“ He doesn’t spout ideological rhetoric and is proud of working across the aisle on issues where we need to get something done.”
HAKEEM RISING
The pragmatic Brooklyn Democrat delivered wins in New York and will lead a House minority to counterbalance Trump
By Nick Garber
In a generally disastrous election for Democrats, the House of Representatives emerged as a relative bright spot, as the party made slight gains in New York that will put Brooklyn’s own Hakeem Je ries just a handful of seats away from the speakership. As leader of the Democratic minority, Jeffries promises to be a thorn in the side of Donald Trump, the president-elect who may take a hostile approach toward his former state. And if a few surprise vacancies —
or Democratic gains in 2026 — hand the speaker’s gavel to Je ries, it would cap a carefully crafted 25-year rise by the Crown Heights native, who would make history as the nation’s rst Black speaker.
Je ries, 54, became the party’s leader last year after executing a remarkably smooth campaign to succeed Nancy Pelosi. Known as a careful and strategic operator, Je ries is well-liked among New York power brokers, but less beloved in progressive circles.
“Very smart, very disciplined,” said Lupe Todd-Medina, a political consultant who has worked for Je ries since his rst unsuccessful campaign for state Assembly in 2000.
A savvy legislator with a pro-business bent, Je ries has maintained an interest in New York politics even as his stature in Washington has grown. But aside from a commitment to end an unpopular cap on state and local tax deductions, it’s unclear how Je ries might use his powers to the bene t of his hometown — his legislative approach is de ned more by what he can successfully push through his fractious
See JEFFRIES on Page 18
As migrant wave crests, shelters are likely to be hotels again
Conversion to housing would be challenging
By C. J. Hughes
Fewer migrants are owing into New York these days, so the hotels the city has used to shelter them for years are emptying.
But though the city is gripped by building-conversion fever as a means to deal with housing needs, the newly-vacant lodgings may not end up becoming apartments, according to some developers, designers and hospitality leaders.
In fact, rejuvenated tourism and a limited number of new hotel developments will likely encourage some owners to renovate and reboot rather than reinvent or sell, they say. Besides, making homes out of tiny hotel rooms can be challenging, they add, while labor-agreement rules about compensation for lost hotel jobs can make conversions too pricey.
“Certainly some, if not most, of the hotels being used as migrant shelters will go back into service as conventional hotels,” predicted David Beer, a director of the nonpro t a ordable housing developer Breaking Ground, which has made apartment buildings out of several hotels.
GOTHAM
Hotel Merit, 414 W. 46th St., Hell’s Kitchen
BUCK ENNIS
Hakeem Jeffries, a careful and strategic operator, narrowly missed becoming the Speaker of the House. | GETTY IMAGES
Kathryn Wylde, president, Partnership for New York City
See HOTELS on Page 19
New York City taking ‘glass-half-full’ approach on support from Trump, Economic Development Corp. chief says
By Nick Garber
New York City is taking a “glasshalf-full approach” to Donald Trump’s election as president, the city’s Economic Development Corp. president said Nov. 12, expressing hope that the new administration will continue to fund key infrastructure projects in the region.
In an onstage interview at a Crain’s New York Business Power Breakfast, EDC chief Andrew Kimball avoided directly discussing the president-elect — although he noted that “somebody who did well in real estate in New York City” surely appreciates the city’s importance to the national economy.
As for Trump’s promised tariffs on foreign imports, Kimball echoed widespread expectations that the policies would quickly raise the cost of goods. But he expressed some openness about the taxes on imports, saying they have some overlap with Democratic initiatives like the CHIPS and Science Act that has showered New York state with billions of dollars for industrial development.
“If part of the tariff goal is to onshore good-paying manufacturing jobs, let’s see how it plays out, for upstate in particular,” Kimball said, speaking to Crain’s Editor-in-Chief Cory Schouten.
Kimball spent much of his time Nov. 12 discussing the Harbor of
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the Future initiative — an ambitious set of projects that includes redeveloping the 122-acre Brooklyn Marine Terminal, constructing an electric vehicle hub at Hunts Point, and opening climate hubs on Governors Island and at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park. Taken together, the projects could create 53,000 jobs, Kimball said — and also insulate the city from supply-chain disasters by changing the way New York transports goods.
“We all just learned what can happen when there is a major bridge that goes down at the Port of Baltimore,” he said. “We need to be ready to get food directly into the city and have a food distribution network.”
A new water connection
A new water connection to Hunts Point may be created “soon” as part of the redevelopment of that Bronx food hub, Kimball said. As for the closely watched transformation of Red Hook surrounding the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, Kimball said the city is not yet ready to unveil an expected unit count for the housing it plans to permit on the site. The city will approach private developers after it completes a master plan, he said.
“On 122 acres, you should be able to put a lot of housing there,”
Kimball said.
Other news from Kimball’s remarks:
EDC on Nov. 12 unveiled plans for an “International Landing Pad” — a network that will pair local organizations with international companies seeking to expand their operations in New York. EDC is asking for submissions by potential partner groups; by way of example, Kimball imagined a Seoul-based artificial intelligence startup opening its first New York office or a Belgian biotech firm trying to hire U.S. researchers, which could use the network to find talent, capital or customers.
EDC is still seeking a naming-rights sponsor to shore up the finances of the NYC Ferry system, as Crain’s reported in June. “Hopefully there will be good results,” Kimball said, calling NYC Ferry “an incredible brand.”
The city will soon announce a chosen developer to build about 600 housing units on Staten Island’s New Stapleton Waterfront. Notably, the project will likely be built using sustainable mass timber — the largest such project in the city’s history, Kimball said, explaining that EDC had been “pleasantly surprised” by the private sector’s interest in the material.
Kimball said the city will make news “in the coming days” about
the Bronx’s Kingsbridge Armory.
After years of failed redevelopment attempts, the city released an open-ended RFP last September.
On return-to-office, Kimball said New York “has so far avoided the commercial doom loop some have feared” — as most firms settle into a three-day-a-week system, or four days at Class-A “trophy” office buildings.
Kimball also touted recent high-profile leases, including OpenAI’s 90,000-square-foot deal at the Puck Building, Bridgewater Associates’ long-term lease at 295 Park Ave., Citadel Securities’ anchor tenant arrangement at Vornado and Rudin’s 350 Park Ave. skyscraper and Chobani’s unique corporate headquarters at 360
Bowery.
Kimball urged the City Council to approve Mayor Eric Adams’ City of Yes housing plan in the coming weeks, which he connected to Trump’s election victory. “There was a level of dissatisfaction in government not delivering on what people need, and the people of New York were very clear about what they need: They need housing,” Kimball said.
Asked about Trump’s promised mass deportations, Kimball said the city’s recent migrant arrivals will ultimately benefit New York’s economy. But he added that Mayor Adams had long called for stricter border policies — “and some folks might have been smarter to listen,” Kimball said.
City is developing an incentive program for the demolition of obsolete office towers
By Aaron Elstein
The Adams administration is working with the Real Estate Board of New York on a plan to bring down the cost of demolishing obsolete office towers.
“That is something we are in active conversations with REBNY and others,” Andrew Kimball, CEO of the city Economic Development Corp., said Nov. 12 at a Crain’s Power Breakfast. “It is extraordinarily expensive to bring down a building, but we need more of that.”
Kimball said the program would be targeted at buildings that aren’t landmarked and which no longer attract tenants. Such buildings, he said, should be replaced by new office or apartment towers for which there is ample demand.
He declined to offer additional details and wouldn’t comment further after the breakfast. REBNY had no immediate comment.
It cost JPMorgan an estimated $160 million to tear down its former headquarters at 270 Park Ave. three years ago so that a new 70-story, $3 billion tower could rise in its place.
For the many developers without JPMorgan’s resources, some combination of property-tax discounts, loan subsidies, or even cash grants could be necessary to clear out
buildings that aren’t viable anymore so they can be replaced by new office or apartment towers.
Such assistance would mark a significant escalation by the city, which to date has offered incentives for landlords to convert older Class B or C buildings into new, amenity-rich Class A office space under a program called Manhattan Commercial Revitalization. In January the city said two nearly empty buildings were approved for up to $100 million in that program, in which developers must commit to investing a sum equal
to at least 75% of the assessed value of their building and land.
But no further recipients have
High demolition costs may be preventing developers from building anew.
been announced, which may reflect continued weakness in the market for office space. A spokesman said EDC’s goal is to an-
nounce the next round of recipients in early 2025.
Approximately one-quarter of Manhattan’s 600 million square feet of office space remains empty and in Midtown South the vacancy rate last quarter was a record 26%, according to the Alliance for Downtown New York. Asking rents for downtown office space continue to fall, the business group said, to about $55 per square foot. Meantime, Class A space is mostly full. Along Park Avenue the vacancy rate is just 13%, Cushman & Wakefield says.
Andrew Kimball, president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corp., gave updates Nov. 12 on a range of city housing and infrastructure projects. BUCK ENNIS
Andrew Kimball (left), CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corp., with Crain’s Editor-in-Chief Cory Schouten BUCK ENNIS
Gov. Kathy Hochul
Gotham West Market in Hell’s Kitchen, a food hall pioneer, to call it quits after 11 years
The 10,000-square-foot space has just five restaurants left out of 10 stalls and plans to close by the end of the year
By C. J. Hughes
A food hall trailblazer will soon turn off the lights as patrons appear to have soured on an amenity once hailed as a way to attract tenants and office workers alike.
Gotham West Market, a 10,000-squarefoot offering in Hell’s Kitchen that helped with the initial leasing of the upstairs Gotham West development when the nearly block-size complex opened in 2013, will close by the end of the year, according to its owner, the developer Gotham Org. Gotham did not provide a specific reason for the closure or say what will replace the
W42ST first reported the news.
When Gotham West Market cut its ribbon, patrons flocked to stools at communal tables in an industrial-chic take on a shopping mall food court for a globe-trotting array of barbecue chicken, noodle soup and pizza.
Five restaurants remain
The city’s number of food halls, which crested at about three dozen citywide prior to Covid, have seen their ranks dwindle in recent years to about two dozen.
space, whose main entrance, featuring red neon letters atop a marquee, is at 600 11th Ave.
But just five restaurants remain, including Italian joint Della’anima, Mexican-focused La Palapa and Japanese-themed Gorin Ramen, about half the number of eateries that held berths in the hall at its peak. Some tenants seemed to use the site as a launching pad. Original tenant Ivan Ramen, for instance, left in 2021 and is now on Clinton Street on the Lower East Side.
Gotham managed the hall itself, directly leasing the stalls there, though other landlords have farmed out operations to third-party companies through master leases.
The city’s number of food halls, which crested at about three dozen citywide prior to Covid, have also seen their ranks dwindle in recent years to about two dozen, a retreat some have blamed on oversaturation.
For instance, Williamsburg Food Hall, an
“Since opening, Gotham West Market has been a cornerstone of culinary innovation, bringing together an array of local vendors and chefs who have showcased their talents and passions,” said a spokeswoman for the developer in a statement. “We are grateful for the vendors we have worked with throughout the years, as well as our loyal patrons.”
18-vendor offering on North Third Street, abruptly shut down in March 2023. And Market Line, a version that was part of the Lower East Side’s Essex Crossing megaproject, closed in April after five years, though its upstairs sister food hall, Essex Market, remains open.
