Crain's New York Business

ASKED & ANSWERED VC firm co-founder on how grocery stores can innovate PAGE 15 GOTHAM GIGS

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APRIL 6, 2020

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT

THE DOCTOR WILL VIRTUALLY SEE YOU NOW As Covid-19 keeps patients away, small medical practices turn to telemedicine to stay vital

BY JONATHAN LAMANTIA

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ow that patients have been cautioned to stay away from the hospital and the doctor’s office unless it’s essential during the current pandemic, health care providers are turning to virtual visits as a way to keep their offices up and running.

Many of the metro area’s largest health systems had telemedicine programs in place or were able to work with large technology companies to craft a solution to meet the needs of patients. But independent BUCK ENNIS

See TELEMED on page 18 CHHABRA said finding a way to still see his patients was his first priority.

MORE CORONAVIRUS STORIES INSIDE SPACE GOES BEGGING Office leasing in Manhattan down 50% PAGE 2

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 36, NO. 12

CHECK IS NOT IN THE MAIL Banks can expect a wave of credit card defaults

OPEN HOUSES STILL CLOSED Real estate deemed essential, but inperson showings still on hold

LACK OF ENERGY Gasoline sales plunge, electricity usage dims

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© 2020 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

STOCKING UP Old-school analysts hope to profit from Wall Street’s volatility PAGE 3

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INSURANCE HOLIDAY Property and casualty premiums suspended for 60 days PAGE 14

F0RGIVENESS IS DIVINE Take advantage of SBA’s forgivable loans PAGE 16

THE TOP-PAID HOSPITAL EXECUTIVES AND DOCTORS PAGE 12

4/3/20 4:49 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Manhattan office leasing down 50% since early winter

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he number of Manhattan office leases has been cut in half since winter, a reduction that began in February as news of the coronavirus outbreak began to spread, according to a recent survey.

“Demand has significantly dropped off,” said Frank Wallach, senior managing director for research at Colliers International, a global commercial real estate organization. “This was the lowest volume of activity for a first quarter since 2013 and the lowest overall quarterly leasing period since 2013.”

Manhattan office-leasing volume between the first three months

Manhattan office space was leased in January, reflecting a continuation of the strong numbers posted last year, in which there were about 43 million square feet total in leasing activity, Wallach said.

But in February leasing activity suddenly dropped to 2.1 million square feet, before falling to about 1.2 million square feet in March.

More nuanced?

Experts across the industry pointed to the coronavirus as one immediate cause for a decline in leases. The virus began to spread through parts of the state in February. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio announced comprehensive social distancing and mandatory work closures in March.

“Naturally there’s less leasing activity.

Nobody is working,” said Peter Riguardi, chairman of the New York region at Jones Lang LaSalle.

Wallach stressed, however, that it is not uncommon to see a drop in leasing quarter over quarter. Every fourth quarter, companies and landlords usually look to wrap up pending deals that were in negotiations. So it’s typical to see a bump in real estate activity toward the end of the year that is not reflected

“NATURALLY THERE’S LESS LEASING ACTIVITY. NOBODY IS WORKING” of this year and the last three months of 2019 reflected a nearly 50% drop in activity, according to Colliers. Compared to the same January to March window last year, office-leasing volume fell nearly 25%.

According to Colliers data, roughly 3.6 million square feet of

at the start of the next one.

Other experts suggested there is more nuance behind the drop, a viewpoint that goes beyond the common assumptions surrounding the economy and the Covid-19 outbreak.

“The theme is, the market was slowing down going into this pandemic,” said Jeff Peck, vice chairman at Savills Studley, a top tenant brokerage.

“The pandemic just amplified it.”

Peck noted that there was too much construction for offices, and the availability rate—the measure of supply—was artificially low, creating a shadow space phenomenon across the market.

He said other long-running market trends might have finally caught up with the abundance of available space. For one, most traditional businesses are doing more with less office space, a trend reflected mainly by changes companies have made to their workspace strategy.

Peck cited the increasing trend of companies using less square footage per person to increase the size of amenity areas, lounges,

REAL ESTATE

As residents flee the city, Hamptons rental demand soars

BY GWEN EVERETT ASIDE FROM THE shuttered restaurants and the empty streets, it might as well be June in the Hamptons.

Real estate agents who spoke to Crain’s say they have seen rental demand shoot up as New Yorkers, eager to escape the national epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak, flood the summer destination.

“These people are renting megamansions with a pool that’s still covered,” said Dylan Eckardt, a broker at Nest Seekers. “I’ve never seen the market like the Hamptons market is right now.”

March rentals were up 40% year over year, said Geoff Gifkins, Hamptons-area regional manager at Nest Seekers.

Covid-19 had New Yorkers pay-

ing $100,000 for a rental for the month of March, Eckardt said.

That’s a level previously unheard of at this time of year.

Renting is happening much more quickly, too. Typically, renters travel to the Hamptons for a weekend and visit six to eight houses. The process is repeated until the right property is found, but that has been expedited. Half the rentals Nest Seekers arranged did not even involve in-person viewings, Gifkins said.

Potential renters are also hungry for space, he said.

“People don’t want to be quarantined in their city or their apartment of their condo,” Eckardt said. “People are saying, ‘I want to have a safe little bunker out East.’ ” Renting during Covid-19 also

gives rise to novel requests. One client wanted a cleaning crew to film each room of a house as it was being cleaned, Eckardt said.

Not everyone is pleased. Supervisors from Southampton, Southold, Westhead and surrounding towns, and leaders of the Shinnecock Nation, called on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to institute a travel ban that would limit people traveling to the Hamptons to essential personnel only.

They said the influx of people put local residents at risk and strained resources. Cuomo declined.

The Hamptons housing market has been mixed in recent years.

Bloomberg News reported that purchases for homes jumped 11% at the end of last year—but only after sellers slashed prices an average of about 13%. ■

cafés and soft-seating locations within offices.

“It’s about people and giving back to people,” he said of the additional space alloted to amenities.

“There’s a war for talent.”

In stable health?

That outlook is shared by Sarah Dreyer, head of research at Savills.

Dreyer suggested that shrinking office space and an influx of new development led some firms to reevaluate their needs this year.

“We’re only seeing a handful of deals over 100,000 square feet,” she pointed out.

Dreyer noted that Savills’ overall

market data differs from that of Colliers. Savills tracked the same period—the end of 2019 compared to early 2020—and found the leasing drop to be 40%.

“The pandemic slowed a lot of leasing that we expected in March,” she said.

Dreyer said the data tell her “the underlying health of the market might be more stable than alluded to,” but she said nothing is certain until the country comes through the pandemic.

“We don’t know what the exact impact of this will be,” she said. “The real thing is to watch what’s to come and what unfolds.” ■

NOMINATIONS

ISTOCK

BY BRIAN PASCUS

ISTOCK

Covid-19, changes in workspace strategies primarily to blame

DO YOU KNOW A NOTABLE LGBTQ LEADER OR EXECUTIVE? Crain’s is seeking Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives in New York, a list that will honor those who are making an impact in the local business community. Submit a nomination before April 17.

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Vol. 36, No. 12, April 6, 2020—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for bimonthly in January, July and August and the last issue in December, by Crain Communications Inc., 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017.

Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to: Crain’s New York Business, Circulation Department, PO Box 433279, Palm Coast, FL 32143-9681. For subscriber service: call 877-824-9379; fax 313-446-6777. $3.00 a copy; $129.00 per year. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2020 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

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4/3/20 4:39 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

THOMAS GRAHAM KAHN believes stockpickers might be making a comeback.

STOCKPICKERS’ GOLDEN HOUR Old-school analysts hope to profit from Wall Street’s volatility

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BUCK ENNIS

BY AARON ELSTEIN hen Brad McGill was a rookie Wall Street analyst, his boss told him to dedicate his time to learning about a single stock, Nordstrom’s. For the next four months he examined everything about the department store chain’s operations, strategy and even how to read the CEO’s body language.

“I learned how to understand a business at the granular level,” McGill said.

Twenty-five years later McGill is still researching companies to find overlooked nuggets. If he picks the right stocks,

investors in his mutual fund will make a pile, and so will he.

Stock picking has fallen out of fashion since 2008 as large and small investors concluded that investment pros could never pick the right stocks often enough. In the past 10 years, more than $1 trillion has been yanked out of actively managed funds that try to beat the market and placed into funds that passively track the S&P 500 or other indexes, according to Morningstar.

Index funds have become so popular that for the first time

“WE’RE GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY TO OWN STOCKS AT REALLY COMPELLING PRICES.”

See STOCK on page 17

Banks facing a wave of consumer defaults Credit cards are the first loans to go bad in hard times

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hen hard times strike, consumers pinched for cash inevitably stop repaying loans as they prioritize paying for food and shelter. First, they typically fall behind on their credit card bills, then car loans and, when they’re tapped out, their rent or mortgage.

Keefe Bruyette & Woods, a brokerage firm that specializes in financial services, warned last week that surging unemployment and soaring delinquencies will take a massive toll on credit card lenders.

Four big card companies that, taken together, had been previously expected to generate $12 billion in profit this year are now anticipated to produce more than $3 billion in

losses.

“There is no question that consumer finance companies will be significantly impacted,” KBW analysts said.

Capital One is thought to be the biggest casualty. It is expected to swing to a $1.8 billion loss this year, or $4.01 per share, instead of ISTOCK

BY AARON ELSTEIN

See DEFAULTS on page 4 APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

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4/3/20 4:24 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

In-person showings still off limits

Gap between city’s richest and poorest intensifies The virus could jeopardize the supply of affordable housing

Brokers can only transact business in their office or show properties virtually

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH AFFORDABLE HOUSING Soundview Family Housing in the Bronx

CLOUDY FORECAST

1M

34%

producing $5.2 billion in profits.

Discover Financial and Synchrony Financial each will lose at least half a billion dollars, said KBW, which expects only American Express to remain profitable, though it is likely to earn 62% less than previously thought.

Credit cards are the first loans to

go bad in hard times, because they aren’t secured by collateral. They are easier for consumers to walk away from than other kinds of debt should they file for personal bankruptcy.

Federal regulators have urged banks to give borrowers affected by Covid-19 time to restructure their loans. But it’s unclear how long banks can afford to be patient, especially if delinquencies and defaults are widespread. KBW forecasts charge-off rates will rise by 67% by next year for

BUCK ENNIS

Recessions typically hurt office workers, such as those in the finance industry, along with service-sector jobs. But, so far, office acerbate inequalities.”

That’s not to say Manhattan isn’t jobs have largely moved to remote work, while most service-sector hurting as well. The borough is home to the majority of the city’s jobs have disappeared.

Brooklyn and Queens have had jobs in the devastated hotel industry, as well as in entersome recent success lurtainment and recreing white-collar employation. ers away from Manhattan, but a report last Housing concerns week from the Center for an Urban Future finds Roughly one-third of that Manhattan remains the city’s 3.2 million home to 83% of the city’s households draw their HOUSEHOLDS office jobs. Meanwhile, primary income from in the city whose more than half of the someone who is vulnerprimary income city’s retail jobs and 40% able to income loss is drawn from a of restaurant employduring the virus shutvulnerable worker ment is outside Manhatdown, according to an tan. Both sectors have analysis from the NYU been crushed by the cloFurman Center. sures that have been The Furman Center PORTION of city mandated to impede the typically researches workers who spread of Covid-19. housing issues rather are considered Nail salons, beauty than employment. But nonessential and parlors and barber shops Executive Director Matat risk of losing also are experiencing thew Murphy explained income massive losses, with a that the loss of jobs susmajority of those jobs lotained during the pancated outside Manhatdemic could exacerbate tan. issues of quality and supply in the “Office sectors so far haven’t city’s housing stock, particularly seen the mass layoffs we have seen for low-income people. elsewhere,” Bowles said. “So abso“There is a huge potential risk lutely, this has the potential to ex- to the larger system of debt-fi-

FROM PAGE 3

ESD, the state’s business development agency. The group said the state had declared some functions of real estate as essential services, including home and office showings.

That concept drew immediate pushback from brokers, who said it would be impossible to meet with potential buyers and still practice safe social distancing.

The Real Estate Board of New York told its members last Thurs-

“BEING AN ‘ESSENTIAL’ INDUSTRY DOES NOT MEAN BUSINESS AS USUAL”

Jobs hit hardest

DEFAULTS

IN-PERSON PROPERTY SHOWINGS are still banned in New York to curb the spread of Covid-19, despite guidance Wednesday declaring the industry “essential.”

A spokesman for Empire State Development clarified Thursday that brokers and agents may enter properties to conduct virtual showings, but they may not meet prospective buyers in the location.

“Being an ‘essential’ industry does not mean business as usual,” ESD spokesman Matthew Gorton said.

“Business can only be conducted if social distancing and other public health protocols are followed, and all must be doing everything they can to help stop the spread.

