Crain's New York Business

ASKED & ANSWERED KPMG exec on women’s progress in accounting PAGE 17

CURTIS SLIWA says he’s the right non-politician to be the next mayor PAGE 3

CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

POLITICS

Few signs of progress on MWBE contracts

|

OCTOBER 25, 2021

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

MIDTOWN’S MOMENT A

ONE VANDERBILT’S proximity to Grand Central has been a major selling point.

BY EDDIE SMALL AND AMANDA GLODOWSKI

fter years of playing second fiddle to massive new developments arriving elsewhere in the city, Midtown’s office market is experiencing a renaissance.

Driving the momentum are employers’ desire to make the commute easier for employees hesitant to return following 19 months of remote work and the highest amount of new office space coming to the neighborhood since the redevelopment of Times Square in the 1980s.

Companies are flocking to the market to help some of their employees who live outside the city avoid a double commute, for which they must take a train into Manhattan and then get

City comptroller report finds diverse firms left out of Covid spending

BY BRIAN PASCUS AND SHUAN SIM

T

he proportion of city contracts awarded to minority-owned businesses has reached a low not seen since 2013. Of the $30.4 billion in total contracts given out by the city in fiscal 2021, only about $1.2 billion—3.8%—were awarded to minority- or women-owned business enterprises, the lowest total since city procurement reached 2.7% INSIDE Health in 2013. + Hospitals Spending on the questions the pandemic renumbers sponse showed litPAGE 7 tle improvement: Businesses owned

by Black and Hispanic New Yorkers each received 1% of the $3.5 billion in city funds. The entire MWBE universe, which includes Asian and female business owners, received 16%, or $554 million, of the total

See MIDTOWN on page 18

NEW LEASE DEALS AND EXPANSIONS IN MIDTOWN HAVE SPIKED SINCE 2019

See MWBE on page 19

Percentage of total Midtown leasing activity based on new deals/expansions 68%

BRONX education consultant Bartholomew says there is a “pattern of discrimination.”

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 37, NO. 38

Q3 2019

Q3 2020

Q3 2021

SOURCE: Colliers

© 2021 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

GOTHAM GIGS

Fighting cancer with laughter PAGE 23

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55%

BUCK ENNIS

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60%

THE CITY’S LARGEST COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MANAGERS PAGE 10

10/22/21 5:43 PM

ECONOMY

Visionary behind the High Line pitches investors on $350M wellness theme park along waterfront

T

he co-creator of the High Line is betting New Yorkers will flock to a $350 million wellness theme park he hopes to open on the city’s waterfront at some point after 2025.

The venue, Therme, would be inspired by ancient communal baths but modernized with fitness programming, family-friendly water parks, well-being therapies, arts events and plant life. There are already Therme locations in Bucharest, Romania, and in Sinshiem, the Black Forest and Euskirchen in Germany.

The privately-held firm, which is partnering with local investors and operators on a global expansion, is betting that city dwellers of the near future will want a type of in-person social experience not all that differ-

What he learned at the High Line was that visitors “wanted more than a park,” he said. “They wanted a park and a botanical garden and a gathering place and programming.

Therme combines nature, community, well-being and art together in a similar way.”

Local tweaks The concept has resonated in the European cities where it is operating, including Bucharest, where 40% of the city’s population visits the facility, said John Alschuler, executive chairman of Therme North America. He is also the founder of real estate strategy firm HR&A Advisors and a former High Line board chair.

In New York, the concept will need some tweaking. Most notably, the facility will have to be vertical, Alschuler said, because the pools and wellness facilities occupy 20-acre sites in other cities.

A New York City location would be about 250,000 square feet. Company leaders say they have not yet started a location search, but they envision a site on the waterfront with good transit access and a hint of the city’s industrial past.

Tickets for a day would start at about $40, they said, a price point

THERME

BY CARA EISENPRESS

A pool surrounded by plants at Therme’s Bucharest location

THE BET IS THAT RESIDENTS WANT A NEW IN-PERSON SOCIAL EXPERIENCE ent from what the developers of the High Line park discovered when it opened to the public in 2009, said Robert Hammond, who will help lead the U.S. Therme projects and is co-founder and executive director of Friends of the High Line.

they think would make the baths accessible to a wide swath of the city’s residents.