Chef Todd English, meanwhile, saw his food hall in the Plaza Hotel’s basement call it quits during the pandemic, and a similar version English envisioned for a former J&R Music space near City Hall that was announced in 2022 appears to never have gotten off the ground.
Gotham West Market in Hell’s Kitchen opened in 2013. bUCK eNNIS
The food hall’s interior | bUCK eNNIS
Co-founder of Lucille Roberts gym chain puts townhouse on the market for $59 million
A decade ago Bob Roberts unsuccessfully listed the limestone property at Fifth Avenue for $90m
By C. J. Hughes
Afitness executive whose gyms came under fire during the pandemic for charging customers despite the facilities being closed is looking to sell his uptown mansion.
Bob Roberts, a co-founder of the Lucille Roberts women’s-only gym chain with his late wife, Lucille, has listed his nine-bedroom townhouse at 4 E. 80th St. for $59 million, according to an ad that appeared recently.
Decorated in a Versailles-level of opulence, No. 4 features a living room with 14-foot ceilings, a paneled formal dining room and three
The Lucille Roberts brand appears to have just a single location left in New York City, in Forest Hills, Queens.
kitchens, plus an elevator. On the sixth floor is a gym, naturally.
The neo-Gothic, seven-level home, which seems to have doubled as both a residence and a workplace based on the number of offices and conference rooms packed into its floors, has been on the market before. A decade ago Roberts unsuccessfully listed the
limestone property at Fifth Avenue for $90 million, according to StreetEasy, meaning he’s knocked off about 35% to find a taker.
But the steeply discounted price would still allow Roberts to come out ahead. He and his late wife paid $6 million for the nearly 20,000-square-foot edifice in 1995, according to the city register, though they extensively renovated the property, which was previously owned by nonprofit charity group Young Men’s Philanthropic League.
The Robertses launched their first health club in 1969 with a focus on the racquet sport squash, though they branched out with more of a general fitness model about a decade later, according to a company biography. Lucille Roberts died of lung cancer in 2003. According to a LinkedIn profile, Bob Roberts in recent years served as chairman of the company, which was acquired in 2017 by Town Sports International Holding, the Florida-based owner of New York Sports Club, for undisclosed terms. The Lucille Roberts chain reportedly had 16 East Coast outposts at the time, in New York City, on Long Island and in New Jersey.
When Covid and its assorted lockdowns hit, Town Sports struggled to survive, as did other gym chains. But Town Sports allegedly charged dues to members while its gyms were shuttered and would not let members cancel or get their money back.
State Attorney General Letitia
James and other officials sued the company and won, which resulted in a $110 million settlement for thousands of members. Along the way Town Sports filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In its September 2020 petition, the company claimed it had between $500,000 and $1 billion in assets and the same range in liabilities, documents show. The company also had as many as 25,000 creditors at the time, filings show. A Del-
aware judge approved Town Sports’ reorganization in December 2020. In 1915 retail magnate Frank Woolworth built 4 E. 80th St for his oldest daughter, Helena McCann, who lived in the 35-foot-wide dwelling until she died in 1938. A Roman Catholic novitiate purchased the property in 1943 and owned it until 1955, when the Philanthropic League acquired it. Broker Adam Modlin, who is marketing the property, did not reply to an email seeking comment. For its part, the Lucille Roberts brand appears to have just a single location left in New York City, in Forest Hills, Queens.
Sarabeth’s opens first new city restaurant in 13 years
By Julianne Cuba
One of the city’s quintessential brunch spots is expanding for the first time in more than a decade, with the opening of Sarabeth’s in Greenwich Village.
The popular spot for eggs benedict and a stack of pancakes opened its fourth Manhattan location Nov. 12, at 100 W. Houston St., on the first two floors of a landmarked, 6-story, cast-iron building.
Founded in 1981 by husbandand-wife duo Sarabeth and Bill Levine, the brand started as a bakery churning out jams on the Upper West Side before expanding to open its first restaurant a couple of years later. Sarabeth’s namesake divested from the restaurants to focus on her bakery and retail shop in Chelsea Market, which she opened in 1997. The more than 40-year-old empire is now run by RBM Restaurant Group, which also manages the Docks Oyster Bar near Grand Central. Behind the scenes is executive
The location, the chain’s fourth in Manhattan, opened Nov. 12 at 100 W. Houston St.
the Upper West Side, in
Midtown and in NoMad. A Tribeca Sarabeth’s location closed during the summer after 13 years because of what RBM Restaurant Group said was the loss of its lease. Flatiron District-based real estate firm Tri-Star Equities, through an entity called Rocinante Corp., is the landlord of Sarabeth’s new home, records show. The company did not respond to a request for comment by press time, and representatives for RBM Restaurant Group declined to share its lease terms with Crain’s. But rents for retail and restaurant space in Greenwich village and nearby neighborhoods range from about $70 to $140 per square foot, according to LoopNet.
4 E. 80th St., Upper East Side. Below left, the entryway | mODLIN GROUP
chef Freda Sugarman, who opened the since-closed Park Avenue South location in 2013 and now leads the food program on
West Houston Street, along with Stephen Olsen, who serves as the beverage director.
The new Greenwich Village lo-
cation, between West Broadway and Thompson Street, joins three remaining outposts, all in Manhattan: on
A new Sarabeth’s restaurant opened Nov. 12 at 100 W. Houston St. in Greenwich Village. GOOGLE STREET vIEW
Michael Kors gets half-price deal for Plaza District store
By Aaron Elstein
Michael Kors e ectively cut its rent in half while expanding its location at 667 Madison Ave., becoming the latest big retailer in the Plaza District to land a bargain.
e footprint of the Kors store will nearly double to 11,000 square feet under a lease that took e ect in August. But the monthly rent bill didn’t change much. As a result the luxury fashion house is paying $438 per square foot, a 49% markdown from the prior rate of $862, credit-rating agency KBRA said in a report this month. e new lease continues through 2034.
“It’s pretty close to the same total rent as before, but the space is bigger,” said Phil Patton, general
Tishman Speyer-owned 520 Madison Ave. Club Monaco this year signed an extension for space at 597 Fifth Ave. at an 80% discount to the pre-pandemic rate for the area.
Challenging year
Like many luxury brands, Michael Kors is having a challenging year. Revenues declined by 16% last quarter, London-based owner Capri Holdings Ltd. said, citing “softening demand globally for fashion luxury goods.” Capri, which also owns Versace and Jimmy Choo, didn’t return an email seeking comment.
ere are fewer empty storefronts in the Plaza District, but space remains plentiful. e availability rate along Madison between East 57th and East 72nd streets declined to 14% last quarter from 19% a year ago, Cushman & Wake eld said.
The luxury fashion house is the latest big retailer to score a big discount for space in the Plaza District.
counsel at 667 Madison’s owner, Hartz Mountain Industries.
Prominent retailers have extracted steep discounts from Midtown landlords this year. Sephora, which is owned by French luxury giant LVMH, negotiated a 66% reduction in the rent for space at
667 Madison is a 25-story, 275,000 square-foot Class A tower at the corner of East 61st Street. It was developed in 1985 by Leonard Stern, CEO of Hartz Mountain, which owns 38 million square feet of space in New York, New Jersey and other places.
“667 Madison is a great building, I wish I had more like it,” Stern
told Crain’s.
But the rents it can charge for retail space have declined by 36% since 2016, S&P Global said in August. Although the property is on track to reach 84% occupancy by year-end, up from 80% in April, S&P said net cash ow likely won’t return to historical levels.
“ is is generally due to in-place gross rents per square foot that are, on average, below our expectations,” the credit-rating rm said
when it downgraded a security, formerly rated AAA, that holds 667 Madison’s mortgage.
KBRA cited Michael Kors’s lower rent as a reason it considers 667 Madison’s mortgage a “loan of concern.” Net cash ow fell by 64% at the property last year, KBRA said. Loews Corp., the insurance, energy, and hotel conglomerate, moved out and relocated to 9 W. 57th St. Stern said the Tisch-controlled company outgrew his
News | Analysis | Events
building and its space was lled by another tenant. O ce rents at 667 Madison have fallen by only 4% since 2016, S&P said. Stern told Crain’s if there’s any di culty re nancing when the $254 million mortgage comes due in 2026, he is prepared to pay o the loan and continue holding the building. Stern’s fortune is $9 billion, according to Forbes. New York University’s business school is named for him.
667 MADISON AVE.
Hochul resurrects congestion pricing with lower toll
By Caroline Spivack
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Nov. 14 resurrected plans to toll people driving into the busiest parts of Manhattan, but at a reduced peak rate for most vehicles entering south of 60th Street. If all goes to the governor’s plan, New York would launch the country’s first congestion pricing program Jan. 5 just before noted toll-critic President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated. Hochul’s revised proposal would slash the toll previously adopted by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board this spring down by 40%, reducing the $15 peak toll for most passenger vehicles to $9 and lowering the $3.75 off-peak charge to $2.25, according to state officials.
MTA officials have said that without the toll revenue anticipated from congestion pricing they would likely scrap some $16 billion worth of upgrades to the city’s subway, buses and commuter rail. State law requires congestion pricing to generate $15 billion to finance modernization work for the region’s aging transit infrastructure; Hochul said Nov. 14 that the revised tolls would raise the nearly $1 billion in annual revenue necessary for the MTA to borrow against.
“We’re still getting the $15 billion to fund the MTA and drivers are paying $6 less,” said Hochul at a Nov. 14 news conference. “This lower toll will still allow us to accomplish all — and I mean all — of the goals of congestion pricing: new modern signals, the long-awaited Second Avenue subway, new electric buses, elevators. And this will generate major investments for our suburban commuters as well.”
MTA officials are expected to expedite the new toll structure with a vote by the authority’s board on Nov. 18. The state and city must sign an agreement with the Biden administration, which has been supportive of the plan, before the program can formally launch. Hochul aims to keep the $9 base toll in place at least through 2027; from there the MTA could increase the peak toll on passenger vehicles up to $12 from 2028 through 2030, according to the governor’s office. The base toll could eventually rise to $15 in subsequent years.
The governor’s plan comes after Hochul has faced months of mounting pressure from transportation advocates and state lawmakers to reverse her abrupt decision in June to shelve the tolling program less than a month before it was set to launch.
Hochul has long insisted that the pause was driven by cost-of-living concerns for drivers and businesses within Manhattan’s core. But critics have argued that the postponement was intended to boost Democrats running in competitive state congressional races; the timing of Hochul’s reversal came just a week after the elections.
On Nov. 14, Hochul reiterated that a $15 toll “would really have hurt a working mom or working dad trying to make ends meet.” Hochul estimates that the peak toll reduction would save drivers who commute daily into Manhattan’s core roughly $1,500 annually.
40% toll reduction
Under a revised plan with a 40% toll reduction, trucks would be charged between $14.40 and $21.60 during peak hours depending on size. Passengers of taxis would see an extra per-ride surcharge of 75 cents while those taking an Uber or Lyft would be charged an extra $1.50 per trip.
Suburban drivers may be somewhat disappointed to see that their discount will also dip. The discount for passenger cars entering into Manhattan’s core through the Lincoln, Holland, Hugh L. Carey and
Queens-Midtown tunnels during peak hours would drop from $5 to $3.
