Crain's New York Business, February 12, 2024 by crains-new-york-business

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM I FEBRUARY 12, 2024

Providers get creative with care to reach diverse patients The city’s health institutions say they are trying to relate better to clients from underserved communities by training staff in culturally competent concepts By Jacqueline Neber Criss Smith met a nurse who was also a Black queer man during his experience transitioning. Talking to him felt like talking to an older brother, Smith said. “I could speak freely. There is a certain freedom there that you don’t get every day,” he said. “I cannot imagine even starting that conversation with someone BY THE outside of that shared experience.” NUMBERS Smith’s experience at Callen-Lorde, a community health organization for New Yorkers who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or nonbinary based in Chelsea, is an inNYC Health stance of culturally competent health care, a con+ Hospitals’ cept that centers on the idea that providers who budget for look like patients, hail from their communities, fiscal 2025 speak their language, or even are aware of their specific cultural values, beliefs and behaviors, can facilitate better health outcomes. It can be as simple as a doctor speaking the same Spanish dialect as their patient, or a community member who has a chronic health condition teaching their neighbor how to manage their own condition. Such care creates a more inviting and safer environment for vulnerable communities who have historically felt ostracized from the medical community, sometimes leading patients to avoid

$3B

See CARE on Page 19

Criss Smith at Callen-Lorde speaking with Kate Bautista, a doctor | BUCK ENNIS

Port Authority is ‘hopeful’ office demand will rise to fund $10B bus terminal revamp By Caroline Spivack and C. J. Hughes

A pair of proposed office towers are critical to funding the sorely-needed overhaul of the Port Authority Bus Terminal, but relying on an office market recovery seems a risky bet. Key to the $10 billion redevelopment of the 41st Street bus terminal, which sits between Eighth and Ninth avenues, is $2.5

billion in tax-increment financing from two new office towers over the project along Eighth Avenue. The pandemic, however, has caused a major shift in work patterns and the commercial real estate market, and made the project’s calculus more of a gamble, but not according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. When asked why the authority is putting its proverbial eggs in one office-market

basket, Hersh Parekh, the authority’s director of government and community relations, pointed to the recent $963 million purchase of a Midtown building on Fifth Avenue by Kering, the fashion firm that owns Gucci and Balenciaga. “I think the short answer to that question is anyone that has bet against New York City has always been on the wrong side,” said Parekh, during a Feb. 1 commu-

The clogged ramps at the Port Authority’s Midtown bus terminal | BLOOMBERG

nity meeting on the plan. “But there’s also data that is showing that the commercial market is on the rebound … there was See TERMINAL on Page 22

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Trump Tower mall faces crossroads four decades after its splashy debut.

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New York comes closer to binning all trash with new trucks, plan for containers in all residential buildings By Nick Garber

has taken several major steps toward containerization, initially by requiring all businesses to bin their refuse starting in March 2024. City Hall then unveiled a plan in October that will require small residential buildings with nine or fewer units to store their trash in individual wheeled bins starting in fall 2024 — but the challenge of bigger apartment buildings remained elusive, given the need for larger containers. Now, the administration says large buildings with 31 or more units will eventually be required to use stationary, on-street containers to store trash, like those found in Barcelona or Tokyo. Tisch said that, unlike in some other cities, each of these large bins would serve residents of a single building rather than being shared between buildings — a conclusion the city reached through a “detailed new volumetric analysis” showing how much trash is produced by buildings of different sizes. “The truck you see next to me represents the future of New York City garbage collection,” Adams said Feb. 1. Experts have long said that containerizing trash will be a necessary step if the city wants to reduce the presence of rats, one of Adams’ key initiatives. In one potential political obstacle, Tisch said putting containers out citywide would require removing about 1% of the city’s roughly 3

New York City finally has a plan to rid its sidewalks of black garbage bags, as Mayor Eric Adams announced Feb. 1 that the city has figured out a way to outfit all residential buildings with their own trash containers. In a press conference on a Lower Manhattan street, Adams also unveiled a new side-loading truck capable of lifting and dumping out those future bins — a key challenge in the quest for containerization. The prototype truck, initially expected to take as much as five years to develop, was instead

“The truck you see next to me represents the future of New York City garbage collection.” — Mayor Eric Adams designed in less than one year by creatively adapting the city’s existing truck model, Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. An entire community district in West Harlem will serve as a pilot, with its trash fully containerized starting in the spring of 2025. City Hall will make a plan to containerize the entire city’s trash based on the results of the Harlem pilot, officials said. A long-held dream of city policymakers, Adams’ administration

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million parking spots — although the full impact is still being reviewed. The new automated, side-loading trucks would serve the large buildings’ stationary bins. Instead of needing to buy a new vehicle model from abroad, Tisch said the city built its prototype by combining the chassis of a current sanitation truck with a European side-loading mechanism, taking advantage of a provision in its current truck contract that allows for such modifications.

$500,000 price tag Expanding the new trucks and containers citywide is sure to be costly, although the administration did not release any estimates on Feb. 1. An upcoming request for proposals will determine the cost of the containers. The future trucks are each expected to cost slightly more than the approximate $500,000 price tag for a present-day rear-loading truck, Sanitation spokesman Joshua Goodman said. West Harlem is already the site of a smaller-scale pilot, testing out wheeled dumpsters serving 10 residential blocks and 14 schools. Next year’s expanded container plan will rely on a regular collection truck retrofitted with a tipping mechanism, the city said. Prior mayors have taken stabs at trash containerization before, including Bill de Blasio, whose small-scale “Clean Curbs” pilot in

The Sanitation Department unveiled a prototype of the new automated side-loading truck that would lift trash bins in front of large residential buildings, a key step in the years-long quest to containerize New York City’s trash. | ED REED/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE

Hell’s Kitchen was later deemed too labor-intensive to be scaled citywide. Momentum grew under Adams, especially after the Sanitation department released the results of a study last spring which found that containers could fit on a large majority of the city’s streets. Certain neighborhoods with narrow streets and high volumes of trash, like Downtown Brooklyn and the Financial District, might be unable to accommodate containers, according to last year’s report. The city did not say recently how those neighborhoods would be addressed in its future plan. Other waste reforms introduced under Adams include a residential composting program that will take

effect citywide in October. And the Adams administration recently announced it was advancing longstalled reforms of the city’s commercial waste system, which will limit the number of private carters allowed to pick up businesses’ trash. Notably absent from the Feb. 1 press conference was City Councilman Shaun Abreu, who represents the West Harlem pilot zone and chairs the council’s sanitation committee. The Daily News reported that Abreu was blocked from attending by the Adams administration, in apparent retaliation for Abreu’s vote to override the mayor’s recent vetoes of two criminal justice bills.

Rybak looks to be planning another luxury residential project on the Upper East Side By Eddie Small

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Rybak Development appears to be planning another luxury residential project on the Upper East Side. The real estate firm, founded by Sergey Rybak in 2007, recently filed plans with the Department of Buildings for a development at 502 E. 81st St. between York and East End avenues. The project would span about 34,500 square feet and stand 10 stories and 100 feet tall with just nine residential units, along with three parking spots. Rybak did not respond to a request for comment, although the relatively low number of residential units indicates this will likely be a condo project. The Coney Island-based developer filed demolition permits for the 5-story building at the site in November. The property was once home to the Gracie Inn Hotel, but that appears to have shut down in 2015, according to a post that year from the hotel on X, formerly known as Twitter. Rybak purchased 502 E. 81st St. and the adjacent site at 1530 York

502 E. 81st St. | COSTAR

Ave. in June for $10.4 million, property records show. The company filed demolition permits for the 5-story York Avenue apartment building in December. The project will add to Rybak’s already extensive portfolio on the

Upper East Side. The company’s other neighborhood developments include the luxury residential buildings Arloparc at 126 E. 86th St. and The Manor at 333 E. 82nd St. The firm also filed plans late last year for a 19-story, 23-unit

project at 656 Lexington Ave. in Midtown East and is working on a massive Coney Island project with Cammeby’s International that will span roughly 845,000 square feet with 499 residential units on Neptune Avenue.

2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | February 12, 2024

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Trump Tower, 725 Fifth Ave., Midtown | BUCK ENNIS

Trump Tower mall faces a crossroads, four decades after its splashy debut Gucci parent’s purchase of a location across the street means the luxury retailer’s days at the building could be numbered By C. J. Hughes

Last month’s blockbuster deal for the storefront at 717 Fifth, which Gucci owner Kering bought from Jeff Sutton’s Wharton Properties for a whopping $963 million, delivered a fresh jolt of energy to Midtown. But one neighbor may not be thrilled: Trump Tower, the namesake mixed-use development from Donald Trump located right across East 56th Street. Gucci is currently the only major tenant in the mall that makes up the tower’s base — that is, a tenant that is not owned by the landlord, which runs presumably rent-free storefronts there like Trump Sweets. Were Kering to relocate Gucci to its new holding rather than continue to shell out millions a year for a three-floor space at the same intersection, the already considerably empty mall could suffer a big blow, brokers say, a cap of sorts to a rough couple of years. Though it may be far from a done deal that Gucci will depart — Kering could install another of its brands at No. 717 instead — the Trump Organization may be nervous. “There are challenges to being in Trump Tower, and I think it would be difficult to replace Gucci if Trump were re-elected,” said Robin Abrams, a vice chairman at Compass specializing in retail deals. “Maybe they

could find a brand that is aligned with them politically. But if I was a retailer looking for a flagship location, Trump Tower probably wouldn’t be it.”

Fifth Avenue, according to news reports from the time. Many said they chose the location because it sat beneath Trump Tower’s 263 condo units, which were some of the priciest homes available in America at the time. Offices line the floors between the Go-go ’80s condos and stores. As the years passed, stores came and The situation was far from dire four dewent, a not-unusual occurrence in the mucades ago. Indeed, the mall, which anchors a soar- sical-chairs-like scene of upper Fifth Aveing, marble-lined, 80,000-square-foot atri- nue. But New Yorkers never really warmed to the idea of freum inside the quenting a mall, 58-story Trump brokers say, which Tower, at 725 Fifth forced Trump to caAve., boomed in ter to the tourist the years after its crowd instead. Puropening in 1983 veyors of luxury and won rave regoods were reviews along the placed with way. mid-market brands “The atrium of as a result. Trump Tower may — Robin Abrams, a vice chairman at Compass In fact, early tenwell be the most ants included outpleasant interior public space to be completed in New York posts of Harry Winston, Asprey and Lina in some years,” wrote New York Times archi- Lee, but the mall’s 140,000 square feet of retail space later embraced the likes of tecture critic Paul Goldberger. Nearly five dozen high-end retailers lined Coach, which arrived in the early 1990s, and its M.C. Escher-like warren of storefronts, the shoe chain Footloose. Some of the turnsome paying up to $500 per square foot an- over appeared self-inflicted. Upscale shoe nually in rent, a record even for expensive vendor Charles Jourdan and Trump battled

“There are challenges to being in Trump Tower, and I think it would be difficult to replace Gucci if Trump were re-elected.”

for years over apparently unpaid fees before Jourdan departed in the early 1990s. In the mid-2000s, when Trump starred in the reality show “The Apprentice,” the mall began filling up with Trump-branded businesses, which currently include Trump Store, Trump Cafe, Trump Sweets, Trump Grill and 45 Wine & Whiskey Bar (as in the 45th president), which was formerly Trump Bar. Scoring Gucci was a coup. The store’s 45,000-square-foot, multilevel space, which includes large windows overlooking Fifth Avenue, had started out paying Trump $18.7 million in rent a year, according to a 2012 stock filing, which added that the mall was 99% occupied by 21 tenants at the time, though some of those were Trump-branded businesses. Gucci’s rent supposedly climbed to $20 million in recent years. But retail-wise, Trump’s presidential years took a toll. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, whose rent was $1.9 million a year, downsized its 20,000-squarefoot space in 2019 before exiting it altogether in 2021 after Trump left office. Similarly, a second-floor Starbucks closed in 2022 after being shuttered for a few years during the pandemic. Replacing See TOWER on Page 22 February 12, 2024 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

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RESIDENTIAL SPOTLIGHT

4-story Greenwich Village mega-townhouse on W. 11th St. sells for whopping $72.5 million The site, a renovated combo of two historic properties, last changed hands for $31M in 2016 By C. J. Hughes

cording to its website. No mortgage is recorded in the register, downtown sale has given suggesting the buyer paid in cash. The seller, meanwhile, was an early-in-the-year lift to Dexter Goei, the former CEO the townhouse market. A Greenwich Village buyer has of the European telecom giant shelled out a whopping $72.5 mil- Altice USA and a current director of the company, which lion for 138 W. 11th St., snapped up Cablevision a 4-story, 10,800-squarefrom the Dolan family for foot, prewar property about $18 billion in 2016, made up of a combina- Sale price for the same year Goei betion of two former rental prewar property 138 W. 11th St. came chief executive. buildings. Altice USA, which does The deal, which went into contract Dec. 12 and closed business through the Optimum Jan. 23, according to the city regis- brand, offers broadband services ter, occurred without any public in 21 states to 5 million customers. marketing, so little is known about It went public in 2017. In 2016 Goei purchased No. 138 the interiors of the 45-foot-wide, stoop-fronted site, which is be- for $31 million, records show, from Enrique Alonso, a principal with the development firm SJP Properties, and his wife, Katherine. The Alonsos had purchased the site, which was then two sideby-side multifamily rental buildings, Nos. 138 and 140 W. 11th St., for $19.2 million in 2014 tween Sixth and Seventh avenues with plans to reportedly convert the red brick structures into a pair and is part of a historic district. The identity of the buyer, who of single-family homes. But just two years after the purused the shell company 137+1 Holdings LLC in the transaction, is chase, the Alonsos sold to Goei, also unknown. The contact for the who then realized a much grander company listed on the deed is Paul ambition: Creating one enormous McCoy Family Office Services, a single-family residence instead. Boston firm that invests on behalf Though Goei’s wall-removing renof high-net-worth individuals, ac- ovation was presumably expen-

$72.5M

The seller, Dexter Goei, seemed to score a hefty profit on the sale by getting a price that was more than double what he paid.

