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APRIL 27, 2020

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT MORE INSIDE

BRIGHT SPOT Warehouse leasing could get boost from e-commerce companies. PAGE 2 WHAT WENT WRONG Here’s why the first round of PPP funds failed to hit its target.

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LIKE others at the Hunts Point food market, meat wholesaler Vincent Pacifico now must wear a mask.

INNOVATORS Tech company offers free apps for coronavirus relief projects. PAGE 5

COVID-19 STRIKES FEAR IN THE HEART L OF THE CITY’S FOOD SUPPLY BUCK ENNIS

BY AARON ELSTEIN

Despite precautions, 28 workers at Hunts Point have tested positive for the coronavirus disease

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 36, NO. 15

© 2020 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

OUT OF OFFICE

WHERE TO ORDER IN WHILE YOU STAY IN PAGE 23

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ike elsewhere in the city, the Hunts Point food market in the Bronx has made concessions to the coronavirus outbreak.

Vincent Pacifico, one of the market’s biggest meat wholesalers, has reduced the number of people working on any given day to give them more space, See FEAR on page 20

PANDEMIC PROFITS Lockdown is proving to be good for Netflix in more ways than one.

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40 UNDER 40S REVISITED Crain’s latest class of rising stars tells us how they’re coping. PAGE 14 LATEST LAYOFFS More companies trim their workforce amid the coronavirus fallout.

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4/24/20 5:18 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

WEBCAST CALLOUT

Warehouse leases poised for rebound thanks to boost in e-commerce

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

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APRIL 30 JOIN CRAIN’S FOR THE WEBCAST “WHAT’S NEXT FOR NYC’S HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY” How will the hospitality industry survive and thrive after the coronavirus pandemic? Industry experts and restaurateurs discuss how to come up with creative ways to pay their staff and reinvent themselves.

4 p.m.

CrainsNewYork.com/ hospitalitywebcast2020

CORRECTION ■ The name of the podcast run by Earth & Star’s co-owners is “Highway to Well.” The name was misstated in “Mushrooms’ New Magic,” published April 20.

he city’s industrial real estate market is on hold with the rest of the industry, but demand for warehouse space from e-commerce companies means the sector could rebound quickly.

Leasing for warehouses was humming at the start of the year, with Amazon and online delivery services fighting for space that would allow them to quickly get their products to New Yorkers’ front doors. The average asking rent for buildings climbed 10.6% in the first three months of the year compared to end of last year, according to CBRE, up to $23.64 per square foot.

But the new leases signed at the start of the year—including by Amazon for two massive warehouses— were negotiated before the Covid-19 pandemic struck in March. Facing uncertainty, most major deals to

lease or sell warehouse buildings in al research for Cushman & Wakethe city are on hold. field. Demand for logistics and “We are not getting many people warehouse space in the city spills walking away entirely,” said John out into neighboring markets in Reinertsen, a CBRE senior vice New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Tollipresident, “just that they can’t sign ver added, and likely will grow as today.” firms shore up their supply systems Market reports from following the crisis.

CBRE and Cushman & With most New Yorkers Wakefield show there are confined to their homes, reasons for brokers like dependence on online INCREASE in the Reinertsen to be optimisshopping platforms has average asking deepened. Even Blue tic that demand will rerent for buildings Apron, the meal-kit serturn. in the first three vice that considered sellThe vacancy rate for months of 2020, ing off assets to survive in the roughly 137 million CBRE says February, is overwhelmed square feet of industrial by demand in the space in the city dropped Covid-19 era. to 5% for the first three Reinertsen cautioned, however, months of the year, Cushman & that there could be a shakeup in the Wakefield said.

“The industrial market is incredi- sector driven by industrial firms bly tight and heading into a down- that serve the industries hurt most turn on better footing than it has by the pandemic.

“Companies that supply the airbeen before any prior downturns,” said Jason Tolliver, head of industri- lines, companies that supply the

10.6%

hospitality industry, that supply and live off all the sports teams,” he said, “are all having a tough time. The question is whether they could roll into supplying other businesses—or if they were a one-trick pony.”

There were eight warehouse properties under construction at the start of the Covid-19 shutdown, CBRE reported, including a 235,000-square-foot logistics center near Kennedy Airport. Those projects are on hold until at least May 15, because Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a halt to nonessential construction.

“The effect this will have on delivery dates and new construction starts is dependent on the duration of the cessation,” CBRE’s report concluded. “A short period of time with no nonessential construction is unlikely to have a notable effect on delivery dates, while a long period of time would lead to a significant delay in completions.” ■

Vol. 36, No. 15, April 27, 2020—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for the third issue in January, the first issue in June and the last issue in December, and bimonthly in July and August 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 one year. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2020 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS A quick pivot to Covid-19–related spots helps advertising agencies retain crucial business

BY GWEN EVERETT

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ast month NoMad-based advertising agency Terri & Sandy pitched a 30-second ad to its client Freshpet, a refrigerated pet food company.

Unable to gather a production crew during the rising tide of Covid-19 cases in the city and orders mandating social distancing, the agency used stock footage to put together an ad conveying a simple message: Dogs are happy their owners are working from home.

“They were like ‘Ship it. We love it,’ ” recalled Terri Meyer, co-founder of the agency. The ad went live less than a week after Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued his statewide stay-at-home order on March 20. The commercial went on to be ranked by analytics firm Ace Matrix alongside Doritos’ and Hyundai’s Super Bowl spots as among the top 10 breakthrough ads of the first quarter, a categorization that less than 1% of 2,000 commercials achieved.

SHUTTERSTOCK

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VMLY&R

SHUTTERSTOCK

NEW DIRECTION: Agencies are turning to animation and stock footage as social-distancing requirements halt live-action shoots that use film crews and actors.

Here’s why the $349 billion PPP ran out of money Paycheck Protection Program buckled under number of applications, banks’ focus on big clients

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he Paycheck Protection Program burned through $349 billion due to millions of applications, lending decisions made by individual banks and the unintended consequences from the way Congress wrote the legislation providing for it.

Washington replenished the fund last week with $484 billion, but the scars left from the first go-round are still fresh.

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce recently surveyed 350 small businesses

in New York that had applied for either an Economic Injury Disaster Loan or the PPP. Only 3% of respondents said they had received PPP funds; 4% said they received EIDL funds. It is a pattern seen across the nation.

“There were a lot of hurdles for small-business owners who didn’t have relationships with approved lenders,” said Beth Milito, senior counsel at the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “They kind of got shut out.”

Milito compared the federal Small Business Administration to a rescue

ship with only so many seats for passengers. It became overwhelmed by unprecedented demand.

“It was the perfect storm,” she said.

What went wrong In numbers provided by the SBA to Crain’s, more than 1.6 million PPP loans were made before April 16, using nearly 5,000 lenders, for a total of $342 billion.

Although those numbers might seem large on the surface, Paul Merski, who

MNUCHIN

BUCK ENNIS

BY BRIAN PASCUS

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Landlords say property owners shouldn’t be excluded from federal relief

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andlords say they need federal assistance to avoid a devastating blow to the housing system, as unemployment surges and leaves hundreds of thousands of city households without the cash for rent.

The problem, the landlords say, is that the federal government’s $2 trillion relief package overlooked property owners. The part of the legislation most directly geared toward small businesses, the $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program, follows lending guidelines from the federal Small Business Administration that specifically preclude real estate rental businesses.

the real estate group for accounting firm Anchin. “Based on that, landlords cannot get the loans.”

Landlords have applied in hopes that the SBA eventually will clarify the guidelines, Wieder said.

Christopher Athineos, a Brooklyn landlord who owns nine buildings with 150 apartments, applied for the loan at the beginning of the month, hoping it would help him keep his six-person maintenance crew on the payroll.

“Most of my staff has been staying home for the last month,” Athineos said. “I paid them for two weeks, but now we are waiting for another week to see if I can get the money to them.”

Athineos said he was told by his accountant to submit an application and wait for the documents to be processed, even though it’s not clear if the application will be approved.

The fund ran dry a few weeks after it launched, prompting Congress to add $484 billion to the program.

President Donald Trump signed off on the additional money last week.

“WE WILL NEED THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. WE ARE ALL IN DIRE NEED” “The guidelines predate Covid-19 and the PPP, but unfortunately the SBA has said those rules determine whether you are eligible,” said Marc Wieder, leader of

PAYROLL FROM PAGE 3

manages congressional relations at the Independent Community of Bankers, said the loans encompass only 5% of small businesses in a country with 30 million such companies.

“There are tens of thousands of applications in hand in banks all around the country that haven’t been processed by the SBA because the program is shut down,” Merski said.

One reason the PPP ran out of money is the way the legislation was written. Congress allowed companies that operate as chains to claim one part of their business as eligible, irrespective of the size of the parent corporation.

“From my members’ perspective, it was the publicly traded companies—the Potbelly, the Ruth’s Chris—that were taking advantage of the law as written,” Milito said.

“Because it wasn’t designed on the front end, they passed the legislation and then pushed the program out,” said Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Van Tol added that businesses that had a strong existing relationships with a bank or had a team of accountants were the ones that took advantage of the PPP. Because Congress designed the PPP and EIDL on a first-come, firstserved basis—and specified that it would be up to individual banks and lenders how to dole out the money—an immediate backup de-

NYU Furman Center found that roughly one-third of the city’s 3.2 million households draw their primary income from someone who is vulnerable to income loss during the pandemic.

Property-tax problems

BLOOMBERG

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

Local real estate industry leaders say the housing market will need a rescue package more directly focused on paying rent.

The Real Estate Board of New York proposed that landlords could offer rent concessions to commercial and residential tenants in exchange for direct federal financial assistance and property-tax reductions.

Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program landlord group, said the federal government should make a massive investment in rent-

veloped for loan applications once showed the average loan size on the program went live April 3.

April 13 was $250,000, when the “The sheer volume of loans being fund was two-thirds depleted. By sent into SBA to get that loan guar- April 16, when the SBA said the antee caused a huge backfund was exhausted, the log,” Merski said. average loan size was Nearly 5,000 SBA-apdown 20% based on a proved lenders participatsmall volume of loans. ed in the PPP. Before the “It tells me that the bigAVERAGE loan crisis, however, the nation gest small businesses got amount on had only 1,800 SBA-aptheir loans first, and then April 13 proved lenders. It took the much smaller ones about a week for more got it, and then it ran out,” lenders to be approved to partici- McCracken said. “Banks make pate in the program. The rush put more money on those larger loans. pressure on the preapproved banks If you make one loan for $1 million, and lenders to process loans and that’s better than making 10 loans draw from the congressional fund at $100,000.” as fast as they could.

“Loan size is determined by pay“The other 40% or 50% obviously roll,” Merski said, speaking of the had a competitive advantage to get PPP forgiveness provision, which loans processed quicker,” Merski turns a loan into a grant if it goes tosaid. “If you were already approved ward payroll costs. “So obviously or were preferred by the SBA, you the bigger the payroll, the bigger had a leg up on banks that were just the loan you could give out.” trying to get in.”

McCraken said he believes those companies that were better inPicking and choosing formed, had more staff and could Merski estimated there are more pull together the information than 5,000 independently owned quickly were in a position to act and operated community banks faster than the mom-and-pop shops trying to do it themselves. around the nation.

“They were ready. They had the “You started out with a $349 billion lending program with 60% of resources. And banks had an incenthe lenders across the country un- tive to deal with them first,” he said.