Meanwhile, car owners who earn less than $50,000 per year will receive a 50% discount on every toll after their tenth trip in the zone per month. Hochul said she has also directed the MTA to enhance service on at least 23 bus routes outside of Manhattan as part of the program.
Congestion pricing has the dual purpose of providing critical funding to the MTA while also reducing traffic to help clear the air and make it easier for drivers who must enter Manhattan’s core to navigate the city’s busiest streets. The MTA has already spent more than $500 million on cameras, software and other tolling infrastructure needed to roll out the system.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said Nov. 14 that New York officials have shared the updated tolling plan with the department. Officials at the Federal Highway Administration, a division within U.S. DOT, are now “working expeditiously to finalize the needed steps to complete the agreement,” according to the agency.
A mix of business leaders and transportation advocates wel-
comed the governor’s double-reversal on congestion pricing and the mass transit upgrades the revenue will finance.
“Everyone from our students to our CEOs has a stake in a safe, modern and reliable transit system,” said Steven Rubenstein, the chairman of the Association for a Better New York. “We are pleased to see Governor Hochul is putting congestion pricing back on track. Let’s get this done as if the city’s future depends upon it. Because it does.”
Congestion pricing still faces legal opposition, including lawsuits filed by the Trucking Association of New York and Gov. Phill Murphy of New Jersey. And the program’s many detractors continue to vocally oppose the toll’s implementation.
A coalition of mostly Republican lawmakers Nov. 12 held a news conference to denounce Hochul’s congestion pricing restoration. The officials likened the tolls to an onerous tax on people who may have limited access to mass transit.
“Frankly, this plan amounts to legalized theft by a governor and state government that is out-ofcontrol and out-of-touch with everyday New Yorkers,” said Hudson Valley Congressman Mike Lawler.
City Council votes to ban forced broker fees paid by renters
By Julianne Cuba and Nick Garber
The City Council on Nov. 13 overwhelmingly passed a bill that bans tenants from being forced to pay broker fees when leasing an apartment — the culmination of more than 18 months of effort to address one small part of an affordability crisis that has long burdened New Yorkers.
The legislation, the Fairness in Apartment Rentals, or FARE, Act, was sponsored by 26-year-old Brooklyn Councilman Chi Ossé, who has pushed the measure since 2023. Its historic passage, with 42 lawmakers in favor and 8 against, protects it from a potential veto from Mayor Eric Adams. Ossé celebrated the legislation’s success, calling it a win for tenants whom he said for too long have had to cough up exorbitant broker fees on top of their rent, even if the tenant never sought out the broker’s services.
“Today we end that cruel and archaic practice. Today is a win for the people of New York as we make official what has long been common sense,” Osse said during the vote.
Lawmakers’ votes on the legislation — which states that any agent who advertises a rental home with the landlord’s permission “shall not impose any fee” on the new tenant — were split largely along party lines. All six Republicans in the 51-person legislative body voted against the bill, in addition to Brooklyn Council members Kalman Yeger and Susan Zhuang. One member was absent for the vote.
An initial version of the bill simply stated that whoever hires a broker must pay that person’s fees, but it underwent several revisions in recent weeks and now explicitly bars brokers who are working on behalf of a property owner from charging fees to a tenant. Landlords and brokers must also disclose any fees related to a rental in advance, and give tenants itemized lists of those costs — with violations punishable by civil penalties of up to $2,000.
The legislation’s passage dealt a blow to the real estate industry, which had fought against the measure in an effort spearheaded by the Real Estate Board of New York.
Led by the REBNY, brokers have vigorously opposed the bill, arguing it would disrupt the market, deter brokers from listing apartments and, ultimately, increase rents by compelling landlords to pass on the fees to tenants.
“The latest iteration of the FARE Act will lead to disastrous results for tenants, brokers, and owners alike,” REBNY wrote in a memo about the bill before the vote. The group has not ruled out a potential lawsuit.
Adams has not taken a formal stance on the bill but hinted at opposition Nov. 12, telling reporters that he worried renters would end up paying higher costs. By moving to pass the bill over Adams’ objections, the council is exercising the significant leverage it enjoys over the embattled mayor, who has limited ability to fight against the popular measure. (A June poll by Tusk Philanthropies found the bill had 66% support among regis-
tered Democrats.)
Ossé has pushed the legislation since 2023.
“I started writing the bill over a year ago, when I was searching for a new apartment and I learned how expensive finding a new place can be,” Ossé said in a video message Nov. 12. “Forced broker fees have been hurting our city since anyone can remember.”
Average cost is $12,951
The average upfront cost for an apartment with a broker fee is $12,951 in 2024, according to data provided by the rental platform StreetEasy. REBNY has said socalled “no-fee” apartments often have higher rents than apartments with broker fees, citing that as evidence of its theory that the FARE Act will ultimately raise rents. But StreetEasy said such apartments are not more expensive because broker fees are baked into the rent, but rather because such units are usually in newer, luxury buildings. And Ossé and his allies counter that rent is dictated by broader market forces and note that half the city’s housing stock is rent-stabilized and cannot be subject to steep hikes.
REBNY has focused much of its criticism on the language of the bill, which it says creates a “rebuttable presumption” that any broker who publishes a listing for a home has done so with the permission of the landlord. In reality, REBNY argues, about half of the city’s apartment listings are posted by brokers who received a “right to advertise” the unit but are not
working directly for the landlord.
The industry group had proposed its own bill that would instead give tenants a “bill of rights” informing them about fees in advance, but the measure was not taken up by the council.
New York and Boston are unique among U.S. cities for leaving tenants on the hook for broker fees. City and state leaders have failed in multiple past attempts to curb broker fees in New York, each time running up against the powerful force of REBNY.
The City Council considered a bill in 2019 that would have capped the fees at one month’s rent, but it stalled after brokers packed City Hall to oppose it. And state regulators banned the fees outright in 2020, only for that policy to be overturned following a lawsuit by REBNY.
Ossé’s bill stalled last year on its first attempt, but gained momentum this year with the apparent blessing of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. It continued advancing even after a show of force in
June, when REBNY and firms like Brown Harris Stevens and Corcoran dispatched hundreds of brokers to rail against the bill at a City Hall hearing — where they were met by another large crowd of young renters who spoke out in favor of the bill after watching Ossé’s popular social media videos. REBNY has continued its opposition campaign since then, most recently by placing advertisements on the roofs of 750 taxis, stating that “Our City Council wants to make it even harder to find an apartment in NYC.” If its push fails, it would mark a major setback for the real estate lobby, and come a few months after a state-level housing deal that left some developers dissatisfied. Mayor Adams, discussing the broker bill on Nov. 12, said he wanted to avoid a “knee-jerk reaction” to the city’s affordability crisis.
“I think the bill has the right intention, but sometimes good intentions do not get the results you’re looking for,” he said.
Brooklyn City Councilman Chi Ossé is the sponsor of the FARE Act, which bars forced broker fees for the first time in New York City. | NYC COUNCIL mEDIA UNIT
Queens mall owner digs deep to refinance $525M mortgage
By Aaron Elstein
Queens Center in Elmhurst is one of the nation’s best-performing malls, Fitch Ratings says. In the year ending last March its stores reaped more than $425 million in sales, or $1,739 per square foot. Primark and H&M are moving in after Forever 21 and Gap moved out. The mall’s occupancy rate is 91%. It has an Apple Store and Macy’s.
Its mortgage was refinanced recently at a rate described as “extremely attractive” by the mall’s
The property is one of the best performers in owner The Macerich Co.’s portfolio.
Santa Monica-based owner, The Macerich Co. In this particular instance, extremely attractive meant a slender 1.9% percentage-point increase in the 5-year loan’s interest rate, to 5.4%.
The cost to get that rate was $75
million, steep for a company with just $116 million in the bank as of Sept. 30. But Queens Center is consistently one of Macerich’s top-performing properties, so the owners dug deep to keep it.
Slightly below forecasts
Macerich owns 41 million square feet of retail space across the country, much of it acquired with borrowed money, as real estate investors are wont to do. The company has nearly $7 billion in liabilities, or more than 8 times cash flow. Unfortunately, cash flow last quarter came in slightly below forecasts, JPMorgan analyst Michael Mueller said in a report this month. So, as many real estate investors are, Macerich is slimming down debt, in this case by $2 billion worth of long-term debt. Wall Street describes it a “strategic repositioning” and the California company calls it “Path Forward.”
Happily, the strategic-forward-path-repositioning is showing signs of success. Mueller says
Macerich “continues to make some progress.” Still, he’s “underweight” the stock, which is Wall Street-speak for “invest in something else.”
Happily again for Macerich, not everyone feels that way. In order to raise the cash needed to refinance Queens Center, the REIT raised $152 million by issuing 9.4
million shares of common stock, using the money to fund an acquisition and pay down the mall’s mortgage that was to expire in January. The company calls equity sales such as this its “ATM Program.”
If Macerich hadn’t been able to find buyers for the shares, it could have theoretically still kept the
Queens Center. It had enough cash on hand to make the $75 million down payment, but it wouldn’t have had much left over. That would have left it vulnerable to debt downgrades, more Wall Street analysts underweighting the stock and further strategic repositioning that could have jeopardized Macerich’s ATM access.
Queens Center Mall | bUCK eNNIS
FARE Act brings fairness to the city’s rental market
In a free market, a buyer gets to decide from whom they get their goods and services, and the price they feel comfortable paying. But until recently, in the city’s rental market, landlords were allowed to appoint a broker to exclusively show their apartments, but the renter who signed a lease was the one who picked up the tab, despite not voluntarily enlisting the broker’s services.
On Nov. 13 the New York City Council banned this practice by passing the Fairness in Apartment Rentals, or FARE, Act. Sponsored by Brooklyn Councilman Chi Ossé, the legislation states that any agent who advertises a rental home with the landlord’s permission “shall not impose any fee” on the tenant who rents it. e new law adds an element of, well, fairness to the rental process that had been sorely lacking. For too long, renters have been saddled by large upfront fees that they had no say in, and the FARE Act will ensure that a renter who could otherwise a ord the monthly rent won’t lose out on a unit because they can’t also a ord the broker’s fee.
PERSONAL VIEW
As reporter Nick Garber mentioned in a story this week, the average upfront cost for an apartment with a broker fee is $12,951, according to StreetEasy data. e Real Estate Board of New York says socalled “no-fee” apartments often have higher rents than apartments with broker fees, citing that as evidence of its theory that the FARE Act would ultimately raise rents. But StreetEasy clari es that such apartments tend to be more expensive because they are in newer, luxury buildings. And Ossé counters that rent is dictated by broader market forces, and half the city’s housing stock is rent-stabilized and cannot be subject to steep price increases.
Unspoken discrimination
REBNY’s argument does not take into account that many renters might not have $13,000 on hand to pay before they move in, but they might have more money to put in on a monthly basis. In other words, the robustness of a renter’s savings account should not dictate where they can live. ese kinds of fees, found only in New York
and Boston, make it too hard for middle-class workers to stay here, forcing them to move elsewhere and keeping them out of the local workforce. And such fees serve as a kind of unspoken discrimination, ensuring certain apartments make their way only to wealthy renters.