138 West 11th St.| BUCK ENNIS

sive, he still seemed to score a hefty profit on the sale by getting a price that was more than double what he paid. Though 2024 is only a few weeks old, the No. 138 deal is poised to be one of the year’s biggest involving residential real estate. Its $73 million price would certainly have qualified it as one of the top home trades of 2023, a list that mostly featured high-floor condos in

contemporary full-service towers such as Vornado’s 220 Central Park South.

Defying the curse The trade also defied a bit of the curse that has hung over some big-ticket townhouse listings. A comparable property, a renovated Beaux-Arts offering at 973 Fifth Ave. on the Upper East Side, for

instance, is still looking for a buyer three years after coming on the market at $80 million. It’s now asking $65 million. Joshua Wesoky, the Compass agent who marketed the listing, and Steven Matz, the lawyer who signed the deed for the buyer, declined to comment. An email to Paul McCoy went unreturned. And Goei could not be reached by press time.

Long-awaited Kips Bay project may be back on track By Eddie Small

A massive mixed-use development planned for Kips Bay appears to be moving forward again after years of inactivity. Excel Development, a Forest Hills-based real estate firm, on Feb. 2 filed demolition permits with the Department of Buildings for 339-345 E. 33rd St. As of 2019, the company had been planning a roughly 133,000-square-foot project at the site with ground-floor retail and about 155 residential

Excel planned to develop it under the now-expired 421-a affordable housing tax break.

Little progress However, the firm seems to have made very little progress on the project in the past few years, and it was unclear if its plans for the site have since changed. A representative for Excel did not respond to a request for comment by press time. The quartet of multifamily buildings all stand between 40 and 50 feet tall, and they span about 16,000 square feet combined with 41 residential units, 11 of which are still occupied, according to city records. Excel purchased 339-341 E. 33rd St. for $9.2 million in March 2016, property records show. The firm reportedly bought 343 E. 33rd in September 2015 for $5.9 million

The firm previously filed demolition plans for the buildings back in 2016 but later withdrew the permit.

339-345 E. 33rd St. in Kips Bay | BUCK ENNIS

units, split between 115 marketrate homes and 40 affordable ones, according to city filings from the time. The project would stand 23 stories and 235 feet tall, and

and 345 E. 33rd in December 2018 for $11.2 million, although those deed transfers do not appear in property records. The firm previously filed demo-

lition plans for the buildings back in 2016 but later withdrew the permit. It then sought a rezoning for the site, which was approved in 2018, and filed demolition plans

again in 2019 for 345 E. 33rd St., city records show. Excel was founded by developer Michael Heletz. Its other projects include the 103-unit Vernon Tower in Astoria and five designer townhouses on Kosciuszko Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant known as the Throopkin Kollection. It also filed plans last year for a 71-unit residential project at 539 W. 54th St., the former home of St. Ambrose’s Church and the women’s home Centro Maria in Hell’s Kitchen. The firm does list a Midtown East project under the “development” tab on its website but provides no details about it. If Excel does move forward with the same project it planned before the pandemic, it would mark a rare new large multifamily project for Manhattan. Developers filed plans for only 28 projects with more than 100 units throughout the city in 2023, down sharply from 129 in 2022, according to data from the Real Estate Board of New York.

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Congenital syphilis cases hit record high in NYC, with blame put on public health system By Amanda D'Ambrosio

Congenital syphilis, once nearly eradicated, has risen to recordhigh levels in New York City. Experts thank a dwindling public health system. New York City saw a 133% increase in cases of congenital syphilis, an infectious disease that affects newborns, between the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, according to data from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene included in the preliminary mayor’s management report. There were six cases of congenital syphilis identified in the city in the first four months of the 2023 fiscal year, which covered the months of July to October 2022. One year later, the case count during that time period rose to 14. There were 20 congenital syphilis cases recorded by the city in fiscal 2022, and 29 the following year. If cases keep rising at the current pace, 2024 cases could double numbers from two years ago. The dramatic rise in cases comes as the public health workforce — both in New York City and nationally — has faced significant challenges. The city health department had a 23% vacancy rate in its department that handles sexually

transmitted infection testing during the first few months of the 2024 fiscal year, according to data obtained by Crain’s earlier this year through a freedom of information request. The 2024 vacancy rate was up from 14% in 2020, the data shows. Between July and September of 2023, the health department budgeted for 328 positions in the infectious diseases unit, 271 of which it filled. Pedro Frisneda, a spokesman for the city health department, said that the city’s STI workforce is expected to dwindle even further. Since 2021, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention provided fiscal support to states and cities to fund disease investigation specialist positions, part of a workforce development program to bolster public health staff during the pandemic. Disease investigation specialists are responsible for syphilis testing, as well as connecting pregnant women who test positive for syphilis with treatment options and case management services. But the CDC informed New York City’s health department that it will rescind funding for last two years of the workforce development program, resulting in a $16

million loss. Frisneda said that DOHMH will have to eliminate 13 vacant disease investigation specialist positions, six of which are located in the STI division. “If we are unable to find alternate funding for these positions, we will be unable to provide STI disease intervention and partner services to an estimated 210 New Yorkers a month, or 2,520 New Yorkers a year,” Frisneda said. He also said that the funding loss will impact a pilot program to improve partnerships and treatment for chlamydia, gonorrhea and trichomoniasis.

Nationwide increase New York City is not an anomaly when it comes to rising syphilis cases — congenital syphilis has skyrocketed across the entire country. The CDC reported a 183% bump between 2018 and 2022, when the disease was identified in 3,755 newborns. Frisneda said that the rise in local congenital syphilis rates was tied to preceding surges in syphilis cases among women. The rise in cases disproportionately affected Black and Hispanic women who face barriers to care, he said. According to the preliminary

mayor’s management report, syphilis cases detected at the end of last year have started to decline. While New York’s 14 cases of congenital syphilis may seem minimal, Elizabeth Finley, a spokeswoman for the National Coalition of STD Directors, said that every case of congenital syphilis represents a sign that the public health system isn’t working. “If you have a single case of congenital syphilis, your systems have broken down,” Finley said, noting that any case points to failures of the systems responsible for sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment, as well as prenatal care. “In New York, that’s 14 times the systems have failed.” Babies contract congenital syphilis from mothers during pregnancy or birth. The disease, largely preventable, has serious consequences — infected newborns may develop nerve issues including blindness or deafness, bone damage or severe anemia. Roughly 40% of babies born to women with untreated syphilis die, according to the CDC. Experts say that the congenital syphilis will worsen without an influx of funding to public health programs. Finley said that the end

Cases of congenital syphilis, which affects newborn babies, rose by 133% between the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, according to city data. | BLOOMBERG

of the CDC’s disease investigation specialist workforce development program equates to a $400 million loss in public health workforce funding nationally, resulting in the estimated reduction of 800 jobs at local health departments. Dr. Heather Krasna, a public health workforce researcher at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, said that workforce issues point to a harsh reality for public health: “people don’t want to pay for prevention.” “That’s why public health has been the first thing to get cut when there are budget cuts in government,” Krasna said. Krasna said that one thing is clear — rising congenital syphilis cases point to a lack of prenatal care and other public health safeguards. "It's a sign of a much bigger problem," she said.

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ON POLITICS

Eric Adams’ defeat by the City Council shows a once-powerful mayor brought low The council’s easy override of two of the mayor’s vetoes shows how few allies he has left in city government

hat does it look like Michael Bloomberg were able to when your political capi- get their way on most legislative priorities. Bloomberg himself, a tal evaporates? It might resemble the scene on Republican-turned-independent Jan. 30 at City Hall, where the City mayor, occasionally had vetoes Council voted overwhelmingly to overridden by the City Council, override two of Mayor Eric Adams’ but he also worked closely with legislative vetoes. The Demo- the body’s longtime speaker, crat-dominated body, against Ad- Democrat Christine Quinn. Adams and City Council Speakams’ objections, supported banning solitary confinement across er Adrienne Adams, who attended Bayside High School in the city jail system and Queens with the mayor — requiring police officers they are of no relation — to disclose demographic began their terms as alinformation on all inveslies. They both grew up in tigative encounters with predominantly Black civilians. Southeast Queens and Adams opposed both share a certain moderate bills because he argued politics. Both opposed they would make the city defunding the NYPD in less safe. Law enforceand neither associment and corrections Ross Barkan 2020 ated much with the prounions supported him, gressives who seemed as well as certain moderates and conservatives in the City loudest in city government. Last year, the City Council overCouncil. Proponents argued the legislation would correct for vari- rode the mayor when he refused to ous racial injustices and outlaw a support legislation that would crejail practice that is viewed, by re- ate a new housing voucher program. These are policy fights, but formers, as deeply barbaric. Regardless, the 42-9 vote they are also political in nature — demonstrated that Adams had lost and speak both to Eric Adams’ dethe City Council. The lawmakers teriorating standing and his inthere do not fear him. This is a ability to forge political allies. His last prominent Democratic marked change from recent history, when both Bill de Blasio and ally in New York might be Gov.

Kathy Hochul, who has clung close to the mayor during her own battles with left-leaning Democrats. But it’s unclear how long that relationship will last, as Adams’ poll numbers plummet and federal investigators hover.

Council doesn’t fear him The reality, for Eric Adams, is his life in City Hall didn’t have to be this fraught. The New York Post, which helped damage de Blasio’s popularity, treated him kindly, and Democrats in the city and state legislatures spent more than a year treading carefully around him. Even well-known progressives like Jumaane Williams, the public advocate, demonstrated a striking amount of restraint, only beginning to openly criticize Adams in the last few months. City Council members and staffers increasingly believe there’s an arrogance and ineptitude emanating out of the Eric Adams administration. His top aides don’t negotiate well and don’t show any interest in learning. There are few seasoned political and policy experts left. In the Bloomberg and de Blasio eras, the City Council treaded carefully — perhaps too carefully — because they were cognizant of

Regeneron revenues grew modestly in Q4 as cancer, high cholesterol drug sales surged By Jacqueline Neber

Tarrytown-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals recorded nearly $3.5 billion in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023, a 1% uptick from the fourth quarter of 2022, the company announced Feb. 2. The company attributed the growth to efforts to diversify its revenue base with new drugs and progress made in research and development. Regeneron has approximately 35 drug candidates in its clinical development portfolio. According to Feb. 2 financial results, sales of Libtayo, Praluent and Evkeeza drove growth. Global revenue for Libtayo, which treats cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, grew by 61% to $244 million. High cholesterol medication Praluent saw a 69% jump over last year to $61 million in U.S. sales and Evkeeza, which breaks down bad cholesterol, pulled in $24 million in the U.S., a 60% increase. Eylea HD, which received FDA approval in August of last year to treat wet age-related macular de-

generation, brought in $123 million for the quarter in the U.S. That balanced out an 11% decrease in sales for Eylea, which made just over $1 billion in the U.S.. Regeneron’s modest revenue growth can also be attribut- The Tarrytown company was founded in 1988. | BLOOMBERG ed to declining sales for Ronapreve, a Covid-19 increased by 13% to nearly $1.2 medication. Regeneron recorded billion, while selling, general and revenue connected to payments in administrative costs rose by 12% 2023 and 2022 from Swiss phar- to about $738 million. On a Feb. 2 earnings call, Regenmaceutical company Roche attributable to sales of the drug, eron’s chief executive Dr. Leonard which dropped for the fourth Schleifer said the firm aims to quarter. Therefore, Regeneron’s commercialize more drugs in 2024 total revenue rose by 14% in Q4 and drive growth of Dupixent, which was just approved to treat when excluding the drug. As the company made progress eosinophilic esophagitis in kids in research and development, its ages 1 through 11. Regeneron was founded in expenses increased. Research and development operating expenses 1988.

Mayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, shown last year, began their terms as allies, but the council recently overrode two mayoral vetoes. | JOHN MCCARTEN/NYC COUNCIL MEDIA UNIT

the political clout the mayors wielded. This City Council looks upon Eric Adams and sees a New York mayor who has posted the worst job approval rating in any Quinnipiac University poll. They no longer fear him, and they probably never will again. If Eric Adams opposes any legislation in the future, the City Council is even less likely to take his opinion into account. Adrienne Adams has demonstrated her ability to round up votes, and the

Democrats who defy the mayor know there is no serious price to pay. He’s not popular enough to campaign against them in their own districts and his bully pulpit continues to shrink. His only hope is that Democrats planning to run against him like Scott Stringer fizzle and he can secure himself a second term. Then, and only then, will he be able to claw his political capital back. Ross Barkan is a journalist and author in New York City.