“For real estate, that means brokers can only transact business in their office or show properties virtually, and anything else is off-limits.”

The New York State Association of Realtors shared a message with members last Wednesday night it said it had received that day from

nanced rental housing including low-income housing,” Murphy said. “With public housing and low-income tax-credit housing, if a number of households don’t make rent payments and fall behind, then those portfolios also get behind.”

The Furman Center found 34% of workers in the city are at risk of losing income, based on how many people work in professions deemed nonessential. Murphy said the center was aggressive in its estimate of total occupations that could be hurt, but he noted its number is in line with the 30% unemployment projection from the Federal Reserve.

Households than earn between $15,000 and $30,000 are three times as likely to rely on employment from a vulnerable job than households making $150,000 or more.

The report found the pandemic could widen racial income disparities as well. About 48% of Hispanic wage-earners were in vulnerable occupations in 2018, as well 38% of black workers and 35% of Asian or Pacific Islander workers, compared with 23% of the city’s white workers. ■

auto lender Ally Financial and student-loan originator SLM. The big question is whether the delinquency wave spreads to the commercial real estate sector and inundates banks with bad loans.

That outcome won’t be known for several months. Anecdotal evidence suggests commercial real estate firms are doing what they can to keep themselves solvent.

Cedar Realty Trust, a Long Island–based real estate investment

day morning to disregard the notice until Empire State Development put out official guidance.

The state is allowing brokers to work from their offices or listed properties, but only while keeping a distance. Appraisers and inspectors can also visit properties and brokers can oversee transactions in their offices, according to ESD. — RD

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he early economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic has hit low-income households and boroughs outside Manhattan the hardest, a sign that the crisis will worsen the gap between New York’s rich and poor.

Research released this week indicates that the virus could jeopardize the city’s supply of affordable housing and crush the sectors that have grown fastest outside Manhattan.

“More than most recessions, this one is especially impacting lowwage sectors outside Manhattan and the people who work in them,” said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future.

trust that develops shopping centers in urban markets, last Monday drew on $75 million worth of credit to “preserve financial flexibility” and said it has $20 million in remaining borrowing capacity. It reduced its dividend to a penny per share to conserve $3.6 million in cash per quarter and “has begun taking action to dramatically reduce near-term redevelopment.”

Cedar said it expects to spend $15 million this year completing

three projects. Last year the firm spent $40 million on improving or buying properties.

Meanwhile, bankers are watching to see if commercial tenants follow the example of The Cheesecake Factory, which has told landlords it won’t pay rent in this month.

“If enough tenants do what Cheesecake Factory is doing, it will get dire,” said a financial executive.

“You’re talking about repricing the market for commercial real estate.” ■

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4/3/20 4:28 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Gasoline sales plunge, electricity usage down Station owners in distress, and Con Ed faces problems if lockdown goes on for lengthy period

BY AARON ELSTEIN

cause almost no one is driving anywhere.

Sinking energy demand affects much bigger players than the corner gas station.

Electricity usage in the city was 20% lower on March 27 compared to a week earlier, according to securities firm Evercore ISI, as office buildings turn off the lights. If the power switch remains off for a while, that could cause problems for Con Edison, which has incurred huge fixed costs and liabilities to deliver electricity to New Yorkers.

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ever mind the last time you boarded a flight. When was the last time you filled up the tank?

With gasoline sales plunging by 70% or more locally, gas-station owners are frantically trying to keep afloat their businesses, which are deemed essential by the state.

Channi Singh, who owns 15 BP, Mobil and Shell stations around the city, said he has closed his stations' repair shops and convenience stores.

Skeleton staffs are tasked with making sure nothing gets stolen.

“This is a disaster,” Singh said.

In New York City, the average price of gasoline was $2.16 per gallon last week. Some stations in New Jersey are charging $1.99 a gallon.

Prices haven’t been this low since late 2008, federal data show, as the price of crude oil has sunk to its lowest in 18 years.

The market price of crude comes out to 12 cents per liter, or onetenth the price of a liter of seltzer at Fresh Direct.

Of course, gas prices are low be-

Fitch Ratings recently warned it might downgrade Con Ed’s credit rating as the coronavirus pandemic causes drops in power consumption and more customers fall behind on their utility bills.

“Of particular concern is the revenue impact from lower kilowatt-hour sales and escalation of bad debt expense,” Fitch said.

A Con Ed spokesman said, “We remain solely focused on keeping our customers and employees safe while continuing to provide reliable

ISTOCK

Credit rating review

SLOWDOWN: A 70% drop in gasoline sales is part of a broad drop in energy usage. energy during this very challenging time.”

If necessary, Con Ed could raise funding by selling shares, issuing debt or even petitioning the state for a rate increase—although it was only in January that the utility

reached an agreement for a series of annual rate increases for electricity and gas this year through 2022.

In any case, people such as Singh have none of those levers.

The monthly rent for a prime gas-station location in the city can

be as high as $27,000, and the station pockets as little as a nickel for every gallon sold. Most of the profit comes from selling sodas and chips.

Wayne Bombardiere, executive director of the Long Island–based Gasoline and Automotive Service Dealers Association, said sales are down by up to 60% for stations located on main streets or near highways, and 80% for those in less trafficked areas.

But the government wants gas stations to stay open so other essential services, such as trucking food, can continue. Oil companies want gas stations to stay open so they can help absorb the flood of supply.

“A lot of places have to stay open by contract,” Bombardiere said.

If you visit a full-service station, odds are the owner is pumping the gas, said Bombardiere, who would like the government to buy a lot of gasoline so his group’s members aren’t stuck holding a commodity that has almost no takers.

“I think the government could step in,” he said. “After all, the price is really cheap.” ■

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Leading kosher chicken producer closes due to Covid-19

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Profit • ability (n):

COSTCO

mpire Kosher, the leading kosher poultry supplier in New York and most everywhere else, closed its processing facility for at least two weeks after two employees tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The closing comes shortly before the Jewish holiday of Passover, but chickens are expected to be available for those planning to serve them at seders next week, said Rabbi Menachem Genack, chief executive of the Orthodox Union’s kosher-certification agency, which supervises the Empire facility in Mifflintown, Pa. “Empire is being careful and cautious,” Genack said.

In a letter to customers, Empire President Jeff Brown said, “the very difficult and unprecedented decision” to close the plant stemmed from employees testing positive “beyond the previous noticed cases.” Affected employees were immediately removed from the site and self-quarantined.

“Your trust in and loyalty to Empire Kosher Poultry is taken seriously,” Brown wrote.

The closing of Empire underscores the pressure on the city’s food supply. Distributors report labor shortages because truckers fear getting infected while making deliveries, and some small grocers have shut their doors even as stuck-athome shoppers pack their baskets.

Patel Brothers, a popular Indian market in Jackson Heights, Queens, closed last Monday.

“We are doing this voluntarily to help with social distancing and to help flatten the curve,” the grocer said on its website. The company, with 54 locations around the country, said it expects to reopen stores April 9.

Early closing At Empire, the plan is to reopen April 13. The company closes its doors every year for part of the Passover holiday, but this time the coronavirus forced it to do so earlier. A spokeswoman for the Pennsyl-

vania Department of Agriculture said the closing was not done at the order of the state.

Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, applauded Empire’s decision to close the 550-employee plant.

“There is no cleaner chicken facility than Empire’s,” Young said.

“Giving it an extreme sanitizing is the right thing to do.”

Empire, founded in 1938, is owned by private-equity firm Aterian Investment Partners, which last year acquired the brand and other assets from Hain Celestial for $80 million.

— A.E.

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APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 5

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IN THE MARKETS

Banks will lose money, they’re OK with it Financial institutions respond to the economic crisis with a help-thy-neighbor spirit

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ankers aren’t accustomed gether.”

The help-thy-neighbor spirit is to offering free money or lending at rates that pro- only part of the reason bankers are duce a loss. But that’s what so eager to assist devastated clients.

The SBA program offers them a they’re about to do as the federal government’s massive small-busi- desperately needed jolt of loan volume as they face huge losses in the ness rescue program revs up.

Under the Small Business Ad- weeks and months ahead now that ministration’s plan to offer $349 bil- the economy has all but shut down. lion in relief to companies with 500 In return for lending at unusually or fewer employees, banks may low rates, banks will be paid origicharge interest rates of just 0.5% on nation fees based on the size of the small-business loans, loans that mature in two which are guaranteed by years and can’t tack on the government. any fees.

Origination fees could Those details make the be significant considering economics of lending to the volume of SBA apsmall businesses less approvals stands to dwarf pealing than bankers had the previous high of $41 expected. billion in 2018. AdditionThe legislation creating ally, banks can sell their the rescue package had new SBA loans in the maroutlined maximum interAARON ELSTEIN ketplace, so their cash est rates of 4% and terms isn’t tied up in debt that of as long as 10 years.

Most banks stand to lose money could prove to carry a high rate of on the new SBA loans so long as default.

Every bit of relief for the banks they remain on their books, because the 0.5% interest rate is below will help as they brace for huge drops in earnings. their cost of capital.

Now is no time to worry about All together now such things, though.

“There has to be a certain balEstimated profit at Citigroup ance between how you look at prof- and Wells Fargo for 2020 was its and how you look at the commu- slashed by 79% last week by bronities in which you operate,” said kerage firm Keefe Bruyette & Ira Robbins, chief executive of Val- Woods, while JPMorgan Chase’s ley Bank. forecast was cut by 73%. Apart Frank Sorrentino, CEO of Con- from delinquencies and defaults nectOne Bancorp, added, “This is related to Covid-19, ultralow interthe time for everyone to pull to- est rates will compress net interest

margin, which is the difference between banks’ costs of deposits and rates for loans and the source of most of their profit.

Faced with such dire outlooks, banks are gearing up to process as many SBA loan applications as they can so they can collect 1% commissions on loans of more than $2 mil-

lion, and higher rates for smaller loans. Robbins said he expects half his bank’s 100,000 commercial customers will apply within two weeks.

Elena Sisti, founder of Savoy Bank, which specializes in SBA loans to immigrant-owned motels, gas stations, restaurants and other businesses, has a somewhat differ-

ent view.

“How many of my clients will be interested? 100%,” Sisti said.

She added that she personally would be interested in an SBA loan to help protect an office space she owns in New Jersey.

“I have tenants who I know can’t pay,” she said.

The SBA loan program is certain to attract businesses that in better times would have looked elsewhere for funding. The CEO of a successful venture-backed apparel company said he’d been looking to raise capital from investors but now is interested in an SBA loan because it requires minimal paperwork and no collateral or personal guarantees, and it can be processed online.

“Raising money from an investor requires an in-person meeting, but given the nature of the pandemic that’s impossible,” the executive said.

The head of a business with about $500 million in annual revenue allowed a reporter to listen to a call as he pressed his banker for information about the SBA loans.

“You need to get these loans through a bank,” the banker said.

“You’re a bank,” the executive replied. “That’s why I’m going to you.”

“I’m working to get you first in line,” the banker assured.

“You better.”

“You’re first in line with me,” the banker said. “We’ll get it done together. Boom boom!” ■

ON NEW YORK

Recovery depends on small business survival Mom-and-pop shops must believe they can survive for the city economy to rebound clude the borough president’s office, the Archdiocese of New York and colleges.

The company adapted as technology replaced a lot of printing work. It expanded into larger formats and diversified the work it does.

Eye of the tiger “We were having a good year but not a great year,” Sciortino said.

The company has always had excellent credit, she said, and she wants to keep it that way. She also needs to make sure she still owns her building and doesn’t default on her equipment leases. Otherwise, she won’t have a business to revive.

At the urging of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, she applied this week for the maximum $75,000 loan she could from the city. She received approval the next day and is awaiting instructions on how to get the money. She plans to use money from the loan, which charges no interest, to pay off her revolving line of credit and then for other priority bills.

She has been constantly checking the website of her bank, JPMorgan Chase, for details on how to

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he future of the New York early months.”

The state economy is in a free fall.

City economy may very well depend on whether More than 360,000 New Yorkers Geri Sciortino and other filed for unemployment benefits small-business owners can reopen last week, as many nonessential their doors when the stay-at-home businesses had to lay off their workorder is lifted. ers. The tourism industry is moriSciortino shut down Bronx De- bund, with hotel occupancy is at sign, her family-owned business on 15%. Current projections put job Westchester Avenue in Pelham, on losses in the city at up to a million.