The wide leeway given to the able to do a single loan,” he said.

Furthermore, the approved banks also affected the underwritbanks and lenders were able to pick ing process, which in order to speed and choose which businesses— up and make applications as easy large or small—to lend money to. as possible called for businesses to The legislation as written by Con- self-certify their need for a PPP or EIDL loan. gress allowed that.

“The banks aren’t checking up Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Associ- on that certification,” McCracken ation, noted that data from the SBA said. ■

$250K

al vouchers. The Department of Housing and Urban Development already provides vouchers to some low-income renters and could expand the eligibility.

“We need to fund tenants directly,” Martin said. “We already have seen a slight drop-off in April for rent receipts, and that will get precipitously worse in May.” About 69% of tenants across the country paid April rent on time, down from 81% a month earlier, according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council.

An analysis last month by the

Martin is warning that threats from tenant groups of a rent strike starting next month would leave landlords without the money for July 1 property-tax payments and further damage the city’s ailing finances.

State Sen. Brian Kavanagh, chairman of the housing committee, has offered a bill that would provide temporary rental vouchers based on income. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo has described the state as “broke” and in need of a federal cash infusion. Athineos is working with tenants to make sure they can pay their rent next month, but he said both he and the residents in his buildings need help.

“If tenants can pay the rent, owners can pay the property tax, and the city will have revenue for police, firemen, hospitals,” Athineos said. “But we will need the federal government. We are all in dire need.” ■

MTA pushes forward with major projects

BY BRIAN PASCUS

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he MTA’s major projects are still track, and the agency is keeping thousands of workers employed, during the pandemic.

Some of the capital improvements include the Times Square shuttle, a signaling upgrade in Queens, the LIRR expansion at Jamaica and an ADA elevator project at Astoria Boulevard, according to Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber, who emphasized that the agency has instituted strict worker-safety protocols.

“We managed to keep the projects going,” Lieber told Crain’s.

“We’ve figured out a lot of ways to work safety.”

Lieber’s team developed an app to push out information on how to manage Covid-19 situations among the workforce. He also set up a checklist on how field workers could manage construction safely.

The checklist included a new hotline for workers to call during emergencies, concrete social-distancing practices, new entry and exit rules during breaks, the stacking of work times to avoid congestion and ways to keep crews separate and small.

“We’re not going to celebrate, but certainly we avoided major spread in hot spots,” Lieber said.

Although the MTA might have dodged widespread infection among its staff of 51,000, during the outbreak the organization has lost 68 workers to death resulting from Covid-19 complications.

Lieber praised the MTA’s union construction force for its devotion to duty. He said the workers’ consistency during the shutdown has allowed the MTA to keep projects going in a safe, careful manner.

Critics, however, are not too impressed by the workload or changes to its staff management. Transportation historian Larry Penner said he believes most of the projects the agency is working on are simply carryovers from the 2015– 2019 capital improvement plans and even from as far back as 2010.

He pointed to the MTA’s ongoing budget problems and the fact that the agency requested an additional $3.9 billion in emergency funding from Congress on April 16.

“The verdict is still out because they’ve never made public an annual master force account plan, track outage plan and procurement strategy to prove they can initiate and complete all this work on time and on budget,” Penner said.

As for the sweeping reorganization in MTA C&D that Lieber praised for streamlining the work, Penner called it “just another layer of bureaucracy.” ■

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CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Flatiron company offers free tech for pandemic-related apps

Bubble’s software allows users to build crowdsourcing and data-sharing websites

BY DIANE HESS

help high-risk individuals with grocery shopping and other chores in New York City and San Francisco.

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o help those scrambling to set up pandemic-related online tools, Flatiron-based software company Bubble is offering its “no code” technology free of charge.

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the need for crowdsourcing and data-sharing websites, but few operations have the resources to hire software engineers to build them.

Bubble, however, allows users to develop apps even if they have no coding knowledge. They simply access Bubble’s interface and point and click.

“The current health situation is raising awareness around ‘no code’ software programs, which are more relevant than ever,” said Emmanuel Straschnov, a Bubble founder.

The company has eliminated its subscription fees for applications related to virus relief. Straschnov estimates that more than 60 enterprises have used Bubble in the past few weeks to build coronavirus-

COURTESY OF BUBBLE

User activity up

BUBBLE wants to add four more employees to its staff of 23.

How businesses are adapting to the coronavirus crisis specific apps.

When much business activity ground to a halt in mid-March, one longtime Bubbler set up a website,

givelocal.co, where consumers can buy gift cards for stores and restaurants as a means of supporting the shuttered businesses. After a week Gannett, publisher of USA Today, took over the site, raising the national profile of the effort to support small businesses.

Another group, ImmuneCorps, used Bubble to build a website where volunteers can sign up to

About eight years ago, Straschnov and his business partner, Joshua Haas, were pioneers in the “no code” movement. Today there are more than a dozen startups in the space, including New York–based Unqork and Seattle-headquartered AppSheet, which Google recently bought. Meanwhile, 230,000 apps have been built on Bubble by more than 370,000 developers.

Until last year Bubble did not raise investor money. Instead, it relied on revenue from subscriptions, which range from $100 to $2,000 per month. In June Bubble closed a $6.3 million first round of seed funding, led by Silicon Valley firms SignalFire and Neo. Bubble’s subscriptions briefly dipped at the outset of the pandemic, but user activity has since jumped by about 50%. Due to the recent spike in overall usage, and

with revenue of more than $2.5 million last year, Straschnov is looking to hire four additional people—remotely for now—to join the 23 on his team.

Jaime-Jin Lewis, founder of Wiggle Room, a child care organization in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, established her brand with Bubble last year.

Wiggle Room is funded by Blue Ridge Labs, a division of the Robin Hood Foundation. It used Bubble recently for an app that helps essential workers find child care.

“If a desk team were to spend weeks building an app for us, we’d likely be planning for a scenario that would be obsolete by the time we put it into the hands of parents,” Lewis said. “Bubble has enabled us to implement our ideas in a fast-changing landscape.” ■ Do you know of another business that has pivoted during the pandemic to keep their employees working? Email Editor Robert Hordt at robert.hordt@ crainsnewyork.com.

Retailers stiff landlords in April, hoping to get better rent

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

BLOOMBERG

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et the renegotiations begin.

With Covid-19 restrictions closing down most city storefronts, retailers both big and small are holding out rent and seeking more agreeable terms for the pandemic.

“Tenants are not paying rent as a general rule,” said Dena Cohen, a partner in the real estate practice at law firm Herrick Feinstein. “Both the small retailers and national brands are not paying.”

The country’s largest retailers and restaurant chains collectively paid just half of the rent they owe for April, according to a report by real estate research firm Datex Property Solutions. The firm tracks payments to its landlord clients from retailers that pay at least $250,000 in annual rent for 10 or more properties.

The report shows the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t affected just mom-and-pop stores. Companies behind on payments include some of New York’s largest franchises.

Gap paid no rent this month, according to the report, after paying at 86% of its locations last month.

The retailer has 28 New York City locations, according to data kept by the Center for an Urban Future.

Dunkin, which is the city’s largest chain, with 637 franchise locations, did not pay April’s rent at 28% of its locations nationally, Datex found.

The company’s franchisees paid

about 77% of rent due last month.

Essential businesses have kept current. Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods—each of which has 13 city stores—paid at nearly 99% of locations nationally. Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo paid rent at nearly all national locations, according to the report.

Landlords are feeling the pain.

SL Green, the city’s largest commercial property holder, told investors last week that it is struggling to collect rents, and it lowered its earnings guidance.

Hard bargain Vornado Realty Trust, the city’s second-largest commercial property owner by square footage, disclosed last Tuesday that its executives will take a pay reduction.

Chairman Steven Roth, who is cutting his pay in half, wrote in a note to investors last month that the company will handle rent negotiations on a case-by-case basis.

While some landlords are holding the line and demanding payments from their commercial ten-

ants, many are willing to negotiate.

“One popular option is to have the tenant pay whatever they can toward April, May, June rent and then have whatever isn’t paid spread out over a longer period of time,” Cohen said. “That can ease the burden the tenant feels now and still make the landlord whole.”

Lawyers are grappling with whether Covid-19 constitutes a force majeure. A force-majeure clause in a contract occasionally is used to cancel deals after a major, unforeseen disruption.

“There will be a lot of litigation over this,” Cohen said. “But even in cases where leases do have these clauses, paying rent is almost always excluded from force majeure.”

Gov. Andrew Cuomo placed a 90day moratorium on evictions last month, putting any court battles between tenants and landlords on hold. With most new leasing on ice, the job of landlords, real estate attorneys and brokers has shifted almost exclusively to renegotiating rent.

Businesses should work with their landlord directly if they can’t pay, not go “radio silent,” said Gregory Tannor, executive managing director and principal of Lee & Associates, a commercial brokerage in Manhattan.

“A landlord is not just going to come out and say, ‘Hey, I'm giving you four months’ free rent,’ ” Tannor said. “But you have to start the conversation somewhere.” ■

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IN THE MARKETS

Netflix gains from pandemic lockdown

Subscriber growth is through the roof, and even a pause in production will benefit its bottom line

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Netflix is immune to all that.

What’s more, it’s not just studios that have gone dark; movie theaters have, too. If you’re a producer desperate for someone—anyone—to see your show, Netflix’s global audience looks really compelling. You might even be willing, or forced, to sell your show to Netflix at a much lower price than you imagined two months ago. The pandemic could throw the economics of entertainment into reverse.

Tax credits

BLOOMBERG

he Netflix series Simply pany reported last week that 15.8 Halston—about Roy million more signed up in the first Halston Frowick, designer quarter, blowing away estimates of of Jacqueline Kennedy’s 8.2 million.

If would be really bad news for pink pillbox hat and a huge name in the New York fashion business Netflix if the city’s studios remain through the 1980s—began produc- closed for a long time. Eventually tion in New York on Jan. 29. Starring subscribers will run out of fresh Ewan McGregor, who is producer shows to watch and will head to rialong with Ryan Murphy, the driv- val streaming services. But in the ing force behind Glee, the series meantime, Netflix is saving a forwas scheduled to continue shoot- tune, and that’s a big deal for a company that, for all its ing through June 30, acheft and cultural imporcording to the Mayor’s tance, bleeds money.

Office of Media and En“The cessation of contertainment. tent production … should But the city’s studios materially benefit earnand soundstages went ings per share and free dark last month because cash flow for the next two of social distancing. It’s quarters,” Wedbush Secuterrible news for the acrities analyst Michael tors and stagehands at the Pachter said in a client re40 TV shows and feature AARON ELSTEIN port last week. films in production here Netflix provides its when Covid-19 hit.

But, at least in the short term, the streaming service to 169 million pause in the action is good for Net- subscribers. To keep people watching, it spends about $15 billion anflix’s bottom line.

Thanks to its large, captive audience, Netflix is emerging as a big winner of the pandemic. Its stock price has soared by 37% this year, and its market value has surpassed the Walt Disney Co.’s, even though Netflix’s $20 billion in annual revenue isn’t even a third as much as nually on original content; analysts Disney’s.

Netflix doesn’t make more mon- at Pivotal Research estimated last ey when subscribers watch more of year that the sum would grow to its content. But it does when new $35 billion by 2025. Because Netflix subscribers sign up, and the com- doesn’t charge enough to cover

NETFLIX overhead, it borrows money frequently. It has $26 billion in liabilities, $6 billion more than a year ago. The company burned through $3 billion in cash last year.