To be sure, landlords will be on the hook for these fees, which could take a toll on their bottom line, and brokers might have to recalibrate what their job entails. REBNY argues that about half the city’s apartment listings are posted by brokers who received a “right to advertise” the unit and are not working directly for the landlord. But showing an apartment on behalf of a landlord, from which a landlord will ultimately benet, does appear to be an exchange of services between the landlord and the broker. Yes, the renter bene ts too, but putting them in a position to not be able to refuse the service is more like a shakedown than a voluntary transaction. It would be better to amend the “right to advertise” than to continue to burden renters.
REBNY has proposed its own legislation that would give tenants a bill of rights in-
New York must invest in housing along with adopting City of Yes reforms
If anything is crystal clear after this November’s election, it’s that the a ordability crisis in New York requires immediate action. Speci cally, families and workers in the city can no longer tolerate skyrocketing rents. e city must take a two-fold approach to addressing this crisis: pass the zoning reforms included in City of Yes, and increase investment in housing a ordability through expanded scal measures. ese two sets of policies — zoning reform to allow for increased supply, and scal support for housing a ordability — work together. ey must both be implemented to truly meet the needs of New Yorkers who currently face an untenable cost of living and the risk of losing their homes.
ese price increases are driving population loss and economic insecurity across nearly all incomes. In the studies we conducted at the Fiscal Policy Institute of out-migration from New York state, we found that 36% of households that leave are moving in search of more a ordable housing — more than twice the share before Covid. e highest rates of out-migration are households with annual incomes of between $30,000 and $100,000 — not those at the top of the income distribution.
Over the past 10 years, the population in New York City has grown at twice the rate of housing growth. e cost of housing — either renting or owning a home — jumped by almost 70% between 2012 and 2022. e economic research is clear: Constraints on housing supply have created major housing shortages in New York and other major metropolitan areas, and these shortages are driving up prices for households across incomes.
Out-migration of working- and middle-class New Yorkers demonstrates a deep problem in the city and state; New York needs to make sure that families can stay and thrive, rather than needing to leave to nd economic security. If the city is to maintain stable economic growth and a strong foundation that supports essential workers like teachers, nurses and public servants, the city needs to build more housing. Without a plan to dramatically increase housing, New York faces the possibility of economic stagnation and decline. Especially in the context of a federal administration that will likely weaken the social safety net and rights around the
country, New York must expand housing, o ering a home to those who will otherwise face persecution and eroded rights. One major concern amongst critics of City of Yes is that it will not do enough to build truly a ordable housing. is is a justi ed concern and one to be taken seriously; in order to provide a ordable housing to low-income families, New York will need to expand access to housing vouchers, produce more units that are o ered at permanently a ordable rates, and continue stabilizing and improving the NYCHA housing developments. ese are important complementary policies to commit to alongside the zoning reforms in City of Yes. We need both. Without increased housing all around the city, there simply won’t be space to house New Yorkers of all income levels.
Underestimated revenue
e city can a ord to invest in these complementary policies, despite the claims of some commentators and critics. In fact, recent city revenue forecasts have underestimated revenue and overstated impending de cits. For instance, while the scal year 2023 adopted budget projected a $4.2 billion gap in scal year 2024, the year in fact ended with a $4.4 billion
forming them about fees in advance, but the measure has not been taken up by the council. However, a bill of rights, even one that states that fees are negotiable, would do little to make the rental process more a ordable for renters, which is what the FARE Act aims to do. In a city where rents are famously too damn high, taking away one of the facets squeezing renters will go a long way toward making sure workers can live and thrive here.
Having tenants pay for broker services they did not request and had no choice but to use (and when, in many cases, they found the unit online anyway) is outdated and unfair. For the role of the broker to survive in the city, the industry must adjust and gure out a new way of operating. But continuing to burden renters is not the right idea, and the City Council was right in passing legislation that said as much.
surplus. e Independent Budget O ce expects outyear revenue to exceed projections by an average $1.7 billion each year. While conservative revenue projections are a consistent feature of the city’s scal management, they have been more dramatic in recent years. Moreover, the city includes $1.5 billion in in-year reserves each scal year. is funding is available to support the city’s spending needs. City of Yes, paired with deeper scal investments, will help alleviate the a ordability crisis, spark new economic activity and make it possible for more people who want to live in New York to remain here. At a time when the livelihoods of New Yorkers and Americans are at severe risk, New York must act to promote housing, increase a ordability and build an economy that works for all.
Emily Eisner is an economist at the
Residential apartment buildings in Brooklyn BLOOMBERG
PERSONAL VIEW
Mobility is the lifeblood of cities. Let’s not let Gov. Hochul choke ours
New York City faces a critical choice: Implement congestion pricing or let Gov. Kathy Hochul’s delays choke our city’s economic engine and diminish our quality of life. As young business leaders, we see congestion pricing not only as transportation policy but as a powerful tool to create jobs, revitalize communities and ensure cleaner air for future generations. Part of what makes NYC uniquely magnetic to the creative class — think Sex and the City, Friends or Girls — is its vibrancy and ease of movement. But if we fail to act, and if the governor continues to stall, we risk losing billions in economic activity, over 100,000 jobs and the magic that keeps New York alive for all.
ceed $3 billion by 2028. This funding isn’t just about balancing budgets; it underpins major infrastructure projects that would create 100,000 good-paying jobs statewide. But the governor’s inaction keeps that future out of reach.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is already at a financial crossroads. Without the $1 billion a year congestion pricing was set to generate, the agency faces a massive budget gap projected to ex-
PERSONAL VIEW
One of us, as a principal at Haussmann Development, sees the direct impact of Hochul’s delays on the city’s growth. With over 500 apartments in development across Brooklyn, Queens and Upper Manhattan, ease of mobility is crucial. We can’t keep building in Harlem, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights and Jamaica without a reliable transit system. The stakes are real. Industry experts report every dollar invested in infrastructure generates $3.70 in economic output — yet without congestion pricing, Hochul’s lack of action continues to weaken this engine of prosperity.
The governor’s choice to delay conges-
tion pricing also affects our health and safety. Reduced traffic in Manhattan’s central business district would mean cleaner air and fewer asthma cases — a win for the next generation that is long overdue. Instead, her inaction has tangible costs. Since congestion pricing was paused this summer, there have been more than 550 injuries and eight fatalities in car crashes below 60th Street. Imagine the lives potentially saved had congestion pricing taken effect.
Gridlock and unfulfilled promises
In his report, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli warns that Hochul’s delay may force the MTA to raise fares by 16% just to keep trains running. That would be a direct hit to working New Yorkers and a step closer to a transit system that only the wealthy can afford. (A single ride could rise to $3.35 from the current $2.90.) New Yorkers have already shown they support transit investment, demonstrated by the
Employees gravitate to firms that offer better reproductive benefits
As we process the results of our election, half of the U.S. is feeling euphoric and half is despondent. We are a fractured nation — that much is clear. We all need to reflect on the circumstances that have brought us to this place. Employers in particular have an opportunity and obligation to consider their role as stewards of the health and well-being of their workforce.
Employers are the largest providers of health coverage in this country, and we depend on them to provide us with family-friendly policies to empower us to raise our children and create thriving households. Those of us who live and work in New York state are lucky — under state requirements, employer-sponsored health plans must cover reproductive health benefits such as abortion and family formation services. However, eligibility limitations for health care coverage and paid family benefits mean that not all NY workers have access to these benefits.
their health care covers preventative visits, contraceptives, abortion care, mental health services and prenatal care. If they are lucky, they may get maternity leave or parental leave, but so many do not. The stress and uncertainty around our ability to access health care while working and caring for families takes a significant toll. People struggle, families suffer, our faith in our social contract suffers and we all pay a collective price.
Flory Wilson is the founder and CEO of Reproductive & Maternal Health Compass, a nonprofit focused on advancing reproductive and maternal health benefits.
Furthermore across the country, huge swaths of Americans do not have access to the basic reproductive and maternal health benefits they need to survive let alone thrive. Workers, even those who are insured, struggle to access affordable, quality health care, are unsure whether
We know — thanks to data and stories — that when companies support their workforce with comprehensive and quality reproductive and maternal health benefits, workers and their families are able to take care of their basic needs. Discussing reproductive and maternal health is deeply personal, but in the two years since I launched Reproductive & Maternal Health Compass, I’ve been consistently moved by the stories people have shared about the real impacts — good and bad — that corporate reproductive and maternal health benefits have on their employees. Consider two anecdotes: A young professional shared that he and his wife wanted to start a family but first he wanted to get a new job after learning his employer had cut its paid family leave program; a woman shared that she works harder now than ever because
she feels such loyalty to her employer after using their family formation benefits to start her family.
The experiences I’ve heard underscore how much these benefits matter regardless of gender, age, sexual orientation or job status. Many workers consider such benefits when evaluating a new job opportunity. All of this underscores that there is a compelling business case — a case that will continue to drive the employment choices of American workers — for providing these benefits.
congestion surcharge enacted in 2019 — yet we are now stuck with nothing more than gridlock and unfulfilled promises. Hochul’s actions, or lack thereof, leave New York at a tipping point. Other cities like London have embraced congestion pricing, with traffic and emissions dropping dramatically as a result. New Yorkers deserve the same, and with every day of delay, we inch closer to a city less livable, less vibrant and less open to opportunity. The time for wavering is over. Hochul must lift the pause on congestion pricing. With this, we can unlock our city’s potential, creating tens of thousands of jobs, generating billions in economic activity and giving our kids a cleaner, healthier future.
Mobility is the lifeblood of cities. Governor Hochul, don’t let New York lose ours.
Employers have an obligation and an opportunity to support, reassure and act on behalf of their workforce. There are many ways to do this that have nothing to do with politics.
1. Review: Take an inventory of the reproductive and maternal health benefits offered to your workforce with consideration for the different geographies in which workers are located. If your organization has workers in regions where access to reproductive health services may be restricted, consider how those employees can still access services. Consider eligibility criteria for various benefits offered and making it more expansive. Use your benefits vendors as a resource.
2. Reassure: A significant majority of the workforce want to work for a val-
ues-aligned company and believe that women’s health is under attack in the U.S., so communicate why reproductive and maternal health benefits are aligned with corporate values focused on well-being and caring. For workers in regions where access to reproductive health services may be restricted, provide information on how they can navigate their benefits plan to get the care they may need in a safe, confidential way.
3. Repeat: Surveys have shown that workers consistently feel they lack detailed information about their benefits packages. At the same time, companies spend about 30% of total compensation on benefits. This means that people teams have a business incentive to provide information about their reproductive and maternal health benefits frequently, clearly and through multiple channels.
Companies that want to do more for their employees can also leverage my organization’s online benchmarking tool for a free diagnostic of how strong their benefits package is.
Josef Goodman is a principal at Haussmann Development in Midtown East, and Raj Goyle is the co-chair of the 5Boro Institute and a Tribeca-based technology entrepreneur.
Congestion pricing toll readers near East 60th Street in Manhattan | bUCK eNNIS
Gov. Kathy Hochul announces funding for a maternal health center in the Bronx in June 2024. SUSAN WATTS/oFFICe oF Gov KATHY HoCHUL
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Judge tosses lawsuit against board chair over leadership shake-up at One Brooklyn Health
By Amanda D’Ambrosio
A Brooklyn judge has tossed a lawsuit against Alexander Rovt, board chairman of One Brooklyn Health, for a decision to oust the health system’s chief executive last year, ending a saga that raised questions about the safety-net system’s finances.