During the 2008–2009 March 13, a few days beGreat Recession, about fore nonessential busi130,000 jobs disappeared. nesses were ordered to When the coronavirus close, because she simply abates, the recovery will didn’t have any customdepend in large part on ers. whether restaurants, reSince then she has been tail stores and businesses trying to collect money such as Bronx Design will owed her by larger clients. be around to rehire their The smaller clients don’t workers. The issue is parhave any money to give GREG DAVID her. ticularly crucial for the She also has prioritized boroughs outside Manwhich bills to pay. hattan, according to a report this This week she received approval week from the Center for an Urban for a $75,000 loan from the city’s Future, because most Manhatsmall-business continuity program. tan-based office jobs are able to be As early as Friday she plans to apply done remotely. for a federal Small Business AdminSciortino runs Bronx Design with her husband, her daughter and four istration loan.

“My main focus is to be solvent full-time and part-time workers. It when we can reopen,” she said. “I has made a name for itself as the expect business will be slow in the go-to place for printing. Clients in-

apply for the new federal Small Business Administration loans made available in the stimulus bill.

Some $350 billion is available nationally, the interest rate is only 0.5% and some of the loan used for payroll may be forgiven.

If all goes well, Sciortino said, she might have some money in the bank to tide her over as the economy regains momentum. She hopes her workers will want to come back.

The stimulus bill’s $600 per week on top of regular unemployment ben-

efits might be competitive with her wages.

“The current staff has been together for 10 years,” she said. “They tell me they are going crazy at home.”

Bronx Design has been in business for 29 years. “Our 30th anniversary is next year,” she noted. “We are so close. I’ll be damned if we close and don’t celebrate.” ■ Greg David writes a regular column for CrainsNewYork.com.

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4/3/20 12:40 PM

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he coronavirus crisis has upended life and business as we know it. No organizations are feeling the impact more than those in health care. They have been under intense pressure to treat the mounting number of cases.

Things like encouraging good hygiene practices for employees and better sanitizing of public and office spaces are basic infection-control practices that shouldn’t be reserved for a pandemic. I read in Crain’s that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority stepped up subway car cleaning to every three days. In South Korea, they stepped it up to three times a day!

For insight into the trends, Crain’s Content Studio recently spoke with Joseph Tomaino, chief executive officer of Grassi Healthcare Advisors LLC. CRAIN’S: What are the added challenges health care organizations face during the pandemic?

TOMAINO: The immense scope of Covid-19–with 20% of infected patients requiring hospitalization–is straining the capacity of facilities that were already stretched thin by flu season.

Add the demand for testing, respiratory issues from seasonal allergies, and increased measures to protect staff and patients, and it’s not hard to see why hospitals and residential facilities are struggling.

At the same time, many health care practices are having the opposite problem. They are seeing decreased volumes of 33% or more as patients defer nonessential appointments.

Their challenges are compounded by excess staff capacity as well as the unpredictability of when the cash-flow impact will hit.

Mental health providers will face increased demand, with many people looking for assistance in dealing with social isolation, unemployment and lack of recreational activities.

CRAIN’S: How do you anticipate these challenges evolving, once the virus peaks?

TOMAINO: Judging from what we’ve seen in other countries, social isolation measures should reduce the number of people affected and flatten the rate of infection, relieving hospitals and other resources from being totally overwhelmed.

My concern is for the community-based medical providers,

clinics, mental health programs, substance use disorder programs, home care agencies and hospices that are all going to feel the brunt of the peak, and likely for months to come. So much attention has been placed on the acute needs of the 20% who are hospitalized that we may be overlooking vulnerabilities in our ability to respond appropriately to the 80% who are not.

CRAIN’S: What best practices and strategies can health care organizations deploy to get through this and other emergencies?

Joseph Tomaino, CEO of Grassi Healthcare Advisors LLC

CRAIN’S: How can health care organizations use these best practices within a value-based reimbursement model?

TOMAINO: Value-based reimbursement is based on improved outcomes, with lower costs and positive patient engagement.

During a pandemic, this model is on pause. Compare it to what we are doing now—practically putting the entire economy on hold.

The cost is enormous, but so too is the value of saving lives.

TOMAINO: Every organization should have an emergency preparedness plan that now includes pandemics. Organizations will deploy their plans’ strategies for command and control, communications, staffing, equipment and supplies, safety and clinical operations.

Science may prove to be the catalyst to getting the tremendous cost of acute care and the economic burden of business closures under control. If drugs can be proved effective at treating Covid-19, that would lead to less mortality and shorter hospital stays.

Thanks to some relaxed regulation and rapid innovation, I am receiving many requests to help clients implement telemedicine as a strategy for continuity of care in the safety of the patients’ own homes.

Science has demonstrated incredible speed in genetically replicating the virus in the lab and developing vaccines. Even at this pace, however, mass immunization is a year away, at best.

Plans for coordination of care personnel from other states, retired staff, volunteers, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the military and others will need to be expedited. As part of this, health care organizations should think outside of the box. I have been working with some organizations to begin recruiting and training displaced restaurant workers to help augment staffing in whatever appropriate ways they can.

CRAIN’S: What have we learned so far from the coronavirus that health care leaders can apply to their organizations?

TOMAINO: In this crisis, organizations have learned to be nimbler and more innovative.

Consider the tremendous expansion of telemedicine. This change was poised to occur, but attitudinal and regulatory barriers were holding it back. I think this shift is here to stay as providers and patients realize its effectiveness.

Some would say it’s too expensive to sanitize our public transportation so frequently, but Covid-19 demonstrates the costs of not doing it.

CRAIN’S: Looking beyond the immediate situation, what trends will ultimately shape the future of health care in New York City? How can health care organizations prepare?

TOMAINO: We’ll need to focus on getting back to basics with hygiene awareness and infection control. We need to reduce the

We need to address critical-care capacity for surges, perhaps repurposing portions of closed or downsized hospitals that can be mothballed for emergency use.

Scientific research at academic and biotech centers will grow, along with our capacity to use genetics to develop medications and immunizations quickly.

Elder care trends will shift toward innovative care models, allowing more patients to receive care at home instead of in large institutions.

These efforts will not only address our pandemic readiness but save thousands of lives and lost work dollars related to all contagious diseases. n

H is for ea T ex b lt ha tra ein hc nk or g are yo di the W u na r o ry e f rke tim or rs e us of in ne ed .

The unprecedented situation has required leaders of many health care organizations to think about everything from staffing to delivering health care in new ways. The situation has opened the door to greater use of tehcnology, such as telemedicine.

number of ill people coming to work by providing better sick leave and work-at-home policies.

We tolerate tremendous levels of illness and death from influenza, much of which might be avoided in these basic ways.

th

T

Health care during the pandemic

We create healthier organizations through improved clinical, operational and financial performance.

Grassi Healthcare Advisors helps provider organizations transform their business models and succeed in a value-based reimbursement environment.

Joseph Tomaino, M.S., R.N. 212.223.5020 jtomaino@grassihealthcareadvisors.com

grassihealthcareadvisors.com

president K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain group publisher Mary Kramer

EDITORIAL

publisher/executive editor

Don’t threaten medical workers for talking to the press patient and staff confidentiality as the reason for the policy.

NYU Langone is not the only hospital to have such a policy.

Montefiore Health System requires media requests to be approved by its public relations staff, as do other hospitals in the region and around the country. One emergency room physician in Washington state said he was fired for giving an interview to a newspaper. Administrators are so bent on controlling the narrative that a nurse in Chicago said she was fired after emailing colleagues about her desire to wear a more protective mask.

It is not uncommon for businesses, including hospitals, to have policies about when employees may talk to the media.

Companies want to control the flow of information and present their story the way they want it perceived by the public. And that is more likely the reason hospitals are tightening the screws on health care workers. They want to control the narrative, pure and simple.

The problem is that the public has the right to an unvarnished view of the frontline battle against

MEDICAL WORKERS HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT TO SPEAK TO THE PUBLIC Langone Health issued a notice from its communications department warning its workers that anyone who spoke to the media without prior authorization could be subject to disciplinary action, including termination. A hospital spokesman cited a concern for

EDITORIAL editor Robert Hordt assistant managing editors

Christine Haughney (special projects), Janon Fisher, Gabriella Iannetta (digital) senior editor Telisha Bryan associate editor Lizeth Beltran (digital) art director Carolyn McClain photographer Buck Ennis data editor Gerald Schifman senior reporters Aaron Elstein,

Jonathan LaMantia reporters Ryan Deffenbaugh, Gwen Everett,

Jennifer Henderson, Brian Pascus columnist Greg David contributors Tom Acitelli, Ronald DeCicco,

Cara Eisenpress, Cheryl S. Grant, Steve Krupinski, Danielle McManus Sladek, BLOOMBERG

P

eople disagree on many things about the coronavirus outbreak— the nation’s readiness, officials’ response, social-distancing needs—but everyone agrees that the doctors and nurses battling this pandemic day in and day out are this country’s true heroes right now.

That’s one reason why it is disturbing to learn that hospitals are trying to muzzle their medical workers to keep them from talking to the news media. This includes the many desperate calls for more masks, face shields and ventilators that doctors and nurses have been making since the pandemic took hold.

Last week Bloomberg News reported that on March 27, NYU

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr.

Mark Yawdoszyn to contact the newsroom:

www.crainsnewyork.com/staff 212.210.0100 685 Third Ave., New York, NY 10017-4024

the outbreak. New Yorkers want to hear from doctors and nurses—the people in the trenches—not some hospital executive more interested in his institution’s image than in telling the truth about working conditions.

One would think that by now, because of the dangerous work medical workers are doing, they would have earned the right to speak to the media and the public directly, especially when they are sounding the alarm over a lack of equipment to keep their patients, themselves and their families safe during the pandemic. If they can pressure the government and the private sector to work harder to provide that equipment, and the

public to take better care to protect themselves and their neighbors, that’s a good thing.

In the age of the internet, efforts to silence health care workers might be moot. Doctors and nurses have been on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms for weeks voicing their fears and concerns over working conditions. It is hard to understand why hospitals would think talking to the media about the conditions is any worse.

In fact, hospitals might have done themselves more harm than good by trying so hard to protect their reputation. They undoubtedly have hurt their image by trying to muzzle the messengers. ■

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OP-ED

www.crainsnewyork.com/events

Debt-based bailouts won’t work

Loans only kick the can down the road. New Yorkers need cash in hand now

BY JUSTIN BRANNAN AND RANDY PEERS

E

ntering week five of the pandemic, city and state lawmakers now have to balance keeping people safe and healthy with protecting small businesses and hourly-wage employees who have shouldered the lion’s share of the virus’ economic impacts.

And rightfully so. Small businesses are desperately trying to figure out how to survive.

The problem with the bulk of the economic relief plans proposed so far is they are debt-based solutions.

The popular panaceas seem to be zero-interest loans, rent delays and extensions to pay property taxes and small-business sales taxes.

Underlying all the proposals is a false assumption that life and business will resume as usual as soon as the virus lets up.

Nothing could be further from the truth. When this is all over, we likely will enter the worst recession most of us have lived through.

Many New Yorkers will have lost their jobs, had virtually no income for several months and will barely be able to cover expenses, let alone begin to pay back all the debt accrued during the pandemic. Business owners who squeaked by will have to ramp back up in a market where nearly every business is desperate for customers, and customers will have less money to spend.

So it’s understandably dangerous to support debt-based solutions that kick the can down the road for two to three months and call it relief. Instead, we’re proposing policies that put actual cash into the hands of New Yorkers and provide real relief when it’s needed most.

Any business in the city that was required to close by government order must have its rent or mortgage forgiven for the period of time the order is in effect. And landlords and banks must be backed up by the government to prevent defaults from rippling through the economy.

Further, the state’s smallbusiness sales-tax remittance must be converted into cash grants to help businesses cover expenses and support their employees.

Unfortunately, Washington’s $2 trillion stimulus bill also falls short of what’s needed.

First, while it’s true that a temporary universal income will be a just and welcome relief, a one-time average $1,200-per-person payment for a three-month shutdown will barely cover one month’s worth of bills and groceries for most. The right option would be a temporary universal income that matches 100% of a person’s pay at the time of job loss—subject to a maximum—before the shutdown, including for independent contractors. New York should explore ways to supplement that income to match our standard of living.

The federal bill appears to propose loans as a form of aid to small businesses that were forced to close during the crisis. Again, loans—even zero-interest loans—

are debt, no matter the terms of repayment, and they should be the absolute last resort.

The federal stimulus bill will be disastrous for New York because it appears to provide only minimal funding for city and state governments as we navigate this crisis.

States such as South Dakota are getting nearly five times more per capita in aid than New York, even though we are at the epicenter of the pandemic.

As we’ve all learned during the past few weeks, the best way to deal with a virus is to act quickly and boldly, and the more half-measures we employ, the more of a problem the virus becomes. So, too, with the economy. We need to provide real relief immediately, not merely various forms of debt to deal with later. ■ Justin Brannan is a City Council member whose district includes Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Randy Peers is president and CEO of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

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8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

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4/3/20 12:15 PM

OP-ED

Women-owned businesses also need a bailout

BY REBECCA KARP

W

hile we remain in the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, we all know there is another crisis coming.