The numbers show Netflix is running really hard so it won’t fall off the treadmill.

Critics say Netflix’s competitive advantage is the smallest among the tech giants. Disney Plus or Apple TV will disrupt the great disrupter, they say. A short-term pause in spending for new content could give Netflix a chance to im-

HUGE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE STUCK AT HOME ARE SIGNING UP FOR NETFLIX

prove its chronically lousy numbers.

But even if the shutdown is longer than anyone wants, Wall Street is betting Netflix could still come out stronger.

In recent weeks its junk bonds have become so attractive that investors are willing to accept a lower yield than they demand from Disney, which is an investment-grade borrower. One reason is that Disney, as owner of ESPN, is exposed to cable cord–cutting, which probably has accelerated in recent weeks. Disney also relies on advertising revenue, which is plunging, and its theme parks are empty.

That would have profound economic consequences for the city, such as fewer shows and movies being produced at Brooklyn and Queens studios and soundstages.

To keep the lights on, studios surely would lobby Albany to expand the entertainment industry’s $420 million annual state tax credit, the most generous in the nation. The optics of asking for a bigger subsidy during a recession would be pretty bad, but the alternative wouldn’t be pretty either.

It’s clear that New York’s entertainment business, like so much else in the city, is changing quickly.

A small part of it is Netflix’s ascension over Disney, at least by the way Wall Street keeps count.

As a made-up contemporary of Halston, the suburban philosopher Ferris Bueller, once observed: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” ■

ON NEW YORK

Two challengers who could crash the party Dire circumstances could make dark horse candidates a threat

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fter the Sept. 11 terrorist Brooklyn Borough President Eric attacks upended New Adams.

The city’s campaign-finance York, voters did what no one expected and elected rules make it impossible to raise Michael Bloomberg mayor. After enough money, because they limit the financial crisis rattled the city, each person’s contribution to about they forgot they had repeatedly vot- $5,000, whether a candidate particed to impose a two-term limit on ipates in the city finance system or mayors, and they re-elected not.

President Donald Trump has efBloomberg in 2009.

The fallout from the pandemic is fectively destroyed the Republican likely to be more severe on the city’s brand in the city, so any candidacy must be in the Demoeconomy, finances and prospects. The likelihood cratic primary, where of an outsider waging a voters have strong loyalty formidable campaign— to established politicians. and even winning—are Those who disagree much higher than ever with the conventional before, with two men at wisdom are forging the head of the list: Citiahead.

“Even before the corogroup Vice Chairman Ray navirus crisis, many New McGuire and Shaun Yorkers were deeply conDonovan, former Bloom- GREG DAVID cerned about the city’s berg and Obama official.

Political insiders continue to say future,” said real estate developer the odds against such a candidacy Joe Rose, former city planning are somewhere between very high chief.

“Now, to lead us out of the carand astronomical. Both candidates are virtually unknown compared nage, we are going to need an exwith the three established choices: ceptionally capable mayor who unCity Council Speaker Corey John- derstands how valuable all the son, Comptroller Scott Stringer and sectors of the city are to its health

JOHNSON

and who can unite us in common purpose,” he said.

Rose has been trying to recruit McGuire to the race for months. As an African-American with strong ties in that community, McGuire could shake up the calculations of the front-runners. Rose said McGuire is giving the race “serious consideration.”

Campaign team Donovan, who served as head of housing preservation for Bloomberg and head of Housing and Urban Development and then the Office of Management and

ADAMS Budget in the Obama administration, has hired a campaign team led

by Rick Fromberg. He ran Bill de Blasio’s re-election campaign in 2017.

Fromberg said the conventional wisdom is simply wrong.

“Lori Lightfoot, for example, won the Chicago mayor’s race after the first poll showed her in seventh place with 3% of the vote,” he said.

“The same story has played out in mayoral races in Philadelphia and Atlanta. Media outlets play enormous attention to mayoral races, allowing candidates to overcome the lack of name recognition.”

Fromberg said he believes that the conventional wisdom also does not take into account the sweeping changes that ranked-choice voting will bring. Since no one is likely to win a majority, being a second choice for voters is a viable strategy. Rankedchoice voting also will require dramatically different campaigns, which emphasize positive messages and avoid attacks on other candidates that could alienate their supporters.

Neither challenger has Michael Bloomberg’s most important attribute: the ability to spend $70 million in 2001 (the equivalent of $100 million today). But in a crisis more severe than 2001 or 2009, won’t voters have doubts about trusting their future to Johnson or Stringer or Adams?

The Democratic primary is 14 months away—in late June next year. ■ Greg David writes a regular column for CrainsNewYork.com.

6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

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4/24/20 3:17 PM

SPONSORED CONTENT

Construction in the post-Covid-19 environment

T

o gain insight into Covid-19’s impact on construction and where the market is heading in light of the pandemic, Crain’s Content Studio spoke with Gavin Middleton, chief operating officer at Lehrer Cumming, which advises owners planning or engaged in large-scale construction projects, with a focus on new-building construction, major adaptive reuse, and complex developments. Middleton is a design and construction executive with 25 years’ experience in North America, the Caribbean, and Europe. His expertise is in managing mixed-use programs from inception to final delivery and closeout, with a focus on logistically complex projects.

Lehrer Cumming is a division of Cumming, a global management and cost consulting company.

Its 120 team members work across five offices on behalf of clients undertaking more than $25 billion in construction in the academic, cultural, commercial, and residential sectors, as well as in healthcare, hospitality, retail, and infrastructure.

CRAIN’S: New York City was experiencing one of its largest building booms in a quarter-century before Covid-19. Where do you see building heading in the next year? What do you expect to see in the near term as the city reopens?

MIDDLETON: Before Covid-19, activity in New York—the largest and most dominant construction market in the United States, with an estimated value of $62.2 billion of new construction put in place—was starting to slow. We now find ourselves, however, in completely unchartered waters: Most of our industry is shut down, and we are focused on how to enable a resumption of work in a safe environment for all participants. We are seeing additional jobs qualifying as essential work, and so, in real time, our firm is working closely with owners and the construction com-

CRAIN’S: Construction is a challenging proposition in a major metropolitan area, such as New York City, because of the high cost of doing business—even before accounting for the additional schedule, labor, and material complexities because of Covid-19. What best practices can you recommend to companies in the midst of projects?

munity to create appropriate logistics, hygiene, and workforce protection plans. The construction industry is an agile one, an attribute that will serve us well as we focus on getting back to work.

CRAIN’S: What changes do you expect to see in the coming months as construction remobilizes? Do you anticipate changes to design because of social distancing parameters?

MIDDLETON: The new normal requires us to revisit all aspects of the daily work environment, including arrival, registration, vertical movement, delivery, handling of materials, breaks, and safe installation guidelines. There is no one-size-fits-all solution here: Each trade is affected very differently, depending on work practices, and all parties must approach challenges practically for work to advance meaningfully and safely.

MIDDLETON: Organization and communication are key.

Yes, we are shut down, but we also have a city with many of the brightest minds in the nation within our agencies, construction firms, subcontractors, and consultant firms.

All are now fully collaborating on this challenge. There is a natural and understandable wariness to resuming work in a pandemic. Our industry has a responsibility to communicate the extensive steps being taken to deliver the new normal of work in New York City and beyond.

Gavin Middleton, chief operating officer at Lehrer Cumming

as we learn the unique challenges certain tasks present.

There are markets ahead of us in the cycle that we are monitoring and communicating with to learn about the measures they have taken, including what they are doing on job sites in China and several

countries in Europe.

No playbook applies here. We are forging a new work environment, and I am confident we can overcome the challenges before us. It’s just the way we do business here in New York.

TRUSTED ADVISORS OW N E R ADV I S O RY, CO ST CO N S U LT I N G AN D P R OJ E CT M AN AGE M E N T S E RV I C E S

INQUIRE NOW

KREG HOLT

CRAIN’S: How has your team navigated these uncharted waters, and what’s been learned?

Six Senses New York.

MIDDLETON: We are leveraging our industry relationships.

My job is to be in daily contact with construction, agency, and design leaders, soliciting their thoughts to help affirm and shape our plans for each project Lehrer Cumming manages for our clients. Trade-by-trade input from key subcontractors is greatly shaping our thinking

V A L U E . I N T E G R I T Y . R E S U LT S .

APRIL 27, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 7

COPY EDITOR ______ COLD READER ______ WRITER ______ SENIOR EDITOR ______ FINAL ______

president K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain

EDITORIAL

group publisher Mary Kramer

This time, give SBA loans to businesses that need them most

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr.

editor Robert Hordt assistant managing editors

Christine Haughney (special projects), Janon Fisher, Gabriella Iannetta (digital) senior editor Telisha Bryan

businesses learned they were at a disadvantage. They needed to have existing relationships with powerful banks that had streamlined systems with the Small Business Administration. They had to spend hours applying on websites that kept shutting down.

They also needed reams of paperwork at their fingertips to hand over to banks hesitant to follow the SBA’s relatively lax loan requirements before getting approval.

Within two weeks, that program ran out of money. What funding was provided to New York—the epicenter of the outbreak, with more than 250,000 cases—was less than what other states received. A report released by the SBA showed that of the $342 billion it gave out by April 16, New York small businesses received $20 billion in loans while those in Texas received $28 billion, even though that state has recorded only about 20,000 coronavirus cases.

That left thousands of local small businesses scrambling. A survey of 281 small businesses conducted by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce revealed that 84% of those that applied did

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, Mark Yawdoszyn to contact the newsroom:

not receive money through the Paycheck Protection Program as of April 17.

It’s just as disheartening for small businesses to see who received the funds. Large chains such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House and Potbelly Sandwiches both disclosed receiving substantial payouts. Restaurant mogul Danny Meyer returned the $10 million loan the government gave to Shake Shack after it announced it was able to raise $75 million from outside investors.

This time the government should: Tell business owners which banks have the most money to

LET’S GIVE SMALLER COMPANIES A FIGHTING CHANCE TO SURVIVE had approved roughly $19 million.

Then the federal government stepped in with what seemed like an even more lucrative offering for small businesses. The $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program was supposed to help small businesses with expenses including rent and payroll. From the start the nation’s smallest and most vulnerable

EDITORIAL

BUCK ENNIS

W

ith an additional $380 billion in the pipeline to help small businesses affected by the pandemic, let’s hope this time elected officials get it right and give the money to the businesses that need it the most.

In early March Crain’s called on city officials to make sure the interest-free loans and grants it offered to small businesses would be relatively easy to apply for and delivered in a timely manner. We urged the city not to repeat its past failings in how it delivered relief after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and Superstorm Sandy.

As of last Tuesday, the Department of Small Business Services

publisher/executive editor

•

lend so they know which ones to seek out.

Ensure that loans don’t just go to large chains.

Make certain that states with the greatest need, such as New York, get a proportionate share of the funds.

Small businesses make up nearly half of all private-sector jobs in this country. Of the more than 200,000 businesses located in New York City, 98% have fewer than 100 employees, and 89% have fewer than 20 employees.

Businesses with fewer than 100 staffers employ 2 million people in the city. Let’s give them a fighting chance to survive. ■

• •

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Save transit, save the economy

The budget crisis in the state transportation system could become a national problem

Ana Jimenez, ajimenez@crainsnewyork REPRINTS director, reprints & licensing Lauren Melesio,

212.210.0707, lmelesio@crain.com PRODUCTION production and pre-press director

BY PETER KALIKOW

BUCK ENNIS

T

here’s an old political adage: “As Maine goes, so goes the nation.”