Rubin Museum to close, sell Chelsea building By Eddie Small

Manhattan’s Rubin Museum will sell its longtime home in Chelsea amid plans to close the building and transition to a focus on traveling exhibitions and lending out its collections, it announced. The institution, which focuses on Himalayan art, was founded in 2004 and will shutter its building at 150 W. 17th St. on Oct. 6 as it becomes “a museum without walls,” according to the announcement. The Rubin family bought the building in 1998 for $22 million, according to news reports and property records, and proceeds from the planned sale will go toward the museum’s endowment, which had an estimated worth of more than $150 million at the end of last year. “Creating a museum was a life-changing moment,” co-founder Shelley Rubin said in a statement. “While it has been a privilege to welcome visitors to the Rubin in New York over the last 20 years, our anniversary inspired reflection on how we can achieve the greatest possible impact well

The Rubin Museum will close in October after 20 years. | BUCK ENNIS

into the future.” The museum will reduce its 60-person staff by roughly 40% as part of the closure. The financial firm Argentic Investment Management recently sold the building right next to the Rubin Museum at 115 Seventh Ave., which was once home to the original Barneys New York department store, for $21.5 million to developer Raymond Chan. He plans to develop it into a luxury condo building with ground-floor retail. And the Museum of Chinese in America recently purchased its longtime home at 25 Centre St. in Lower Manhattan for about $51.1 million.

6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | FEBRUARY 12, 2024

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talking

BOI REPORTING What are my company’s obligations under the Corporate Transparency Act?

I GABOR KISS 1915 Billingsley Terrace in Morris Heights | BUCK ENNIS

Tenants of partially collapsed Bronx building sue landlords over repairs, living conditions By C. J. Hughes

Tenants of the Bronx building that partially collapsed this winter say their landlords have fallen drastically short when it comes to repairing the property and are using the calamity as a pretense to force out some longtime residents, among other harassment claims. The suit, filed Feb. 5 in Bronx housing court on behalf of 28 residents of 1915 Billingsley Terrace in Morris Heights, accuses David Kleiner and other owners of leaving the place in shambles and failing to address shoddy conditions that in some cases predate the Dec. 11 collapse. Also, the suit, brought by the “Legal Aid Society, alleges that the owners are locking some tenants out of apartments where their families have lived for generations. “Some tenants were prevented from re-entering the premises after their vacate order was lifted even when they had irrefutable rights to return,” says the suit, which is demanding the owners immediately clean up and fix the 47-unit building. On Dec. 11, officials issued a vacate order for all of No. 1915, leaving about 150 people homeless and a few injured though nobody was killed. On Jan. 2, officials allowed the tenants of 21 apartments to return, documents show, and on Jan. 31, 17 more apartments were reopened. A half-dozen or so units still appear inhabitable, and it’s those that the suit is demanding be put back online. The handful of units that are still off-limits to their residents, leaving them homeless, also should be quickly repaired, the suit adds. Brooklyn-based Kleiner and his associate Yonah Roth, the two main defendants in the case, have not yet filed a legal response and could not be reached by press time. Another name that appears in public records as an owner of the property is Jacob Zanger, who

is considered one of the city’s worst landlords by the public advocate’s office because of numerous violations at his buildings. Zanger also goes by Jay Zanger in other housing documents. Zanger, who is not listed as a defendant, also could not be reached. The court filing is unsparing about the supposedly shoddy living conditions and malfeasance at the 5-story building in the wake of the collapse, which sheared off an entire corner at West Burnside Avenue, leaving people’s personal belongings exposed to the winter air.

More explosive claims Among its more explosive claims is that Kleiner and his associates demanded rent payments in cash from some tenants before allowing them to move back into the building and then never drafted proper leases to account for them. Indeed, the landlords put the apartments in their own families’ names in an apparent bid to take them out of the rent-stabilization program. “This lack of compliance,” says the suit, which is being handled by attorney Zoe Kheyman, “coupled with demands for cash payments, was intended to cause petitioners to waive rights associated with their occupancy and, therefore, that such failures constitute harassment.” But most attention is directed at the supposedly poor conditions of hallways and apartments in the building, both before and after Dec. 11. The list of problems detailed in the suit includes rat infestations, cracked walls, a lack of cooking gas, broken windows, mold and exposed wiring, among other issues. Some tenants apparently signed forms saying their apartments were in good shape before they moved back into their homes in January, after the Department of Buildings lifted some vacate orders. But those approvals were given under duress

and should be disregarded, according to the suit. “These unconscionable agreements were proffered at a time when petitioners and their families were in dire need of shelter, and they signed these agreements without the benefit of counsel,” the suit says. Overall No. 1915 has racked up 133 Department of Housing Preservation and Development violations, which generally cover habitability issues, including 58 focusing on hazardous conditions. The building also appears to have outstanding Department of Buildings violations, which deal with structural problems. As is fairly common in the real estate industry in New York, No. 1915 has an opaque ownership structure that makes it difficult to determine who is responsible for catastrophes. Indeed, a man named Moishe, who also goes by Mo, has been the point person for dealing with tenants since the collapse, court papers show. But Mo refused to provide his last name to staffers from City Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez’s office and the Legal Aid Society during a recent tour of the building. And subsequent efforts to uncover his identity were unsuccessful, so he appears in court documents merely as “Mo Doe.” Doe is also named as a defendant. The landlords haven’t been the only ones in the hot seat following the partial collapse. A few days later, officials suspended a private engineer who had been inspecting No. 1915 on behalf of the Department of Buildings for misdiagnosing a column as decorative when in fact it was holding up part of the building. The engineer, Richard Koenigsberg, had worked at the building for about a decade. The building had been undergoing repairs at the time of the collapse to address facade issues. The Bronx district attorney’s office continues to investigate possible criminal wrongdoing.

Partner & International Tax Practice Leader 212-223-5033 GKiss@grassiadvisors.com As head of Grassi’s International Tax Practice, Gabor Kiss leads a team of advisors dedicated to helping multinational businesses maximize tax savings and ensure regulatory compliance in the U.S. and overseas.

ntended to counter money laundering, tax fraud, terrorism financing and other illegal acts, the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) was passed in 2021 and went into effect this year. The Act mandates the reporting of Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) for certain entities and requires the disclosure of individuals who control the entity. A beneficial owner is an individual who, directly or indirectly, exercises substantial control over a reporting company or owns or controls at least 25% of the ownership interests of the company, including individuals who have the authority to manage and direct the entity’s affairs. Due to this part of the definition, it is the prevailing industry standpoint that the high-ranking officials of a company will also qualify as beneficial owners irrespective of their ownership percentage.

A reporting company includes a broad spectrum of entities falling into two categories: domestic (corporations, limited liability companies and any other entities created by the filing of a document with a secretary of state or any similar office in the United States) and foreign (entities formed under the law of a foreign country that have registered to do business in the U.S.). Exceptions exist for publicly traded companies, certain regulated entities and large operating companies (more than 20 full-time employees and $5 million in gross receipts or sales). Entities are required to disclose the names, dates of birth, addresses and unique identification numbers of the beneficial owners as well as an image of an ID document. The US Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) will establish a secure, confidential and centralized database to store reported BOI. The CTA mandates reporting companies to comply with the new BOI requirements, beginning in January 2024. Companies that are created or registered to do business in the United States before January 1, 2024, will have until January 1, 2025, to file their initial BOI report. Companies that are created or registered to do business in the U.S. on or after January 1, 2024, and before January 1, 2025, will have to comply within 90 calendar days of receiving actual or public notice that the creation or registration of the reporting company is effective. Entities created or registered on or after January 1, 2025, will continue to have 30 calendar days to file their initial BOI reports with FinCEN. Updated reports will be required to be filed if there are any changes in the previously reported information about the reporting company or its beneficial owners such as changes in name, address or any other identifying data including new driver’s license or passport numbers. Such updated reports must be filed within 30 days after the change. Non-compliance with CTA requirements is subject to civil penalties of up to $500 per day, criminal penalties of up to $10,000 and imprisonment of up to two years for willful failure. There are no penalties if inaccuracies in previously filed BOI reports are corrected within 30 calendar days of their discovery. The CTA will impact millions of businesses and pose a significant administrative challenge. It is essential for companies to implement best practices in compliance procedures, including monitoring changes in the reported information on an ongoing basis.

February 12, 2024 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 7

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EDITORIAL

The council’s wait-and-see approach won’t fix the city’s current housing needs T

he old adage “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face” comes to mind when considering the City Council’s unanimous rejection last week of a development proposed for Crown Heights that would have added 150 apartments, 45 of them affordable, to the Brooklyn neighborhood. As Crain’s reporter Nick Garber pointed out in his article on the initial committee vote, the council chose to side with the local member, Crystal Hudson, who called the project, to be erected on a long-vacant lot, premature given the city’s plan to rezone the block it’s proposed for along with 12 others near Atlantic Avenue. The rezoning initiative still needs final council approval. An attorney for the developer pushed back against Hudson’s critiques at a hearing last month, saying that rejecting the project now would only delay construction by at the very least several months — assuming the developers propose it again after the Atlantic Avenue plan passes — and the city faces a severe housing shortage now. Hudson and other lawmakers have crit-

icized the city’s practice of approving individual rezonings sought by private developers, pushing instead for a broader approach. And her stated desire to combat continued gentrification in her Brooklyn district, which would require a more comprehensive plan, is noble. However, as Hudson said herself, the Atlantic Avenue plan is still subject to change. As one reader familiar with this effort and other rezonings noted, the building proposal was rejected without any suggestions about what could bring the project more in line with Hudson and the city’s vision for the Atlantic Avenue plan. Usually there is some back-and-forth with a developer about inefficiencies in an application. Shooting down a proposal for not lining up with a framework that still has nebulous parameters seems shortsighted at best. A wait-and-see approach won’t help the city dig itself out of its housing crisis. Mayor Eric Adams’ administration has a moonshot goal of adding 500,000 new homes to the city over the next decade, or 50,000 per year. And as senior reporter Eddie Small noted last month, in 2023 devel-

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. The council unanimously rejected a proposal for Crown Heights that would have added 150 apartments, 45 of them affordable, to the neighborhood. | EMIL COHEN/NYC COUNCIL MEDIA UNIT

opers filed plans for only 9,909 residential units across 285 multifamily projects. So New York really isn’t in a position to reject or delay developments that could provide sorely-needed homes. The city should finalize its Atlantic Avenue plan, and then, once it’s done, it can

make sure developers adhere to it. But holding up proposals until the paperwork is finished will just keep shovels out of the ground. And during a housing crisis, all solutions should be given a fair shot. The pursuit of perfection should not torpedo the good.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

People with physical disabilities must be represented IN READING Gov. Kathy Hochul’s 2024 State of the State address, I was pleased to see that the governor noted that in striving to expand access to primary care for adults with complex needs, the state will increase support for health care providers serving individuals with physical, intellectual, or developmental disabilities [“‘We don’t have a choice’: Disability service orgs push Hochul for direct support staff COLA, wage enhancement in budget,” Jan. 12]. I commend the governor’s commitment to improving access to quality care for those with physical disabilities — something that is tremendously needed in our state. At Independence Care System, our top priority is to serve people with physical disabilities to support their health, mobility and independence, and to ensure the coordination of care they need to thrive. We applaud the governor’s efforts to support one of the country’s most vulnerable, underserved populations. People with physical disabilities face health disparities that are exacerbated by race, ethnicity and gender, as well as implicit bias barriers and challenges to securing necessary, primary care and services to live quality lives. In 2019, ICS launched the Primary Care Program for People with Physical

We applaud the governor’s efforts to support one of the country’s most vulnerable, underserved populations.

Gov. Kathy Hochul delivers the 2024 State of the State address on Jan. 9. | SUSAN WATTS/OFFICE OF GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL VIA FLICKR

Disabilities with crucial funding from the New York City Council. With a dedicated team of physicians and administrators from NYC Health + Hospitals, ICS is leading a ground-breaking project to improve access to competent primary care for

people with disabilities by working with patients and their providers to understand the accommodation needs of patients and the training gap for providers. Disability-competent primary care helps reduce the use of emergency rooms and clinic visits,

allows for comprehensive physical exams and helps address health disparities. Efforts on the state level will make a difference in ensuring that Medicaid members — including ICS members — are more likely to have accessible primary care, receive routine, quality health services and manage their medical issues and concerns. We need to do everything we can to reduce high rates of unmet health care needs and to reduce the barriers to care people with disabilities face. The author, Regina Martinez-Estela, is the president and CEO of Independence Care System, a home health program providing care coordination and services to support the health, mobility and independence of people with physical disabilities.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes submissions to its opinion pages. Send letters and op-eds of 500 words or fewer to opinion@CrainsNewYork.com. Please include the writer’s name, company, title, address and telephone number. Crain’s reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity. 8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | FEBRUARY 12, 2024

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PERSONAL VIEW

Mayor has expanded MWBE access to city contracts

ulfilling his promise to place equity to $1.5 million through the city’s MWBE at the center of his administration, non-competitive procurement method, Mayor Eric Adams significantly ex- tripling the original discretionary limit of panded minority- and women-owned en- $500,000. ◗ Ensuring that each city agency terprises’ access to city business, recognizing their vital role in New has a senior staff member emYork’s economic recovery. powered to prioritize MWBE The mayor’s MWBE initiatives programming and facilitate the have an aggressive goal of awardcity’s real-time MWBE perforing $60 billion in city contracts mance outcome tracking. ◗ Creating a construction apby 2030, including $25 billion by 2026. prenticeship and training proLast fiscal year, minority, womgram to forge a pathway for en and Black-owned enterprises young people to gain access to were awarded a record $6 billion Craig this vital industry. in business from New York City as Livingston is New York City often depends the mayor used discretionary the chairman on cooperation from Albany to authority under the city’s non- of The New help achieve its goals. For the competitive purchase process to York Real mayor to succeed in fulfilling his more than double the contract Estate equity objectives, Albany must value over previous years. re-authorize the Article 15-A statChamber. During the Covid pandemic ute that expires this year. This stat40% of Black-owned businesses failed. The ute enhances minority-owned businesses’ mayor has prioritized raising participation access to state contracts, facilitates the cerby minority- and women-owned busi- tification of MWBEs and, most importantnesses in city contracts awards by: ly, provides the foundational legal footing ◗ Expanding the Contract Financing Loan for diversifying government spending. Albany’s legislative and executive powFund, a revolving low-interest fund for MWBEs operated by the New York City ers must sustain our post-Covid economic Department of Small Business Services to recovery by allowing future growth to be provide an additional $50 million in shared more equitably with Black-owned businesses. To her credit, Gov. Kathy affordable financing to MWBEs. ◗ Authorizing city agencies to award up Hochul has touted the elimination of New

York’s inexcusable yearslong certification backlog for minority- and women-owned business enterprises that left thousands of applications awaiting approval. "The backlog in the MWBE system was unfair, it was unjust, and now it's history. Minority- and women-owned businesses are critical to New York's long-term economic success…," Hochul said. While there is more work to be done, the state’s re-authorization of 15-A should be first on the list.