Like a tsunami after an earthquake, the devastation this prolonged shutdown will wreak on our economy, particularly small businesses, will be enormous. After the water recedes, we just don't know how many restaurants will reopen— how small businesses, which typically have to fight for everything in a competitive city, will fare.

Small businesses are a huge part of the magic of our city. They are the foundation of our reputation as the entrepreneurial heartbeat of the world. It's time to start planning for what comes next.

As a small-business owner who has spent my career helping make city economies inclusive so that small businesses—especially minority- and woman-owned businesses—can thrive, I have lived every lesson personally and know deeply how urgent this task is.

First we must ensure that local and federal financial assistance gets to the people and businesses that need it.

Recently the city opened applications for a new relief program, offering small businesses affected by Covid-19 zero-interest loans up to $75,000. It's a great start, but in or-

der to capitalize on those loans, small businesses and minority and women-owned businesses also have to qualify for them Delayed payments are part of life in business, but when you are a small business, money late coming in is money late going out. The result is that bad or middling credit is a part of life for many small businesses across the city. To ensure those that need the loans can take advantage of them, we must relax eligibility requirements.

Similarly, the federal stimulus package offers $350 billion in small-business grants. It's another step in the right direction, but for these funds to be effective they will need to be disbursed efficiently.

That is better done at the local level, rather than by the federal government.

Second, we must ensure that when the pandemic is over, small businesses have somewhere to come home to.

Gathering storm During the past decade, small businesses have found a home in coworking spaces. If the coworking companies close, that will displace thousands of small businesses, with nowhere to go in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the world.

That is not to say we need to write a blank check to companies that

BUCK ENNIS

Don’t let the pandemic force vital, job-creating companies to close their doors

were already looking at challenging balance sheets. But we cannot allow the closure of a few key supportive companies to put tens of thousands of tomorrow’s innovators on the street.

Lastly we must ensure that we are prepared for a wave of economic development once we’re on the other side of this—and that we rebuild our economy in a way that emphasizes equity and inclusion.

Prior to the crisis, we were in a boom market. That day will return—and when it does, there will be many people with high-level skills looking for work. We need to be ready to quickly reorient those job seekers. The city should create a mechanism for quick skills assessments now, in service of pairing

those workers with the jobs they qualify for.

In the process, as we recover economically, we cannot lose sight of minority- and woman-owned businesses and those facing chronic disadvantages in our economy.

Procurement mechanisms must adhere closely to Disadvantaged Business Enterprise regulations, for instance, and local hiring must be a prerequisite for development.

Looking forward, small businesses need to be prepared to weather any kind of crisis—pandemics, cyberattacks, storms—through bestin-class business-continuity planning and preparedness training.

Covid-19 has indiscriminately devastated brick-and-mortar businesses, consulting firms and care

providers.

Business-continuity planning can help small businesses recover faster.

Minority- and woman-owned businesses in particular—whose operations typically run with fewer resources in the bank, a weaker social and professional network and less access to loans and investments—are already disadvantaged.

Proactive planning to survive the next economic disaster is critical.

We made inroads after Superstorm Sandy. I worked with the Port Authority to develop training for business owners to assess their preparedness and develop continuity plans. That planning allowed businesses to determine what actions to take to protect their companies and workforce, and to know when and how to advocate. Such efforts should be expanded so that we’re ready for the next big one.

Policymakers have taken the first important steps to stem the damage to our economy this prolonged crisis has wrought—but we still urgently need a bold, equitable vision to aid small businesses, which are the backbone of our economic strength and are bearing the brunt of the economic pain. ■ Rebecca Karp is the chief executive of Karp Strategies, a city-based urban planning, community economic development and real estate advisory firm.

OP-ED

What’s the MTA going to do with all that Covid-19 money?

Reduction in service due to the decrease in ridership means a reduction in costs

T

he math of the MTA coronavirus bailout package just doesn’t add up.

As a result of declining ridership, there have been significant service cuts to city buses and subways, the Staten Island Railway, the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.

A reduction in service equals a reduction in costs.

You need fewer employees to function as bus drivers, conductors and engineers. Less equipment being run means there is less mileage on buses and on subway and commuter rail cars. Therefore, scheduled preventative maintenance for equipment will not be needed as frequently.

Yes, the MTA might be suffering a loss of $125 million of weekly fare-box revenue, but its operating costs are lower.

Perhaps, in the end, the MTA might not need the $4 billion in federal bailout funding.

The devil is in the details, which are supposed to justify federal sup-

port.

Much of the justification for the funding is based on assumptions of six months of lost revenue. But the full rationale is still fuzzy. The MTA has not shared with commuters, taxpayers, transit advocates, elected officials and members of the press a detailed justification and a budget for $4 billion in bailout funding.

Money for nothing The Federal Transit Administration issued guidance March 13 that gave the MTA permission to reallocate federal funding from capital projects to cover unanticipated costs due to the coronavirus.

The MTA has a balance of several billion dollars still available within $12 billion in FTA grants that have not yet been spent on projects and programs.

The transit agency also has $1.4 billion in FTA fiscal year 2020 funding not yet obligated in grants that could be reprogrammed to pay for pandemic-related operating costs.

It is the height of arrogance for

BUCK ENNIS

BY LARRY PENNER

the MTA to maintain an "our way or the highway" position to justify keeping the $51 billion 2020–2024 Five Year Capital Plan in place.

Even prior to the outbreak, the funding assumptions to support that plan were dubious as best.

Due to the economic downturn as a result of Covid-19, nobody knows how many billions of dollars that were anticipated from conges-

tion pricing, real estate transfers, internet sales and many other city and state taxes will not actually appear.

Albany amended the MTA lock box provision for any revenues generated by congestion pricing.

Previously the MTA could only use these funds for capital projects.

Under this new provision, MTA has been given the flexibility to move

these funds over to the operating side of the ledger.

There is also no guarantee that the FTA will approve funding for the next phase of the Second Avenue subway construction—which could pay for half the $6.9 billion price.

Both the city and state face multibillion-dollar budget shortfalls. It stands to reason that both probably will punt on their respective $3 billion contributions.

I would not be surprised if they both wait until 2024 before coming up with real money. In fact, Albany and City Hall combined still owe several billion in hard-cash contributions pledged for the previous $32 billion 2015–2019 Capital Program.

Just like millions of New Yorkers dealing with their own bugets, the MTA must make difficult financial decisions dealing with shortfalls. ■ Larry Penner is a transportation advocate who previously worked 31 years for the Federal Transit Administration.

APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

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4/2/2020 2:58:35 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Employers grapple with virus in the workplace

BY GWEN EVERETT

T

here’s a memo to employees on the bulletin board at open-air grocery store Three Guys From Brooklyn.

"If you’re sick, check your temperature before you come in. Check your temperature at night, too," it says.

“If anybody’s coughing it’s, like, 'OK, you cannot be coughing here,'” said Phil Penta, who runs the Bay Ridge shop.

The virus has essential-business owners walking a tightrope.

The Americans With Disabilities Act restricts companies from asking their employees the details of their medical condition, but the Covid-19 outbreak makes that cru-

an obligation to look out for the public good,” Penta said.

Under normal circumstances, a boss should not ask about an illness, like coughing, employment lawyer Lou Pechman, said, but the outbreak has created a whole new set of circumstances for his clients, which range from small shops to Fortune 500 companies.

Can an employer send someone home who has symptoms? Can a boss require an employee to take a test? To go to the doctor?

Balancing act Mismanaging such questions can lead to community spread, discrimination complaints or ADA violations.

“I was reading the CDC website every day,” said Stephanie Perez, director of human resources at architecture firm Perkins Eastman. But federal guidance changed by the hour, she noticed.

Perez wondered if and when to request doctor’s notes from employees, and how to do so in a con-

“YOU DON’T WRITE RULES THINKING YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE A GLOBAL PANDEMIC” cial to the health of other workers and customers.

“You have to respect people’s privacy, but at the same time we have

sistent way.

“In my position, I care about employees. I really do. They’re No. 1,” Perez said. But it’s also her job, she said, to protect the company from risk. “You don’t write rules of policy thinking you’re going to have a global pandemic.”

Workers at the architect's New York office are now working from home. It was a move that happened slowly at first. Employees typically did not work from home before the outbreak, but as Covid-19 worsened in the U.S., the IT department set up employees in time for the transition.

Two weeks into remote work, there have been few issues, Perez said.

Behind the mask In essential industries, face-toface interaction can be a management problem in itself.

Workers at Three Guys in Brooklyn wear masks and use hand sanitizer, Penta said, but enforcing social distancing measures necessary to protect staff and customers is difficult.

The grocer limits the number of

people who can come in the store at a time. That has created a line that runs down the block. Once inside, many customers follow the rules.

But others crowd Penta’s staff, ignoring the distancing guidelines the store tries to enforce.

Penta uses two or three workers just to manage social distancing in the store, he said.

“We are very desperately trying to enforce social distancing,” he said. “But we’re dealing with a public that doesn’t seem to be taking this very seriously.”

Businesses that need people to report to work in person have specific challenges. The city's Fair Workweek Law requires employers to give premium pay to employees who cover shifts for sick coworkers

ISTOCK

Business owners must weight public health concerns with conflicting worker privacy laws

on less than 14 days' notice.

No one who works at Three Guys has tested positive for the coronavirus, but two senior staff members quarantined themselves, and others have called in sick.

That has left Penta with a dwindling staff and the need to hire new people. He said he worries that those employees will be inexperienced and starting out their jobs in a crisis.

“It’s chaotic,” he said, “to say the least.” ■

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10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

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4/2/2020 3:55:55 PM

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The Value of Cash Forecasting The first quarter of this year has rapidly pushed us all into uncertain territory—with the impact of the coronavirus, the potential for recession and an election year, our future is far from business as usual.

Stress is knowing that you have a problem and not knowing how to solve it. Real stress is not knowing you have a problem and having to come up with a solution on the fly. Preparation is oftentimes the difference between success and failure.

As we begin the second quarter, one thing is certain: Now is the time to go back to basics and ensure we are as prepared as possible to survive and thrive in any outcome.

Every business needs a strong plan to weather the types of changes we face today.

As we approach the next month, focusing on short- and medium-term cash and liquidity management will increase in importance. Plotting the inflows and outflows of cash, understanding liquidity and availability, managing short-term needs and driving medium-term cash management decisions may require a shift in focus: from tracking profits to ensuring there is sufficient liquidity for the company’s operations.

A number of routine practices should be reviewed and, when appropriate, enhanced immediately. They include: w Talk to your major customers and suppliers. Find out what is going on with them and how they will adjust to the new realities. w Enhance your credit checks.

Set and communicate limits, then live by them. w Be wary of extraordinary or risk-laden orders or service requests. Get up-front payments or retainers. w Spend time every day on collection calls. Have a dedicated process; better yet, have a dedicated person to accelerate the collection of receivables. Don’t let yourself become another’s bank. w Resolve billing differences and customer questions quickly. w Review vendor payment terms; look for opportunities to save cash (discounts) or extend payments. w Talk to your banker.

Know your availability and accessibility to additional funding.

These are great techniques for managing the day-to-day.

To provide the vision and tools you will need to manage your cash flow during turbulent

times, however, cash forecasting, particularly a rolling 13-week cash-flow forecast, is an essential and valuable tool.

to adjust to evolving business environments in real time.

The primary objective of cashflow forecasting is to assist you with managing liquidity and providing vision as to whether the business has the necessary cash to meet its obligations and avoid funding issues. Proper use of cash forecasting strengthens your decision-making process,

w Understanding of past practices and trends in collections and payment terms.

While what happens next is not a certainty, using your history as a baseline is a great starting point.

NOW IS THE TIME TO GO BACK TO BASICS AND ENSURE WE ARE AS PREPARED AS POSSIBLE TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE IN ANY OUTCOME. identifies potential shortfalls and cash needs, and provides you with the opportunity to manage potential issues proactively.

A rolling 13-week forecast provides you with this vision from next week to the end of a quarter. While the most accurate information is this week or next, the rolling forecast allows you to adjust the forecasts’ underlying assumptions on a weekly basis, giving you the ability

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Forecasting requires a number of key elements:

w Consideration of potential changes to the business environment and operations.

Talking to your major customers, vendors and competitors will give you realtime information as to what is going on in your ecosystem. w A disciplined approach to forecasting, reviewing and updating your financial activity. Forecasts need to be updated in real time for information that becomes apparent as the weeks go by.

Establishing a set time to review with your management team and adviser(s) creates the discipline to review and use this information to make realtime management decisions. w Getting the right people involved. Although systems are important, buy-in and engagement of your management team will dictate how successful your cashforecasting process will be.

Involving your key people who will execute changes in direction will ensure buy-in.