Alschuler and Hammond said the New York project has the backing of the Vienna-based and privately-held Therme Group but would also be raising money from other investors, some of whom had already expressed interest. At the Bucharest location, the least-expensive weekend ticket for a threehour pass for adults costs the equiv-

alent of $15.

Therme would not share information about the company’s financial resources except to say that it was firmly established and has capital reserves.

Hammond, who will become Therme North America’s president and chief strategy officer, plans to leave his position at the High Line in January.

Therme affiliates plan to open a new location in Frankfurt, Germa-

FINANCE

ny, and another in Manchester, England, in 2023. The company in August announced its first North American spot, which is planned for Toronto. The company’s Asian group is in discussions for projects in Singapore, Shanghai and Beijing.

Alschuler and Hammond aim to have made headway on locations in three to five American cities by next spring, likely including Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Houston or Dallas. ■

WEBCAST CALLOUT

BY AARON ELSTEIN

W

all Street work is nice if you can get it. Trouble is, there’s less to be gotten in New York than ever.

The city is on pace to lose 4,900 Wall Street jobs this year after shedding 3,600 in 2020—the most since the Great Recession—according to a report last Thursday from the state comptroller’s office. In addition, New York’s share of securities-industry jobs nationwide hit a low of 17.8% in August. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli attributed the decline to technological advances and the relocation of jobs.

The job losses come as securities firms are making record sums, and they’re discouraging news for commercial landlords counting on filling their offices again.

The trend also sends a worrisome signal because each Wall Street job creates two jobs in other industries such as law, restaurants and theater.

New York was home to 33% of all securities-industry roles 30 years ago, when deals were struck in person or over the phone and reported on ticker tape.

Even so, the city’s economy is now less tethered to Wall Street’s highs and lows, thanks to growth in the fields of technology, health care, education and hospitality in the past 20 years. Also, New York’s remaining 180,000 investment bankers and traders are making more money than ever.

The average salary on Wall Street reached $438,450 last year, or five times higher than the private-sector average. And pay could clock in even higher this year because markets are booming. Banks and brokerage houses generated $31 billion in first-half pretax earnings and are on pace for their best year since 2009, when taxpayers bailed out the industry. The windfall means state tax collections are running ahead of projections, so budget deficits could be lower and Al-

BLOOMBERG

Wall Street work dries up even as banks and brokers are enjoying record profits

bany wouldn’t have to borrow heavily to pay its bills.

“Wall Street’s success during the pandemic has benefited New York’s economy and finances during a difficult time,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “Financial markets move in cycles, however, and profits will subside at some point.”

Outside the city One way Wall Street firms are preparing for the prospect of less

prosperous times is by hiring more people in cities where wages are lower.

Salt Lake City has been a growing Goldman Sachs hub for many years, and banks have been relocating back-office jobs to New Jersey, Florida and other places since the 1990s. Last year bond broker Cantor Fitzgerald said it would let go of 76 employees as it moved certain operations out of New York.

Although more Wall Street workers had returned to the office

by August than those in most other industries, the comptroller’s office reported, more than 70% remained at home. That’s a reason commuter traffic hasn’t recovered to anything like prepandemic levels. A little more than 40% of Wall Street workers live outside the city—the highest share of commuters of any major industry. The average round-trip commute was 74 minutes, the longest of any industry. ■

JOIN US THURSDAY CRAIN’S NEW YORK NOW SUMMIT: TOURISM’S COMEBACK Tourism is a critical driver of the city’s economy and was one of the industries most damaged by the pandemic.

Almost overnight restaurants, hotels and theaters ground to a halt. For this Crain’s New York Now Summit, we’ll delve into the city’s fledgling visitor comeback and what can be done to recharge tourism.

VIRTUAL EVENT Date: Oct. 28 Time: 4 to 5 p.m.

CrainsNewYork.com/ OctoberNYNSummit

Vol. 37, No. 38, October 25, 2021—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly,except for a combined issue on 1/4/21 and 1/11/21, 6/28/21 and 7/5/21, 7/12/21 and 7/19/21, 7/26/21 and 8/2/21, 8/9/21 and 8/16/21 and the last issue in December. 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. $140.00 per year. (GST No. 13676-0444-RT) ©Entire contents copyright 2021 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

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BUCK ENNIS

POLITICS

SLIWA’S ECCENTRIC CASE FOR MAYOR

Here’s a look at the unorthodox platform—from cryptocurrency to crime—of a uniquely New York character

BY BRIAN PASCUS

C

urtis Sliwa's run for mayor comes as no surprise.