Metrics show Adams’ successes Meanwhile, the mayor’s ambitious goals for boosting MWBEs’ access to city business are a key part of his strategy to improve the post-pandemic business environment. He has also reduced red tape and streamlined the bureaucracy, which helps businesses investing in our city create jobs in major industries such as construction, manufacturing and services. His successes are seen in several metrics: ◗ Jobs are at record highs. ◗ New York’s return-to-office rates exceed those of other major cities. ◗ Subway ridership has returned to preCovid volume. ◗ Many major crime categories have shown significant drops. ◗ Tourism, entertainment and restaurants

New York City Housing Authority employees respond to questions at an MWBE open house. | NYCHA/FLICKR

are heading toward pre-pandemic levels. Facing a tough budget year, with financial challenges imposed by the costs of city services directed at the migrant influx, Adams has chosen fiscal restraint over increasing the tax burden on families and small businesses. Rather than raising taxes and increasing public debt, which would impede business recovery and cause more New Yorkers to flee, the mayor has set a more constrained course. He’s carefully trimming spending and stressing improving the productivity of city agencies, while seeking greater financial support from Washington, D.C. and Albany to help the city contend with the high costs of the migrant crisis.

PERSONAL VIEW

Staten Island can anchor New York’s offshore wind energy supply chain, with proposed Arthur Kill Terminal

ew York’s economy and environ- than investing in Staten Island’s industrial ment have been tested like no oth- waterfront. Its rich maritime industrial er city in this country, with chal- history means innumerable local marine, lenges that seem to grow as climate change heavy civil, electrical and other contracworsens. As we enter 2024, we’re overdue tors and workers are already based here. for solutions that can make a difference. The borough boasts one of the highest Staten Island’s Arthur Kill Terminal is key concentrations of maritime construction businesses in New York. among them. Hundreds of acres of It's a part of our jobs underdeveloped industo think about big issues trial waterfront are waitlike these. The best soluing for an industry like tions are those that offshore wind to arrive, create new industries, and the proposed Arleverage our geographithur Kill Terminal, cal advantages and grow located just outside of our union workforce. Outerbridge Crossing, Offshore wind is that is key to realizing this kind of idea. With busi- Vincent Alvarez, left, is the opportunity. nesses, workers and president of the New York City As clean energy inithe environment all Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO. tiatives become more working together, it Michael Cusick is the chief could offer generations executive officer of the Staten Island affordable and demand rises, Arthur Kill Termiof good-paying union Economic Development Corp. nal is the kind of project jobs and help establish New York as a leader in the fight against Staten Island and New York’s unions have climate change. There’s no better place been waiting for. Union workers there will to grow this industry than on Staten Is- assemble tall offshore wind turbines before shipping them out for installation at land. In the next decade, more than a thou- wind farms in the New York Bight and sand wind turbines could be built off our along the East Coast. Hundreds of workers coast. Staten Island should be the beating will be involved in building the terminal, heart of all that activity. With the right and hundreds more will be involved each investments, it can anchor New York’s year in assembling turbines over the comsupply chain for offshore wind energy by ing decades. The activity will stimulate the connecting upstate manufacturing and local and regional economies by engaging businesses around the area to serve inoffshore wind farms. If history is a guide, there’s no safer bet coming union workers, bolstering infra-

structure development, and encouraging greater community investment. New York State’s ambitious goals for offshore wind energy are impossible to meet without the right ports that can handle the weights and dimensions of offshore wind components and vessels. With no suitable ports currently operating in New York, the state’s offshore wind projects have no choice but to assemble their turbines at far-away ports in New A train returns to New Jersey from Staten Island via the Arthur Kill Vertical Jersey, Massachusetts or Lift Bridge. | NJRAILS/FLICKR Connecticut, or even Canada. That work — and those jobs — sees New York’s energy sector, is due to belong here. issue a $200 million solicitation for supporting the offshore wind supply chain. It must be issued immediately and devoted Not too late to the development of offshore wind ports, Projects of this scale and potential need which enable wind farms to create jobs dedicated attention and support from gov- and complete their construction in a safe, ernment and elected officials. The federal timely and cost-effective manner. New York has every tool at its disposal to government, led by Sen. Chuck Schumer, has already pledged nearly $50 million in grow our economy, support union jobs, support. But we’re falling behind our and fight climate change. Staten Island neighboring states because Albany has and our union workers share these common goals and are ready to play a central not yet shown the same urgency. It is not too late for New York State to part in our energy transition. Arthur Kill bring offshore wind projects home. The Terminal presents a once-in-a-generation New York State Energy Research and De- opportunity that is simply too great to velopment Authority, the body that over- miss. February 12, 2024 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

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Celebrate the next generation of business leaders in their 20s working to improve the lives of New Yorkers in the years to come.

Nominate by March 29 CrainsNewYork.com/20in20s

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CRAIN’S LIST VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS Ranked by number of 2023 investments in New York area startups Rank

COMPANY/ ADDRESS 1

amanda.glodowski@crainsnewyork.com

WEBSITE

SENIOR MANAGEMENT 2

NUMBER OF INVESTMENTS IN METRO-AREA STARTUPS IN 2023

NOTABLE METRO-AREA DEALS IN 2023

ALUMNI VENTURES 788 Elm St. Manchester, NH 03101

avgfunds.com

Michael Collins Chief executive, board chairman

Kindbody, Pair Eyewear

FJ LABS 19 W. 24th St. New York, NY 10010

fjlabs.com

Fabrice Grinda Jose Marin Founding partners

LeafLink, HOMER

10X CAPITAL 1 World Trade Center New York, NY 10007

10xcapital.com

Thomas Hans Founder, chief executive

Pearl Health, rePurpose Global

Y COMBINATOR 335 Pioneer Way Mountain View, CA 94041

ycombinator.com

Geoff Ralston President

Tranch, Nova Credit

ANDREESSEN HOROWITZ 2865 Sand Hill Road Menlo Park, CA 94025

a16z.com

Marc Andreessen Ben Horowitz General partners

Headway, Pearl Health

GAINGELS 43 W. 23rd St. New York, NY 10010

gaingels.com

David Beatty Managing member Paul Grossinger, Lorenzo Thione,, Peter Steinberg Managing partners

BlocPower, Summer

PIONEER FUND 1500-22 St. Clair Ave. East Toronto, ON M4T2S3

pioneerfund.vc

Brendan Levy Founder, partner

Cofactr, Clone

PLUG AND PLAY TECH CENTER 440 N. Wolfe Road Sunnyvale, CA 94085

plugandplaytechcenter.com

Saeed Amidi Chief executive

Nova Credit, Inpher

SOSV 1188 York Ave. New York, NY 10065

sosv.com

Sean O’Sullivan Founder, managing partner

Looking Glass, The Light Phone

BOXGROUP 99 University Place New York, NY 10003

boxgroup.com

David Tisch Founder, investor

MANTL, Warp

EVERYWHERE VENTURES 305 Second Ave. New York, NY 10003

everywhere.vc

Jenny Fielding Scott Hartley Co-founders, managing partners

Efficient Capital Labs, Pair Eyewear

CALM VENTURES

calmvc.com

Zachary Ginsburg Founder, general partner

Welcome Homes, Looking Glass

ALLEYCORP 220 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10001

alleycorp.com

Kevin Ryan Founder, chief executive

Pearl Health, Transcend Therapeutics

SEQUOIA CAPITAL 2800 Sand Hill Road, Suite 101 Menlo Park, CA 94025

sequoiacap.com

Doug Leone Global managing partner

Wiz, Cybersyn

GENERAL CATALYST 75 Hawthorne Street San Francisco, CA 94105

generalcatalyst.com

Joel Cutler, David Fialkow, David Orfao Founders

Oscar, Ramp

GOODWATER CAPITAL 240 Lorton Ave. Burlingame, CA 94010

goodwatercap.com

Chi-Hua Chien, Eric Kim Co-founders, managing partners

Fever, Stash

IMPACTASSETS 4340 East West Highway Bethesda, MD 20814

impactassets.org

Margret Trilli Chief executive, chief investment officer

NewsGuard, Health in Her Hue

ACCEL 500 University Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94301

accel.com

Arthur Patterson Jim Swartz Founders

Headway, Ritual

SOMA CAPITAL 10 E. 39th St. New York, NY 10016

somacap.com

Aneel Ranadive Managing director

Tranch, Welcome Homes

FOUNDERS FUND 1 Letterman Drive San Francisco, CA 94129

foundersfund.com

Peter Thiel, Brian Singerman, Keith Rabois General partners

Ramp, Chronosphere

LIGHTSPEED VENTURE PARTNERS 2200 Sand Hill Road Menlo Park, CA 94025

lsvp.com

Ravi Mhatre Founder, managing director

Wiz, Vestwell

Source: PitchBook; additional research by Amanda Glodowski. Funded companies need to be headquartered in the greater New York area.. Funding types included are all venture series plus angel, pre-seed, seed and undefined funding rounds. Individual investors are omitted. This list includes some organizations that make investments in startups but may not technically be considered venture capital firms. Only closed deals that are publicized through the research platforms are included. In cases of ties, firms are ranked alphabetically. n/d-Not disclosed. 1. If applicable, the firm's metro-area office is shown. 2. If applicable, metro-area senior management is listed. February 12, 2024 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11

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A 628,000-square-foot office tower near Hudson Yards is struggling after fetching $952.5 million in 2020 By Aaron Elstein

Well before he redeveloped Chelsea industrial buildings into shabby-chic workspaces, Mark Karasick’s 1972 wedding at the Waldorf-Astoria was the talk of the town. One of seven officiants was Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, author of The Lonely Man of Faith, which Time magazine lauded as an expression of how “the joy of life often comes mixed with longing, torment, and despair.” Karasick today may be longing for days gone by in the far West Side office market. Torment and despair may be for another day. In November 2020, the developer and his partners purchased the office building at 410 Tenth Ave. for $952.5 million. This move was considered daring when work-from-home habits were hardening into cement, but Karasick is one of the office sector’s true believers. His company, 601W, owns towers on Madison and Sixth avenues, as well as in Chicago, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Winston-Salem and other cities. The building at 410 Tenth looked appealing because it’s next to Hudson Yards and, thanks to

$145 million worth of upgrades by the previous owner, the 628,000 square-foot building had secured two long-term tenants: Amazon and First Republic Bank. Amazon leased half the space, and First Republic about a third.

Busted lease Karasick’s company paid a whopping $1,517 per square foot for the building at the corner of West 34th Street. On a per-square foot basis the sale price was 60% higher than 425 Lexington Ave. in 2018, and 237 Park Ave. in 2019, according to DBRS Morningstar. But this big bet in one of the city’s strongest remaining office markets does not appear to be working out, at least not at the moment. Net cash flow has fallen by 16%, to $37 million, Fitch Ratings said in a report Feb. 1, advising that rents at 410 Tenth will have to come down by a similar percentage to fill the 190,000 square foot hole left behind by the busted First Republic. The occupancy rate has plummeted to 65%, and the $565 million mortgage matures in four years. “No new leases have been exe-

cuted at the property,” Fitch said. “However, according to servicer updates, there is a pending lease for the 1,193-sf cafe located in the building’s lobby.” Calls to 601W’s office weren’t answered, nor was an email. Karasick made his big splash in 1998 when he bought the Starrett Leigh, a landmarked 2 million square-foot industrial building squatting at West 26th Street and 11th Avenue, for $152 million. Die-cutters and other tenants were replaced by the likes of Martha Stewart and Screaming Media, a startup funded by advertising guru Jay Chiat. Karasick sold the Starrett Leigh to Scott Rechler’s RXR Realty in 2011 for $920 million. Karasick and his partners amassed an office portfolio of 45 million square feet nationwide, according to a 2021 Real Deal article. 601W’s holdings include 1185 Sixth Ave, Aon Center and Prudential Plaza in Chicago, Bank of America Center in San Francisco, and the U.S. Steel tower in Pittsburgh. The Real Deal said 601W was going “all in” with the late2020 acquisition of 410 Tenth. The company “had to rise above the kings of the industry to win

410 Tenth Ave. | BUCK ENNIS

this,” top CBRE broker Darcy Stacom, who represented seller SL Green Realty, told The Real Deal.