The real value with rollingcash forecast is in using it as a decision-making tool. While forecasting is an inherently imprecise activity, it is extremely useful in identifying trends and understanding the approximate timing of cash needs. It is an analytic tool in evaluating operational changes.

Alan G. Badey

Richard J. DeRienzo

CPA, CGMA, president and New York City managing partner

CPA, partner and advisory services leader

Contact us: Alan Badey: abadey@citrincooperman.com Richard DeRienzo: rderienzo@citrincooperman.com

Citrin Cooperman stands with our clients and communities affected

by COVID-19 and the challenging days ahead. The partners and professionals at Citrin Cooperman are trained and ready to help. To that end, we have constructed the COVID-19 Response Unit for you to leverage as a resource center. Find constant, real-time access to tax alerts, industry-specific communications and recession preparedness tools you can use to help with your business needs. Please visit our COVID-19 Response Unit at (www.citrincooperman.com/CRU).

Forecasts do not have to be accurate to be worth the trouble of creating and maintaining them. By elevating the importance of having your management teams discuss the risks they face and consider the resources they need to avoid or mitigate issues, or to pursue opportunities that might emerge, you will have created a disciplined focus on helping your company develop and execute a plan for situations that may arise. n

Citrin Cooperman is a nationally recognized, full-service CPA firm, currently ranked in the U.S. top 25. With over 1,100 employees and 17 locations, Citrin Cooperman has steadily built its business serving a diverse and loyal clientele since 1979. Our daily mission is to help our clients focus on what counts.

THE LIST TOP-PAID HOSPITAL EXECUTIVES AND DOCTORS Ranked by 2018 cash compensation

Crisis management

HEALTHY HIKE

Hospital compensation reaches new heights

P

hilip Ozuah’s $13.3 million windfall was the highest cash sum paid out to a medical professional in 2018, according to Crain’s new analysis of the metropolitan area’s top-paid hospital executives and doctors.

Ozuah, who ascended to Montefiore’s chief executive role in November following Steven Safyer’s retirement, was one of half a dozen leaders to collect more than $5 million. Executives and doctors earning spots on the lists needed to earn more than $2.4 million and $2.1 million, respectively, the fifth straight year the thresholds increased.

With Covid-19 pushing the limits of hospitals’ supplies and staff, the earnings stand out for their largesse. But they also reflect the enormity of the job held by administrators, whose work has grown more complicated. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has mandated that hospitals increase bed capacity by at least 50% and join forces to fight the disease cohesively.

“During this epidemic, I think we’ll start to see how these leaders actually earn their pay,” said Allen Miller, chief executive of Cope Health Solutions. “They’re running these massive, complex, heavily regulated entities, with a set of rules that would confuse any professor. And then something like Covid comes along, and these people have to be ready.”

The majority of the highest-paid physicians are surgeons and cardiologists, rather than the emergency-room and critical-care doctors treating Covid-19 patients around the clock. But this narrow look at doctor payouts reflects the health care system currently in place, where hospitals need to chase lucrative specialties to ensure adequate overall funding.

“They’ll do what they’re incentivized to do by the federal government, state government and the payers,” Miller said. “If they are going to make the most money by doing spine surgery, you’d better believe they’re going to have a whole bunch of spine surgeons.”

— Gerald Schifman

EXECUTIVES Philip Ozuah, M.D. (No. 1)

Robert Grossman, M.D. (No. 4)

Andrew Brotman, M.D. (No. 11)

Richard Shlofmitz, M.D. (No. 3)

Angelo Reppucci, M.D. (No. 15)

Joseph Levine, M.D. (No. 1)

George Petrossian, M.D. (No. 17)

+$2.6M

+$2.3M

+$1.1M

DOCTORS Sheeraz Qureshi, M.D. (No. 2)

+$3.2M

+$1.4M

+$0.4M

+$0.3M

+$0.2M

NOTE: Raise rankings omit one executive and seven doctors for whom comparable 2017 cash compensation is not available.

GROWING EXPERTISE

10

NUMBER of cardiology specialists on the doctors ranking

Northwell retook its usual perch with the most staffers on Crain’s compensation lists. NYU Langone ascended to the No. 2 slot among systems due to seven executive payouts topping $2.5 million.

Total number of execs/doctors Northwell Health 14 NYU Langone Health System 7 Catholic Health Services of Long Island 6 Hospital for Special Surgery 6 SOURCE: Crain’s analysis of 2017 and 2018 Form 990 tax filings

TOTAL CASH COMP. FROM ORG./FROM RELATED ORGS.

OTHER COMP.

$13,316,550 $0/$13,316,550

$45,068

New York–Presbyterian Hospital

$8,251,815 $8,251,815/$0

$2,123,705

Steven Safyer, M.D.3 chief executive

Montefiore Health System

$7,985,351 $0/$7,985,351

$45,244

Robert Grossman, M.D.4 dean and chief executive

NYU Langone Health System

$7,982,273 $0/$7,982,273

$2,277,967

John Collins5 president and chief executive

NYU Winthrop Hospital

$6,433,101 $6,433,101/$0

$200,187

Kenneth Davis, M.D. president and chief executive

Mount Sinai Hospital

$5,589,705 $1,918,387/$3,671,318

$68,724

Barry Ostrowsky president and chief executive

RWJBarnabas Health

$4,937,334 $4,937,334/$0

$40,831

Laura executive vice president and chief operating officer

New York–Presbyterian Hospital

$4,501,744 $4,501,744/$0

$295,518

Howard Gold executive vice president, chief managed care and business development officer

Northwell Health

$4,439,468 $0/$4,439,468

$50,667

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Robert Garrett7 co-chief executive and trustee

Hackensack Meridian Health

$4,342,198 $0/$4,342,198

$866,298

Andrew Brotman, M.D. senior vice president, vice dean and chief clinical officer

NYU Langone Health System

$4,080,618 $0/$4,080,618

$27,000

John Lloyd8 co-chief executive and trustee

Hackensack Meridian Health

$3,530,331 $0/$3,530,331

$948,479

Michael Dowling president and chief executive

Northwell Health

$3,522,977 $0/$3,522,977

$56,577

Thomas Biga president, hospital division

RWJBarnabas Health

$3,492,405 $3,492,405/$0

$42,359

$3,274,493 $2,619,594/$654,899

$81,611

Michael senior vice president, vice dean and corporate chief financial officer

NYU Langone Health System

$3,005,335 $0/$3,005,335

$31,683

17 18

Robert Press, M.D.10 senior vice president, chief of hospital operations

NYU Langone Hospitals

$2,868,925 $2,868,925/$0

$32,439

Dafna Bar-Sagi vice dean for science and chief science officer

NYU Langone Hospitals

$2,672,944 $0/$2,672,944

$30,589

NAME/TITLE

HOSPITAL/SYSTEM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Philip Ozuah, M.D.1 president

Montefiore Health System

Steven Corwin, M.D.2 president, chief executive and trustee

Burke9

Steven Safyer, M.D. (No. 3)

AVERAGE AMOUNT of “other” compensation, such as deferred pay and health care benefits, by the 50 doctors and executives on the lists

TOP-PAID DOCTORS

RANK

Louis Shapiro president and chief executive

Howard Gold (No. 9)

+$10.7M +$2.7M

TOP-PAID EXECUTIVES

Forese, M.D.6

$202K

Six executives and two doctors pulled in cash compensation raises exceeding $1 million in 2018. The increases were led by Philip Ozuah, whose ten-figure bump was the result of a retirement payout that vested after 13 years of service at Montefiore.

Hospital for Special Surgery

12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

TOTAL CASH COMP. FROM ORG/ FROM RELATED ORGS.

OTHER COMP.

St. Francis Hospital

$6,763,875 $6,763,875/$0

$46,030

Sheeraz Qureshi, M.D. orthopedic surgeon

Hospital for Special Surgery

$6,424,481 $6,424,481/$0

$56,129

Richard Shlofmitz, M.D. chair, cardiology

St. Francis Hospital

$5,944,145 $5,944,145/$0

$44,501

Samin Sharma, M.D. director, clinical and interventional cardiology

Mount Sinai Hospital

$5,173,001 $1,161,279/$4,011,722

$42,531

David Samadi, M.D.1 chair, urology

Lenox Hill Hospital

$4,870,675 $4,870,675/$0

$62,034

Bryan Kelly, M.D. chief, sports and shoulder service

Hospital for Special Surgery

$4,566,507 $4,566,007/$500

$75,463

Sathish Subbaiah, M.D. chief, neurosurgical spine surgery

St. Charles Hospital

$4,015,578 $4,015,578/$0

$59,031

Morgan Chen, M.D. chief, orthopedic spine surgery

St. Charles Hospital

$3,942,739 $3,942,739/$0

$57,031

Robert Michler, M.D. chair, surgery and cardiothoracic surgery

Montefiore Medical Center

$3,693,099 $3,693,099/$0

$45,312

Jacob Shani, M.D. chair, heart and vascular center

Maimonides Medical Center

$3,499,216 $3,499,216/$0

$37,217

Frank Schwab, M.D. orthopedic surgeon

Hospital for Special Surgery

$3,082,944 $3,082,944/$0

$61,437

Lyle Leipziger, M.D. chief, plastic surgery

Long Island Jewish Medical Center

$3,039,094 $3,039,094/$0

$57,823

Eugene Krauss, M.D. director, orthopedics

North Shore University Hospital

$3,007,835 $3,007,835/$0

$50,697

Danyal Nawabi, M.D. orthopedic surgeon

Hospital for Special Surgery

$2,922,748 $2,922,748/$0

$58,384

Angelo Reppucci, M.D. co-director, Otolaryngology and Facial Plastics Center

Long Island Jewish Medical Center

$2,725,607 $2,725,607/$0

$60,769

William Ricci, M.D.2 chief, orthopedic trauma

Hospital for Special Surgery

$2,608,218 $2,608,218/$0

$70,327

George Petrossian, M.D. director, interventional cardiovascular procedures

St. Francis Hospital

$2,555,527 $2,555,527/$0

$53,960

Jeffrey Drebin, M.D. chair, surgery

Memorial Sloan Kettering

$2,458,037 $2,458,037/$0

$72,110

RANK

NAME/TITLE

HOSPITAL/SYSTEM

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Joseph Levine, M.D. chief, electrophysiology

TO

RANK

19 20 21 22 23

24 25

SOUR

Berkm comp organ distri multi inclu $644 these to the a $5 direc

f n,

es

g

TOP-PAID EXECUTIVES

TOP-PAID DOCTORS

RANK

NAME/TITLE

HOSPITAL/SYSTEM

19 20 21 22 23

Alan Guerci, M.D.11 president and chief executive

Catholic Health Services of Long Island

Steven Abramson, M.D. senior vice president and vice dean for education

NYU Langone Hospitals

24 25

Gragnolati12

TOTAL CASH COMP. FROM ORG./FROM RELATED ORGS.

OTHER COMP.

$2,639,580 $2,639,580/$0

$401,663

$2,598,729 $805,606/$1,793,123

$31,358

Brian president and chief executive

Atlantic Health System

$2,591,867 $2,591,867/$0

$412,093

Mark Solazzo executive vice president and chief operating officer

Northwell Health

$2,504,766 $0/$2,504,766

$49,562

Maxine Frank13 executive vice president, chief legal officer and general counsel

New York–Presbyterian Hospital

$2,438,058 $2,438,058/$0

$60,889

Ihor Sawczuk, M.D.14 regional president, northern market

Hackensack Meridian Health

$2,432,134 $2,432,134/$0

$156,896

Joseph Lemaire15 president, diversified health ventures

Hackensack Meridian Health

$2,430,345 $2,430,345/$0

$291,190

TOTAL CASH COMP. FROM ORG./FROM RELATED ORGS.

OTHER COMP.