The fixture of the city’s AM radio circuit and icon of vigilante justice is using his platform as a candidate to wage an unorthodox crusade that mixes the serious with the silly and leaves the man who wears the most famous red beret in town with no shortage of headlines.

Sliwa spent one afternoon at Gracie Mansion mocking Mayor Bill de Blasio by holding a 10-pound meatball to call attention to the mayor’s perceived blind spots. And he rode the city’s subway system for 24 hours to draw attention to what he claims is a rise in crimes committed on mass transit.

(The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reports that from January through September, major felonies in the subway system were down 13.8% year over year.)

As he wages an underdog battle against Democratic nominee Eric Adams, whose $9 million in private donations dwarf Sliwa's $994,000, the WABC talk-show host has announced policies that have turned heads, raised eyebrows and left

“EVERY TIME I SPEAK TO BUSINESSPEOPLE, THEY SWALLOW THEIR THROAT” more than a few people in stunned silence.

“Every time I speak to businesspeople,” said Sliwa, the 67-year-old founder of the Guardian Angels public safety group and Republican nominee for mayor, “they swallow

their throat.”

If members of the business community are gulping, they have their reasons.

The Upper West Side resident views a return-to-work policy as pointless. He proposes paying city workers with cryptocurrency. He wants to revoke Madison Square Garden’s property tax carve-out and experiment with universal basic income to the tune of $1,100 a month for two years.

Sliwa, moreover, is pessimistic about New York’s chances of recovering from the Covid-19 crisis. He argues that lockdowns and remote work have changed the way employees conduct business and have altered the construction of the city’s tax base, putting a traditional economic recovery out of reach.

“It’s going to happen, but nowhere near the expectations See SLIWA on page 22 OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

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10/22/21 3:52 PM

WHO OWNS THE BLOCK

400 W. 57TH ST.

Stately red-brick Windermere in Hell’s Kitchen leaves a dubious history behind in renovation Owner’s pivot from hotel rooms to offices finally lands city’s blessing

BY C. J. HUGHES

T

475 W. 57TH ST. A condo developed in 1986 by Lewis Futterman that struggled to sell during the late-1980s recession, this 30-story, 178-unit affordable housing tower today is owned by the Actors Fund, a nonprofit service group for the entertainment industry. Apartments at the Dorothy Ross Friedman Residence are targeted toward seniors and those living with AIDS and who have income restrictions. The Related Cos., a major developer that early in its career specialized in syndicating tax credits for development projects, once had a stake in the property.

435 W. 57TH ST. Like many of the apartment buildings in the area, this whitebrick version, which has 275 units across 17 stories, dates to the mid-20th century, specifically 1962. Public records show it is owned by New Jersey firm South Park Estate Co., an affiliate of the development firm Punia Co. Charles Punia, a Polish immigrant real estate developer, appears to be the company’s founder. The most recent unit to lease in the building, last month, was a studio for $2,650. The building is worth $39.5 million, according to an assessment by the city, which tends to undervalue some properties; in 2020 it was worth $44 million, records show.

417 W. 57TH ST. 456 W. 57TH ST. Several turn-of-the-last-century brownstones hug this corner of the street, including this 5-story, 12-unit version, which is owned by Benjamin Aryeh, a Jewish immigrant from Iran who also owns small rental buildings on the Upper East Side and in Gramercy Park; another holding is the Manhattan-based Rafael Gallery, which deals in paintings and antique carpets.

A three-bedroom at No. 456 rented in June for $3,850 a month, according to StreetEasy. A barber shop sits at its base. Like many buildings post-pandemic, the brownstone’s value seems to have taken a hit, dropping to just below $2 million in 2021, according to city estimates, from about $2.1 million the year before.