A bet worth making It seemed like a bet worth making because Amazon pays $100 per square foot through 2037 and First Republic was signed through 2036. But to fill the void left by the failed bank that paid $92 per square foot, Fitch estimated rents

will have to come down to $79 a foot. Such a figure is “in line with rents at comparable properties and a sustainable long-term occupancy assumption of 85%,” Fitch said. The question is whether 85% occupancy would be enough for Karasick and partners. After all, most markets where 601W owns office towers aren’t faring nearly as well as the far West Side of Manhattan.

NOTABLE LEADERS IN SUSTAINABILITY Nominate a leader who leads sustainability initiatives at an organization and makes an environmental impact.

NOMINATE BY FEB. 16 CrainsNewYork.com/ NotableNoms

12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | FEBRUARY 12, 2024

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NOTABLE GENERAL COUNSELS In a 2020 Fordham Law Review article, Eli Wald identified the first generation of American in-house lawyers; they provided legal advice in the post-Civil War era through the 1930s. Drawn from the Gilded Age elite, these “general counsels” were often entrepreneurial, assuming important corporate financing roles for businesses, such as railroads, in need of investment capital. In-house lawyers remain vital across industries in corporate America to this day. It is our privilege to salute 35 Notable General Counsels in the New York metropolitan region. The pages that follow showcase individuals guiding health care technology innovators, steering organizations through regulatory landscapes and supporting marginalized groups, such as defrauded immigrants. Methodology: The honorees featured here were nominated by their peers, companies or other acquaintances. Crain’s New York Business editors selected the honorees based on their accomplishments, track record of success and contributions to their industry and community, as outlined in the eligibility section of the nomination form.

Megan Bradley

Lesley Campbell

Justin Chu

Andrea Cohen

Deputy general counsel, Better

General counsel and senior vice president of talent engagement and office relations, ICSC

General counsel, Tarter Krinsky & Drogin

Senior vice president, general counsel and chief labor relations officer, NYC Health + Hospitals

Megan Bradley serves as deputy general counsel of Better, a leading online mortgage originator. Her expertise in legal matters helped position Better as a publicly traded entity and advance its market standing. Prior to Better’s public listing, Bradley was responsible for legal strategy, regulatory compliance and leading the organization through an SEC investigation. She also shepherded Better through a de-SPAC merger, unlocking $500 million in capital. Bradley has spent thousands of hours on pro bono work, including supporting LGBTQIA+ teens and their First Amendment rights, helping abused prisoners and championing voting rights organizations. She is also co-founder of Together & Free, an organization that aids asylum seekers, specifically those separated from their families.

Lesley Campbell is general counsel and senior vice president of talent engagement and office relations at ICSC, an organization that elevates the spaces where people shop, dine and work. Campbell’s responsibilities include overseeing governance, labor and employment, and intellectual property matters for the organization. She spearheaded the development of the organization’s environmental, social and governance center — an initiative that supports ICSC members in advancing their sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion aspirations. Campbell is president of the Greater New York Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, which provides high school girls of color with annual scholarships and enrichment programs.

Justin Chu serves as general counsel at the law firm Tarter Krinsky & Drogin. In this role, Chu oversees the firm’s risk management team and responsibilities. Leading a team of four, he is charged with handling issues related to ethics, privacy, cybersecurity and employment. Chu takes on the role of outside general counsel for select firm clients, advising them on litigation, risk management and corporate governance. At Tarter Krinsky & Drogin, he has implemented processes which allow for a more streamlined and organized approach to risk management. Chu is also involved in pro bono matters, and is currently working on a case for several immigrants who were defrauded. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association’s Committee on Standards of Attorney Conduct.

Derek Davis

Evan Eisland

Louis Epstein

General counsel and senior vice chancellor for legal affairs, The City University of New York

Executive vice president and general counsel, MTA Construction & Development Company

Derek Davis is general counsel and senior vice chancellor for legal affairs for The City University of New York. Davis guided the administration and board of trustees throughout the Covid pandemic with regard to health and safety protocols (e.g. vaccine mandates), the transition to remote learning and the overall rights of CUNY faculty and students. He has dealt with complex legal challenges, including First Amendment issues relating to free speech, as well as matters concerning academic freedom and public access to educational resources. Davis served as chair of the board of trustees for Cambridge College, a nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable education to adult learners. He is also on the board of several institutions, including the USS Constitution Museum.

Evan Eisland is the executive vice president and general counsel of MTA Construction & Development Company, the capital planning and execution agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Eisland’s contracts department is responsible for legal and procurement functions for the MTA’s $55 billion capital program and leads efforts to improve its construction contracting structures, with emphasis on strategies advancing innovation. Under Eisland’s guidance, the MTA awarded over $25 billion in construction contracts. He stood up team structures and contracting methods to support new decision-making processes, performance measures and project development functions. Eisland speaks at conferences, sharing lessons learned in the New York region with early-stage transit agencies across the U.S.

Andrea Cohen serves as senior vice president, general counsel and chief labor relations officer at NYC Health + Hospitals. She oversees the legal affairs and labor relations functions and provides administrative supervision over internal audits. Cohen oversees an annual budget of $35 million. She has rebuilt the internal legal team to meet the evolving needs of the healthcare system by onboarding a mix of specialists and generalists, reconfiguring teams and developing technology solutions to manage legal fees. Her team also provided critical support during the pandemic, performing contracting and legal work for vaccine distribution efforts. Cohen serves on the advisory committee of the CUNY School of Public Health.

Beth Essig

Senior vice president and general counsel, Trammo Louis Epstein is senior vice president and general counsel of Trammo, an international trading company that engages in the purchase, transportation and sale of commodities such as ammonia, fertilizer, sulfur and petroleum coke. With more than three decades of experience, Epstein has successfully provided counsel on various complex disputes under international commercial and maritime contracts. As an in-house lawyer and arbitrator, he has been involved in litigation and arbitration around the world. Epstein, who chaired the Arbitration Committee of the New York City Bar Association for three years, is a founding member of the International Arbitration Club of New York and a member of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, as well as of its board of governors. Epstein has authored numerous articles and reports on arbitration and litigation.

Executive vice president and general counsel, Mount Sinai Health System Beth Essig, executive vice president and general counsel at Mount Sinai Health System, manages a wide range of responsibilities pertaining to the health system’s legal and administrative functions. Essig provides tactical legal guidance surrounding compliance matters, working to ensure Mount Sinai’s adherence to healthcare laws and policies. She played a crucial role during the pandemic, when the healthcare system worked to repurpose particular areas and acquire personal protective equipment. Essig also guided front line workers during unprecedented challenges. She has served as board member of Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, and co-founded the Mount Sinai Medical-Legal Partnership, which provides legal aid for employment, housing, social security benefits and end-of-life directives.

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NOTABLE GENERAL COUNSELS

Douglas Friedman

Pierre Gentin

Abby Goldenberg

Jonathan Goldin

Daniel Gutin

Edw

General counsel, Tradeweb

Senior partner and chief legal officer, McKinsey & Company

General counsel, Battery Park City Authority

Chief legal officer, Pearl Health

Pierre Gentin serves as a senior partner and chief legal officer at the management consulting giant McKinsey & Company. He advises the firm’s global managing partners, management team and board on business, legal, risk, strategy and culture topics, and serves on numerous firm leadership bodies. Gentin established McKinsey’s strategic approach to material legal and regulatory matters; collaborated with a host of external stakeholders for the organization; and updated the professional standards and objectives for the global team. Gentin implemented the McKinsey Legal Technology Council to drive internal and external legal tech topics, including cutting-edge AI content. He taught ethics for many years at the Wharton School of Business.

Abby Goldenberg serves as general counsel at Battery Park City Authority, a public benefit corporation that owns, manages and operates the 92 acres of Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan. Goldenberg provides guidance to the organization’s board, senior leadership and employees on legal questions including contract and lease negotiation, compliance, public finance and corporate governance. She also handles complex real estate and legal issues that arise in the context of the authority’s capital projects, including resiliency projects aiming to protect Battery Park City and the Lower Manhattan coast from threats of storm surge and rising sea levels. Goldenberg also negotiated ground lease amendments that preserved affordability for buildings with lower-priced units.

General counsel and chief compliance officer, Brinley Partners

Douglas Friedman is general counsel at Tradeweb, an electronic trading platform for institutional, wholesale and retail investors and dealers. Friedman oversees the company’s global legal team and is responsible for managing the firm’s outside legal counsel. As a member of Tradeweb’s executive and operating committees, he collaborates with executives to develop business growth plans and helps Tradeweb manage an evolving regulatory environment. Fredman helped shape Tradeweb’s initial public offering narrative, which involved managing workstreams and developing the company’s corporate governance program. He has served as a panelist on SEC panels on securities and derivatives reform, and is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s treasury market practices group.

Jonathan Goldin is chief legal officer at Pearl Health, a healthcare technology company that helps primary care organizations deliver more proactive, whole-patient care. In this role, Goldin oversees legal operations; manages personnel in both the legal and compliance functions; and provides legal guidance across various domains for the company. He supervised Pearl Health’s Series B equity raise, pursuant to which the organization received about $75 million of debt and equity capital in 2022. Goldin is a member of the New York City Water Board, the New York Commercial Division Advisory Council and the City Affairs Committee of the New York City Bar Association. In addition, he has been a champion of the Burford Capital Equity Project and a member of the UJA Next Generation Bankruptcy and Reorganization Group.

Daniel Gutin serves as general counsel and chief compliance officer at the asset manager Brinley Partners. Gutin, who is responsible for all legal and regulatory matters, joined as the firm’s first legal and compliance hire. He has updated Brinley Partners’ legal and compliance functions and led the organization through its first SEC books and records examination. Gutin also worked closely with the firm’s seed investor to improve Brinley Partners’ legal documentation to better reflect the firm’s direct lending strategy and business objectives. He also counsels the senior team on strategic initiatives and maintains the firm’s regulatory compliance, policy reviews, contract management and legal coordination.

NOTEWORTHY

On average

General counsel compensation at tech companies is the highest in the profession. (law.com)

Kimberley Harris

Elizabeth Huh

Carl Hum

Paul Kelly

Michael Ketring

Executive vice president, Comcast; General counsel, NBCUniversal

General counsel, Union Square Hospitality Group

General counsel and senior vice president, Real Estate Board of New York

General counsel and executive vice president, Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.

General counsel, The Alliance for Downtown New York

Elizabeth Huh serves as general counsel for Union Square Hospitality Group, where she is the youngest member of the organization’s executive board. Huh heads the legal department, overseeing intellectual property, corporate governance and transactional, regulatory, commercial real estate, employment and litigation matters. She has collaborated with a diverse portfolio of businesses to provide counsel on legal and compliance issues, advising restaurants and teams on navigating the post-pandemic world. When challenged with negotiating a complex settlement, Huh skillfully collaborated with other parties. Huh was awarded the Fordham University School of Law Legal Writing Award and received the Archibald R. Murray Public Service Award in recognition of her pro bono work.

Carl Hum serves as general counsel and senior vice president for the Real Estate Board of New York. In addition to ensuring organizational compliance with relevant laws, Hum oversees member dispute resolution related to allegations of REBNY Code of Ethics and co-brokering violations. He also administers the organization’s arbitration service. Hum advises policy staff on legislative review and works with outside counsel to coordinate litigation on behalf of the organization, also providing counsel to REBNY’s Residential Listing Service and the REBNY Foundation. He was recently named a member of the advisory board for the National Child Protection Task Force and is a member of the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on Real Property Law and Committee on New York City Affairs.

Paul Kelly is general counsel and executive vice president of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp., which serves as the real estate developer and property manager of the yard for New York City. Kelly manages legal initiatives, transactions, litigation, risk management and procurement activities. He has successfully negotiated leases and financial agreements for projects that contributed to further development of the yard. Previously, Kelly was assistant general counsel at the New York City Economic Development Corp., where he worked on projects including the redevelopment of the World Trade Center site and the acquisition of Governors Island from the federal government. He was awarded the Real Estate Board of New York’s Ingenious Deal of the Year Award.

Kimberley Harris is executive vice president of Comcast and general counsel for NBCUniversal. For Comcast, Harris supervises all international government and regulatory affairs, and as general counsel for NBCUniversal she manages all legal functions across NBCUniversal divisions and advises the senior management team. She provides counsel on legal issues and risks, including communications-related regulations, intellectual property and privacy. Harris directed Comcast through a billion-dollar joint venture dispute. She also is president of the board at Advocates for Children of New York City, a member of the board of trustees at Mount Sinai Health System and a member of the advisory board at the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law.

As general counsel at The Alliance for Downtown New York, Michael Ketring provides legal guidance related to contract negotiations, leases and grant agreements. Ketring recently worked toward the renewal of real estate incentives for Lower Manhattan, which were critical to addressing office vacancy. He was involved in the development and lifespan of the Alliance’s Lower Manhattan headquarters from 2015 to 2022, working to negotiate a lease and obtain a funding agreement and multiple permits. Ketring assisted in recovery planning after 9/11 as a member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.’s Resident Advisory Council. He served on Manhattan’s Community Board 1 from 2007 to 2023 in numerous capacities, including as parliamentarian and as co-chair of the bylaws committee.