RANK

NAME/TITLE

HOSPITAL/SYSTEM

19

Neil Tanna, M.D.3 associate program director of plastic surgery and medical director

Long Island Jewish Medical Center

$2,456,211 $2,456,211/$0

$60,725

20 21 22 23 24 25

Alan Hartman, M.D. chair, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery

North Shore University Hospital

$2,408,945 $2,408,945/$0

$60,771

Varinder Singh, M.D. chair, cardiovascular medicine

Lenox Hill Hospital

$2,266,022 $2,266,022/$0

$60,771

Omid Rahmani, M.D. chief, endovascular surgery

Long Island Jewish Medical Center

$2,246,246 $2,246,246/$0

$49,690

David Langer, M.D. chair, neurosurgery

Lenox Hill Hospital

$2,223,576 $2,223,576/$0

$60,771

Samuel Scheinerman, M.D. chair, cardiovascular and thoracic surgery

Lenox Hill Hospital

$2,189,738 $2,189,738/$0

$50,697

John Boockvar, M.D. vice chair, neurosurgery and director, Brain Tumor Center

Lenox Hill Hospital

$2,154,231 $2,154,231/$0

$60,771

ctors

4

SOURCE: 2018 Forms 990 of New York area hospitals and health systems. Area includes the city's five boroughs plus Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties in New York and Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties in New Jersey. Research by Melinda Berkman and Gerald Schifman. Forms 990 for Beth Israel Medical Center and St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital Center were not obtained for this edition. Total cash compensation includes base compensation, bonus and incentive compensation and other reportable compensation from the organization and related organizations. Other compensation includes nonreportable compensation, deferred compensation, retirement plan benefits, health care benefits and other fringe benefits from the organization and related organizations. Hospital employee compensation may not include medical school pay. Individuals may have additional titles. SERP-supplemental executive retirement plan. Notes on top-paid executives: 1-Compensation included a $8,741,113 pooled SERP distribution based on multiple years of service. 2-Compensation includes $2,560,953 reported on the W2 from a supplemental nonqualified retirement plan. 3-Safyer retired in 2019. Compensation included a $3,444,107 pooled SERP distribution based on multiple years of service. 4-Grossman participated in a supplemental nonqualified retirement plan, with an employer contribution of $2,243,684 for 2017. This is reported as a shared cost between NYU Langone and NYU School of Medicine. 5-Compensation included the payout of full SERP benefits after the completion of a 20-year vesting period. 6-Compensation included a $246,986 participation in a supplemental nonqualified retirement plan, with $618,295 reported on the W2. 7-Compensation includes a $644,808 vested contribution to a SERP plan and an unvested participation in a 457(F) plan. 8-Compensation includes a $379,299 vested contribution to a SERP plan and an unvested participation in a 457(F) plan. 9-Burke left in July 2018. 10-Press left these positions in July 2018. 11-Compensation includes a $341,000 participation in a supplemental nonqualified retirement plan. 12-Compensation included $76,244 for insurance policies. 13-In 2019 Frank transitioned to a position as special advisor to the president. $312,603 from a supplemental nonqualified retirement plan was reported on the W2. 14-Sawczuk became regional president in October 2018. He was previously president of Hackensack University Medical Center. Compensation includes a $541,702 vested contribution to a SERP plan. 15-Compensation includes a $615,170 vested contribution to a SERP plan. Notes on top-paid doctors: 1-Samadi left in 2019. 2-Compensation included a housing allowance. 3-Serves as associate program director of plastic surgery for Northwell Health and medical director for the Northwell Health Syosset surgical center.

THER OMP.

6,030

6,129

4,501

2,531

2,034

5,463

9,031

7,031

5,312

7,217

1,437

7,823

0,697

8,384

0,769

0,327

3,960

2,110

APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

A

BY GWEN EVERETT

BUCK ENNIS

s Covid-19 clears New York of most of its visitors, the city’s best-known hotels, including The Plaza and The Carlyle, are laying off most of their staff.

Hotel occupancy rates fell to a once-unthinkable 17% the week of March 23. Many in the industry say hotels will take years to recover from the outbreak.

Hotels employ more than 50,000 people in the city. The American Hotel and Lodging Association warns that nearly all those jobs could be lost during the pandemic.

The state is still processing an overwhelming number of jobless claims and layoff notices, and there have been 20 filings for temporary layoffs from New York City hotels published since March 24.

On that list is The Plaza, a landmarked Midtown hotel, which cut 251 jobs. The hotel suspended its operations March 27, according to a message posted on its website by General Manager George Cozonis.

“This isn’t goodbye,” Cozonis wrote. “It is just farewell.”

Property, casualty insurance premiums deferred for small biz

THE PLAZA The Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca, owned in part by actor Robert De Niro, has cut 76 jobs. Bookings through its website are blocked out for all of April.

The hotel once branded the Trump SoHo, now operating as The Dominick, has laid off 48 employees. But operations haven’t shut down. A message from its general manager, Edward Shapard, noted that hotels have been deemed essential businesses.

The 75-room Mercer hotel in SoHo filed for 33 layoffs. André

14 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

Balazs, whose real estate firm owns The Mercer, told Crain’s in March that the rooms were almost entirely vacant outside of long-term guests.

The Four Seasons Hotel New York, which had offered free rooms to nurses, doctors and other Covid-19 responders, plans to lay off 204 employees, filings show.

The Carlyle filed for the most layoffs among hotel notices posted through last week Monday. The famed Upper East Side hotel has let 250 employees go. It suspended operations March 22. ■

NEW YORK ORDERED PROPERTY and casualty insurers to defer premiums for small businesses and consumers last week.

The Department of Financial Services directed property and casualty insurers to provide a 60-day grace period to small businesses and consumers financially affected

by Covid-19.

In the same direction, it ordered life insurers regulated by the state to allow consumers to defer paying premiums for 90 days.

The emergency regulation enacts directions from an executive order Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed last week. It could offer relief for small businesses, which have been slammed by other parts of the insurance industry during the Covid-19 crisis.

Many who held business-interruption insurance discovered in recent weeks that their plan would not cover the coronavirus pandemic.

The executive order mandates insurers to allow deferred payments to be paid back in the year following the grace period and not to report any late payments to creditrating agencies. It also calls on premium finance agencies to offer the same grace periods to businesses and consumers who financed payments on their premiums. ■

BUCK ENNIS

Plaza, Carlyle on growing list of hotels laying off staff

ASKED & ANSWERED

IAN SIGALOW Greycroft

DOSSIER

INTERVIEW BY JOHN DYER

WHO HE IS Co-founder and partner, Greycroft

s co-founder and New York–based partner of venture capital firm Greycroft, Ian Sigalow helps manage a $1.5 billion portfolio. Investments he has led include payment platform Braintree, acquired by eBay for $800 million; same-day delivery service Shipt, which Target bought for $550 million; and meal-kit brand Plated, which grocery chain Albertsons purchased for an estimated $200 million. Greycroft and Albertsons have launched a venture fund of as much as $50 million that has led Sigalow to mull the future of food shopping.

REVENUE Greycroft manages $1.5 billion in capital.

A

What keeps supermarket CEOs awake at night?

They think, “People shop my store. They drive their own groceries back to their own house. I have all of my credit card purchases going through a terminal in card-present transactions. And I’ve built on a massive scale for that business model.” That demand is going to shift. It’s already shifting. And the grocery stores don’t have the structural margin in their existing business to adjust. What they are trying to figure out is, “How do I provide this service layer for my customers and not go bankrupt?”

So how do supermarkets survive?

I think about the technology that we are investing in, not in the sense that I’m going to eliminate workers and grocery stores. There’s a Greycroft-backed company

AGE 40 RESIDES Mamaroneck, N.Y. EDUCATION Bachelor’s in economics, MIT; M.B.A., Columbia PREVIOUS EFFORTS Before Greycroft, Sigalow founded StrongData, a pioneer in payment encryption.

GROCERY GROWTH Ten years from now, in response to the “wild goose chase” feeling of walking around a supermarket, Sigalow envisions shoppers making purchases based on recipes alone.

“I want to make beef Stroganoff, so I’m going to click a button and it’s going to assemble the ingredients, and then either they will be delivered to me or I will go and pick them up at a store,” he explained.

called Enboarder that does employee onboarding. Big grocery chains hire thousands of people a year. The number who accept a job and then never show up for the first day of work or show up but quit within two weeks is astounding.

This costs

supermarkets hundreds of millions of dollars a year. You change the way that you onboard people and you can save a tremendous amount of money.

You’re fond of membership models like that of Amazon Prime, for which customers pay an annual fee for services. And you liked Shipt because of its membership model. Why?

You have a behavioral sunk cost: “I have paid for this, therefore, I should use it.” Consumers finance the business for you. Before you do anything, they are paying you. If you can go on Facebook and spend marketing dollars and acquire a member for $60 and you’re making $100 on day one, you basically have a perpetual motion machine where your marketing expense is being paid back instantly.

What other venture capital trends do you see?

The internet generally makes winner-take-all or winnertake-most businesses. What that means in practice is that the market leader in a category usually commands north of 50% of the total market value of a space.

Number two through infinity combined are usually worth less than being number one. It’s increasingly important to invest in companies that we think are going to be the global dominant player in their respective category. The reward for second place could be zero.

What’s that trend spell for legacy companies?

The half-life of publicly traded companies and the rate at which they are going bankrupt is accelerating over time. The average age of a publicly listed company in the ’80s was north of 50 years, and now it is less than 30 years. There are a lot of public companies that are just dead men walking. ■

APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 15

P015_CN_20200406.indd 15

4/2/2020 4:42:16 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

BY BRIAN PASCUS

M

om-and-pop companies devastated by the coronavirus quarantine measures in New York can soon tap into the $349 billion bailout fund to pay the bills and keep workers on the payroll— and if they meet the program's requirements, the businesses don't have to pay it back.

Here's how the initiative—known as the Paycheck Protection Program—works: What is the Paycheck Protection Program?

The legislation provides the federal Small Business Administration with $349 billion in loan guarantees to a network of 1,800 small-business lenders, much like the traditional SBA 7(a) loan program.

Now almost any business of fewer than 500 employees that existed before Feb. 15 can access a forgivable loan of up to $10 million. Independent contractors, self-employed individuals and sole proprietors also are eligible.

Business owners can keep the money when they borrow up to

250% of their payroll cost for employees who earn $100,000 or less.

“It’s called a loan program, but it’s really a grant program being run through the SBA loan infrastructure,” said Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, who advised Congress on the legislation.

When will it begin?

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said last week that he expects the 1,800 regional banks will be able to draw on the Treasury for loan guarantees by April 3.

How does it work?

Any portion of the loan that shows up to eight weeks of expenses will be forgiven for the same period of time, just so long as small-business owners show receipts, according to Bryan Doxford of Pursuit Lending, one of the New York lenders approved by the SBA. Qualifying expenses include payroll, health care costs, interest on mortgage payments, rent obligations and utility payments.

For those expenses that don't qualify, loan payments could be deferred up to six months, and the loan has a maturity of two years and

interest rate of 0.5%, according to the SBA. What about those businesses that have already laid off staff? Are they eligible?

There's hope for businesses that cut staff prior to the legislation.

Companies that rehire now will fully qualify for the loan forgiveness and will not be penalized.

“What they’re trying to do through this is keep businesses intact, keep employees on staff,” McCracken said. “When the economy reopens they can continue to keep people on immediately.

How can small business owners protect themselves?

There are concerns that some small mom-and-pop shops could set themselves up to be trapped by loans they didn’t intend to pay back. Ultimately, it will hinge on how well lenders communicate with their clients.

“There will be a system in place to monitor this,” Doxford said. “A good lender will tell owners the calculation of what they are applying for and how to use the money, so that when they apply for forgiveness there will be no surprise.”

What are the loan requirements?

The program is set up to be as easy as possible for small-business owners applying for loans during the Covid-19 crisis, McCracken said.

The government has waived the traditional SBA 7(a) requirement for businesses to show creditworthiness.

Companies have to show only that they existed prior to Feb. 15 and were paying at least one employee.

“This is a check-the-box type of application,” Doxford said.

There’s no underwriting for the banks because there are no requirements to show repayment.

“The loan is 100% guaranteed by the federal government,” McCracken said. “Banks are at no risk. There are no fees. There’s no reason the banks don’t have to make the loan.”

What are the risks?

For one thing, the SBA might not be equipped to handle the massive expansion of loan guarantees its office must now monitor. Up to now, SBA’s annual loan guarantees have maxed out at $25 billion.

“Our industry is going from $25

AP PHOTO

How to keep the money from the federal small-business bailout billion annually to $350 billion immediately,” Doxford said. “It is daunting from pure volume magnitude.”

Matthew Rosetti, co-founder of the Brooklyn Running Co., said his business’s regional bank has been inundated with loan requests, so much so that it has announced it will be accepting only existing clients as loan applicants.

“I feel for those in need that didn’t already have bank relationships established,” Rosetti said.

Is this all the government has planned to help small businesses?

Not necessarily. It's possible that the $349 billion in loan guarantees might not be enough.

Congress allocated only enough money in the program to help individual businesses meet eight weeks of costs.

“They can only get eight weeks of payroll out of this,” McCracken said, adding that rent, mortgage interest and utilities are the things that also can be forgiven. “If the economy still hasn’t opened in May and June, then they may have to come back and put more money in the program.” ■

Access Crain’s digital edition for the full print experience CrainsNewYork.com/this-week-issue

16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

P016_CN_20200406.indd 16

4/2/2020 4:18:31 PM

STOCK FROM PAGE 3

INSPIRATION: Benjamin Graham laid the groundwork for the stock-picking profession.

tors now may see why it makes sense to seek money managers who can figure out which stocks are going to bounce back first—or at all.

“Fashion and the stock market are a lot alike: Sometimes fashion dictates that dresses go below the knees, and in other years they’re above.