The lawsuit, filed in December by board member Maurice Reid and former Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, alleged that Rovt breached his duties as chairman by making false statements about former CEO LaRay Brown’s management of hospital finances and
formed in 2016.
But those complaints were unsubstantiated, Judge Wayne Saitta wrote in a decision this month.
The judge refused to dismantle the board, arguing that the court should not intervene in what is ultimately an internal business decision.
Decision raised questions
William Martin, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said while he understands the judge’s decision, the board still “has some soul-searching to do.”
The lawsuit is the end of a saga over the board’s decision to oust former CEO LaRay Brown last fall.
fostering a culture of favoritism on the board by offering some members trips for personal affairs, access to his private jet, money and employment for a relative.
The plaintiffs asked the judge to remove Rovt as chairman and dissolve the entire board of One Brooklyn Health, stating that the panel had deviated from its purpose and protocols that were outlined when the health system was
City
“Each board member should truly be independent and not subject to any outside — or inside — influence which may somehow interfere with their fundamental duties as members of a board of directors,” Martin said. He said that the plaintiffs have yet to decide whether they’ll take further legal action.
A spokesperson for One Brooklyn Health and Rovt declined to comment on the decision on Nov. 8.
The decision is the latest in the ongoing leadership shake-up that removed Brown, who was selected as the inaugural chief executive of One Brooklyn Health. The health system launched under a $664 million grant from former Gov. Andrew Cuomo to save
sues distributor in crackdown on illegal vape sales
By Ethan Geringer-Sameth
The city is suing a Long Island vape distributor for allegedly selling illegal nicotine products in an effort to crack down on bad actors operating outside the five boroughs.
The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn federal court against Farmingdale-based Price Point NY, accuses the company of flouting local, state and federal laws to distribute
“We want to continue an aggressive enforcement because you have to hit them in the pockets.”
Eric Adams, NYC mayor
e-cigarettes tasting like cotton candy, cherry cola and other flavors marketed toward children. The case is part of a controversial crackdown on the sellers of illegal cannabis and tobacco products that has closed 1,200 stores and led to the seizure of thousands of pounds of contraband.
Brookdale University Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center.
The reasons for Brown’s removal were not entirely clear, but the decision raised questions about the financial wellness of the largely state-subsidized health system.
Rovt — a major political donor and billionaire who made his money in the fertilizer industry — said the decision not to renew Brown’s employment stemmed from financial mismanagement and the health system’s $600 million deficit, alleging that she overspent on executive salaries. But
Brown fiercely denied those claims, stating that losses were not only smaller but resulted from the health system’s large population of Medicaid patients.
The health system later clarified that Brown’s removal came after a performance review from a compensation task force.
Rovt’s allegations of financial mismanagement subjected One Brooklyn Health to “opprobrium and ridicule” and negatively impacted the central Brooklyn community the health system was designed to serve, Reid and Robinson said in their initial petition.
The lawsuit also criticized Rovt for breaching conflict-of-interest rules because he also sat on the board of Maimonides Medical Center, yet did not remove its CEO due to the hospital’s long standing debts. Rovt vacated his role on Maimonides’ board earlier this year — a decision he said had nothing to do with this case, court documents say.
One Brooklyn Health named Dr. Sandra Scott, who served as executive director of Brookdale Hospital Center for almost three years, as its interim CEO in January. The search for a permanent chief executive is ongoing.
While the administration has focused attention on a divisive campaign known as “Operation Padlock to Protect” to shut down illegal sellers in the city, the lawsuit is part of a broader push to stop wholesalers under a wider geographic net.
“They have raked in thousands of dollars while putting our kids on the path to addiction,” Mayor Eric Adams said Nov. 7 of Price Point. “We’re not going to allow people to skirt the law by going to outside locations,” he added later.
The city is seeking the court to enjoin Price Point from making the illegal sales in the city and around the country, as well as damages, which could be “significant,” said Acting Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant.
The sale of flavored e-cigarettes in stores and online has been outlawed in the city since 2020, the same year the FDA placed heavy restrictions on marketing flavored vapes. The city has sued 15 vape distributors and whole-
salers since July 2023.
1,200 pounds of seized vapes
The announcement comes weeks after the mayor and Sheriff Anthony Miranda unveiled more than 1,200 pounds of seized vapes slated for destruction at a warehouse in Long Island City. The city has seized $84 million worth of cannabis and vape products from
unlicensed shops, according to City Hall.
But the effort has been tarnished by a Department of Investigation probe into Miranda and his office’s handling of tens of thousands of dollars of unaccounted-for cash found at its Long Island City headquarters. Problems mounted recently when a Queens judge found the state law allowing the city to lock shops while owners
appeal to be unconstitutional. Adams touted Operation Padlock on Nov. 7 while dodging questions about the probe, saying the city is continuing to go after unlicensed shops, coupled with a new anti-vaping campaign through the Department of Education. “We want to continue an aggressive enforcement because you have to hit them in the pockets,” Adams said.
A member of One Brooklyn Health’s board of directors sued the board and its chairman Alexander Rovt (left) for a decision to oust former CEO LaRay Brown (right) last year. | ALeXANDerrovT.Com, CoUrTeSY PHoTo
The lawsuit is part of a multipronged, and at times controversial, effort to crack down on illegal cannabis and nicotine products in the city. | mICHAeL APPLeToN/mAYorAL PHoToGrAPHY oFFICe
Safra banking heir picks up Dalva Bros. antiques store site in Lenox Hill for $20 million
By C. J. Hughes
A nearly century-old antiques-dealer firm forced to relocate by the construction of a supertall condo may soon be a thing of the past.
Dalva Bros., a third-generation business specializing in 18th-century French furniture, has sold 53 E. 77th St. in Lenox Hill for $20 million, according to a deed that appeared Nov. 7 in the city register. The building, across from the Carlyle hotel, had been listed for $26 million when it went into contract
property, also could not be reached.
But in his pitch to buyers, Carlos highlighted how the 31-foot-wide red-brick edifice could become a home, embassy or art gallery. That part of Lenox Hill is awash with townhouses used by United Nations envoys and as art galleries.
What also wasn’t immediately clear is if Dalva Bros. will close, move somewhere else or remain at the address. Several calls and an email sent to its office went unanswered.
Edmond Safra’s hedge fund has bought an East 77th Street site that has been home to Dalva Bros.
in May after more than a year of marketing.
The 6-story building near Madison Avenue, which was built in 1901 to be a townhouse but has functioned as a commercial space in recent decades, was acquired by EMS Capital, a Midtown-based hedge fund operated by Edmond Safra that frequently invests in Manhattan real estate.
What Safra, an heir to the Safra global banking fortune, plans to do with the 12,500-square-foot historic-district structure is unknown. A message left for him at his office in the GM Building was not returned by press time.
And Loy Carlos, the Nest Seekers International agent who was the most recent broker to list the
But Dalva Bros. did unload what appears to be a good chunk of its collection during the summer. Over two days of bidding in June, nearby auction house Doyle sold several of the company’s vintage mirrors, tables, clocks, vases and cabinets, from the era of kings such as Charles X, Louis IV and Louis XI. But the total haul, $1.3 million, according to the trade publication Antiques and the Arts Weekly, seems low, at least relative to the company’s real estate earnings.
Changing tastes have hurt other longtime antique stores in recent months, such as Charles Cheriff Galleries, a century-old standby of Greenwich Village that packed up for Long Island City earlier this year to make way for a condo project.
For its part, Dalva Bros. opened in 2008 at 53 E. 77th St. after being squeezed out of its longtime home in a townhouse at 44 E. 57th St. in Midtown so developer Harry Macklowe could construct 32 Park Ave., the 96-story Billionaires Row
high-rise that’s one of the tallest residential buildings in the world, though also one troubled by construction problems.
An extra $2 million
As part of the effort to snap up the property, Macklowe bought the company a new home, paying $15.8 million for No. 53 in 2006 before transferring the site to the family the following year in a deal valued at $17.4 million, the register shows. Dalva Bros. reportedly also got an extra $2 million in the deal.
Founded in 1933 by Leon Dalva Sr., Dalva Bros. was operated recently by his grandsons, David and Adam. Clients of the family over the years have reportedly included John Lennon, Greta Garbo and Gianni Versace.
Prior to the company’s arrival at No. 53, the building had been home to offices for dictionary publisher Funk & Wagnalls and French restaurant Cello, which operated in the space from 1999 to 2002.
Safra’s father, Moise Safra, was one of three brothers who in the 1950s launched a bank in Brazil that now has branches across the globe, including New York’s Safra National Bank.
Edmond Safra is also a resident of the neighborhood. He bought a former townhouse at 7 E. 96th St. for $20 million in 2016 from Manhattan Country School, which itself relocated after the deal, to the Upper West Side. But its building there is now for sale for about $40 million after a lender moved to foreclose.
30 retailers pass on leasing space in prime Fifth Avenue building
By Aaron Elstein
Prime shopping locations don’t get much better than 681 Fifth Ave., a handsome Plaza District building near East 54th Street.
But since anchor tenant Tommy Hilfiger moved out in 2019 and its lease expired last year, no one has filled the void. The 17-story, 80,000 square-foot building is in foreclosure proceedings after landlord Robert Siegel defaulted on its $215 million mortgage last year. On Nov. 6, credit-rating agency KBRA said loan investors face a $131 million loss.
Court documents show that 30 retailers have declined to sign a lease at the property, including some of the most prestigious brands in the world. Some said the building didn’t suit their needs, others cited the cost of rent. It isn’t clear how much is being asked, but rent for retail space in the neighborhood averages $964 per square foot, according to research firm Reis. Filling empty space at 681 Fifth is crucial because time is running short for Siegel, CEO of Metropole Realty Advisors and a longtime Plaza District investor who acquired the building for $86 million in 2005.
Referee proposal ordered
Last month a New York state judge, Jennifer Schecter, denied Siegel’s motion to halt the foreclosure proceeding for 120 days so he could negotiate with lenders. Instead, Judge Schecter ordered his adversaries to draft a proposal to appoint a referee who presumably would calculate the amount Siegel owes and put the building up for auction. KBRA estimated the building is worth $95 million, well below its 2016 value of $440 million.
Neither an attorney for the lenders, Rishi Kapoor, nor an attorney for Siegel, Robert Wolf, returned an email seeking comment.
Siegel’s woes come at a time when some landlords along Fifth
and Madison avenues have had to swallow dramatically lower rents to fill their storefronts. At the same time, retail giants such as Gucci and Prada have paid top dollar to acquire buildings on Fifth close to 57th Street.
Colliers, a commercial brokerage, was appointed by the judge earlier this year to market 681 Fifth. A vice president at the firm, Jake Horowitz, in September emailed Siegel a list of retailers that had been pitched and explained why they’d passed.
Retailers that passed
Gentle Monster, a sunglasses retailer with a shop in SoHo, toured the space but declined because it “cannot achieve rent,” the Colliers broker said, according to a court document. North Face toured and was interested in an 18-month lease at a “low rent” but nothing came of that. H&M considered leasing temporary space while another store was under renovation but passed.
New Balance declined because the space was “too expensive.” Goelia found the space “too large.” Uniqlo determined the “layout doesn’t work.” LVMH, the National Football League, and Marc Jacobs also were “presented site.”
Siegel asked what “presented site” means.