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Edward Klaris

Margaux Knee

Andrew B. Levine

Andrew Levine

Michael P. Mezzacappa

Managing partner, Klaris Law

Chief administrative officer and general counsel, LinkNYC

Chief legal officer, BEB Capital

Chief legal officer, SL Green Realty Corp.

Partner and general counsel, Coffey Modica

As chief legal officer of SL Green Realty Corp., Andrew Levine manages major deals, transactions and financing within the company. Levine played a key role in SL Green’s $3 billion financing for One Vanderbilt. This deal was the single largest, fixed-rate commercial mortgagebacked security financing closed directly into the bond market. Levine navigated a highly complicated bond-buying environment, managing rating agencies, counsel, joint venture partners and other parties to secure financing. He served on the advisory committee for the Rutgers Law School Center of Corporate Law and Governance for many years. Levine is a long-time supporter of the University of Vermont’s scholarship program, which aids underprivileged students in the Bronx and other urban areas.

Michael P. Mezzacappa is a partner and general counsel at the law firm Coffey Modica. He focuses on insurance defense and has navigated high-exposure matters including fires and explosions, construction litigation, high-end automobile accidents, all types of premises liability and other catastrophic incidents. He works with experts to preserve evidence and suggest optimal litigation strategies. Mezzacappa, who boasts more than three decades of experience, previously served as a partner at a national defense firm and as in-house counsel for a national insurance company. He volunteers for his local ambulance company and speaks often at conferences, and has been featured in numerous industry publications. He hosted the first lecture on fires and explosions for the New York State Bar Association.

Edward Klaris is managing partner at his eponymous firm, Klaris Law. For nearly a decade, he has served as general counsel for Ark Media, a non-fiction documentary production company. In this position, Klaris and his firm handle a variety of legal demands, including development, production, distribution and content review for all documentary projects. Klaris handles matters related to First Amendment, newsgathering, trademark and copyright law as they relate to Ark Media documentaries. Klaris also supports Ark Media on issues related to guilds and everyday legal needs, such as employment and governance. An adjunct professor of law at Columbia Law School, he focuses on media law and intellectual property. Klaris is involved in Human Rights Watch and is an active member of the Media Law Resource Center.

Margaux Knee serves as chief administrative officer and general counsel at LinkNYC, a communications network providing free digital connectivity. She leads legal, corporate affairs, public relations and communications functions, managing a team of several reports and multiple third-party service providers. Knee also manages relationships with key stakeholders, including surety bond holders and the City of New York. She was responsible for implementation of a complex deal involving hundreds of contracts that helped secure the future of LinkNYC, and preserve hundreds of millions of dollars of investor capital. In addition, Knee represents LinkNYC as a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, and is active with the Women’s General Counsel Network and TechGC.

Andrew B. Levine is chief legal officer at BEB Capital, a key advisor to the real estate development and investment firm on matters related to strategic development, transactions and complex problem-solving. Levine’s responsibilities include directing the in-house legal team, ensuring proper execution of transactions, and effective management of legal risks. His work enabled BEB Capital to achieve a joint venture with an institutional private equity partner to acquire industrial assets. Levine was instrumental in turning BEB Capital’s lending platform into the firm’s first real estate debt fund, with a lending capacity of $150 million. He spearheaded creation of BEB Capital’s environmental, social and governance committee, formalizing the firm’s goal to sustainability and social impact.

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NOTABLE GENERAL COUNSELS

Robert P. Miraglia

Robyn Neff

General counsel to the Bronx borough president, Office of the Bronx Borough President

Managing director and general counsel, MSquared

Robert P. Miraglia serves as general counsel for Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson. He oversees legal operations and compliance programming; provides counsel to the borough president on administrative and governance matters; and advises on policy, development and agency oversight agendas. Miraglia also serves on the board of trustees for the New York City Employee Retirement System, one of the largest municipal public employee retirement systems in the U.S. He is involved with organizations such as the New York State Trial Lawyers Association, Lambda Legal Cooperating Attorneys Network and the Latino Lawyers Association of Queens County. Miraglia served as an adjudicator in New York City’s administrative court.

Robyn Neff serves as managing director and general counsel for MSquared, a women-owned real estate platform that emphasizes mixed-income and mixed-use projects to promote affordability, sustainability and diversity. At MSquared, Neff manages internal policies and oversees legal matters, including real estate investing and lending, fund offerings and administration. She previously served as vice president and senior counsel to the urban investment group at Goldman Sachs, where she advised on investments in underserved communities through publicprivate partnerships, tax credit transactions and opportunity funds. During the pandemic, Neff helped deploy more than $1 billion in capital to missiondriven lenders to make Paycheck Protection Program loans.

NOTEWORTHY

4,500

The U.S. state boasting the most general counsels is California, with more than 4,500 attorneys serving in that role. (Zippia)

James Repking

David Rohde

Eri

Executive vice president and general counsel, Savills North America

Executive vice president for legal affairs and general counsel, New York City Housing Authority

Gen Inve

James Repking is general counsel and executive vice president of Savills North America, a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Repking advises management on mergers and acquisitions, strategic business development, corporate governance and licensing related to brokerage and other business lines. He has negotiated complicated global and national master services agreements across multiple real estate sectors. In 2023, Repking advised Savills on the opening of its Montreal office, a critical move to the firm’s presence in Canada. He is part of the NYU/Stern Real Estate Pride Roundtable and served on the conference host committee for its National Leadership Symposium for LGBTQ+ in Real Estate and the Built Environment.

David Rohde is the executive vice president for legal affairs and general counsel at the New York City Housing Authority, the largest landlord and public housing authority in North America. He oversees 300 attorneys and staff and a $50 million combined departmental budget. Rohde was critical to negotiations with the New York state government related to the development and implementation of a process to allow residents to apply for the state’s emergency rental assistance program. This program will provide more than $128 million to help more than 33,000 residents pay their rent. Rohde often helps with fundraising efforts for the development of scholarships and mentoring programs for law students at New York Law School.

CONGRATULATIONS ICSC congratulates Lesley Campbell for being recognized as a Notable General Counsel by Crain’s New York Business.

ICSC.com

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Eric Smith

Jesse Strauss

General counsel, PineBridge Investments

Principal, Your Fractional General Counsel

Eric Smith serves as general counsel for the global asset manager PineBridge Investments, providing strategic advice and guidance to the board of directors, senior management and various committees. Involved in the firm’s corporate responsibility steering committee, he also supports PineBridge’s initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as environmental, social and corporate governance investments. He is a senior sponsor for GenBridge, an affinity group that fosters the development of future leaders. Smith led the $2 billion acquisition of a pool of private equity secondary interests, a complex deal that required securing capital, exclusivity and due diligence. He is a board member of Trail Blazers, a nonprofit that empowers youth through outdoor education.

Jesse Strauss is principal at Your Fractional General Counsel, where his work involves serving as interim or part-time general counsel for start-ups. Notably, he saved about $5 million in annual obligations for Common by preparing a legal strategy and renegotiating contracts. After his prior company was investigated and fined by New York City regulators, Strauss worked with the product team and lobbyists to create a consent decree which allowed for minor adjustments to the company’s product and enabled it to legally operate. He is a founding member of TechGC, where he created a collaborative platform for general counsels from public and private tech companies to gather. Strauss focuses on sharing legal knowledge on privacy, human resources and corporate governance.

NOTEWORTHY

67%

In 2022, Fortune 500 companies appointed 43 new general counsels, with women comprising 67% of those appointees. (russellreynolds.com)

Allison Swartz

Melissa Tomkiel

Executive vice president and general counsel, Progyny

President and general counsel, Blade Air Mobility

Allison Swartz is executive vice president and general counsel at Progyny, a fertility benefits management company. She works with Progyny’s clients in collaboration with their in-house teams and outside counsel. Swartz helmed the development of Progyny’s utilization management program, which required complex coordination, successful cross-functional collaboration and a heavy compliance lift. This effort allowed Progyny to sign its first federal client. Swartz is dedicated to spreading awareness about the financial and bureaucratic hurdles that many face when seeking fertility benefits, and has pushed individuals across the nation to sign the #ActForFamilyBuildingAccess letter, which has garnered nearly 400 signatures across the legal, benefits and healthcare spaces.

Melissa Tomkiel is the president and general counsel of Blade Air Mobility, a global air mobility platform. She manages the company’s key operational departments, including flight operations, legal, safety, public policy and government relations. Under Tomkiel’s leadership, the company underwent a go-public transaction in 2021 and raised more than $300 million in gross proceeds, also acquiring Trinity Air Medical, which has since grown into the largest provider of human organs for transplant in the U.S. As a member of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Advisory Committee on Advanced Air Mobility, Tomkiel works with government entities and key industry leaders to construct regulatory frameworks for airspace and landing infrastructure.

Congratulations to

ANDREW S. LEVINE SL GREEN CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL

on being named to Crain’s Notable General Counsel list for 2024. We salute all honorees.

SLGREEN.COM COMMERCIAL | RESIDENTIAL | RETAIL | FINANCE

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NOTABLE GENERAL COUNSELS

David Travin

Eric Tuchmann

General counsel, PJT Partners

Chief legal officer and corporate secretary, American Arbitration Association

David Travin serves as general counsel at PJT Partners, an advisory-focused investment bank. As a member of the firm’s executive committee, he helps guide the firm’s strategic direction, including its performance, sustained growth, talent management and risk management. Travin, who joined PJT Partners shortly after its founding, has more than 20 years of experience. He oversees the legal and compliance department and manages a global team, where he fosters inclusivity and empowerment. Travin works closely with banking teams advising on unprecedented and consequential transactions, such as Smurfit Kappa’s $34 billion merger with WestRock Company. He serves on the board of directors of Only Make Believe, a nonprofit that creates interactive theater experiences for children in hospitals, special education schools and care facilities.

Eric Tuchmann is chief legal officer and corporate secretary for the American Arbitration Association, the world’s largest provider of arbitration, mediation and other alternative dispute resolution services. He provides executive direction and guidance on various policy matters impacting the nonprofit organization and the field of alternative dispute resolution. In 2023, Tuchmann received the American Bar Association International Law Section’s Outstanding International Corporate Counsel Award for his leadership in legislative and policy initiatives. He has submitted many amicus briefs to state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court; defended claims against arbitration and the Federal Arbitration Act; and promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.

NOTEWORTHY

$310K

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the median pay for lawyers is $135,740 per year. One source has general counsels averaging $310,345 in annual total pay. (Bureau of Labor Statistics; Glassdoor)

Elizabeth Vladeck

Dan Zinn

General counsel, New York City Public Schools

General counsel, chief of staff, OTC Markets Group

Elizabeth Vladeck serves as general counsel for New York City Public Schools. Vladeck commands a team of several hundred attorneys and many specialized professionals. Her domain encompasses a wide spectrum of practice areas, including labor and employment issues, contract negotiations, commercial ventures, litigation, school policy formulation and governance. Vladeck tackled the about 11,000 backlogged cases involving students with learning disabilities, collaborating with the New York State Education Department and the New York City government to establish a dedicated, full-time tribunal for such cases. Her work simplifies complex systems for the community, allowing the city’s students and families to take full advantage of the resources and support available to them.

OTC Markets Group is an organization that operates regulated markets for the trading of 12,000 U.S. and international securities. As its general counsel and chief of staff, Dan Zinn leads regulatory and policymaking efforts for the organization, working on securities law issues, human resources and operational matters. When the SEC set out to overhaul the market structure and regulations that apply to stocks traded on OTC Markets Group’s platform, Zinn worked with SEC staff, internal stakeholders and market participants to ensure that the rulemaking process was a success. Due to his work, OTC Markets Group’s standards are now codified into law and the firm’s practices serve as a blueprint for market structure, investor protection and transparency.

Let CUNY be your go-to resource for talent, business growth, and collaboration! Hire CUNY.

The City University of New York is proud to congratulate General Counsel and Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs Derek Davis on being named a Crain’s Notable General Counsel

cuny.edu/hirecuny

25 COLLEGES 1 UNIVERSITY

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CARE

have to reach out to the medical schools and residency programs that we know are trying to build LGBTQ competence.” To that end, the nonprofit has started a residency program in partnership with NYU Langone Health, and a Keith Haring Nurse Practitioner Postgraduate Fellowship, to increase the number of physicians in the workforce who understand how to sensitively treat LGBTQ+ individuals. The residency program is one of the first of its kind, McGovern added, and will begin next year. Callen-Lorde aims to become a “teaching community health center,” building out the competent care workforce in New York and around the country.

From Page 1

necessary care altogether. Providers have had to get creative to ensure they can meet rising demand from an increasingly diverse patient population. When Smith first walked into Callen-Lorde, he was greeted by stickers inviting him to write out his pronouns, a signal to him that the staff cared about addressing him correctly. Smith had also experienced “white coat syndrome,” in the past, a term used to describe the fear some patients feel around doctors who might not understand them. The doctors at Callen-Lorde, who are well aware of the source of anxiety, wear plain clothes to put their patients at ease. The sense of comfort gave Smith the confidence to ask questions about the surgeries he was eligible for that he says he wouldn’t have had with other providers. He learned that he was eligible for top surgery, a procedure he wondered if he was too old for. Physicians at Callen-Lorde guided Smith through the mental health aspects of his transition and made appointments for his surgeries. Since transitioning, the Jamaica-based New Yorker said the successful physical changes have helped him move through the world authentically. “I've heard some stories about people having issues with being trans but thank goodness for me personally, I have not experienced that,” he said. “I have a wonderful life.”