And sometimes index investing is the thing to do, and picking stocks isn’t,” said Thomas Graham Kahn, chief executive of Kahn Brothers, an investment firm with $1 billion in client assets. “I think the fundamental analysis we do on stocks is poised for a comeback.”

He has reason to hope so.

He’s named for the stock-picking world’s founding father.

“DOES ANYONE THINK BUFFETT DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE’S DOING?”

BUCK ENNIS

are relegated to charging similar to an index fund – maybe 0.2% -- leaving a much smaller fee pool.

The latest stock market collapse may be presenting McGill and other stock-picking pros with the opportunity they’ve awaited for years.

Index investing performs well when the market goes up as it did for 11 straight years.

But in a rout fundholders are exposed to the full brunt of the downturn.

Stock pickers hope index inves-

Ground-up investing In 1926 investor Benjamin Graham was digging through docu-

GETTY IMAGES

last year the amount managed by index funds surpassed their stock-picking rivals. That prompted renowned investment firm AllianceBernstein to relocate its headquarters from New York to Nashville, Tenn. Franklin Templeton and Legg Mason agreed last month to merge in a $4.5 billion deal. Dozens of leading hedge fund managers have thrown in the towel.

But stock pickers are fighting back.

During the fall, McGill joined Aperture Investors, a firm started two years ago by former AllianceBernstein CEO Peter Kraus. It aims to recapture some of the ground stock pickers have lost.

Kraus plans to do that by generously compensating money managers who beat the market. For instance, his fund managers stand to collect $10.5 million for every $100 million in investment gains that they generate beyond whatever an index produces. To ensure Aperture money managers don’t profit from a brief hot streak, half of their fees are reinvested in the fund and vest after three years so long as they continue to outperform. But those who fail to beat the market

ments at the Interstate Commerce ideas with teaching assistant Irving Commission when he discovered Kahn.

“Ben was always telling dad to that Northern Pipeline, one of the find things out about this companies created by company or that,” Irving’s the breakup of Standard son Thomas said.

Oil, was holding $90 a The elder Kahn helped share in cash on its his mentor write lectures books while its stock PERCENTAGE and compiled the tables traded for $65. decline in the used in Graham’s seminal After Graham gave number of work published in 1934, management a nudge, people working on Wall Street in Security Analysis, in which Northern Pipeline dispast 20 years. he laid out his principles tributed its money to infor stock picking. He urged vestors. investors to determine a Graham used some of company’s intrinsic value his fortune to rent an and identify a “margin of apartment at the BeresAPPROXIMATE safety,” such as a low ford on Central Park amount of money debt-to-equity ratio, to West and thought about pulled out of minimize losses in case ways investing could be actively managed business soured. less risky and more sysfunds in past 10 years.

“The book marks the betematic at a time when ginning of security analythe stock market was sis, or stock picking, as a riven with speculators, and insider trading wasn’t illegal. profession,” said Richard Sylla, a fiOn subway rides to work at Colum- nancial historian at New York Unibia University, where he taught versity’s Stern School of Business.

By the 1960s Graham’s disciples economics, he would discuss his were all over Wall Street, and demand for them blew up with the great bull market starting in 1982, when big numbers of average investors started investing in mutual NEW APPROACH: funds. The dot-com boom of the Aperture CEO Peter 1990s further stoked demand, and Kraus plans to some stock pickers started opening generously hedge funds, such as billionaire compensate money Steve Cohen, who recently bid to managers when buy the Mets. they beat market By the year 2000 New Yorkers benchmarks. working on Wall Street numbered 200,000, a figure that’s been unmatched since. (There are now about 180,000.)

“It underscores how many people were out there trying to pick stocks,” said Nick Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, an independent Wall Street research firm.

Although Graham’s teachings gained a wide following, his decision to open the New York Society of Security Analysts in 1937 may have had an even greater impact.

The society was a place where Graham-o-philes dined with corporate executives, learned about their companies and, importantly, got a heads-up n quarterly earnings. The face time conferred a huge advantage to those who got it. Some

10% $1T

stock pickers learned to linger by the company mail room to get a first look at annual reports and other corporate documents. Others dialed in to invitation-only conference calls with top executives.

“In the end, a lot of what’s called security analysis and stock picking may have been just information arbitrage,” Colas said.

In 2000 the Securities and Exchange Commission cracked down on all the winks and nods by requiring public companies to disclose news to all investors simultaneously. Private lunches with corporate executives gave way to conferences attended by hundreds of people in hotel ballrooms or online.

In addition, the market’s bull run slowed significantly. For the 20 years ended in 1999, the S&P 500 returned a whopping 18% a year.

But since then it has posted an average annual return of only 6%.

Finding a great stock picker became less important to investors than a fund manager who didn’t charge much.

That’s a battle index funds always win.

Never giving up Thomas Kahn knows all about this. After outperforming the stock market handsomely between 2000 and 2010, his firm underperformed by about 2% in the past decade.

That was enough for some clients to bolt. But he thinks the Graham style of investing is ready to make a comeback as shell-shocked investors recalibrate their expectations.

“The most important thing in investing is the preservation of capital,” Kahn said. “Next you aim to generate an adequate return.”

He sees ample opportunities, particularly among pharmaceutical companies that specialize in producing vaccines. Kahn said such companies have a big “competitive moat,” using a term coined

by Graham’s prize pupil, Warren Buffett who, Kahn points out, has underperformed the market in recent years as Apple, Amazon and a handful of tech stocks monopolized the market’s attention.

“Does anyone think Buffett doesn’t know what he’s doing?”

Kahn said.

Stock pickers of today At Aperture, McGill likes buying companies undergoing “positive change,” whether it’s a new management team, a new product or a cost-reduction plan. He looks for stocks that trade at attractive valuations, a key Graham concept that refers to companies priced low relative to their earnings.

“We’re getting the opportunity to own stocks at really compelling prices,” McGill said.

Because it’s not easy to pick stocks in the middle of a market panic, Kahn likes to remember that Graham suffered setbacks too. The Great Depression cost him much of his wealth and forced him to give up his apartment in the Beresford for more affordable digs. But Kahn is hopeful, especially since he now works from Graham’s desk.

“After I got it from Ben’s son I looked through all the drawers, thinking the secret to being a great investor has got to be in there somewhere,” he said. “No such luck.” ■

APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 17

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doctors and smaller practices have been on their own to find affordable options that could keep them connected to patients—and earning money.

The expansion of telemedicine—a video-based visit with a doctor using a computer or smartphone, not just a phone call with one’s doctor—could be a lifeline for smaller medical practices as they face looming rent, payroll and utility bills while the stream of patients seeking routine care is cut off.

“The first priority is taking care of patients,” said Dr. Inderpal Chhabra, a primary care doctor at the office Lefferts Medical Associates in New Hyde Park, Queens. “At the end of the day, we’re small-business owners also and have responsibility for our employees.”

In mid-March Chhabra realized he would have to close his office. He had treated several patients he suspected would test positive for Covid-19 and was worried that the respiratory disease might spread to his staff and other patients if he kept the doors open.

He wanted to continue providing treatment but hadn’t used telemedicine software in the past. He began researching options and chatting with several hundred doctors in a WhatsApp forum.

“At that time I didn’t care about the rules and regulations,” around technology, Chhabra said. “I did not want patients coming into the office and making the office staff sick.”

He settled on Rochester-based company Doxy.me, which has designed a telehealth tool that doesn’t require patients to download an app.

When patients contact his office, they are offered a televisit. A staff member emails or texts a link to the Doxy platform, and patients are placed in a virtual waiting room until Chhabra is ready to see them.

“I’m just talking to a patient as if they’re in my own office,” Chhabra said.

Chhabra said he pays Doxy $29 a month.

There are some medical services that only can be provided in person, however. Chhabra can’t take a pa-

tient’s blood pressure, check their lungs or do a full physical remotely, for example. He has had patients use their own blood-pressure cuff during a video visit to get that reading.

“It’s a workaround, but it’s not the same thing,” he said.

Chhabra still isn’t clear how he will be paid for the virtual visits. He said he is billing private insurance companies for them but won’t know whether they approve payment for about 60 to 90 days.

“It’s still kind of muddy,” he said.

Medicare and Medicaid have said they will pay for telemedicine.

Growth opportunity The widespread adoption of telemedicine has been slowed by government restrictions on how it can be used and insurer payment policies that treat it differently than an in-person visit. Patients also haven’t jumped to embrace virtual visits instead of seeing their doctor in person.

Federal regulators have relaxed the rules and indicated that Medicare temporarily will pay for a wider range of telemedicine visits at the same rate it would reimburse for in-person services. Previous rules

TELEBOOM Video visits for NYU Langone’s faculty group practices have surged since they went live March 19.

4,880

5,000 4,000

3,597

3,000

2,992

3,175

3/24

3/25

2,000 1,000

470

673

0 3/19

3/20

3/23

3/26

3/27

3/30

NOTE: Video visits are available only on weekdays. SOURCE: NYU Langone Health

chase, reported that visits rose 50% during the week ending March 20.

There have been signs those companies have struggled with the surge in interest. The Wall Street Journal shared the story of one woman in Dallas who waited 22 hours on hold before her appointment was canceled.

The company has said it is hiring additional doctors and increasing the payment rates it offers to hold down response times.

“Our technology platform is performing extremely well and demonstrating the scalability we expected,” Dr. Lewis Levy, Teladoc’s chief medical officer, told Crain’s. “But that doesn’t mean we won’t need to ask for patience as we work to meet unprecedented need.”

Dr. Arthur Fougner, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York and an OB/GYN at Northwell Health, said the society’s members have reported using telemedicine companies including Doxy and DrFirst. But, he said, the relaxed regulations also allow doctors to use regular consumer apps, such as Skype, FaceTime and WhatsApp, to conduct the calls.

The federal Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which enforces violations of the health privacy law, said it would not impose financial penalties for HIPAA violations if telehealth services were provided in

“WE’RE SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS AND RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR WORKERS” had restricted payment for telehealth to patients living in rural areas. In most cases, a patient could not receive telehealth services from home and had to initiate a call from a medical facility.

During the Covid-19 emergency, Medicare will pay for virtual office visits, mental health counseling and preventive screenings.

The federal government is also allowing doctors to use their license across state lines, which makes physicians able to treat patients remotely in more places.

The Covid-19 outbreak provides an opportunity for the country’s largest telemedicine providers, including Teladoc, American Well, Doctor on Demand and MDLive, to attract a new cadre of users.

Teladoc, which is based in Pur-

2,647

2,233

good faith during the Covid-19 emergency.

“You’re putting social distancing ahead of any kind of legal issue,” Fougner said. “We need to keep people at home.”

Medicare also has extended telemedicine payments to consultations provided over the phone.

“Right now the phone is considered telemedicine,” Fougner said.

“My personal opinion is it always should have been.”

Convincing patients Telehealth was already part of the benefit packages of many companies. A survey of about 2,500 employers conducted by benefits consultancy Mercer last year showed nearly 9 in 10 of the firms surveyed offered a telemedicine benefit. The service was attractive because the visits had been about half the cost of an office visit. But only 9% of eligible employees use telemedicine, Mercer said.

NYU Langone Health says it’s been doing about 5,000 video visits a day since it first expanded its telemedicine programs in mid-March.

The health system already offered virtual urgent care for immediate medical needs, but its latest service gives it an option for more routine office visits. The purpose of the program is to keep managing patients’ health needs, but it also will help recoup some of the revenue NYU Langone is losing by discouraging in-person care for all but the sickest patients.

The Covid-19 pandemic could al-

low patients to adapt to virtual care in a way they otherwise may have been unwilling to, said Sarah Arora, the New York market president of GoHealth, a chain of urgent-care centers.

GoHealth has 52 clinics in the New York area in partnership with Northwell Health and has had to close some of them due to exposure to Covid-19. It rolled out a virtual visit option in March and has seen a mix of people with Covid-19 symptoms and those who need immediate care for an unrelated issue.

“Virtual care as a whole had not picked up in the way that everyone hoped it would,” she said. “We’re getting a lot of patients who normally wouldn't have tried giving virtual a go but are because of the situation we’re in. If you can meet that demand, you can shift people’s behavior forever.”

Not for everyone Telemedicine isn’t a panacea for all doctors. Martin Leib, a Manhattan ophthalmologist, said he can’t continue practicing through the Covid-19 crisis because ophthalmology does not lend itself to telemedicine. Most examinations require microscopic analyses of the eye. He still makes calls and leaves messages for his patients, “but it’s not the same by a long stretch.”

Without patients, there is no revenue, and Leib had to lay off three of his four employees. He’s worried about making rent payments at his two offices, one of which is on the Upper East Side. Leib, Columbia’s director of orbit and ophthalmic plastic and reconstructive surgery, also rents an office in Washington Heights from New York–Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Leib, a self-described workaholic who would get to one of his offices at 6 a.m, said he’s been waking up around 2 a.m. lately, worried about what months of a shutdown could mean for his practice. He’s also concerned about whether patients will stick with him when he reopens his offices.