“This is very vague…[and] does not provide the usual information one would receive from a broker,” he wrote, a court document shows.
Horowitz replied it meant the building was shown or presented to the tenant or broker and “we are either waiting on feedback or there is no interest.”
He added Colliers has had “numerous conversations” with brokers and tenants who plan to tour the space. The firm also planned on showcasing 681 Fifth on an upcoming European trip and at Mapic, a trade show held Nov. 2628 in Cannes, France.
Colliers had no immediate comment.
British sports streamer inks lease on Park Avenue South
By Eddie Small
A sports streaming service headquartered in London has inked an office lease at SJP Properties’ 470 Park Ave. South.
past year.
DAZN has inked a deal for 10,000 square feet on the 14th floor of SJP Properties’ 470 Park Ave. South.
DAZN will take the entire 14th floor of the Midtown South building on a 10,000-square-foot lease, the company and SJP have announced to Crain’s. The two-tower office building, located between East 31st and East 32nd streets, spans 300,000 square feet overall and was recently renovated.
DAZN provides its subscribers with live and on-demand access to sports broadcasts including boxing, soccer, basketball, football and mixed martial arts. The company claims on its website to have broadcast 86,000 live events in the
It chose 470 Park Ave. South as its new office based on factors including the building’s location and amenities, said Grant Sprigings, the firm’s head of property and facilities. DAZN News, a division of the firm, currently leases about 51,000 square feet of office space at 1 World Trade Center, according to commercial real estate database CoStar. It was not immediately clear if the Park Avenue South lease would add to or replace the World Trade Center lease. A statement from the company calls the 470 Park space a U.S. corporate office but does not say which kind of employees specifically will work there.
SJP purchased 470 Park Ave. South in partnership with Prudential Financial in 2018 for $245 million. The firms put $15 million worth of renovations into the building after purchasing it, adding amenities including a tenant lounge and an outdoor courtyard with a stone fire pit. It is
currently 81.5% leased with estimated asking rents of $52 to $63 per square foot, according to CoStar.
Founded in 1981
SJP was founded in 1981 and has its Manhattan office at 11 Times Square, one of the many buildings in its portfolio. The firm is also be-
hind 200 Amsterdam Ave., the controversial luxury condo skyscraper on the Upper West Side. The city’s office market has yet to fully recover from the pandemic, but it has enjoyed a few strong months this year. Midtown South specifically saw about 1.3 million square feet worth of leases in October, a month-over-month and year-over-year increase led by in-
vestment firm TPG taking about 300,000 square feet in Hudson Yards at Tishman Speyer’s Spiral building, according to data from Colliers.
Savills’ Nicholas Farmakis and John Johnson Jr. represented DAZN in the Park Avenue South deal. CBRE’s Paul Amrich, Neil King III, James Ackerson and Josh Pernice represented SJP.
470 Park Ave. South CoSTAr
After 7-year fight, rezoning for apartment building near Brooklyn Botanic Garden nears approval
By Nick Garber
A seven-year fight over whether a shadow-casting apartment building can rise across the street from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden was resolved last week, as the developer and a local council member struck a deal on the 10-story development in Crown Heights.
The City Council’s zoning committee on Nov. 12 advanced the Continuum Company’s 285,000-square-foot project at 962-972 Franklin Ave. If ultimately approved by the council later this month, it would finally settle a lengthy battle that has included the defeat of a previous proposal in 2021, competing claims over the development’s effect on precious flowers, and an announcement that Continuum would withdraw the entire rezoning in September. (The developer did not withdraw and in fact pushed forward with the project.)
The proposed mid-sized building has taken on outsize importance, as a prize for organized labor and a potential threat to a cherished conservatory. It is also a test of the current council’s commitment to approving new housing — and may even provide clues into next year’s race for City
the project secure the vocal support of the city’s influential construction unions.
That support was key to reviving the project after Continuum CEO Ian Bruce Eichner threatened to withdraw his application in September — a decision that came after the City Planning Commission shrunk its height by 30 feet, making it no longer financially feasible. The AFL-CIO pushed for the addition of workforce housing through a city subsidy program, which made the project viable again, a source familiar with the planning told Crain’s. (Although some in the council harbor suspicions that the withdrawal threat was a bluff intended to improve the developer’s negotiating position, Eichner’s team insists that it was genuine.)
Crystal Hudson, the local council member, has said she supports building housing on the site, but echoed the concerns raised by leaders of the next-door garden, who say the development would harm rare plants kept inside a greenhouse. Hudson is expected to run for council speaker after next year’s elections, which has heightened the real estate world’s interest in her handling of the rezoning.
A battle over the 10-story building has involved rare flowers, organized labor and a candidate for council speaker.
Council speaker.
The project was slated to include 355 apartments, 106 of which would be set aside as affordable workforce housing, as well as 8,500 square feet of retail. The Nov. 12 agreement settled on 335 apartments and the same number of affordable units. It would be financed by an investment fund controlled by the AFLCIO labor union and built with union labor, which has helped
“The shadows we speak of would impact the light required for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden to quite literally provide the very plants for a garden that not only Brooklynites enjoy, but for one that is treasured by the entire city,” Hudson said at an October hearing.
“Any development in this area must prevent harmful shadows from being cast onto the garden, and while the applicant has proposed changes that would lessen the impact and duration of shadows on the garden, I still have concerns.”
The fight over the Franklin Avenue site dates back to 2017, when Eichner proposed a much larger development — two towers standing 39 stories each, which were ultimately rejected by the City Planning Commission in 2021 based on
the same shadow concerns. (A next-door lot that was part of that original project was sold for $64 million in May to developer Yitzchok Schwartz. He plans to build a 7-story residential building on the lot, which is home to a now-defunct spice factory.)
Stuck with current proposal
Eichner went public with his current proposal last year and has stuck with it despite initial opposition from leaders of the Botanic Garden and symbolic rejections by the local community board and the Brooklyn borough president.
“We’re continuing discussions to find a project that delivers on the goals of providing union-financed housing and good jobs in Central Brooklyn,” Eichner’s lawyer David Rosenberg said Nov. 11. The developer has also committed to giving the garden $500,000 for new infrastructure and paying $1 million to renovate a nearby playground.
The Botanic Garden and Hudson’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Nov. 11. While some residents
and community groups have urged the lawmaker to reject the rezoning, Hudson has come under equally intense pressure from labor unions that want her to approve it.
Gary LaBarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council, has held up the Franklin Avenue rezoning as a symbol of New York’s misguided approach to new development — pairing the Brooklyn project with another controversial development near the High Line that has also been caught up in a dispute over shadows.
“They said the shadows would affect the orchids!” LaBarbera thundered to a crowd of hundreds of union workers at an Oct. 24 Manhattan rally in support of both projects. “They’re putting flowers over you and your family!”
Eichner has hired three different lobbying firms to make his case at City Hall — including Kyle Bragg, the former head of labor union 32BJ SEIU and a close ally of Mayor Eric Adams’. In public filings, Bragg has reported holding regular meetings about the project with Adams and his top deputies.
“Mayor responded that this is a good development that falls within his housing plans and [would] like to [see] it built,” Bragg wrote in a report filed Nov. 1.
The changes made by the City Planning Commission in September included adding a 15-degree slope to the building’s upper floors, which reduced the shadows it would cast on the garden but also cut the number of apartments in the building from 475 to 375. The Botanic Garden has pushed for a 10-degree slope, which is where the parties settled last week.
Every potential shadow created by the building has been the focus of intense study. The Hardy Plant Nursery Yard, where the Botanic Garden cultivates some sensitive plant species, would be affected by 36 minutes of new shadows per day on the March and September solstices, according to the developer. On the summer solstice, that shadow time would grow to 1 hour and 9 minutes — which the Botanic Garden’s counterproposal would reduce by a grand total of three minutes.
A diagram shows how a proposal for a 10-story building at 970 Franklin Ave. would cast shadows on the Brooklyn Botanic Garden across the street. The Botanic Garden pushed for a 10-degree slope to the building’s upper floors to reduce shadows. CORCORAN GROUP
City Councilwoman Crystal Hudson questioned the development team for the 962-972 Franklin Ave. rezoning at a hearing in October. | EmIL COHEN/NYC COUNCIL mEDIA UNIT
People spoke in support of the rezoning at the October City Council hearing, including David Rosenberg, a lawyer for the developer (center) and Kyle Bragg (left), a former union leader who is now a lobbyist for developer Ian Bruce Eichner. EmIL COHEN/NYC COUNCIL mEDIA UNIT
THANK YOU FROM THE CENTRAL PARK CONSERVANCY!
Contributions to the Central Park Conservancy’s Perimeter Association provide funding for the improvement and maintenance of Central Park’s six-mile perimeter. The Conservancy relies on the financial support from members to ensure the sidewalks and Park entrances are clean, safe, and welcoming year-round. Thank you to the buildings surrounding the Park for their continued generosity in helping keep the perimeter clean.
920 Fifth Avenue
Douglas Elliman
Property Management
The San Remo
1050 Fifth Avenue
The 995 Fifth Avenue
1170 Fifth Avenue
322 Central Park West
834 Fifth Avenue
820 Fifth Avenue
The Dakota
1040 Fifth Avenue
262 Central Park West
1010 Fifth Avenue
1020 Fifth Avenue
930 Fifth Avenue
1060 Fifth Avenue
880 Fifth Avenue
Reflects gifts $5,000 and above received between July 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024.
1160 Park Avenue
880 Fifth Avenue
200 Central Park South
2 East 88th Street
817 Fifth Avenue
New York Athletic Club
150 Central Park South
1025 Fifth Avenue
For more information on how your building can help, please call 332.245.3186 or email perimeter@centralparknyc.org
Upper West Side’s Manhattan Country School
By Eddie Small
A Manhattan private school facing foreclosure is looking to sell its Upper West Side home.
Manhattan Country School will aim to sell its building at 150 W. 85th St. for $39.8 million, according to a Nov. 7 announcement from the school and Denham Wolf, the brokerage representing it in the potential deal. The school will either look to do a sale-leaseback option, in which the new owner will lease the building back to the school, or sell the building outright and
about 40,000 square feet and is located between Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, was recently renovated and stands 6 stories tall with 20 classrooms, a library and a 3-story atrium. Manhattan Country School bought the property in 2015 for $28 million, property records show.
Several potential buyers
Christopher Turner, principal and managing director at Denham Wolf, said several potential buyers have already shown interest in the property, and the school is motivated to move quickly.
“We were already discussing with them a strategy before the foreclosure was announced.”
move to a new location. It expects to remain in its current building for the rest of the academic year either way.
The property, which spans
He also noted that the school’s interest in selling predated the foreclosure suit.
“We were already discussing with them a strategy before the foreclosure was announced,” he said.
“They’ve been proactively trying to address this.”
Flushing Bank, based on Long Island, had sued Manhattan Country School in October over an alleged debt of roughly $3 million. An attorney for the bank did not respond to a request for comment by press time about the potential sale’s impact on the foreclosure proceedings.
make sure the school can “financially thrive for many years to come.”
Roxanne Elings, chair of the school’s board of trustees, said in a statement that the board aims to
Manhattan Country School was founded in 1966 and serves students in prekindergarten through eighth grade. It has an upstate farm in addition to its Upper West
Side building and bases its teachings on the guiding principal of “radical love.” Tuition operates on a sliding scale, starting at $51,000 per year for early childhood programs and increasing to $57,000 per year for fifth through eighth grade.