Increasing access Smith’s experience is one many of the city’s health care institutions are trying to replicate through a mix of hiring the right providers, training them in how to be sensitive and raising patients’ awareness of their services. There are plenty of stories like Smith’s where patients feel seen because they reach a physician or nurse who shares their background. However, it can be difficult for patients to find programs that will create this kind of experience for

Proposed budget cuts spark uncertainty

Ivelesse Mendez-Justiniano (center), New York City Health + Hospitals’ vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, and hospital members. | BUCK ENNIS

them — or even figure out they exist. Additionally, hiring obstacles, high patient counts and potential city agency budget cuts are putting pressure on organizations providing the care that is vital to underserved New Yorkers. Certain patient groups lack ready access to care: According to a McKinsey analysis, half of nonwhite survey respondents in the city reported challenges reaching counseling for mental health issues or substance use disorders. Many New Yorkers — about 400,000, according to elected officials — have also recently lost access to public health insurance programs since the state began reassessing residents’ eligibility for Medicaid last spring, putting their ability to access care in jeopardy. According to Elisabeth Benjamin, the vice president of health initiatives at the Community Service Society, swaths of people are now searching for programs, such as one her organization runs, where providers speak their languages and connect them with insurance. There’s an awareness component, too: Patients’ understanding of his organization is not where it

Criss Smith (left) at Callen-Lorde with Reyes Victor | BUCK ENNIS

who go to Somos providers daily are only able to read at elementary school levels, she said. Therefore, when they enter a Somos office, staff take them aside to explain their medical rights, such as informed consent, verbally. In exam rooms, providers speak to each patient’s culture, recommending a Dominican patient avoid plantains to lower their carbohydrate intake, she said, while a physician working with a Mexican patient could advise against too many tortillas. Since mental illness is still stigmatized in many Hispanic households, Peña, who is Dominican American herself, asks patients how they’re — Patrick McGovern, chief executive at Callen-Lorde feeling at every initial appointment work prefers to hire providers of and lets them know her office is a color who speak different dialects safe space to express any challengof Spanish to communicate with es. The network has doubled down large Colombian and Puerto Rican patient populations. Acacia is also on proactively reaching out to paseeing its West African patient tients within their communities population grow in the Bronx, through means such as health Collymore said, and must hire ac- care fairs, where people are screened for signs of depression. cordingly. This ensures that no nuanced About 2,000 New Yorkers have medical information slips through been able to get care through the the cracks of translation once pa- fairs at times of crisis, Peña said. tients are connected with care. Going forward, her goal is to creAcacia also goes to “trusted com- ate and grow preventive programs munity-based entities” like around nutrition and exercise. Additional trained staff memchurches, large housing complexes and senior centers to connect bers are also necessary to meet the rise in demand. For Patrick Mcwith patients. “It's important to make sure that Govern, chief executive at Calwe get out of our four walls and go len-Lorde, hiring solutions someto where people are congregating times come from within the and gathering in a comfortable population the clinics serve. setting. And then bring the mes- About 40% of the nonprofit’s pasage to them,” Collymore said. tient population identifies as Black “They may be more and more apt and Hispanic. Callen-Lorde has to take that step to trust you or to found success hiring patients who at least initiate the first appoint- have first-hand experience with the organization to serve as frontment." According to Dr. Yomaris Peña, line workers at its locations, he the chief medical officer at Somos said. But staffing shortages require a Community Care, trust comes from helping patients with their multi-pronged approach. “[It’s] definitely part of the solubasic needs in the context of their culture. Many of the 25,000, large- tion. I would say it’s necessary, but ly Hispanic immigrant patients not sufficient,” he said. “We still could be, said Dr. David Collymore, the chief medical officer and senior vice president of clinical affairs at the Acacia Network, a group of nonprofits. The key to bridging that awareness and access gap is more caregivers who look like and have similar experiences to their patients. More than 70% of Acacia’s clients receiving behavioral health, substance use and primary care are Black and Hispanic. The net-

“We still have to reach out to the medical schools and residency programs that we know are trying to build LGBTQ competence.”

Providers are worried that proposed city agency budget cuts and potential City Council funding declines could threaten their culturally competent care programs; both the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and New York City Health + Hospitals had to trim their budgets by 5% in November and could be subject to additional slashes. According to the city Office of Management and Budget’s latest numbers, proposed cuts would shave $5 million off the DOHMH’s roughly $2 billion budget in contract reductions for fiscal 2025. Patrick Gallahue, a representative for the department, declined to comment on whether community organizations should expect contract cuts, but said the health department is committed to upholding culturally competent care such as community clinics for New Yorkers in the languages they need. H+H’s budget for fiscal 2025 is roughly $3 billion. Its budget for NYC Care, which provides primary, specialty and mental health care to 121,000 New Yorkers who can’t afford or who are not eligible for insurance, is estimated to be $100 million. More than one million total patients get care through H+H each year; more than 70% identify as Black, Hispanic or Asian American and more than 70% rely on Medicaid or have no insurance. Ivelesse Mendez-Justiniano, New York City Health + Hospitals’ vice president and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer who oversees workforce development, said the public health system has worked around budget cuts in the past and will do the same if proposed cuts come to fruition. H+H has moved some of its cultural competence education to virtual settings to save resources in the past, she said. The system has also employed a network of community health workers to address patients’ pressing social needs, a program that reached more than 5,000 vulnerable New Yorkers in its first year through about 250 employees. “We've already built all these programs into our fabric and we prioritize them,” she said. “[Uncertainty] doesn't really impact the level of cultural sensitivity that we provide.”

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CLASSIFIEDS POSITIONS AVAILABLE ATG Financial Technologies is seeking a Fin Anal resp for supporting operational systs for very large fund-of-funds business. Solve complex bus issues related to the systs supported by the Fin Analyst. Maintain & build relationships w/ users of these systs, answering their questions using proprietary tools, MS SQL Server, big query tools, & cloud data systs. Build & use cloud-based bus intelligence tools to analyze the data & help to scale the operations. Wage range: $80,850 - $140,920. Requirements: Bach Bus Analytics & Finance + 1 yr exp rel occupation, Analyst. Send resume to: ATG Financial Technologies, Attn: Mr. Peter Burton, 1180 Ave of the Americas, 8th Fl, NY, NY 10036.

Principal, Client Relationship Manager (The Carlyle Group Employee Co. LLC – New York, NY); Mult. pos. avail. Bld, cultivate, and strengthen relationships w/ Latin Amer invstrs and offshore platforms to raise invstmt capital from prosp invstrs for the purp of funding Carlyle invstmts. Proactively seek and supp the dev of new initiatives w/in assigned market to enhance market presence. F/T. Sal range $278,000 - $278,000/yr. Apply w/ res to HR3@carlyle.com. Ref. Job ID: 7286420

Quantitative Researcher I (Citadel Securities Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult. Pos. Avail. Formulate math and sim models of complex mkt problems, relating constants and variables, restrictions, alternatives, conflicting obj, and their num parameters using tech, math and stat modeling, and computer sys. F/T. Reqs a Master’s degree (or foreign equivalent) in Stat, Math, Physics, Comp Science, Eng’g, or a related quant field. Edu, trng, or exp must incl the following: Conducting time-series or cross-sectional analysis to dev trading strat; Qual data analysis methods and tech (including Robust Regression, Stat Machine Learning, or Natural Language Proc); C++ or OOD programming; Utilizing Python, R or C++ to translate math models and algorithms into code; and Analyzing gigabyte or terabyte sized large datasets. Salary range $175,000 - $250,000/yr. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com. JobID: 8000146.

Quantitative Researcher I (Citadel Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult. Pos. Avail. Formulate math and sim models of complex mkt prob, relating constants and var, restrictions, altern, conflicting obj, and their num param using tech, math and stat modeling, and comp syst. F/T. Reqs a Master’s deg (or foreign equiv) in Stat, Math, Phys, Comp Science, Eng’g, Fin, or a rel quant field. Edu, trng, or exp must incl: Utilizing stat and math modeling tech (incl time-series analysis, cross-sectional analysis, data mining, or Stat Machine Learning) to analyze historical mkt data and dev trading strategies; C++ or OOD prog; Stat packages incl R, Matlab, or PyTorch; Scripting languages incl bash, PERL, or Python; and Analyzing gigabyte or terabyte sized datasets. Salary range $175,000 - $250,000/yr. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com. JobID: 8000152.

Quantitative Developer (Citadel Securities Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult pos avail. Offer’ng salary of $160,000 - $200,000 per year. Dvlp & deploy internal apps & software solut for quant rsrch platforms. F/T. Reqs a Bach degree (or foreign equiv) in CS, Engin, or rel field. Edu, train, or exp must include the follow’g: C++ programming on a Unix platform; multithreaded app programm’g & network programm’g; script’g languages includ’g Python, Perl, Unix, Linux shell script’g, or sim; analytical packages includ’g R, Matlab, or similar; Unix Inter-Process Communication (IPC) mechanisms includ’g sockets & semaphores; data structures, algorithms, & computer architecture; &, Machine Learning techniques. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com. JobID: 7997471.

Quantitative Research Analyst (Citadel Securities Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult pos avail. Offer’ng salary of $150,000 - $190,000 per year. Analyze & solve complex market probs through the use of tech, math and stat model’g, & comp systems. F/T. Reqs a Bach degree (or foreign equiv) in Stat, CS, Engin, Math, Physics, Ops Rsrch, or a rel quant field. Edu, train, or exp must include the follow’g: conduct’g data-intensive investment-rel rsrch & analysis; adv math & stat model’g includ’g time-series analysis, cross-sectional analysis, Statistical Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, pattern recognition, or similar; & performing computations & rsrch with programm’g languages includ’g Python, R, C++, Matlab, Julia, or similar. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com. JobID: 7997472.

Software Engineering Manager positions (WarnerMedia Services, LLC; New York, NY). Lead team in breaking down complex projects into specific goals & tasks, while ensuring long-term vision is delivered. May work remotely. Salary range is $240,000/yr - $280,000/yr, based on qualifications. Email resume to GMRI@wbd.com. Ref: 7216435AJ2.

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Contact Suzanne Janik at 313-446-0455 or email: sjanik@crain.com PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES Notice of Qualification of EnfraGen Management Services, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/18/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/30/22. Princ. office of LLC: 292 Madison Ave., 19th Fl., NY, NY 10017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19801. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of RESOURCES REBAR LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/25/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in New Jersey (NJ) on 11/09/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the NJ addr. of LLC: 2200 Secaucus Rd., N. Bergen, NJ 07047. Cert. of Form. filed with Dept. of the Treasury, Div. of Revenue and Enterprise Services, 33 W State St., #5th, Trenton, NJ 08608. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of MORNINGSIDE PRODUCTIONS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/25/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 333 E. 79th St., Apt. 19Y, NY, NY 10075. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of NO DRESS CODE LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 9/2/23. 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, #368580, NY, NY 10003. R/A: US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave, #202, BK, NY 11228. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of HAY HOUSE, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/10/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/06/23. Princ. office of LLC: 1745 Broadway, NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 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. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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Contact Suzanne Janik at 313-446-0455 or email: sjanik@crain.com PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES

Notice of Qualification of ISOMETRY CAPITAL, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/09/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/13/20. Princ. office of LLC: 900 Third Ave., NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Paracorp Inc., 2140 S. Dupont Hwy., Camden, DE 19934. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of MILIN LAW PLLC Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/12/23. Office Loc: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against to Propp Lapidus PLLC, Mitchell Lapidus, 1120 Avenue of the Americas, 4th Fl, NY, NY 10036 USA Purpose: any lawful act

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NOTICE OF FORMATION of RANGAL PACT COLLABORATIVE, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 11/14/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 745 Fifth Ave, Ste 500, NY, NY 10151. R/A: Filejet Inc.,41 Broadway, Fl 12, Ste 12-300, NY, NY 10004. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of ALTEDGE ADVISORS LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/26/23. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against to 15 W 72ND ST APT 17N, NY, NY 10023. Purpose: any lawful act

Notice of Formation of EKYAM, LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/31/23. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against to 50 UNITED NATIONS PLZ 8A, NY, NY 100173550 USA. Purpose: any lawful act

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION of LGRLEARNINGGROUP LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/4/23. Office loc: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 5/18/23. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and mailed to c/o Poler Legal LLC, 15 Metrotech Ctr, 7th Fl, Brooklyn, NY 11201. Principal business address: 145 4th Ave, #16A, New York, NY 10003. LLC address in DE: 1201 Orange St, Ste 600, 1 Commerce Ctr, Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of LLC filed with Secy. of State of DE loc: 401 Federal St, Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of LEXIN CAXTON LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/05/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/12/23. 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 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Foreign Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC) Name: CamSolutions LLC dba Woligo LLC. Application for Authority filed by the Department of State of New York on: 11/14/23 Jurisdiction: Oklahoma Organized on:4/24/20 Office location: County of New York. Purpose: Any Lawful Activity. Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) is designated as agent of PLLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: 28 Liberty Street, NY, NY 10005

Notice of Formation of THE GREEN GLASSES CANNABIS LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/4/2023. Office Location: NEW YORK County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against LLC to: THE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY 200 PARK AVENUE S #280002, NEW YORK, NY, 10166, USA. Reg Ag.: UNITED STATES CORPORATION AGENTS, INC. 7014 13TH AVENUE , SUITE 202 BROOKLYN, NY, 11228, USA. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of formation of ALL GAS ATHLETIC LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) 7/27/2023 Office in New York Co. SSNY designated for service of process. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process served against the LLC to 3 Clinton Street #4 New York, NY 10002. Purpose: Any lawful purpose

Notice of Formation of IHGS18 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/16/24. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 150 Charles St., Apt. M6, NY, NY 10014. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, Attn: Isabelle Sakhaie at the princ. office of the LLC. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of TM66THSTREET, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/19/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/17/24. Princ. office of LLC: 1700 Broadway, Fl. 38, NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of MPF GREENWICH LENDER LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 01/04/24. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/15/23. Princ. office of LLC: 125 W. 55th St., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of THOR & LOKI REALTY LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/16/24. Office Loc: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against to 502 Park Ave Apt 12E, NY, NY 10022 USA, apesce@pescelaw.com. Purpose: any lawful act

Notice of Formation of SONCATA PRESS LLC Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/2/23. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served against LLC to: The Limited Liability Company 340 W. 57th St #2, NY, NY, 10019, USA, RA: United States Corporation Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave, Ste 202 BK, NY, 11228, USA. Purpose: any lawful act.