Updated to fit today’s circumstances, the saying would be, “As New York goes, so goes the nation.”

New York will be pivotal to our nation’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. With 10% of the country’s GDP, New York—the financial capital of the United States and the world—will determine the future economic health and well-being of the nation.

The city and the state underpin the nation’s economy. However, the MTA grounds that economy. It is its lifeblood. Without the successful operations of its extensive transportation system of subways, buses, commuter railroads, and bridges and tunnels, economic activity in the metropolitan region would come to a grinding halt.

The impact that would have on New York and the national econo-

my would be incalculable.

The MTA now faces its greatest existential crisis, an emergency so grave that it threatens the health of New York’s economy—and therefore the nation’s. The crisis brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic is so dire that only federal government support can prevent an economic catastrophe.

In a letter to President Donald Trump, I outlined the dimensions of the crisis and requested additional federal aid for the MTA. Earlier, I wrote the president asking for assistance, and he responded to New York’s entreaty by provid-

ing $3.9 billion. Thank you, Mr. President. But that was when ridership was down 60%. Ridership is now down 95%, requiring more federal support to avoid a disaster.

Another $4 billion is critical in propping up the MTA’s beleaguered finances.

The MTA needs $4 billion in emergency federal funding to continue to operate and move the heroic workers on the front lines of the pandemic. In the midst of this global health crisis, the men and women of the MTA are showing up to provide transportation for critical personnel—moving doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters, grocery store workers and other essential employees.

Given the dramatic drop in ridership and revenue and the fact that this health crisis means ridership will continue to be depressed for at least several more months, the only realistic solution is a substantial federal funding commitment. Without $4 billion in federal grant funding, the MTA will face a

liquidity crisis and be unable to pay its obligations, to the detriment of New York and the nation.

The transportation administration has cut billions from its budget, and I know that Pat Foye and his team will do all they can to responsibly manage its finances. But this pandemic is a body blow of such epic proportions that no amount of service cuts and fare hikes—which in and of themselves would destroy the system— could rescue the MTA. The president and Congress did the right thing by previously providing $3.9 billion to the MTA. Without additional federal support, though, the MTA will face the type of liquidity crisis from which it will never recover. The implications for New York state and the nation are simply too severe to contemplate. ■

Simone Pryce media services manager Nicole Spell SUBSCRIPTION CUSTOMER SERVICE

www.crainsnewyork.com/subscribe customerservice@crainsnewyork.com 877.824.9379 (in the U.S. and Canada). $3.00 a copy for the print edition; or $129.00 one year, for print subscriptions with digital access.

Entire contents ©copyright 2020 Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. ©CityBusiness is a registered trademark of MCP Inc., used under license agreement.

CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. chairman Keith E. Crain vice chairman Mary Kay Crain president K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain secretary Lexie Crain Armstrong editor-in-chief emeritus Rance Crain chief financial officer Robert Recchia founder G.D. Crain Jr. [1885-1973]

Former MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow is president of H.J. Kalikow & Co., a New York City real estate company.

chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. [1911-1996]

8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

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4/24/20 3:15 PM

OP-ED

Virtual visitation connects families during pandemic

Equipment shortage shows need for local manufacturing

Patients are battling emotional desolation

T

ISTOCK

C

ovid-19 is an especially cruel disease because it forces people to suffer in isolation.

“No visitors” policies, while necessary for pandemic control, leave patients to deal with the physical effects of the virus and their own fear and sadness without the healing touch or soothing presence of loved ones.

But just as clinicians and other frontline workers across the country are fighting the coronavirus, we are battling this emotional desolation and finding unique ways to connect with those who matter, especially during their darkest—and most joyful—days.

At our hospital network, we’ve used ingenuity and technology to bring people together. Our nurses, doctors, and patient and family advocates, among others, are providing virtual visits for family members, who otherwise wouldn’t be able to see their loved ones. It’s an innovation that will continue to change medical care even after the pandemic has been defeated.

Virtual visitation is currently an ad hoc initiative. Depending on the facility and what’s available, our team members may use the patient’s cellphone, a tablet assigned to the room or their own device— the highest priority is to do what is needed to provide emotional support.

Sometimes all that is required is a little help in charging a patient’s phone or dialing a number. In other cases, a frontline worker may place a Skype or FaceTime call to provide a family member with a last moment of connection before a patient is intubated.

Many of our nurses and other team members have told a family member on the other end of the line, “I am you. Speak to your loved one through me.” They ask what the family member would do if they were in the room and offer to hold the patient’s hand or stroke their hair. They allow the family member to know that their loved one was not alone at the end.

These kinds of interactions are unbelievably important to people who in many cases are losing a family member with little warning.

Recently, for instance, patient experience leader Cheryl Miranda at Huntington Hospital knew that a Covid-19 patient was not doing well, so she connected with the woman’s daughter via Skype while the physician was still in the room.

The physician was able to explain what was happening and reassure the patient’s daughter that everything possible was being done— and simply seeing her mother helped the daughter accept the prognosis. Then Miranda gave the

daughter all the time she needed to speak to her mother, and Miranda stroked the patient’s forehead as the daughter told her mother she loved her. Later Miranda did the same thing for the patient’s son.

The patient died the next day.

But it was a priceless gift, family members told Miranda, to be able to see their mother and express their love.

Virtual visitation isn’t only for Covid-19 patients. All patients are affected by the New York state–recommended visitation guidelines— restrictions that are especially hard on maternity patients, many of whom grieve at not being able to have their own parents visit after they have given birth. Our team can bring great joy to both generations by arranging a FaceTime call to show off the newborn.

We also are using this approach to hold virtual support groups for family members of patients with Covid-19. Participants are asking questions, learning from one another’s experiences and feeling the relief that comes from knowing they are not alone.

Our staff created virtual visitation to answer a need we could never have predicted, but it is proving to be a tool—one sure to be helpful long after the coronavirus is under control. Friends and families are spread across the country and aren’t always able to get to a hospital for an in-person visit. We will continue to use technology to help our patients connect with loved ones wherever they are.

For now, though, virtual visitation is helping all of us get through one of the most difficult times we will ever experience. Caring for patients with Covid-19 is physically and emotionally exhausting, and acting as a conduit for family members to express their love is yet another heavy responsibility. But it's also a privilege, and it's extraordinarily meaningful.

I am humbled by the strength of the team members who take on this task and honored to be their colleague. ■ Sven Gierlinger is senior vice president and chief experience officer at Northwell Health,a board member of the Beryl Institute and a member of the Institute for Innovation’s Founding Executive Council.

BY ADAM FRIEDMAN he mayor announced this month that city manufacturers will soon be making Covid-19 test kits. This comes after three weeks of Herculean efforts by City Hall, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Economic Development Corp. and the Health and Hospitals Corp. to organize local supply chains to produce the medical and personal protective equipment that the city needs during the pandemic.

At the same time, City Hall continues to rezone manufacturing areas, a strategy that will undermine the city’s future production capacity. New York needs to rethink its assumptions about what the safe operation of a city of almost 9 million people requires.

The spectrum of potential threats is large. The city must plan for a heightened risk of disease, climate change and terrorism, which can cripple a critical piece of infrastructure, such as a bridge. The city needs a range of tools that can be activated and combined as needed.

The most obvious is industrial land because of both its versatility and the fact that almost by definition it is where the city puts critical infrastructure, from power plants and fuel depots to repair yards and construction equipment. New York will no doubt increase its stockpiles

Karl P. Frederic Partner

T: 732.448.2552 E: kfrederic@windelsmarx.com

windelsmarx.com

AP PHOTO

BY SVEN GIERLINGER

City should rethink its assumptions about safe operation

of emergency supplies, which is essential but not enough. There will be unforeseen needs, stockpiles may run out, and the stockpiles themselves must be located nearby, which makes them vulnerable.

So some production capacity may be essential.

Soft infrastructure Beyond land, there is our soft infrastructure, which is put to the test during large-scale disasters and also must be elevated in the city’s preparedness strategies.

After 9/11 and Superstorm Sandy, there was widespread recognition of the importance of strong community networks. Neighbors delivered food and medicine to the elderly and sick and cleaned out flooded homes, apartments and businesses.

Today the soft infrastructure includes the industrial business service providers that are helping manufacturers to apply for financial assistance and organize to make gowns, hand sanitizer and masks. The amazing success of the companies at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in quickly converting to personal protection equipment is attributable to two things: the diversity of businesses at the Navy Yard, which was able to draw on a citywide ecosystem of production including plastics from Queens and fabric from the Garment District, and the staff of the Navy Yard Development Corp.—the soft infrastructure—that helped get purchase orders and product specs and to arrange financing, essential steps in building new supply chains. Similar organizations exist around the city but are chronically underfunded.

The city needs to pause on the rezonings to rethink what land and production capacity it needs to maintain its functionality, and it needs to strengthen its soft infrastructure—the networks of people doing the hard work. ■ Adam Friedman is director of the Pratt Center for Community Development, a department within Pratt Institute, and chairman of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.

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APRIL 27, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

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4/23/20 5:41 PM

WHO OWNS THE BLOCK

Yorkville hammers through the pandemic

1622 YORK AVE

The gray area of the state's stop-work order

BY C. J. HUGHES

W

1289 LEXINGTON AVE. The Hayworth, a white-toned 21-story, 61-unit project from Ceruzzi Properties and Kuafu Properties, is a condominium whose land is owned by the Lillian Goldman estate. Promising a $375 million sell-out, its two- to five-bedroom units start at $3 million. Brokers cut prices at some units this month by up to 16%, according to StreetEasy.

152 E. 87TH ST.

60 E. 86TH ST. A rare condominium from Glenwood Management, this 19-story, 15-unit building, which opened in 2014, is a flashy addition to the neighborhood’s sea of red bricks.

Most of the units sweep across an entire floor.

Gordon Property Group turned the 6-story Alan parking garage into the Alyn, a glassy 21-story, 56unit luxury-rental building designed by Ismael Leyva Architects. One-bedroom units at the building, which opened last year, start at $6,500 per month.

306 E. 86TH ST. Izaki Group Investments owns five contiguous sites that are steps from entrances to the Second Avenue Q line. Nos. 310, 312 and 314 were purchased for $42 million in 2017, No. 308 was snapped up $12.5 million in 2018 and No. 306 traded for $13.4 million last year. Plans for a 20-story, 68unit tower were approved this month.

151 E. 85TH ST. The shimmering block-long Lucida condominium from Extell Development, which opened in 2009, was among the first of the crop of large, modernistic apartment buildings to pop up in Yorkville. It has 110 apartments across 20 floors.

511 E. 86TH ST. This 22-story, 140,000-square-foot apartment building, developed by Sky Management and designed by Arquitectonica, will offer 140 units, permits show—presumably rentals. Construction continues at the site, which is considered essential during the pandemic because it has affordable housing; under state rules, at least 20% of the units must offer below-market rents.

500 E. 85TH ST. Yorkville cannot be considered entirely lowslung. A wave of development in the 1960s added many high-rises including a dozen owned by prominent landlord Glenwood Management, like this 23-story, 233-unit structure: The Cambridge.

1622 YORK AVE. Developer Engel Burman of Jericho, Long Island, is building a 14-story, 101,700-squarefoot long-term-assisted-care complex here with luxury finishes. An outpost of the firm’s Bristal chain, which has 20 suburban locations, the building is expected to be stocked with amenities. Engel is also an owner of 305 West End Ave., a similar facility.

