTA’s Chief Financial O cer Kevin Willens. But that still leaves $33 billion to fund the proposed plan yet to be identi ed.

e MTA’s pitch for billions of dollars in new funding for transit comes as the authority continues to grapple with a $16.5 billion funding shortfall in the current

capital budget thanks to the pause on congestion pricing. Lieber said Sept. 18 that he continues to take Hochul “at her word” that she will address the budget shortfall — Hochul has said she’s open to launching congestion pricing but with lower tolls — and claimed that the loss of toll revenue has not impacted the proposed investments in the new capital.

“ e biggest unknowns are the sources and amount of money to ll the gaping nancing hole,” said Andrew Rein, president of government watchdog the Citizens Budget Commission. “ e MTA will continue to play catchup given past underinvestment in core infrastructure.”

e spending plan would invest nearly $11 billion into buying 1,500 new subway cars and 500 Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North railcars. Transit o cials say they aim to pour another $9 billion to x “critical structures” like tunnels and railroad bridges, and about $8 billion to overhaul subway stations.

Less visible systems, such as the MTA’s power infrastructure and maintenance facilities, would also receive major investments under the plan. at includes $4

billion to upgrade 80 power stations and $2 billion to upgrade a pair of dilapidated train yards.

One big ticket item not mentioned in the proposed capital plan is the expansion of the Second Avenue subway, which will extend the Q train into Harlem. Jamie Torres-Springer, the MTA’s president of construction and development, said the project is not included in the 2025-2029 capital plan because the e ort is fully funded between the authority’s two previous ve-year capital plans. Preliminary work on the Second Avenue subway extension was brie y on hold earlier this year, due to the halt on congestion pricing, but is in the works again after Hochul kicked in $54 million in new funding to keep the project moving.

freight tracks. e plan calls for $2.75 billion to continue design and engineering work on the IBX; building the project has an estimated $5.5 billion price tag, according to the MTA.

e MTA’s board will vote to submit the proposed capital plan to the State Capital Program Review Board by Oct. 1, as required by state law. In a statement, Hochul gave the MTA tepid support.

In fact, the only expansion project that would see funding under the plan is the Interborough Express, a Hochul-backed light rail project that would link Brooklyn and Queens along mostly existing

“[We will] ght to secure as much funding as possible,” said Hochul. “ at includes pressuring Washington to deliver additional infrastructure dollars and working with our partners in the Legislature and City Hall to determine priorities and capacity during the upcoming budget negotiations.”

Riders wait to board a 5 train at the 14th Street-Union Square subway station. | BUCK ENNIS

Budding nightlife impresario doesn’t sweat the competition

George Karavias got his start in the business as a teenager and now has an empire of eight nightclubs and restaurants

By | Nick Garber

George Karavias was 16 years old when he was invited to stop by a nightclub in Queens owned by a family friend. Karavias, a popular kid, realized he was well positioned to spread the word among his friends about the venue’s teen events.

“I was like, ‘Listen, I know a lot of people. Can I bring people and get paid?’” he recalled. Within a couple of years, he was in charge of promotion for the club — and then he set out on his own.

West Side Highway, where tickets to an upcoming DJ set cost $23 for men. (Women are allowed in for free.)

ese days Karavias presides over an empire of four nightlife venues and four restaurants, most recently opening the NoHo Italian eatery Tucci in partnership with the proprietors of Delmonico’s.

Several of his venues have become celebrity hotspots, such as Midtown Asian-fusion restaurant Sei Less, whose patrons have included French soccer star Kylian Mbappé and actor Mark Wahlberg and where cocktails start at $21.

“At the end of the day, the hospitality industry brings in a lot of tax revenue for the city.”

In 2015 Karavias founded Dream Hospitality Group as what was initially a promotional out t that organized parties and hired DJs. Over time he deepened its reach by scoring contracts to operate venues, then opened his rst nightclub in 2021: the 10,000-square-foot, two-level venue Harbor on West 46th Street near the

His job is no regular 9-to-5: e nightlife industry runs 24/7, Karavias says, and a typical day will nd him popping into each of his venues to ensure they are running smoothly. He makes a particular point of checking in on repeat customers, who help keep his business going.

“At the end of the day, the customer’s the one that pays the bills.” e past few years have not been easy for the nightlife indus-

try, between the Covid-19 pandemic and recent in ation that drove up the cost of goods. Although Karavias has long-term plans to open more venues and invest more in live music, his current objective is to “weather the storm.”

“Anybody can tell you in the hospitality industry, all the numbers are down right now,” he said.

Strives for broad appeal

He sees a friend in Mayor Eric Adams, a well-known lover of nightlife who has made appearances at some of Karavias’ venues, including Sei Less, he said. Karavias believes it’s in the city’s interest to maintain those close ties.

“At the end of the day, the hospitality industry brings in a lot of tax revenue for the city,” said Karavias. Dream Hospitality, which declined to tell Crain’s its revenue, faces plenty of competition in New York’s crowded nightlife industry, but Karavias says he isn’t preoccupied with creating some distinct identity that sets his venues apart. Instead, he strives for broad appeal: playing music that ranges

George Karavias

Age 35

Grew up Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

Resides Staten Island

Education Bachelor’s in architecture, New York Institute of Technology

Family life Karavias is married with two daughters, ages 1 and 4 years old.

Work-life balance “I don’t have any hobbies,” said Karavias, explaining that he loves his work. But his biggest love is spending time with his daughters. “They keep me sane,” he said.

from hip-hop to EDM to salsa and avoiding the strict frontdoor screenings common at some clubs.

“We want everybody to have a good time,” he said. “ e more people that come to your venue, the more exposure you get — the customer becomes a promoter as well.”

George Karavias, president of Dream Hospitality Group, entered the nightlife industry at age 16 and now presides over an empire of eight clubs and restaurants. | BUCK ENNIS