This 1886 brick-and-terracotta church once belonged to the strict Protestant order the Catholic Apostolics, founded in 1832 with the belief that Jesus would return to earth three years later. But after the last of the church’s leaders, Henry DuBois, died in 1949, the church sat unused for decades. The Lutheran church restored it in recent years, and the city declared the Gothic structure a landmark in 2007. The building, which has a 40-foot-tall nave and molded leaves around the doorways, is now for sale for $20 million. Marketing material suggests it could be turned into a home.

Craig Dix, the agent with Berkshire Hathaway listing the property, had no comment.

442 W. 57TH ST. This 12-story, 118-rental-unit elevator building, Hanover House, was built in 1960 by George Rabinor, a lawyer and former high school English teacher who constructed 2,000 apartments across the country, according to a 2003 obituary. In mid-October there were no units for lease in the building. The last to rent, in September, was a one-bedroom, last listed at $2,895 a month. (Building rule: Only one pet under 40 pounds allowed.)

440 W. 57TH ST. For years the two-towered block-through hotel here, built in 1964, was a Holiday Inn, before it was reinvented under new ownership in 2017 as the boutique-ish Watson Hotel.

But when the coronavirus crashed into New York, the 600-room property became one of more than 100 hotels to turn into homeless shelters, in the interest of stopping Covid’s spread. (The city picked up the tab for the rooms.) During the pandemic, a buyer came knocking, in the form of Midtown-based Yellowstone Real Estate Investments, which in April picked up the ground lease and the building for $190 million from sellers Woodridge Capital Partners, a Los Angeles firm, and BD Hotels, a boutique hotel investor. The property’s short run as a shelter came to an end in June, when city officials began relocating homeless residents to new apartments. But earlier plans to convert at least some of the units into apartments do not yet seem to have come to fruition. Isaac Hera, Yellowstone’s chief executive, could not be reached for comment.

400 W. 57TH ST. The Windermere, which was developed from nearly vacant land in 1881 at a cost of $350,000 and spent many of its early decades as a residence for single professional women (rents started at around $50 per month), is nearing a new chapter. The deep-red-brick building is planned to become an office building, after owner Mark Tress scored a raft of approvals. The 8-story building will also add another floor; 20 rental units, offered at below-market rates, will be accessed from the 57th Street side of the corner-berth building. Tress, an active investor in health care facilities around the U.S., began filing plans to alter the landmark structure, which is technically made up of three adjacent buildings, in 2013. The last time the building was occupied was 2007, when crumbling walls and a collapsing roof led to a vacate order.

BUCK ENNIS, GOOGLE MAPS

he Windermere, a deep-redbrick, Queen Anne–style apartment building that has languished at West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen for decades, has taken a major step toward revival in recent months by snagging long-sought city approvals.

But pushback from public officials over hotel rooms at the site (offices will go there instead) has scrambled cost projections and upset schedules, said developer Mark Tress, its owner.

Tress added that Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose district includes the Windermere, should bear particular blame for scotching the original proposal, which would have put a 174-room hotel in the 8-story structure’s upper floors. The Windermere will add 55,000 square feet of offices instead.

Also in the building will be sidewalk-level stores and a top-floor restaurant. There will be 20 units of below-market-rate housing, which officials insisted on because of the building’s history of landlord harassment. In the early 1980s, under a previous owner, Alan B. Weissman, some doors were padlocked, others were removed, and prostitutes were allowed to move in to scare away tenants, according to a history from the Manhattan borough president’s office, which added that the property managers ultimately went to jail for their harassment.

In 1985 a new owner, Toa Construction, took over. It paid $41,500 for the Windermere, according to a deed. But the Japanese company let the building deteriorate significantly, and by the late 2000s the last seven tenants had to flee after the Windermere was declared unsafe.

Tress traveled to Japan to court Toa over several months and in 2009 finally snapped up the building for $13 million. (But Toa shelled out $1.1 million in city fines and $2.6 million in a tenant settlement.)

After years of appearances before city officials, the city’s Landmarks Preservation and Planning commissions gave Tress their blessing this past spring. And a key City Council subcommittee approved it last month. But a scheduled vote by the full council passed earlier this month without action. A message left with Council Speaker Johnson’s office was not returned by press time.

Though breathing new life into a building that’s been empty for more than a decade has won many supporters, adding seven floors of offices might seem somewhat risky.