Christopher Turner, principal and managing director at Denham Wolf
Manhattan Country School at 150 W. 85th St. | GOOGLE STREET vIEW
Networking With Real Estate
Crain’s New York Business hosted a networking event and live interview with Carlo A. Scissura, president and CEO of the New York Building Congress, on Nov. 14. Crain’s Editor-in-Chief Cory Schouten asked a series of questions about big developments on the horizon for New York City, the evolving economic picture for the construction industry, the city’s readiness for climate change, and the regulatory environment including Local Law 97.
and CEO of the New
answers a question from
Carlo A. Scissura, president
York Building Congress,
Crain’s New York Editor-in-Chief Cory Schouten
Ralph Esposito, Carlo A. Scissura and Lou A. Coletti
Catherine Moss and Elizabeth Crowley
Taryn Duffy and Giancarlo Sapio
Diana Froehlich, Pat Reidy, Lorraine Reidy, Nick Zappulla and Crain’s advertising account executive Miriam Dreese
Carol Sigmond, Lion Song, Jonathan Grippo and Joshua Deal
Photographs by Buck Ennis
JEFFRIES
party than by any personal ideology.
Reading the tea leaves
Jeffries has not cultivated the same kind of bring-home-the-bacon reputation as his Senate counterpart Chuck Schumer, a fellow Brooklynite who will take a demotion to minority leader next year. But city leaders must have been reading the tea leaves for clues about how Jeffries would govern if he ever took command of a House majority. Kathryn Wylde, president of the business group Partnership for New York City, noted approvingly that Jeffries came of age as a corporate lawyer at Viacom and the firm Paul, Weiss before he entered politics.
“He has a very real sense of what business needs, and what it can contribute,” Wylde said. “What New York business appreciates about Hakeem is that he’s very focused on practical solutions. He doesn’t spout ideological rhetoric and is proud of working across the aisle on issues where we need to get something done.”
In political circles, Jeffries is renowned for his prodigious fundraising and message discipline.
Although he is no firebrand orator, Jeffries can hold a crowd — in recent months, he traveled the state to stump for New York’s House
blame for Trump’s victory, Jeffries has emerged unscathed, and arguably even strengthened his internal standing thanks to the strong performance by Democratic House candidates in his home state of New York.
“I think about my experiences: It’s Brooklyn, the Black church, and it’s hip-hop culture.”
candidates, typically delivering remarks without notes.
Despite finger-pointing in Democratic circles about who is to
Thus far, Jeffries has adopted a mild tone when discussing the president-elect — but told donors he would “hold the line” against any threats to democracy by Trump, Axios reported.
Wylde offered one concrete example of Jeffries’ plans: At an October meeting of the Partnership’s board, Jeffries vowed that his caucus would heed the demands of high-earning New
Yorkers by not extending the loathed cap on state and local tax deductions once it expires in 2025.
“Everyone cheered for that,” Wylde said.
Trump, whose 2017 tax law created the SALT cap, has also pledged not to extend it, although its fate in the hands of Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson is unclear.
‘He’s still showing up’
Jeffries has endured years of comparisons to Barack Obama, and he has something in common with the ex-president: a failed first run for office. While still working as a corporate lawyer, Jeffries
mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge in 2000 to Assemblyman Roger Green, followed by another in 2002. That second race taught Jeffries about the crucible that is Brooklyn politics: Months before the rematch, state lawmakers redrew the district’s lines to leave Jeffries’ home one block outside its boundaries, which would have left him ineligible if he sought to challenge Green a third time.
“It was a desperate act by a career politician trying to save his government job,” Jeffries told the New York Times in 2002.
In the end, Green’s 2006 retirement opened a spot for Jeffries to easily claim the Assembly seat in 2006, followed by a 2012 run for Congress in which he easily defeated firebrand City Councilman Charles Barron in the Democratic primary.
In recent years, Jeffries’ brand of business-friendly Democratic politics has sowed distrust among progressives. In 2018, Jeffries defeated liberal favorite Barbara Lee of California in an election for House Democratic Caucus chair, which quickly fed rumors that newly elected progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might orchestrate a primary challenger to Jeffries. (Ocasio-Cortez rejected the claims, and the two have maintained an uneasy alliance.)
Jeffries’ steadfast support for Israel has won him support from Jewish leaders and criticism from left-wing groups more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, especially during Israel’s destructive war in Gaza. His critics often point to a 2014 speech in which Jeffries proclaimed, “Israel today, Israel tomorrow, Israel forever” — a seemingly accidental paraphrase of an infamous line used by segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
“If Jeffries is considered a pro-
gressive, the term has lost all meaning,” the socialist Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani wrote on social media in 2022.
But Jeffries has paid little heed to critiques from the left. After all, although he represents such gentrifying neighborhoods as Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant, his core constituents remain the churchgoing residents of Black central Brooklyn. A vivid example played out this spring, when Jeffries helped Bed-Stuy Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman fend off a primary challenge by a socialist candidate. (While Jeffries himself mostly stayed above the fray, his senior adviser, André Richardson, repeatedly attacked the socialist candidate Eon Huntley as a carpetbagging gentrifier.)
“I think about my experiences: It’s Brooklyn, the Black church, and it’s hip-hop culture,” Jeffries told the rapper Fat Joe in an October interview.
Jeffries himself is a lifelong member of Bed-Stuy’s Cornerstone Baptist Church, where he spent his youth as an usher. He has said his religious upbringing shaped his leadership style. Even now, Jeffries takes pains to maintain a visible presence in his district, despite his duties in Washington.
“He’s still showing up in churches, whether or not there’s an election for him,” said Todd-Medina, his longtime adviser. “He remembers the church anniversary, the pastor’s anniversary. He’s showing up at the NYCHA burger-and-barbecue event in the summer. He’s still shaking hands with residents at the subway stations and asking them about their issues.”
“Now, we have to share him with the rest of the country,” she added, “and we have to get used to that.”
Hakeem Jeffries greeted a crowd during an October rally on Long Island for Democratic House candidate Laura Gillen, who ultimately won her race. | ADAm GRAY/BLOOmBERG
Hakeem Jeffries (right) conferred with fellow Democratic House members in December 2019 during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the impeachment of President Donald Trump. | ALEX EDELmAN/BLOOmBERG
Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the U.S House of Representatives
“During Covid, when hotels were struggling, would have been the time to seize the opportunity to convert,” Beer added. “Now maybe not so much.”
Inflection point
The hotel sector seems to be at an inflection point after hitting a peak earlier this year of about 15,000 migrant-occupied rooms, about 12% of total inventory.
This month city officials wound down contracts with two hotels that housed migrants, Hotel Merit at 414 W. 46th St. in Hell’s Kitchen and a Quality Inn at 153-95 Rockaway Blvd. in Springfield Gardens, Queens, near John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to the Hotel Association of New York, the trade group that has essentially coordinated the effort to fill tourist-depleted rooms with lucrative migrant tenants since the asylum seeker wave began in 2022.
And Vijay Dandapani, the association’s chief executive, expects officials to give more hotels the 30days notice required to cancel contracts in the weeks ahead. “The number of migrant hotels will come down,” he said. “We just don’t know the pace.”
The New York Post first reported the news about the Hotel Merit and Quality Inn.
Demand has certainly dipped. The number of arriving asylum seekers is down 14% since January, according to data from city Comptroller Brad Lander, and more migrants have been leaving the shelter system than entering it since May.
And the population of migrants, many of whom were sent to the city by Southern governors as a political stunt, could see more dramatic decreases soon. President-elect Donald Trump said during his campaign he would round up and deport all undocumented migrants, though whether he follows through on the controversial vow remains to be seen.
With the evaporation of a dependable stream of revenue — up to $185 a night per migrant, guaranteed every night — owners and operators may be hurt initially, analysts say. But not everyone thinks they will take the major step of converting.
Because hotel rooms have grown increasingly smaller over the years, sometimes measuring as little as 200 square feet, several would have to be combined to create a typical apartment. And even then, squeezing in a proper kitchen might be challenging. “It’s major work,” Dandapani said.
But hoteliers may have to shell out money all the same. Indeed, having families live in rooms for months on end likely produced major wear and tear, so owners may have to install new carpets,
drapes and bath fixtures at a possible cost of tens of thousands of dollars per room if they want to welcome conventional guests again.
Financial concerns
Not all hotels are resistant to conversions. Long-term stay versions are usually equipped with kitchens, which was the case at 90 Sands St. near Brooklyn Heights, a former 509-unit hotel for the Jehovah’s Witnesses organization that Breaking Ground turned into a 491-unit supportive housing facility in 2022.
But other sites have been a nogo for financial reasons. The developer sought to similarly reinvent the Paramount Hotel at 235 W. 46th St. in Times Square after it closed because of Covid in 2020. But the costs of paying severance to the hotels’ ex-workers under the terms of a citywide labor agreement, about “tens of millions of dollars,” would have made it way too daunting, Beer said.
Indeed, when a hotel becomes a residence, its workers are entitled to 15 days of pay for each year of service under a deal negotiated by the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council union. “It’s a hurdle that could keep these sites as hotels,”
Beer explained.
He’s instead now focused on a different kind of migrant-hosting site, a former Baruch and Hunter College dorm at 1760 Third Ave. in East Harlem purchased earlier this year for $172 million from CenterSquare Investment Management and Principal Asset Management. Breaking Ground will turn it into a 434-unit affordable complex once the building’s migrant contract expires at the end of November.
Market fundamentals may also encourage owners to hang on to their lodgings. The supply of new hotels is limited, in part because of the three-year-old Hotels Text Amendment, which requires a time-intensive approval process for rezoned sites.
At the same time, tourism is approaching prepandemic levels. New York is on track to have 65 million visitors in 2024, according to comments from Andrew Kimball, the head of the city’s Economic Development Corp., at a Crain’s event Nov. 12. That total is close to the 67 million tourists who came to the city in 2019, based on data from city marketing arm NYC Tourism + Conventions.
Still Kimball seemed torn about the best way forward. “I think a
good amount of those hotels coming back online will be very positive,” he said Nov. 12, but he added that pressing housing needs may lead to conversions of “some number of those hotels as well.”
Competition could result. Slate Property Group, a frequent affordable-housing developer, has been eyeing hotels for projects. Constructing units in existing buildings instead of from the ground up can halve development timelines, reducing them from about three years to one and a half years, a big difference for those desperate for a place to live, said Slate co-founder David Schwartz.
And though hotel rooms do often need to be combined, hotels lay out much more easily as housing than, say, offices, the other major real estate sector under consideration, Schwartz added.
Slate and nonprofit RiseBoro Community Partnership are now converting a former 360-room Hilton at 144-02 135th Ave. near JFK into a 318-unit affordable complex; a pool will be filled and topped with a greenhouse, while offices will be added in the lobby for case workers. But even Schwartz admits the hotel-to-housing model is a bit untested, suggesting the status quo of keeping them as-is could win the day.
“There needs to be a proof of concept for these kinds of conversions because people are naturally skeptical,” Schwartz said. “But there seems to be interest.”