H2M ARCHITECTS, GOOGLE MAPS

hen it comes to the city’s month-old ban on nonessential construction, loopholes abound. Hospitals, infrastructure projects and utility work were initially permitted as “essential” projects. Gradually, other projects got green-lighted, too, including apartment buildings with at least 20% affordable housing.

As developers scramble to win exemptions, the list of permissible projects has grown. A total of 4,220 projects were cleared April 17, a number that jumped to 4,470 three days later, according to a Department of Buildings map.

Engel Burman, a developer focused on assisted-care facilities, continues to plug away at a 14-story tower at 1622 York Ave. with apartments for senior citizens—which officials consider an essential health care service.

The project, according to map data, also qualifies as affordable, which might come as a surprise. Luxury amenities are expected to pack the tower, which could charge $9,000 monthly rents, based on comparable Engel facilities.

Some neighbors, enraged by the carve-out, have filed complaints.

In a sign of a bumpy rollout, a Department of Buildings spokesman said the designation of Engel’s tower as affordable was an error.

“Our diligent plan-examiners and auditors are carefully reviewing and auditing every work application we receive,” the spokesman said.

Engel, which had no comment, spent $47 million in 2018 to acquire its parcel, which formerly had six townhouse-style buildings. A $76 million mortgage is from Wells Fargo.

A similar stamp of approval was granted to 511 E. 86th St., a 22-story building from prominent landlord Sky Management.

The building, which replaces a walkup purchased in 2007 for $2.7 million, will have a lounge, a roof deck and a 75-space bike room, permits show.

What makes No. 511 “essential,” the DOB says, is that Sky promises to offer some of its 140 units at below-market rents, though the percentage is unclear. Sky had no comment.

Likewise, work proceeds at Henderson House, a postwar cooperative at 535 E. 86th St., which has been approved for emergency repairs to its leaky facade.

Other projects are quiet in the area, which has enjoyed a revival since the 2017 opening of the much-delayed Second Avenue Q line.

Last year saw the opening of both the Alyn, a parking garage turned luxury rental building, and the Hayworth, a glassy 61-unit condominium.

Izaki Group Investments has razed a string of low-slung buildings on East 86th Street, steps from the Q, to make way for a 68-unit tower. ■ 10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

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ASKED & ANSWERED

DIANE RAMIREZ Halstead Real Estate

DOSSIER

INTERVIEW BY BRIAN PASCUS

WHO SHE IS Chairman and CEO, Halstead Real Estate

A

s co-founder of Halstead Real Estate, Diane Ramirez has been a leader in the city’s residential market for more than 30 years. She was named CEO of the firm in 2013. Today her industry is facing profound challenges brought on by an unexpected pandemic as well as political and economic shifts. New listings are down 90% as the city undergoes social-distancing measures that keep prospective home buyers away. The state recently banned renter-paid broker fees. And the growth of public websites such as StreetEasy and Zillow have threatened the monopoly brokers previously had on listing information.

BORN Jackson Heights, Queens RESIDES Manhattan WORKFORCE Halstead has 1,400 agents in 32 offices across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

2019 SALES VOLUME $4,151,240,971 from 3,476 transactions FOCUS ON FAMILY Ramirez is married to Sam Ramirez, an investment banker.

She is a mother of two and has five grandchildren.

WHAT INSPIRES HER Ramirez is motivated by the quote: “Success is not final.

Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”

How has Covid-19 affected the real estate industry?

Well, across the board we were nonessential. The thing that’s amazing is we’ve come together as an industry. The heads of the firms talk three times a week.

Everyone is sharing and asking: “What are you dealing with?” “How are you dealing with it?”

What have your company’s agents done to weather the storm?

Fortunately, a lot of the lifestyle work of virtual showings—3D walk-throughs—is just what people need right now, just seeing a living room and seeing it well staged. They need that feeling of home—to be able to picture their life after we get through this.

How did you get your start?

I first sold in Palm Beach, Florida. I got my license in New York, and once I started working here, I knew this is what I loved. I decided to open my own firm.

I didn’t think the business was as serious as it could

be. I thought it was very much mom-and-pop shops. I had visions of a different kind of company. A friend of mine invited me to meet with Clark Halstead, who was about to do the same thing. The two of us exchanged business plans. I told my husband, “Anyone else, I’m happy to compete with, but this guy has exactly the same vision I do.” We went with Clark’s plan. That was in 1984.

How have StreetEasy and Zillow become so powerful?

We as an industry have to take responsibility. In New York, we have a Multiple Listings System. We never came together with a portal of our own, so we opened the gates for a StreetEasy-type of portal to come in.

What will be the impact of the proposed brokerage-fee ban?

The direction that the state has gone in is really scary, and it happened very quickly. They’re looking to regulate things that just don’t even seem to make sense. We’re independent contractors.

I look at my agents—they’re not all these million-dollar listing guys. To look to cap fees and to regulate payment— why would you do it?

What has the brokerage-fee legislation done to the industry?

It’s awakened the community. In January thousands of agents went down to City Hall saying, “This is unfair. You can’t legislate this way.”

We always just went along and didn’t get politically involved. We counted on the Real Estate Board of New York to look out for our interests. But it’s opened the community’s eyes that we have to watch out for our industry. ■

APRIL 27, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 11

THE LIST

1 1 1

TOP COMMERCIAL PROPERTY OWNERS

1

Ranked by 2020 rentable building area in Manhattan 2020 RENTABLE BUILDING AREA (IN MILLIONS OF SQ. FT.)

2019 RENTABLE BUILDING AREA (IN MILLIONS OF SQ. FT.)

NUMBER OF BUILDINGS IN MANHATTAN

Ric Clark Chairman Ben Brown Managing partner

26.73

22.95

20

212-594-2700 slgreen.com

Marc Holliday Chairman, chief executive

26.70 1

25.20

50

Vornado Realty Trust 888 Seventh Ave. New York, NY 10019

212-894-7000 vno.com

Steven Roth Chairman, chief executive David Greenbaum Vice chairman Michael Franco President

25.26

24.33

40

RXR Realty 75 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10019

212-797-1330 rxrrealty.com

Scott Rechler Chairman, chief executive Michael Maturo President, chief financial officer

16.10

17.70

15

Tishman Speyer 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111

212-715-0300 tishmanspeyer.com

Jerry Speyer Chairman Rob Speyer President, chief executive

14.83

16.55

17

Silverstein Properties Inc. 7 World Trade Center New York, NY 10007

212-490-0666 silversteinproperties.com

Larry Silverstein Chairman Marty Burger Chief executive Tal Kerret President

13.66

13.66

9

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Durst Organization 1 Bryant Park New York, NY 10036

212-257-6600 durst.org

Douglas Durst Chairman Jonathan Durst President

12.65

12.65

11

GFP Real Estate 125 Park Ave. New York, NY 10017

212-609-8000 gfpre.com

Jeffrey Gural Chairman, principal Eric Gural, Brian Steinwurtzel Co-chief executives, principals

10.36

9.06

43

Rudin Management Co. Inc. 345 Park Ave. New York, NY 10154

212-407-2400 rudin.com

William Rudin Co-chairman, chief executive Eric Rudin Co-chairman, president

10.10

10.40

15

Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global 505 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10017 2

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9.12

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John Powers Executive vice president, New York region

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L&L Holding Co. 142 W. 57th St. New York, NY 10019 12 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020 JPMorgan Chase & Co. 383 Madison Ave. P012_P013_CN_20200427.inddNew 12 York, NY 10179

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APRIL 27, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13

6.00

6 4/22/20 4:30 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

40s reckon with Covid-19 How Crain’s rising stars have handled the past 6 weeks

BY CHRISTINE DARE-BRYAN

F

ive weeks ago Crain’s honored our latest 40 Under 40 class, some of the most exciting business leaders in New York. During the pandemic, all the executives we featured have undergone a radical change, whether turning their vodka distillery into a hand-sanitizer manufacturer or caring for relatives with Covid-19. We asked how the crisis has affected them.

PHOTOGRAPHY BUCK ENNIS

RAVI Gupta Co-founder and managing partner, Arena

“

We’ve shifted to multiday digital trainings, where we’re helping candidates and campaign staffers learn to translate their grassroots campaigns into online persuasion and digital voter outreach to win elections. In early May we’ll train hundreds more future campaign staffers through Zoom to take on the 2020 cycle—with a multiday Arena Academy for communications directors, campaign managers and digital directors. From coaching the Michigan caucus staff ahead of the March 10 primary to organizing online meetups with leaders like Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, we’re constantly finding new ways to use Arena’s resources to lift up Democratic candidates and causes.

CL P

TAYLOR Justice President and co-founder, Unite Us

“

CAROLYN Tisch Blodgett

When the pandemic struck, Unite Us immediately shifted to support our communities with rapid-response networks that could be launched quickly to put infrastructure in place where it didn’t exist before. In New York City, we launched Unite NYC with Public Health Solutions and AIRnyc, to ensure that critical social services reach New Yorkers across the five boroughs as they struggle with the far-reaching impact of Covid-19.

Our team seamlessly made the transition to work remotely company-wide. We already have eight offices around the country, with multiple remote-team members in other states.”

Chief marketing officer, Peloton

“

I never imagined what life would look like today. As all parents know, trying to balance homeschooling and work is nearly impossible. For me that’s combined with being pregnant and my husband getting Covid. But I know we are lucky. I am trying to live in the present, and I hope my kids learn something by listening to all those hours of conference calls each day!

At Peloton, we are fortunate to be able to continue to bring fitness and wellness into our members’ lives. We extended our digital free trial to 90 days, expanded our Comeback program to donate bikes to health care professionals, and created a relief fund for members who are struggling financially.”

CE

ALEX Pollack Founder and CEO, ParaDocs Worldwide

“

ParaDocs was able to help out our health care community by donating 27,000 face masks and 400 bottles of hand sanitizer to first responders battling Covid on the front lines. Myself (still a New York City paramedic) and my team joined the FEMA Covid-19 task force to work 911 ambulances during the pandemic. We’re working on another large project to help health care workers.”

14 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

P014_P15_CN_20200427.indd 14

4/23/20 5:54 PM

“

im nea typ hav saf cur tio tak to p wo all can the ho no ma me com mo An wit tha es, ant cle

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

STAFFORD Sheehan Co-founder, Air Co.

“

At Air Co., it’s always been our mission to use technology to change the world for the better. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we wanted to help our community combat a global threat, so we temporarily shifted our entire production efforts [from making vodka] to make a carbon-negative hand sanitizer. Sanitizer is 80% ethanol, our technology’s main output, and we will produce as many bottles as we can during this crisis.

We’re making 2,000 bottles each week and have been since early March. We are working closely with organizations in New York City to make sure that every bottle we create is donated to the communities that need it most.”

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ALLISON Stillman Partner, Mayer Brown LLP

“

Both my legal work, concentrating on the music industry, and my personal life, married to a New York City restaurateur, center around industries that are among the hardest hit by this crisis.

They both depend on people being able to come together for live, social experiences. I’ve been lucky to continue to work with clients, like Spotify, who are leading music industry relief efforts. Together we are looking at certain key issues for the music industry through a new lens. And at home, I’m doing what I can to support the New York restaurant community through ROAR New York and other relief organizations.”