“Maybe that’s an unnatural fear, but you spend decades creating something very precious,” he said. ■ Gwen Everett and Ryan Deffenbaugh provided additional reporting to this article.

HEALTH CARE

Drug programs now facing two health crises

BY JENNIFER HENDERSON

O

pioid treatment programs are now working through concurrent health crises.

Patients rely on the facilities for obtaining medication-assisted treatment. But providers are trying to reduce the number of in-person visits and the risk of patients being exposed to Covid-19.

“The reality is, the opioid crisis has not gone anywhere,” said Allegra Schorr, president of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates of New York State. “These two crises crashing into each other is the big fear.”

To help ease some of the strain,

opioid treatment programs have turned to telemedicine and takehome doses of medications.

Dr. Jonathan Samuels, head of the addiction medicine program at SBH Health System, said SBH has more than 600 patients who are prescribed methadone, Suboxone or a Vivitrol injection. The program has upped the number of extended doses for patients, but the effort has been a balancing act of individually assessing the risk of overdose with that of contracting and having severe complications from Covid-19.

SBH is staggering in-person visits to reduce patients in the waiting room and offering telephone visits.

Dr. Harshal Kirane, medical di-

rector and assistant professor of psychiatry at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, is navigating the Covid-19 outbreak as he gets ready to open Wellbridge Addiction Treatment and Research in Calverton, Long Island, in May. “We, over the last two decades, have had an incredibly complex drug and alcohol crisis with tremendous implications for the mental health needs of Americans,” Kirane said. “The Covid-19 outbreak is only going to intensify some of the underlying fractures in the framework of how people manage mental health issues.”

Dr. Joel Idowu, chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Be-

havioral Health Sciences at Richmond University Medical Center, echoed the importance of telemedicine. The loosened regulations on initial visits for treatment have been particularly helpful, he said.

Gaps in treatment The entire health care industry is facing workforce shortages. Though telehealth has helped to ease some of the strain, providers at opioid treatment programs are working through their own health concerns and child care issues.

Schorr noted that some hospital-based programs have been asked to redeploy doctors, nurses and staff to other parts of the facility

during the pandemic. She added that the association is working with the city and the state to try to come up with ways to fill some of the gaps in addiction treatment.

For stable patients, take-home doses of medication are essential, she said. The association recently detailed the importance of reimbursement reforms for at-home doses in presenting Medicaid redesign recommendations to the state.

However, it’s those patients who are early in their treatment and who have other health problems that opioid treatment programs are most worried about, Schorr said, especially as anxieties rise and coping mechanisms may be sought. ■

18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

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SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 1185 Park Avenue, Apt. 16F, NY, NY 10128. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

STANDARD OIL CAPITAL GROUP LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 01/29/2020. Office loc: NY County.

SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, 352 Seventh Ave., Ste 303, NY, NY 10001. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF D.D. Encore Laundromat LLC. Articles of Org. filed with Sec. of State of N.Y. on 2/ 12/2020. Office location: New York County. SSNY desig. as agent for service of process. SSNY shall mail process to: 324 East 73rd Street New York, NY 10021. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Formation of COMPANY YOU KEEP KITCHEN LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 3/20/20. Office location: NY County.

Princ. office of LLC: 335 Madison Ave., 24th Fl., NY, NY 10017. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Aggregate Power Infrastructure LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/09/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Nick Knapp, Sr. Managing Director, 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 2533, NY, NY 10170. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of formation of RENHUB GROUP, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/ 26/20. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to: 260 W. 54th St., NY, NY 10019 Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of IEX CLOUD SERVICES LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 2/20/20. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/ 15/18. Princ. office of LLC: 3 World Trade Center, 58th Fl., NY, NY 10007. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Operation of a business which provides data products and services, including an API. Notice of Formation of DONATELLO NA LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/28/20.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP, Attn: Gina Piazza, Esq., 1350 Broadway, 11th Fl., NY, NY 10018. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of ROUTE 20 HOLDINGS LLC Arts of Org filed with SSNY on 2/13/2020. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 201 E 12th St, Apt 204, New York, NY 10003. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of IEX CLOUD SERVICES LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 2/20/20. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 08/ 15/18. Princ. office of LLC: 3 World Trade Center, 58th Fl., NY, NY 10007. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Operation of a business which provides data products and services, including an API.

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

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Advertising Section

CLASSIFIEDS

To place a classified ad, Call 212-210-0189 or Email: jbarbieri@crainsnewyork.com PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES

Notice of Qualification of Healthinsura nce.com, LLC, fictitious name: Health insurance.com Insurance Services, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/20/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/29/1999.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: National Registered Agents, Inc., 28 Liberty St., NY, NY 10005. Address to be maintained in DE: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, Division of Corporations, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of VESTA ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/02/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/16/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c /o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543.

DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Aggregate Power Infrastructure LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/09/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Nick Knapp, Sr. Managing Director, 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 2533, NY, NY 10170. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of PQOZ SPE JV, L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/11/20.

Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/29/18. Princ. office of LP: 75 Broadway, Ste. 230, San Francisco, CA 94111. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the Partnership at the princ. office of the LP. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of State, DE, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of 1FBBK OWNER LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/19/20.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/ 05/20. Princ. office of LLC: Goldman, Sachs & Co., 200 West St., NY, NY 10282. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC). NAME: WLC TOP LLC - Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 10/03/2018. Office location: New York County. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: The LLC, 98 E BROADWAY STE 309, NEW YORK, NY 10002. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of SUPERMASSIVE BEVERAGE COMPANY, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/ 20/20. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/ 19/20. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF O3 Partners LLC. App. for Auth. filed with the Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 2 /11/20. Office location: New York County. LLC formed in DE on 10/ 25/18. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her to 787 11th Ave, 6th Floor, NY, NY 10019. The principal business address of the LLC is 787 11th Ave, 6th Fl, NY, NY 10019. DE address of LLC: 3616 Kirkwood Hwy, Ste A #1070, Wilmington, DE 19808.

Certificate of LLC filed with Sec’y of State of DE located at 401 Federal St #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Formation of C&E Realty Holdings LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/ 10/20. Office location: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: the Company, c/o Sachs Companies, 155 East 55th St., Ste. 5F, NY, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful activities.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of Logic Pallet, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/13/2020.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 80 Maiden Ln, Ste 1004, New York, NY 10038.

Notice of Formation of Wrublin Holdings LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/12/20.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: the Company, 134 West 25th St., 5th Fl., NY, NY 10001. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of MATERIAL LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/28/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/18/18. Princ. office of LLC: 54 W. 21st St., #607, NY, NY 10010. NYS fictitious name: MATERIAL VENTURES LLC. 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: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808-1674. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of formation of Data Veritas LLC: Art. of Org. filled 11/18/2019 with SSNY. Office: New York County.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: Data Veritas, 133 2nd ave. #4, New York, NY, 10003. Purpose: any lawful activity.

ELIZABETH ADLER TRTO NUTRITION, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/20/2020. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Elizabeth Adler, 325 North End Avenue, Apt. 16C, NY, NY 10282. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION of STOCHASTICO LLC. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 12/9/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 1 1/12/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o LEGALINC CORPORATE SERVICES INC, 1967 WEHRLE DRIVE SUITE 1-086, BUFFALO, NY 14221.

DE addr. of LLC: 651 N BROAD ST SUITE 206, MIDDLETOWN, DE 19709. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of STREET SPOT ME, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 3/02/20. Office location: NY County.

LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/12/20. Princ. office of LLC: 333 Seventh Ave., NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o 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 Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Software application development.

SUBMIT YOUR BUSINESS CLASSIFIEDS TODAY Get your message in front of New York’s influential business community with Crain’s New York Business - Classified Ads Advertising Section

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APRIL 6, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21

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SNAPS Photos from the city’s biggest galas, fundraisers and special events

BY CHERYL S. GRANT

Feeding the hungry

STEPHEN SMITH

The New York Common Pantry held its 12th annual Fill the Bag benefit March 3. The $1.4 million in proceeds will be used to help the organization in its efforts to reduce hunger. More than 500 guests attended the event, held at Ziegfeld Ballroom.

Presenter Nancy Mahon of the Estée Lauder Cos. with honoree Peter Diminich, managing director of ING

The Estée Lauder Cos.’ vice chairman, Sara Moss, an event honoree, and Fabrizio Freda, CEO

Investing in the future

Music helping children

The World Values Network’s eighth annual International Champions of Jewish Values Awards gala was held March 3. It raised $1 million to help Jewish youth.

Among the 250 guests were Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, founder of the World Values Network; event honoree Robert F. Smith, founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners; and Elisha Weisel, chief information officer at Goldman Sachs Group.

Tada Youth Theater held its 35th anniversary gala March 2, raising $160,000 to support programs that promote musical theater for young people from diverse backgrounds. Among the 180 guests were honorees and composers Georgia Stitt and Jason Robert Brown.

Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield with his children Evette Holyfield, a motivational speaker, and Evander Holyfield Jr., a professional boxer, during the event, held at Carnegie Hall

CHAD DAVID KRAUS

STEVE MACK/S.D. MACK PICTURES

Gala host and four-time Emmy Award nominee Tituss Burgess with Janine Nina Trevens, Tada producing artistic director/executive director, during the event, held at Tribeca 360

SEE MORE OF THIS WEEK’S SNAPS AT CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/SNAPS. GET YOUR GALA IN SNAPS. EMAIL SNAPS@CRAINSNEWYORK.COM. 22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 6, 2020

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GOTHAM GIGS

BUCK ENNIS

COONEY has overseen art for the “crossroads of the world” since May.

JEAN COONEY GREW UP Philadelphia LIVES Boerum Hill, Brooklyn EDUCATION Bachelor’s in international relations, Boston University; master’s in visual arts administration, NYU SWEET JOB In 2014 Cooney was project manager for artist Kara Walker’s giant sugar sphinx sculpture inside the vacant former Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg. Cooney had to convince fabricators and designers to work with 160,000 pounds of sugar. “There were so many unknowns—a lot of people said no,” she said. “The best public art comes from pushing people outside their comfort zone.”

FOOD PREP Cooney believes managing restaurants and bars helped prepare her for her career in municipal art. “Being out among the public has to excite you,” she said. “I developed a good muscle for it.”

A moment in Times Square

Public arts director gives works a larger-than-life digital stage

BY HILARY POTKEWITZ

S

craping pigeon poop off tiny circuit boards with a cuticle stick wasn’t what Jean Cooney thought she’d be doing when she got into municipal art. Yet it’s among the random skills she mastered during seven years of managing such works all over the city.

“It’s about more than just putting a sculpture in a plaza and calling it public art,” she said. “You need to take risks.”

Such risks have included bringing about 2,000 homing pigeons to the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2016 for a public artwork by artist Duke Riley titled “Fly by Night.”

The six-week performance piece involved releasing the birds, each wearing a leg band with a remotecontrolled LED light, at dusk. Riley would activate all the lights at once, creating a swirling constellation against the darkening sky.

“We were scraping dried guano

off of everything,” Cooney recalled.

Her early jobs were managing restaurants and bars in San Francisco. When a DJ friend became an Episcopal priest at the city’s Grace Cathedral, Cooney helped him organize secular parties for youth outreach. The pair would bring in visual and musical artists for a monthly late-night dance party they named EpiscoDisco. The events drew hundreds of young people and got write-ups in magazines, she said.

“That affirmed for me that this was something I could chart a course by,” she said.

In May she landed in Midtown as director of Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance. With an estimated 350,000 visitors per day, Times Square is her biggest and busiest venue yet.

For one project, “Midnight Moment,” the arts program takes over giant electronic billboards from 11:57 p.m. to midnight every night

but New Year’s Eve for a synchronized digital show. Artist Jeffrey Gibson created March’s installation.

Laurie Anderson, Nick Cave and Yoko Ono have also produced three-minute works for the program, which started in 2012 .

Times Square’s billboards are all owned by different entities. The alliance has secured the use of them piecemeal. Cooney brought in a handful of new ones, so “Midnight Moment” runs on nearly 60 screens.

“My goal is for you to stand in the middle of Times Square and have an immersive, wraparound experience,” she said.

New midnight works slated for April and May have been postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

When the schedule resumes, Cooney has to convince the owners of 20 more billboards to join the program.

“All I want is three minutes at midnight for art,” she says. “Why would they not?” ■

“IT’S ABOUT MORE THAN PUTTING A SCULPTURE IN A PLAZA. YOU NEED TO TAKE RISKS”

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THANK YOU T

o everyone at the frontlines of the pandemic, from health care employees to food services, words cannot begin to express our gratitude.

You selflessly take care of others, putting their needs ahead of your own. In times like these, your strength and resiliency are an inspiration to all.

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