In September Midtown had an 18% availability rate, an increase from 14% in September 2020, according to the brokerage Colliers. But despite vacancies, unknown development costs and a long construction timeline, Tress seemed bullish: “There will always be a market for an office space in Midtown.” ■

4 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

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¬21 in 2021 We’ve increased our U.S. minimum hourly wage to $21 as a next step toward $25 by 2025.

Bank of America has raised our minimum rate of pay for all U.S. employees to $21/hour — the next step toward $25 by 2025.

Over the past four years, we have led the way by increasing our minimum hourly wage 40%.

Being a great place to work starts with investing in the people who serve our clients. Providing strong pay and competitive benefits to support our employees and their families helps us attract and retain strong talent.

Our actions demonstrate our continuing commitment to sustain job growth and economic stability for the thousands of individuals working in support of each other, our clients and the communities where we work and live.

We will continue our efforts to make a difference and serve as a catalyst for others to do the same.

What would you like the power to do?®

José Tavarez President, Bank of America New York City

Learn more at bankofamerica.com/metroNY

Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Credit Opportunity Lender. © 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

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IN THE MARKETS

Signature Bank baffles analysts with record results New York’s uneven revival has helped turbocharge the financial institution’s stock, which is up 250%

S

He said he’s optimistic because ignature Bank, a leading lender to commercial- tourists are slowly returning.

“Months ago I only heard people property owners and small businesses, reported record speaking English on Fifth Avenue,” results last week as New York con- he said. “Now I’m hearing French, German and Japanese.” tinues to emerge from its pandemic-induced coma.

Fast growth “I’d call it the perfect storm,” Chief Executive Signature Bank is takJoseph DePaolo said on a ing additional office conference call. “So many space, he said, and startgood things happened.” ing Monday, most of the Nothing but bad things staff is returning to the were happening a year office at least three days ago. Signature is a major each week. lender to owners of New York’s uneven rent-regulated apartment AARON ELSTEIN revival has helped turbobuildings, where half the charge Signature’s stock, tenants were unable to pay rent up 250% in the past 12 months. The during the spring of 2020. Business KBW Bank Index has gained 79%. borrowers had no cash to make The outperformance reflects payments on $11 billion worth how Signature is growing faster of loans, or 25% of the financial than most banks. Loans grew by nearly 10% last quarter, to $59 billion; deposits climbed by $10 billion, to $95 billion; and net income soared by 74%, to $241 million.

Analysts were puzzled because institution’s portfolio.

Signature last Tuesday said loan the bank’s performance is far out of deferrals had shriveled to $254 mil- step with that of rivals struggling to find borrowers. lion, or 0.4% of the portfolio.

“This quarter’s performance was “All the boroughs are doing better,” DePaolo said in an interview well ahead of guidance,” one anawith Crain’s. “The one thing we’re lyst said during the call. “Um, just curious: What happened?” all watching is Manhattan.”

“PERFORMANCE WAS WELL AHEAD OF GUIDANCE. UM, WHAT HAPPENED?”

SIGNATURE’S DePaolo and Shay founded the bank 21 years ago.

Asked if it felt good to be asked that question, DePaolo acknowledged that it did.

Analyst Jack Civello of Janney Montgomery Scott said Signature’s exceptional results might not be sustainable. Nonaccrual loans— ones in which interest payments aren’t being made—rose to $165 million from $136 million in the second quarter. That’s a sign

borrowers are struggling and could pressure profitability down the road.

DePaolo told analysts the bank probably won’t grow so fast in the future.

Crypto player For now, though, there’s great excitement around this little-known bank with no street-level branches.

DePaolo founded it 21 years ago with Chairman Scott Shay. In addition to providing loans to New York property owners and businesses, Signature is becoming a player in the fast-moving world of cryptocurrencies, thanks to Signet, a blockchain-based payment platform.

“We’re coming through the pandemic in a very, very favorable way,” DePaolo said. ■

REAL ESTATE

Law firm leasing doubles in New York City

T

he city’s law firms are back in expansion mode, leasing nearly 800,000 square feet of space during the third quarter of the year—almost double the amount they took the previous quarter, according to data from Savills.

The firms recognize the importance of collaborating at work, and some are taking advantage of the amount of availability on the market to move into nicer suites at lower rates. They are also scoring concessions from their landlords such as free rent and lease flexibility, said Sarah Dreyer of Savills.