CLINTON Plummer CEO, Ravenswood Generating

“

As the largest generator in New York City, Ravenswood knows that electricity is more important now than ever. For nearly 60 years, through all types of disasters, New Yorkers have counted on us to deliver safe and reliable power. The current scourge is no exception. Since early March, we’ve taken additional precautions to protect our employees and work with our partners and all levels of government so we can keep the power flowing to the hospitals, businesses and homes that need us. But we’re not stopping there. We’re also making significant investments to help our surrounding communities, particularly the most vulnerable populations.

And we’re moving forward with plans for new projects so that when this pandemic passes, we can resume the important work of transitioning to a clean energy future.”

SARA Wechter Global head of HR, Citi

“

From the outset of this crisis, the health and safety of our people has been our top priority. We’ve adjusted operations to provide the safest possible work environment for our 200,000 Citi employees globally. The majority of colleagues, myself included, are working from home. Those who can’t stay home, such as branch employees, are always on my mind. We’re doing everything we can to provide some certainty in such an uncertain time, including special compensation awards to 75,000 colleagues to help ease the financial burden of this situation and making full-time offers to our incoming interns in our major hubs, including New York City.

APRIL 27, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 15

P014_P15_CN_20200427.indd 15

4/23/20 5:52 PM

INSTANT EXPERT

De Blasio’s austerity budget explained

2

WHAT’S NEXT

5

De Blasio’s proposal now moves on to the City Council, which needs to pass a budget before June 30, the end of this fiscal year.

In the meantime, the war of words between de Blasio and federal officials is apt to continue as he pushes for a national stimulus package to provide more relief to localities. That’s a drum Cuomo is beating as well. Whether the search for federal funds will be a common cause for the mayor and the governor, who have clashed at points during the crisis, remains to be seen.

Cuts to agencies ballooned to a whopping $2.7 billion, from $714 million in January. The biggest slashes are to education and social services spending. Some of those cuts come from social distancing itself: De Blasio says the city stands to save $100 million in overtime, materials and training costs now that city schools are closed.

THE WAR OF WORDS WILL LIKELY CONTINUE AS THE MAYOR AND THE GOVERNOR PUSH TO SAVE THEIR BUDGETS WITH FEDERAL FUNDS

The budget requires approval from the City Council to become law. Council Speaker Corey Johnson, Finance Committee Chairman Daniel Dromm and Vanessa Gibson, head of the Capital Budget Subcommittee, will oversee what JOHNSON part of the mayor’s plan goes through.

The legislators have backed the mayor’s use of reserve funds, but it will be tougher to find consensus on spending cuts.

The mayor has made a daily plea for more federal funding—even hectoring President Donald Trump. “President Trump, what’s going on? Cat got your tongue?” de Blasio DROMM asked at a news conference.

The president did not respond directly but said aid to cities was not part of the latest economic-relief bill.

New York City will, however, get nearly $1 billion from the second virus relief package this fiscal year and next.

The federal government’s third bill gives $1.4 billion to New York, though that may be spent only on new Covid-19 GIBSON expenses.

Another looming concern for de Blasio is how much the city can expect from the state this year. Albany’s budget forwarded $800 million in costs to the city during fiscal years 2020 and 2021, according to the mayor’s office. Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state Budget Director Robert Mujica can also reduce payouts to localities should state revenue fall short of projections.

GETTY IMAGES

1

Mayor Bill de Blasio last week proposed an $89.3 billion budget, $6 billion smaller than the preliminary budget for the fiscal year that he put out in January.

The budget cuts highlight the financial cost of New York City’s being the national epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. De Blasio’s plan expects a $7.4 billion hit to tax revenue this year and next, with income from sales, personal income and business taxes all depressed. As recently as January, the mayor expected revenue to grow 4.6% this year and 2% next year.

To cover the gap, the mayor is pulling from city reserves and cutting funding to agencies. The budget draws $2.6 billion out of the city’s retiree health benefits trust, more than half of the trust’s size at the start of the year.

It also spends a collective $1.5 billion of city savings from the general and DE BLASIO capital-stabilization reserves.

GETTY IMAGES

THE PLAYERS

AP PHOTO

THE ISSUE

BLOOMBERG

BY GWEN EVERETT

YEAH, BUT...

3

The city is relying on funding from the state and federal governments to make its paredback budget work.

Subtracting state and federal money to reflect only municipal funds, the budget actually grows next year, a 1.3% increase from the 2019 budget, according to the Citizens Budget Commission.

It’s likely the state, facing a budget shortfall itself, will cut aid to the city. Plus, drawing down reserves now could prove problematic down the road.

The city expects budget gaps in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and it hasn’t said how it plans to cover those shortfalls.

SOME BACKGROUND FLICKR

CUOMO

4

In de Blasio’s first budget, in 2014, the mayor spent $75 billion. Last year’s budget was $92.8 billion.

The administration says the 2020 budget is $97.4 billion now.

In January the mayor was making rhetorical motions toward fiscal restraint. The $95.3 billion January budget expanded by less than in previous years, a move the mayor’s office said was meant to account for a $6 billion funding gap at the state level.

At the time, de Blasio said he feared the state would cover its shortfall by making cuts to the city’s Health and Hospitals system.

16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

P016_CN_20200427.indd 16

4/23/20 6:09 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT

Mount Sinai gets rare FDA approval to test for immunity to Covid-19

T

he Mount Sinai Laboratory is one of only a handful of labs to receive emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to test whether patients have the antibodies to fight off the virus that causes Covid-19.

Testing for this type of immunity has been identified by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as key to reopening the state’s economy and lifting restrictions on social interaction. Cuomo recently said that the state was working with President Donald Trump to double the amount of diagnostic and antibody tests it does to 40,000 a day. He didn’t set a

dates to donate plasma to severely ill patients. As of late last week, more than 600 people had been deemed eligible and committed to donate plasma through the New York Blood Center.

Mount Sinai began working on the test in January, developing a technique by which it could determine whether a person’s immune system had interacted with the virus. The institution's researchers, led by microbiologist Florian Krammer, said the test can identify the presence of antibodies as soon as three days after symptoms have appeared.

Mount Sinai is working to make the test available to 200 research laboratories around the world.

The Cuomo administration conducted a random survey of 3,000 New Yorkers. Preliminary results showed that 13.9% of participants carried the antibodies statewide. The subset of people tested in New York City had the antibodies to fight Covid-19 in 21.2% of cases.

Mount Sinai is doing 2,000 to 3,000 antibody tests a week. Its capacity is limited by shortages of the reagents used in the assessment and the need to connect to more

MOUNT SINAI IS DOING 2,000 TO 3,000 ANTIBODY TESTS A WEEK timeline for achieving that goal.

Since validating and getting approval for the test, Mount Sinai had screened about 7,300 people as of last week, health system officials told Crain's. The participants were individuals who had recovered from Covid-19 for at least two weeks and who might be candi-

commercial lab partners that can increase the number of tests conducted, said Dr. Carlos CordonCardo, Mount Sinai’s chair of pathology. He predicted that Mount Sinai would be able to meet those challenges and that by June millions of the antibody tests would be conducted.

“It’s taking time to produce the next generation of kits. We need a partner or group of partners that can run the test,” Cordon-Cardo said. “We hope that we can create enough tests that during the summer we can test massively.”

One of few Mount Sinai joins a short list of diagnostic companies that have been granted emergency authorization by the FDA. They are Cellex, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics and Chembio Diagnostic Systems.

The New York Times reported that some antibody tests on the market have inaccurately identified people as having antibodies to protect themselves from the virus.

About 90 companies have released tests with permission from the federal government but with no formal review by the FDA. Quest Diagnostics, based in Secaucus, N.J., says it has started to perform antibody screening using tests developed by Abbott and Eu-

Nurses Association files 3 suits over equipment

BY JENNIFER HENDERSON

T

he New York State Nurses Association has filed separate lawsuits against the state Department of Health, Montefiore Medical Center and Westchester Medical Center, alleging they failed to protect the health and safety of nurses treating Covid-19 patients.

NYSNA argued in its complaints that the defendants did not provide impermeable gowns and other personal protective equipment, properly train redeployed nurses or foster safe working conditions for high-risk employees, such as those who are pregnant.

“More than 7 in 10 of our nurses are reporting exposure to Covid-19, and most are still untested,” said Pat Kane, a registered nurse and executive director of NYSNA, in a statement. “These lawsuits were filed to protect our nurses, our patients and our communities from grossly inadequate and negligent protections.”

NYSNA said it is seeking to enforce Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s directive that each direct-care nurse be given at least one N95 respirator daily in its suit against the Department of Health. And it said it wants a restoration of safe working conditions as well as an injunction against

P017_CN_20200427.indd 17

hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm to nurses in its respective suits filed against Montefiore Medical Center and Westchester Medical Center.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said it cannot comment on pending litigation, but the state “continues to take every step necessary to ensure that health care workers … have the support and supplies needed.”

“NYSNA leadership has chosen to attack a system, and the commitment of thousands of their colleagues, who have followed the governor’s emergency orders and are selflessly doing all they can to fight Covid-19 and save lives,” Montefiore said in a statement.

Westchester Medical Center issued a statement that it cannot comment on pending litigation, but “we know, and our care providers know, that the allegations in NYSNA’s lawsuit are wrong.”

The hospital added that its focus is on protecting its workforce, including during the treatment of patients severely ill with Covid-19.

“NYSNA’s lawsuit is irresponsible and a distraction from this work,” it said, “and a disservice to all who are valiantly caring for these patients every day.” ■

BUCK ENNIS

BY JONATHAN LAMANTIA

roimmun. Those tests are allowed by the FDA, but the companies are still seeking emergency-use authorization from the federal regulatory agency.

Quest said it can perform the antibody tests for health care providers and expects to conduct 70,000

by April 25 and about 150,000 by early May. Mount Sinai’s version has very high rates of sensitivity and specificity, which indicate low likelihood that a person will receive a false-positive or false-negative test.

Cordon-Cardo said a false positive

is more dangerous in this case because that would give people a false sense of security that they are immune to Covid-19 even if they are not.

The tests are an important way to identify people to donate plasma.

Dr. David Reich, Mount Sinai Hospital’s president, says, “The ICUs aren’t emptying because the people who end up on ventilators are very sick,” he said. “We’re moving into a phase of care where we’re treating chronic, critical illness.

That will present a whole new set of challenges going forward.” ■

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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 SENIOR YEAR THE FILM LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/03/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 301 E. 78th St., 11C, NY, NY 10075. 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 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 Qualification of 740 HOUSEHOLD LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/10/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/18. Princ. office of LLC: 432 Park Ave., #91AB, NY, NY 10022.

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 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of 432 HOUSEHOLD LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/10/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/13/18. Princ. office of LLC: 432 Park Ave., #91AB, NY, NY 10022.

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 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. 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 EASTGOLD WC GP OWNER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/15/20. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: Eastgold Holdings, 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 925, NY, NY 10170. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of Bored Button LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/2/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 35 West 9th St, 5A, New York, NY 10011. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Qualification of Papa Al Productions, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/25/20. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in California (CA) on 02/04/20. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o eResidentAgent, Inc., 99 Washington Ave., Ste. 805A, Albany, NY 12210, also the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Address to be maintained in CA: 2029 Century Park East, Ste. 1750, Los Angeles, CA 90067. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 1500 11th St., Sacramento, CA 95814. Purpose: any lawful activities.

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 Formation of EASTGOLD PROPERTIES I LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 0 4/15/20. Office location: NY County.