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TERMINAL From Page 1

a building that I think Gucci [bought] and it sold for three times the amount that experts predicted.” But the analogy may go only so far. Indeed, Kering did pay more than triple the Fifth Avenue property’s estimated value, but what it bought is almost entirely storefronts and not offices. Currently, Manhattan’s office market is suffering a nearly 20% vacancy rate, according to CBRE, a global real estate services firm. The dismal office occupancy environment led real estate giant Vornado to hit the brakes on its plan to build new office towers to pay for a Penn Station overhaul, a plan that also proposed using tax-increment financing.

Covering shortfalls In theory, the funding method justifies diverting public dollars to private projects with the expectation that the new buildings will cover any shortfalls with new tax revenues down the road. Vornado’s chief executive, Steven Roth, said in May that the company’s next project would likely be residential. The Port Authority is proposing one office tower for the corner of 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue. The current zoning allows for a maximum height of 1,300 feet — for comparison, 30 Hudson Yards,

the tallest of the Hudson Yards’ development, is 1,270 feet. The second tower would rise beside it on Eighth Avenue and could top out at 900 feet. Both buildings would be built on Port Authority-owned land, the authority said, and would not need special permits from the city. Glenn Guzi, the assistant director of major capital projects at the port authority, described the two buildings at the Feb. 1 meeting as “critically important to our funding strategy.” An earlier iteration of the project also included two additional buildings: a residential high-rise and a mixed-used tower. But because the authority decided to tweak its overall design based on community feedback, two skyscrapers were cut out of the proposal. Guzi called it a “yin-andyang approach.” Parekh said the authority has carried out “some preliminary information-gathering of would developers be interested” but added that the agency has not had conversations with specific developers about a partnership. “It’s just too premature to do that,” Parekh said. He emphasized that the schedule for the towers, which wouldn’t be built until at least the 2030s, gives time for the city’s office market to recover. “There’s a long timeline from now to then,” said Parekh. “We’re hopeful that the market will demand these commercial developments.”

Star office broker Darcy Stacom leaving CBRE to start own firm By Aaron Elstein

Darcy Stacom, who brokered some of New York’s largest real estate deals over the last 20 years, is leaving CBRE in a sign that the sector’s dislocation has more room to run. Stacom is starting her own firm called Stacom CRE after 22 years at CBRE, during which she had a hand in several major transactions, including Harry Macklowe’s $2.8 billion sale of the GM Building in 2008 to Boston Properties. She was involved in MetLife’s $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village in 2006 to Tishman Speyer Properties and BlackRock. “As someone who can read and navigate markets, close deals in difficult circumstances, and who has the trust of the commercial real estate community, I think this is the right moment to strike out on my own,” Stacom said in a statement released Feb. 5.

Senior colleagues staying Two of Stacom’s senior colleagues are staying at CBRE. Bill Shanahan will see responsibilities expand to help property owners facing “special and complex situa-

of diversity and giving back to the community,” the firm added. “We wish her well.” Top brokers such as Stacom can pocket an up to 2% commission on investment sales, industry executives say, or $20 million on a $1 billion transaction.

Big deals are few and far

tions,” the commercial brokerage said, and Doug Middleton will continue to lead the New York investment properties team. “We are excited about the opportunities ahead for our New York investment properties business,” CBRE said. Stacom has been “a champion

But deals are few and far in between because of limp demand for office space while higher interest rates drive up financing costs. The estimated value of Worldwide Plaza on Eighth Avenue has fallen by a third, or $500 million, and a Canadian pension fund recently sold its 29% stake in a vacant Flatiron District office building for $1. CBRE said in October that it would cut additional costs beyond the $150 million lopped off when it culled unproductive brokers in 2022. More details are expected when the firm reports quarterly results on February 15. Stacom is the third prominent real estate executive to leave a longstanding job in recent months. Andrew Mathias, the president of SL Green, left in December and Silverstein Properties parted ways with CEO Marty Burger last October.

57th St. Formerly home to the Bonwit Teller department store, before French retailer Galeries Lafayette took it over, the 65,000-square-foot space became Niketown in the mid-1990s. But Nike pulled out of the location in 2018, reportedly in opposition to Trump’s presidency. In recent years Tiffany leased the space on a short-term basis while renovating its Fifth Avenue home, though Tiffany has since left. Louis Vuitton last year announced it had inked a seven-year deal for $20 million a year at the berth to make way for redevelopment of its nearby 1 E. 57th St.

home. But that will be a shortterm deal, too. A Trump Organization spokesman could not be reached by press time. And for their part, Kering executives declined to share how they will use 717 Fifth. But a spokesman did reference a previous statement: “This investment represents a further step in Kering’s selective real estate strategy, aimed at securing key, highly desirable locations for its houses,” it said. Economics alone might not propel Gucci across the street. Kering, a French conglomerate, could also face pressure from activists and Democrats to decouple its brand from Trump’s if the Republican developer were to be elected to a second White House term, brokers say. Kering has experienced a similar backlash before. On the other hand, Kering could decide to use 717 Fifth’s 115,000-square-foot, L-shaped space, which also faces East 55th Street, to house some of its other luxury retailers, such as Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and Brioni. Kering also reportedly renewed Gucci’s lease in 2020 to extend it beyond its original 2026 ending date, so the parent company might decide to keep Gucci, or another Kering fashion house, at Trump Tower, since it’s paying for space there anyway. But Gucci, and not Trump, now seems to be in the driver’s seat. “Whatever happens, if they stay or go,” said James Famularo, an agent with Meridian Capital Group and a top retail broker, “Gucci will have a big advantage over Trump to renegotiate.”

Darcy Stacom

“I think this is the right moment to strike out on my own.”

TOWER From Page 3

the Starbucks is the only nonTrump-branded business in the building (besides a basement deli crammed with red baseball caps): Italian Nerolab Food Zone, a years of planning. The emptiness extends to the peach-hued stone corridors. During three recent visits, in the morning and afternoon, the number of security guards seemed to outnumber passers-through as classic rock by Stevie Nicks and the Traveling Wilburys blared from Trump Grill’s speakers. The next-door atrium, behind the former IBM building, where people can also buy coffee and snacks, in contrast, was busy during those times. And in both style and function, the mall is showing its age. The 6-story waterfall that once provided pleasant background noise hasn’t flowed since 2022 and still awaits repairs, according to a guard there. And a lounge area on the mall’s top floor, a space that’s supposed to be open to the public under the terms of the zoning deal that allowed the tower to be extra-tall — and reached by the escalator system that featured prominently in Trump’s first presidential announcement — remains cordoned off with a velvet rope. To be fair, presidential-era barriers continue to ring the sidewalks, which could deter tourists. The contrast between attack-preventing the large concrete blocks and window displays featuring Gucci’s

The tower’s mall directory | BUCK ENNIS

signature red-and-green striped handbags can seem surreal.

Better luck Because the Trump Organization is privately held, tracking down specific numbers about its individual properties can be difficult. Moreover, the office and retail portions of Trump Tower are lumped together in property records, so determining the mall’s health alone is a challenge. But in 2021 Wells Fargo put a $100 million loan secured by Trump Tower’s commercial spaces on its watch list because occupancy levels had dropped from

about 86% to 79% in a year. Office tenants who were behind on their rent because of Covid explained some of the problems. In 2022 a California-based, online-only financial firm run by a Republican donor called Axos Bank came to the Trump Organization’s rescue with a $100 million mortgage for Trump Tower, according to the city register. (Donald Trump stepped down from the company in 2017; his sons Donald Jr. and Eric are co-executive vice presidents today.) Separately, the company seems to have won a reprieve for now for next-door space it also controls, a mall-connected storefront at 6 E.

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GOTHAM GIGS

CrainsNewYork.com President and CEO KC Crain Group publisher Jim Kirk (312) 397-5503 or jkirk@crain.com Publisher/executive editor Frederick P. Gabriel Jr. Editor-in-chief Cory Schouten, cory.schouten@crainsnewyork.com Managing editor Telisha Bryan Assistant managing editors Anne Michaud, Amanda Glodowski Director of audience and engagement Elizabeth Couch Audience engagement editor Jennifer Samuels Digital editor Taylor Nakagawa Opinions: opinion@crainsnewyork.com Director of visual media Stephanie Swearngin Creative director Thomas J. Linden Associate creative director Karen Freese Zane Digital design editor Jason McGregor Art directors Kayla Byler, Carolyn McClain, Joanna Metzger Photographer Buck Ennis Notables coordinator Ashley Maahs SENIOR REPORTERS Aaron Elstein, C.J. Hughes, Eddie Small REPORTERS Amanda D’Ambrosio, Nick Garber, Jacqueline Neber, Caroline Spivack CONTACT THE NEWSROOM editors@crainsnewyork.com www.crainsnewyork.com/staff

Virginia Chang, who lives in Greenwich Village, decided to become an end-of-life doula in 2018 to empower people to have more say in their own dying process. | BUCK ENNIS

End-of-life doula empowers clients to face their death Virginia Chang helps dying New Yorkers and their families navigate tough questions and ultimately make peace | By Amanda D’Ambrosio

fter Virginia Chang’s father died in September 2016, the inconceivable happened: Her mother-in-law passed the following January, and her mother died just four months later. “It was back to back to back,” Chang said. “I never even had a chance to catch my breath.” In the months after, Chang, who lives in Greenwich Village, said she felt like a zombie walking the streets of New York City. She previously thought it was lucky that she didn’t have to think about death for the first 54 years of her life. “But when it happened, I was so illprepared,” Chang said. She leaned into meditation to escape her grief. It was through her meditation community that she learned about end-of-life doulas, non-clinical professionals who act as guides through the dying process, helping people choose how they want to die and educating families and caregivers on how to cope. End-of-life doulas are not all that different from birth doulas, Chang said. Both advocate for their clients in formal medical settings, educate individuals and families on their options and coping mechanisms, and help with logistics — just at opposite ends of life. “I thought, Why wasn't someone like that there for me?” Chang

said. At the time, she recalls, she felt like a bystander in her family members’ deaths, powerless against the medical establishment and hopeless in her own grief. Those two emotions, Chang said, encouraged her to “change her whole life.” She spent the rest of 2017 researching the end-of-life field. In the new year, she attended the New Jersey-based International End-of-Life Doula Association and the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine.

Increased awareness Chang received her certification in 2018. She volunteered with hospice provider VNS Health to get clinical experience, and built her own private practice by 2019. She helps her clients decide whether they’d like to be buried or cremated and advises them on care. She also walks them through the fears that arise during their final days and attempts to help them understand the meaning of their own existence. Around six months into building her small business, the Covid-19 pandemic provided another life change. The pandemic, because of its resultant casualties, brought increased awareness to the end-oflife-doula industry, Chang said.

Initially, Chang’s work shut down with the bulk of in-person medical care. But she was ultimately able to provide her services remotely. Since she’s become an end-oflife doula, Chang has worked with 94 dying people and their families, roughly two-thirds of which resided in New York City. She typically works with three to five clients at a time, but her caseload depends on how much support a family needs. Sometimes she helps a dying person find a funeral home or develop a living will. But other times she serves entire families; she recently provided counseling support to a family of 10 as their grandmother approached the end of her life. Chang offers payment options on a sliding scale and has offered services to half of her clients at no cost. The average compensation for end-of-life doulas varies. Many charge an hourly rate, which can range from $75 to $150, said Loren Talbot, director of communications and partnerships for the International End-of-Life Doula Association. Talbot added that doulas may charge additional fees for packages such as legacy projects, and she emphasized that pricing is dependent on a doula's unique set of skills. As more people become aware of end-of-life doula services, Chang has shifted her focus to

Virginia Chang Grew up Mount Vernon, New York Resides Greenwich Village Education Bachelor’s in chemistry, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; master’s and Ph.D. in organic chemistry, Stanford University Past life Earlier in her career, Chang was a research scientist. She worked for pharmaceutical companies to research drug development but shifted to environmental conservation work in the early 1990s. When she had her first child in 1998, Chang became a stay-at-home mom. Music life Chang is a trained harpist, and she hopes one day to bring the art of music into her death work. Mom life Chang has a 25-year-old daughter who lives in Washington, D.C., and a 22-year-old son who resides in New York City.

advocacy. She’s part of a group advocating for the Medical Aid In Dying bill, which would allow physicians in New York to prescribe patients with terminal illnesses medication to end their life. “Nobody wants to die,” Chang said, “but to realize that someone is making that kind of choice because of the amount of suffering that they're living in . . . it’s awe-inspiring.”

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