THE BOOK 2025
Quality Inn, 153-95 Rockaway Blvd., Springfield Gardens | bUCK eNNIS
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Notice of Formation of LP PRESERVATION DEVELOPER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/25/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 116 E. 27th St., 11th Fl., NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Real Estate Investment & Development
NOTICE OF FORMATION of Girl Forgive Yourself Co. LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/16/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 228 Park Ave S PMB 122264 NY, NY 10003. R/A: US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave, #202, BK, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful act.
Notice of Formation of KAYS4PRES LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/26/24.Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process shall be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC, to 641 E 5th St.. Brooklyn, NY 11218, USA Purpose: any lawful act
Notice of Formation of LL MAD IRON LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/10/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Farrell Fritz, P.C., 400 RXR Plaza, Uniondale, NY 11556. Purpose: Any lawful activity
Site Reliability Engineer (Citadel Securities Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult. Pos. Avail. Offering a salary range of $175,000 - $250,000 / year. Collab w/ cross-functional teams, incl trading, quant, and software eng’g teams, to supp and enhance Citadel's core suite of trading apps w/ the latest, most cutting edge tech in order to proactively diag and resolve prod issues. Monitor the health of prdctn trading apps as demanded by daily business ops & will rspnd to real-time system alerts, escalating & communicating to rel. parties when necessary. F/T. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com. Ref. JobID: 8528021.
Software Engineer (Citadel Securities Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult. Pos. Avail. Offer’d salary of $185,000 - $225,000/yr. Design & build software compon’ts that are foundat’l to research & trad’g activities. Enhance proprietary electronic trad’g systems & tools to support new products & algorithms. F/T. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com. Ref: JobID: 8365745.
Princ Engr-Ntwk Engring needed by Verizon in New York NY. Oversee the transition of edge applications to cloud based architecture. Telecommute role, may work remotely from anywhere in the US. Wage range: $137,585-177,000/per year.
To apply, email resume vz-apply@verizon.com. Refer to Job # YKALEH-L.
BLUEFISH APPAREL LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/22/24. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 34 West 33rd Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
GEORGE PRODUCTIONS, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 10/09/24.Office: New York. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 61 Horatio Street, Apt 3G, New York, NY 10014. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
Senior Investment Analyst
Since 1917, the Teachers’ Retirement System of the City of New York (TRS) has been securing better futures for NYC educators. At TRS, we seek dedicated professionals who are passionate about their work and committed to excellence. We pride ourselves on our member-centric culture, focused on delivering outstanding service and support to our members. The Senior Investment Analyst will manage investments for the $21 billion externally managed Variable Annuity Program. This role also involves overseeing multi-asset global equity strategies, conducting market research, and liaising with key stakeholders to maximize risk-adjusted returns. Full Job Description and Requirements are available at jobs.crainsnewyork.com
Notice of Qualification of 50 HST HOSPITALITY LLC
Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/23/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/19/24. Princ. office of LLC: 183 Centre St., 6th Fl., NY, NY 10013. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Formation of AK Medical Rehabilitation Services, PLLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/6/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.to 535 5th Ave, Ste 920, NY, NY 10017 Purpose: Any Lawful Activity
Notice of Qualification of VERBITSKY CAPITAL LLC
Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/08/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/03/24. Princ. office of LLC: 300 Central Park West, Apt. 3K, NY, NY 10024. 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: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
PUISSANT L.L.C. Arts of Org. filed
SSNY 8/22/2024 New York Co. SSNY design agent for process & shall mail to 228 PARK AVE STE #986574, NEW YORK, NY, 10003
RA: US CORP AGENTS, INC. 7014 13TH AVE, SUITE 202, BROOKLYN, NY, 11228
General Purpose
TEMPO HOOPS LLC Arts of Org. filed SSNY 1/23/2024 New York
Co. SSNY design agent for process & shall mail to 570 Grand Street, Apt H901, NY, NY 10002
RA: EDWARD LUI, 570 Grand Street, Apt H901l NY, NY 10002
General Purpose
Notice of Formation of D. LOUVEL MARKETING LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/28/24. Office Loc: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process shall be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC, to 136 E. 76th St Apt 15E, NY, NY 10021.Purpose: any lawful act
Notice of Formation of SHARAWADGI, LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/24 Office Loc: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process shall be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC, to 19 Stuyvesant Opal, Apt 12A, NY, NY 10009 Purpose: any lawful act
Notice of Formation of FORCE MAJEURE LIFESTYLE, LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/3/24. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process shall be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC, to PO BOX 89, DARRIEN, CT, 06820, USA Purpose: any lawful act.
PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES
HSH MANHATTAN LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 09/18/24. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, c/o Marcum LLP, 730 Third Avenue, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10017. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.
Notice of Qualification of CADIAN SOFTWARE GP, LLC
Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/23/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/25/24. 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: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of DE, Div. of Corps., The John G. Townsend Bldg., PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity
Notice of Formation of HARTFORD CT HOLDINGS LLC
Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/7/24. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process shall be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC, to 156A EAST 83RD STREET, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10028, USA. Purpose: any lawful act.
DIA NATURAL STONE LLC
Arts of Org. filed SSNY 10/01/2024
New York Co. SSNY design agent for process & shall mail to THE LLC 368 9th Ave, WEWORK C/O KEREM SAZ, NY, NY 10001 RA: US CORP AGENTS, INC. 7014 13TH AVE, STE 202, BROOKLYN, NY, 11228 General Purpose
Luxury UES apartment building trades hands for $128M
By Julianne Cuba
New landlords have taken over a 20-story luxury apartment building on the Upper East Side, city records show.
Los Angeles-based CIM Group offloaded the 150-unit rental tower, dubbed the Hanley, at 165 E.
The Carlyle Group made the purchase in partnership with Stonehenge NYC and with the help of a $118 million loan from Acore Financial.
66th St. to private-equity giant Carlyle Group for $128 million, according to a deed that appeared in the city register Nov. 12. The sale comes as a loss for CIM Group, which bought the property between Third and Lexington avenues, for $200 million in 2019, according to city records.
Wonjoong Kim, managing director at the Carlyle Group, signed the papers on behalf of the buyer, which made the purchase with the help of a $118 million loan from Midtown-based Acore Capital, records show.
The Carlyle Group, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has recently been scooping up a bunch of self-storage facilities across Brooklyn, acquired both the residential and garage portions of the building, records show. There are currently no available units in the building, where a 618-square-foot studio rented for $4,300 in June, according to StreetEasy.
The ground-floor retail unit, however, has a different owner, Miami-based real estate firm Crescent Heights, according to city documents, and was not part of the sale. It is currently occupied by the clothing store Alo.
It appears the Carlyle Group did not make the massive purchase alone but, rather, in partnership with real estate company Stonehenge NYC, according to Carlyle’s website, which lists the Hanley as one of the residential buildings in the city that make up its $2.5 billion portfolio across 3.5 million square feet of property.
Heavily residential portfolio
The purchase is more in line with Carlyle’s heavily residential portfolio, though it recently acquired three self-storage sites in
Brooklyn for more than $60 million, Crain’s reported during the summer. Led by CEO Harvey Schwartz, the Carlyle Group last February bought the Aire, a luxurious but financially ailing rental
building on the Upper West Side, for $265 million in partnership with developer Gotham Organization, Crain’s reported at the time.
Neither the Carlyle Group nor Stonehenge NYC responded to a
request for comment, and it is unclear how much of a stake each firm has in 165 E. 66th. The seller, CIM Group, which has $28.6 billion in total assets, according to its website, declined to comment.
165 E. 66th St. | GOOGLE STREET vIEW
Theater’s artistic director embraces supporting ‘art for art’s sake’
After working almost 20 years as a talent agent, Val Day went back to her roots in 2017 at Off-Broadway venue 59E59
Val Day’s family moved up and down the East Coast fairly often while she was growing up, which could make tting in at school a challenge for her. But the one clique that tended to help her feel welcome no matter what was the theater kids.
“ eater people are usually mists, and everywhere we moved, I sought them out,” she said. “We had the same interests and accepted each other’s oddities. I felt a sense of belonging.”
Day started to turn this sense of belonging into a career in 1992, when she co-founded a theater company in Tampa, Florida. It was not the most nancially lucrative decision — everyone at the company had day jobs — but she would direct the plays at night and always manage to break even on ticket sales. One of the key factors that kept people coming to the shows, which included new works from playwrights Naomi Iizuka and Mac Wellman, was their originality.
“ ey were really excited not to be getting shows that had been done in New York four or ve years before,” Day said of her Florida audiences. “ ey were seeing things that you can’t see anywhere else.”
Day headed to the University of
California San Diego in 1995 to earn her master’s in directing and went from there to New York, where she spent almost 20 years as a talent agent with WMA and ICM representing playwrights and directors.
But in 2017 she got back to her theater roots by taking a job as artistic director at 59E59 eaters, one of the city’s O -Broadway venues located at, obviously, 59 E. 59th St.
Focus on the artistic side
She described the nonpro t theater, which was founded in 2004, as a perfect t for her interests, especially given that it would let her focus more on the artistic side of the industry than the commercial side.
“Agenting is about the bottom line and money, and that was always a struggle for me,” she said. “ ere’s a lot of pressure to go for the big bucks, and I was really looking forward to getting back to art for art’s sake.”
e theater puts on a yearround program of plays. O erings for its fall season include shows inspired by Italian Renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi and a teacher who survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
By | Eddie Small
Shows at 59E59 keep at least 80% of their ticket revenue, and, thanks to a recent $10 million grant, they no longer need to pay rent. is policy change has made Day much busier.
“ ere are so many people who did nd it a little bit of a barrier to have that looming weekly rental fee,” she said, “and now they are de nitely knocking down my doors with some really interesting projects that might not have come my way before.”
e pandemic infamously decimated the city’s theater industry, and although it has yet to fully recover from Covid, Day said it is in a fairly strong spot these days. She stressed that this is good not just for the industry itself but for the city overall, arguing that cultural events provide it with more of a nancial boost than sporting events.
When selecting shows for 59E59, Day tries to strike a balance between picking ones that an audience will enjoy and supporting artists with a unique vision that may be somewhat hard for even her to comprehend.
“I don’t want to alienate the people who are looking to come,” she said. “I do want to be as supportive of the visions of the com-
Val Day
Age: 61
Grew up: Tampa, Florida
Resides: Yorkville, Manhattan
Education: Bachelor’s in theater, University of South Florida; master’s in directing, University of California San Diego
Power clients: As a talent agent, Day has represented some major names on Broadway, including “The Band’s Visit” director David Cromer, “A Doll’s House, Part 2” playwright Lucas Hnath and “What the Constitution Means to Me” playwright Heidi Schreck.
Doggy day care: Day fosters rescue dogs in her spare time and has grown particularly fond of chihuahuas. “I’ve fostered probably 10 or 15.
They’re cool dogs,” she said. “They’re not rats on a leash.”
panies that I’m programming as possible, and if they’re passionate about something that I don’t 100% understand why, I will trust them.”
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Val Day, artistic director at 59E59 Theaters | BUCK ENNIS
The industries that drive New York – and the city itself – are at a major crossroads. What kind of city do we want to be? How will business drive the future of housing, work, health care, climate change, technology, arts and transportation in the Big Apple? Crain’s New York Business & Partnership for New York City will dive deep into the innovations, challenges and pivotal developments that will inspire the city’s reinvention over the next 50 years.