Princ. office of LLC: Eastgold Holdings, 420 Lexington Ave., Ste. 925, NY, NY 10170. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 122072543. 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.

Notice of Formation of NYC WATCHMAKER, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 03/06/20. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c /o Vincent Brasesco, 25 E. 67th St., 14C, NY, NY 10065. Purpose: Watchmaking and watch repair.

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 Hugh Love, PhD, Psychological Services, PLLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/22/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against PLLC to 421 W 162nd St, APT A, NY, NY 10032. Princ. Bus. Addr: 6 E 39th St, Ste 800, Ofc J, NY, NY 10016. Purpose: any lawful act.

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.

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To place a classified ad, Call 212-210-0189 or Email: jbarbieri@crainsnewyork.com 18 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

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C

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.

CN019676.indd 1

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FROM PAGE 1

because if one person tests positive for Covid-19—and at least 28 have so far across the entire Hunts Point complex—then everyone on the shift must be quarantined. Even so, two of Pacifico’s employees, one in accounting and one in sales, died of the disease recently.

“My people are effectively emergency-service providers now,” Pacifico said. “This is a terribly sad and sobering experience.”

Still, the market, which supplies 60% of the city’s produce and half of its protein, remains busy. The fresh seafood, meat and produce continue to make it to supermarket shelves and people’s homes.

“If you want to see things get really bad with Covid-19 watch if people struggle to get food,” said Ryan Fibiger, chief executive of e-commerce for, which is located at the Hunts Point complex.

23M

NUMBER OF people in the Northeast fed by food from Hunts Point

$3B

ANNUAL revenue generated by Hunts Point member firms

nomic Development Corp., said the market is “following the strongest guidelines available from leading government agencies and health auFearful place thorities.”

Some food ex- SINCE THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK has reduced orders from restaurants, meat wholesaler Vincent Pacifico has started selling directly to consumers.

The fact that the food supply lines have held together is in no small perts say that afpart thanks to the 8,500 people who ter the coronavirus outbreak eases, have food delivered by trains or here because they know someone,” some sleep after dropping off their load. work at Hunts Point. Most are com- the city should find ways to lessen barges. (Ninety percent of the city’s an official said.

But many of the close-knit entering to work, and they are now sud- its reliance on Hunts Point, which is food comes by truck.) She said there denly among the city’s most im- home to more than 150 wholesal- are no special plans to protect Hunts prises are now fighting for their Plant closings ers, distributors and manufacturers Point other than remind its workers lives. portant employees.

Meanwhile, supplies of pork, The impact from the coronavirus chicken and certain cuts of beef are But, like everywhere, Hunts Point that generate more than $3 billion to practice social distancing, cover has been severe for many because starting to tighten because some big is a fearful place these days. Execu- in annual revenue for its member their faces and wash their hands.

“Unfortunately, there’s not any 50% of Hunts Point’s customers suppliers have closed. tives say eight of the 28 workers firms and feeds 23 million people throughout the special thing to do,” Garcia said. were restaurants, the EDC said.

Smithfield Foods shut down a fa“That’s part of the challenge of this Northeast.

Fibiger’s firm looks like it will cility this month in South Dakota Charles Platkin, virus.” emerge as one of the winners. In after 238 employees tested positive executive director February, he joined from Fresh Di- for Covid-19, and later closed plants at the Hunter Col- No worries rect to build the online business of in Wisconsin and Missouri. Tyson lege New York City The mayor vows New Yorkers the New Fulton Fish Market, which Foods also shut down its pork proFood Policy Center, won’t have to worry about the food relocated to Hunts Point from low- ducing plant in Waterloo, Iowa. told the City Coun- supply. er Manhattan in 2005.

Wendell Young, president of the Since the city was placed on United Food and Commercial “Whatever it takes to keep New who tested positive for Covid-19 cil in the fall that the city should decentralize food distribution in case Yorkers healthy, we’ll do it,” he lockdown, retail orders have soared Workers Local 1776 in Pennsylvahave returned to work.

Last week Teamsters Union Local Hunts Point is forced to close be- said. To keep you safe, we’ll do it. fivefold—which offset the steep nia, said four major food processors 202 bought masks for the market’s cause of a hurricane. But for now, To make sure you have enough drop in restaurant deliveries. A that supply the New York market truckers and gave them out to any- he said, it’s vital to keep the market food to eat. To make sure you have sales shift that Fibiger reckoned have shut down because of running to feed the city. a roof over your head. Whatever it would take five years happened in Covid-19. one who wasn’t wearing one.

“Hunts Point is as important as a takes, we will protect you.” a month. He has added staff in re“There’s a slowdown in produc“I give management a B+ for efHunts Point, a collection of long, cent weeks and now has about 60 tion,” Young said. “The closing of fort in keeping the place safe, and a hospital,” Platkin said.

Kathryn Garcia, the city’s sanita- windowless, concrete buildings employees. those plants will leave a mark.” little less for execution,” said Danny “Everyone has learned that if Poultry producers are breaking Kane, president of the Teamsters tion commissioner and Mayor Bill and vast parking lots with all the de Blasio’s “food czar,” said in the charm of an airport, is a big reason you’re flying a plane it’s best to eggs, and farmers are plowing over local. produce they can’t get to market A spokesman for Hunts Point’s event Hunts Point had to be closed, why New York’s food supply is so have two engines,” he said.

But most merchants are scram- fast enough. landlord, the New York City Eco- the city has preliminary plans to rich and varied.

“In most cities a hand- bling to land new customers, locate “Being in the perishable-goods ful of corporations sup- supply and secure the credit need- business right now is scary,” said Matt Reingold, general manager of ply nearly everything,” ed to do business.

On a recent afternoon, a Hunts RMX Trucking. said the 55-year-old For now, the turmoil hasn’t afKane, who started work- Point distributor called a supplier ing at the Hunts Point asking about salmon. The distribu- fected the availability of food at suProduce Market when he tor was told almost no fishing boats permarkets, and federal data was 16. “Here, in one were dropping anchor, so not showed a record meat supply earlimarketplace, you’ve got much salmon was coming in. Nor- er this year.

That could change, though. Two hundreds of companies mally, the alternative would be to fighting to do it, and buy Chilean salmon shipped via weeks ago, the number of cattle that’s why New York’s New Jersey. But that wasn’t avail- slaughtered dropped more than 20% from a year earlier, and 6% fewrestaurants have better able either.

“Salmon is only coming in er hogs were turned into pork food than other cities, or why you can buy banan- through Miami now, and no truck- shoulders and bacon, according to as on the street at seven ers want to bring anything up to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Pacifico, who has been distributNew York,” the employee said. for a dollar.” ing meat to restaurants and superMost firms inside markets for more than 40 years, is Hunts Point are inde- New rest areas pendent family-owned Sufficient numbers of drivers now trying his hand at selling dioutfits. It’s not unusual have since overcome their initial rectly to consumers by developing to see a CEO hauling reluctance—a 35% hike in trucking the New York Prime Beef brand.

He has bought advertising time boxes with the union- rates helped—and finding people ized rank and file. Work- to haul food into the city isn’t such on local TV stations and is pleased to discover homebound shoppers ers earn up to $80,000 a pressing problem anymore.

To make New York more invit- are willing to fork over $62 per per year, and Kane said 900 of his local’s 1,400 ing, new rest areas at Hunts Point pound for prime-aged bone-in New employees in the market and in Staten Island were opened York strip.

“It’s a bright spot in a dark cloud,” live in the Bronx. recently so truckers don’t have to “Most people get jobs head to Yonkers or New Jersey for he said. ■ FISH are among the staples distributed at the Hunts Point food market.

BUCK ENNIS

FEAR

FOOD COLOSSUS

BUCK ENNIS

“MY PEOPLE ARE EFFECTIVELY EMERGENCYSERVICE PROVIDERS NOW”

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

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4/24/20 5:07 PM

CORONAVIRUS ALERT LAYOFFS

NYC & Company NYC & Company, the city-funded tourism agency, is set to furlough more than half its staff starting next month, the latest sign of how deeply the pandemic has devastated even the city’s once-thriving industries.

The temporary job cuts affect 77 employees, 55% of the organization’s staff, according to spokesman Chris Heywood.

The $20.9 million that NYC & Company received from the city last year represented roughly half the agency’s $39.9 budget. The nonprofit’s funding is not slated to be reduced in Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 2021 budget proposal. But other revenue streams have been cut off by the crisis.

“With the business community largely closed, revenue from advertising, promotions and membership activity is severely impacted,” Heywood said. “Therefore, difficult decisions had to be made to balance the budget while preserving working capital for future tourism recovery efforts.”

With little left to promote, NYC & Company recently launched a

Virtual NYC campaign, which lists ways to experience the city online.

The website includes links to watch recordings of Broadway shows, take a virtual walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and stream webcasts from the city’s musical institutions.

The furloughs will run from May through July, Heywood said, adding that the employees will keep their health care benefits for the period.

— Ryan Deffenbaugh

The Palm The Palm, once the epitome of the New York steakhouse experience, laid off 126 employees at its Tribeca restaurant and 78 at its Theater District location, according to filings last week with the state Department of Labor.

The moves are just the latest in a long stretch of sad news for the Palm, which sank into bankruptcy last year after a bitter feud among the founders’ descendants. Last month the 94-year-old restaurant was acquired for $45 million by rival Landry’s, which agreed to assume up to $20 million in debt.

Landry’s is run by Tillman Fertita and operates the Morton’s and Del

BUCK ENNIS

City tourism agency among employers trimming staff

Frisco’s chains of steakhouses.

Morton’s laid off 69 employees at its Midtown restaurant, according to a filing last week, and Del Frisco’s laid off 350 from two Midtown locations.

The Palm generated about $125 million in annual revenue during good times and was expected to be acquired for as much as $175 million, but sold for much less.

— Aaron Elstein

Omni Berkshire Place Employees at the Omni Berkshire Place hotel in Midtown became the latest victims of Covid-19’s economic toll on the hospitality industry.

The luxury hotel furloughed 268 employees at the end of March, according to a filing with the New York Department of Labor, before shutting down because of the

outbreak.

The layoffs at the 398-room historic building, located at 21 E. 52nd St., are expected to be temporary, according to the filing.

The hotel noted on its website that operations are suspended until May 15, the tentative date on which Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s statewide lockdown is expected to be lifted.

New York hotel occupancy rates plummeted—15% during the week ending March 28—due to travel restrictions and social distancing.

— Lizeth Beltran

Tacombi Taco eatery Tacombi laid off 357 employees across its eight New York City locations, according to a worker adjustment and retraining notification filing dated March 17, one day after Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered all restaurants to convert to takeout and delivery only.

As recently as February, Tacombi was expanding. It had signed a lease with developer Rockrose to open a 2,000-square-foot location in Long Island City.

Now it’s keeping one kitchen

open to run a meal-delivery program, Tacombi Community Kitchen, which is partnered with organizations such as Elmhurst Hospital in Queens and Mercy Center in the Bronx. It puts out 1,600 meals each week, some for profit and some as relief.

— Gwen Everett

Zara and Muji Two major fast-fashion retailers have closed their doors and temporarily laid off all of their New York City employees. Both Zara and Muji filed worker adjustment and retraining notifications with the state’s Department of Labor this month, with Zara citing 717 layoffs and Muji cutting 247 employees.

The total number of employees affected by the layoffs are a combination from all store locations for the retailers. Both companies cited unforeseeable business circumstances prompted

by Covid-19 as the reason behind the temporary layoffs.

Crain’s was unable to reach Zara or Muji for further comment.

— L.B.

WHAT’S YOUR NEXT MOVE? Create your own business headlines with Companies on the Move Showcase your latest milestones, awards, community outreach and more in Crain’s print and online editions

CrainsNewYork.com/CompanyMoves

APRIL 27, 2020 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21

P021_CN_20200427.indd 21

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ADS

11%

FROM PAGE 3

A STILL from a Freshpet ad running during the pandemic

filming permits for non-news media companies. So live-action shoots, the quintessential form of commercial production, which involves a production crew and actors, have had to fall by the wayside.

But Williams said there has been no slowdown in work at R/GA. “There’s a been a big uptick in things that sort of replace live action,” she said.

Advertising agencies told Crain’s they have been able to retain clients and projects by pivoting.

VMLY&R, another Manhattan-based agency, helped its client Wendy’s launch a six-hour live stream of its red-haired mascot

“OUR CLIENTS ARE LOOKING FOR US TO CHANGE THE DEFINITION OF CREATIVITY” Forward campaign, said Susannah Williams, New York head of production at the agency.

During the era of social distancing, the city is no longer issuing

39%

SHUTTERSTOCK

Freshpet had been planning to stop running ads during the pandemic.

Covid-19–specific advertising had a complete TV takeover between March 16 and March 23, global data from Nielsen found.

And those ads do better: Ace Matrix determined that Covid-19–related ads score 11% higher in likability.

The broader industry, like most, is facing hardship. A March Interactive Advertising Bureau survey of brands and ad agencies found that companies are expecting to spend 39% less on traditional media advertising and 33% less on digital, in light of Covid-19. But for the advertisers that can secure the right project or client, there is opportunity.

One such example is the Pay It Forward campaign that R/GA, a global ad agency with a location in Hudson Yards, launched for its client Verizon. The effort, which boasts live concerts by artists including Alicia Keys and Dave Matthews and donates proceeds to small businesses hit by the virus, ranked first in an Ace survey of more than 100 Covid-19 ads.

R/GA is getting more requests for live-streamed work like the Pay It

tising campaign highlighting online programs, PERCENTAGE including activiCovid-19–related ty guides and ads rank higher home education in likability, advice for famiaccording to Ace lies.

Matrix To be sure, even the agencies able to retain business HOW MUCH during the panLESS firms demic are facing plan to spend pressures. The on traditional freeze on ads during live-action the pandemic, shoots is a according to stressor, multian Interactive ple agencies Advertising told Crain’s.

Bureau survey Meyer of Terri & Sandy said about 70% of her agency’s work in typical times involves live-action shoots. Multiple agencies also said they had seen revenue dip.

Meyer said she has not seen a reduction in revenue or clients flee— “which is pretty miraculous when you look at the industry.”

Terri & Sandy was able to save a project with another one of its major clients by using stock imagery and editing in animated components during postproduction.

“I think it might even be better than it would’ve been if we actually shot it,” she said. “It’s interesting because it’s forcing us to be more creative.”

Many companies’ timelines have them in the planning stages for advertising right now, she said. So agencies will have to continue to rely on their imagination over film crews until “we, please God, get back to normal,” she added. ■

playing the wildly popular game Animal Crossing when it launched for Nintendo Switch.

“Creativity and even sometimes changing the definition of what creativity is is something that our clients are looking for,” said Eric Campbell, global president of VMLY&R. The firm has moved into more motion graphics and animation, he said, adding that most clients are still advertising during the pandemic because they “feel the urgency to ensure that their brand is relevant.”

No need to hard sell The IAB survey found that nearly a quarter of firms had decided to stop advertising completely through the second quarter of this year. But

Crain’s Business

Crain’s Business

Crain’s Business

The tools you need now to navigate the crisis With small businesses needing to adjust during these uncertain times, Crain’s Business Toolbox offers critical information and resources to help businesses not only survive, but thrive.

CrainsNewYork.com/crains-business-toolbox

halting advertising is a mistake, said Chris Sullivan, co-founder of SoHo-based creative production agency Kworq. Brands that stopped advertising during the 2008 recession took 10 times longer to recover, he said, adding that they had to spend more money later to regain relevance.

“You don’t have to be hard selling to just be in the public awareness,” Sullivan said. That is, instead of advertising with the intent of selling a product immediately, brands can focus on offering services to customers that can build goodwill in the long term.

He pointed to Kworq’s client 4H, a nonprofit that typically hosts camps in the summer months. Kworq worked with 4H to launch an adver-

POLITICS

Bloomberg to help build testing-andtracing program

BY GWEN EVERETT

rate declines, the state wants to ramp up a testing-and-tracing proichael Bloomberg is step- gram in order to avoid a resurgence ping in to help the state later of the new coronavirus. Cuomo said last week that the state fight Covid-19.

The billionaire and former New would double its daily testing capacity to 40,000 per day York mayor will help deafter securing federal velop and put into place supply-chain assistance the state’s testing, tracing in a meeting with Presiand isolation program, dent Donald Trump.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said AMOUNT the Bloomberg will pitch in last week. Bloomberg former mayor to assist with the effort to also will give more than will contribute to trace the people who test $10 million to the effort, the testing-andpositive and their contact said Melissa DeRosa, tracing program, with others as well as to secretary to the governor. the secretary to isolate positive cases, “Michael Bloomberg the governor said Cuomo said. will design the program, The former mayor is design the training,” Cuoexpected to assist the apmo said. “He’s going to proximately 225 tracers the state make a financial contribution.

“It’s a very big undertaking, and has on hand. That workforce will we thank him very much for taking need to expand into the thousands, it on,” the governor added, “be- the governor said.

Johns Hopkins University and locause it is going to require a lot of attention, a lot of insight, a lot of ex- cal nonprofit Vital Strategies will help the state in its efforts as well, perience and a lot of resources.”

As New York’s Covid-19 infection officials said. ■

M

$10M

22 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | APRIL 27, 2020

P022_CN_20200427.indd 22

4/24/20 4:14 PM

OUT OF OFFICE

10 spots to order from while you stay in Some eateries are offering grocery deliveries, share-a-meal options

BY CARA EISENPRESS

R

WAYLA

DIANA YEN

estrictions limiting food service to delivery and takeout only have required restaurants as well as caterers and wholesalers to evolve how they do business.

Some have adjusted their hours to best meet demand, and a few have added philanthropic offerings.

One establishment has continued cooking but only for hospital staff, an effort sometimes funded by donations from former regulars. (Frontline Foods is a central place to donate.) Others have transformed into soup kitchens and grocery stores for laid-off restaurant workers. Others still are donating a percentage of proceeds from orders to nonprofits.

Below are 10 eateries where you can still grab a bite. Their hours and offerings are subject to change; please check online for updates.

BUTCHER’S DAUGHTER 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

This vegetarian restaurant and juice bar with cafés in Nolita, the West Village and Williamsburg has a shortened menu that can be ordered through delivery platforms or directly by email or phone. The breakfast menu offers acai bowls and a Mexican breakfast bowl with scrambled eggs, jackfruit, turmeric rice and black beans. The rest of the day, pesto quesadillas and a roasted cauliflower half are on offer. Butcher’s Daughter is also delivering cold-pressed juices, alcohol and grocery items including olive oil.

19 Kenmare St.; 581 Hudson St.; 271 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg COTE 4 to 9 p.m.

The steakhouse known for combining

grill-your-own Korean barbecue with aged steaks has two types of new offerings: delivery and DIY. Through Caviar, customers can order dishes such as Korean bacon; a Galbi bowl of marinated short ribs over rice, pickles and kimchi; sweet and tangy chicken nuggets; and steak, which comes with a kit of fixings that includes lettuce, sauce, pickles, salad and kimchi. There are also cocktails mixed to order. The steak care package, available by emailing prime@cotenyc.com, comes with four uncooked 1-pound steaks, a custom salt blend, sauces and four pints of assorted Korean side dishes. The company will donate 3% of revenue from to-go orders to City Harvest.

16 W. 22nd St. GREEN TOP FARMS 1 to 8 p.m.

A farm in Queens supplies some of the fresh food that this catering company used to deliver to schools, offices and other institutions. With those closed, Green Top has shifted to home delivery of groceries and prepared foods. Orders through the company’s website must be placed a few days in advance. Bundles include an assortment of foods such as soup, granola and rotisserie chicken.

Delivery available in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.

HOMETOWN BBQ Noon to 8 p.m.

The Red Hook barbecue joint is still cook-

ROBERTA’S Pickup from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; delivery from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

The Brooklyn-based pizzeria is offering its menu—which includes the Bee Sting, made with soppresata, chili and honey— for pickup and delivery from its Brooklyn location. Salads and some mains, such as oxtail ragu, are on hand, as well as makeyour-own-pizza kits. Its line of frozen pizzas is also available at the Bushwick location, as is a box of local spring produce, like asparagus and onions.

261 Moore St., Bushwick, Brooklyn;

ing its wings, ribs and pulled pork with sides including macaroni and cheese for pickup and delivery.

454 Van Brunt St., Red Hook, Brooklyn JUNZI KITCHEN Noon to 8 p.m.

The menu of this Northern Chinese fast-casual spot focuses on noodle, rice and salad bowls as well as savory pancakes. All come with a choice of sauces, vegetables and mains such as ginger scallion chicken, firecracker chicken and lion’s head meatballs. Junzi’s website has a “share a meal” button, so customers can donate $10 toward the production and delivery of meals for health care workers.

The weekly event Distance Dining pairs a guest chef streaming his or her cooking online with a special menu guests can pick up and eat as they watch.

135 W. 41st St.; 2896 Broadway; 170 Bleecker St. KOCHI Noon to 9 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday Specializing in Korean cuisine, Kochi has reopened after closing briefly. Its takeout and delivery menu revolves around Korean-style bento boxes, called dosirak, and sushi rolls, or kimbap. Dosirak can contain hanger steak, an egg roll, salmon, a soy egg, shrimp jeon and rice.

Kimbap choices include Spam, spicy tuna and eggplant-tofu.

The restaurant is donating meals to local hospitals and fire stations.

652 10th Ave. TAIM TAIM

COURTESY OF COTE

BREADS BAKERY COTE 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The two locations of this Israeli bakery are open for coffee and pastries and accept delivery and pickup orders for chocolate babka, rugelach and bread. The savory menu includes tuna salad platters, hummus, mushroom quiche and smoked salmon sandwiches on Jerusalem baguettes. There is also a box containing a full Mediterranean-style breakfast. Local delivery is through Caviar and Postmates, and pickup orders can be placed online or by calling 212-633-2253. Breads also delivers daily to city hospitals.

18 E. 16th St.; 1890 Broadway

TAIM 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Three of the falafel chain’s locations are open for delivery and curbside pickup. In addition to fresh falafel offered on pitas and in platters, Taim lets customers stock up on pints and quarts of its staples: pickled cabbage, marinated beets, tabbouleh and hummus. A bucket of 60 falafel balls for $48 can be accompanied by a bucket of fries or cauliflower shawarma.

222 Waverly Place; 45 Spring St.; 64 W. 22nd St. WAYLA Noon to 8 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday; noon to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday The Lower East Side Thai restaurant is delivering dishes including crab fried rice and yellow curry with vegetables. For $5, customers can buy lunch boxes for their neighbors, who can pick them up between noon and 3 p.m. daily.

100 Forsyth St.

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