“There’s a greater sense of comfort now,” Dreyer said. The firms also are making longer-term com-

firm activity in New York was more negatively impacted at the height of the pandemic. During the first half of 2020, major firms leased just 541,665 square feet of space, compared with almost 1 million square feet during the first half of 2019, a previous Savills study revealed.

Citywide sublease availability also rose, by 65% from the fourth quarter of 2019, to nearly 21 million square feet.

A strong Q3 Legal powerhouses are coming out of the shadows and renewing leases or expanding to larger offices, making the third quarter the strongest for leasing volume since the pandemic began.

The rise in activity was led by a 400,000-square-foot lease renewal by Fried Frank at its offices at 1 New York Plaza in the Financial District; a 132,100-square-foot renewal by Seyfarth Shaw at 620 Eighth Ave. in Midtown; a 25,000-square-foot expansion at Lowenstein Sandler’s offices at 1251 Sixth Ave., bringing its total footprint to 125,700 square feet; and Mintz’s relocation to a 101,400-square-foot

“FIRMS FEEL LIKE YOU CAN’T REPLICATE TALENT AND TRAINING THROUGH ZOOM” mitments of 10 to 20 years, compared with the five-year leases signed earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.

Compared with other cities, law

ISTOCK

BY NATALIE SACHMECHI

office at 919 Third Ave. Meanwhile, a slew of smaller firms—including Teitler & Teitler; Weinberger Singer; and Rubin, Fiorella, Friedman & Mercante— have been picking up office space around the city in recent weeks.

Although technology, the media

and some other industries continue to thrive with a virtual-work model, in-office collaboration is key to the success of law firms, said Tom Fulcher of Savills.

“Firms feel like you can’t replicate talent and training through Zoom,” Fulcher said. “The culture

and teaching moments happen because you’re in a room together.”

Some law firms are downsizing, however, including Chicago-based Jenner & Block, which inked a 15-year deal for new digs at the Durst Organization’s 1155 Sixth Ave. in the spring. ■

6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

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HEALTH CARE

H+H, Health Department say city comptroller’s contract spending report undercounted real totals

BY SHUAN SIM

T

he city’s health authorities are pushing back against Comptroller Scott Stringer’s “Making the Grade” report on Covid-19-related contracting with minority- and women-owned business enterprises in fiscal 2021, claiming it undercounted their actual efforts.

NYC Health + Hospitals, the city’s public health system, was reported to have spent $105 million during the fiscal year, of which none went to MWBEs. Other entities recorded as not having worked with diverse and women vendors during that period were the Financial Information Services Agency and the departments of Parks and Recreation, Consumer Affairs, Small Business Services and Consumer and Worker Protection. The city’s overall performance was given a C- grade in fiscal 2021, which ended June 30, down from a C the previous fiscal year.

Keith Tallbe, senior counsel and leader of the health system’s vendor diversity program, said Stringer’s calculation of the health system’s Covid-related spending was off. Be-

cause NYC Health + Hospitals is a public benefit corporation and not a city agency, he said, its revenue and expenses do not go through the comptroller’s financial system.

Such expenses are recorded by Stringer’s office only for capital projects where the funding source is from the city, Tallbe said. The $105 million recorded in the comptroller’s report was for the Covid Centers of Excellence and does not capture spending on personal protective equipment and medical

total pandemic contracts is not yet available, she noted. MWBE-awarded contracts, however, totaled $419 million that fiscal year—a 13% increase from the previous year and representing 28% utilization of such vendors, she added.

For emergency procurements during the pandemic, city agencies and authorities were actually exempt from the usual MWBE requirements because of the need to buy supplies quickly, Tallbe said.

“However, we didn’t do that,” he said. “Every contract opportunity where an MWBE could be considered, we did that.”

A spokeswoman from the comptroller’s office said the data in the report includes all spending captured in the city’s financial management system.

When asked for comment on the health system’s reporting of its contracting, the spokeswoman said: “We welcome further discussion about their MWBE spending and encourage H+H to accurately and transparently report its spending so that New Yorkers can assess how

“EVERY OPPORTUNITY WHERE AN MWBE COULD BE CONSIDERED, WE DID THAT” supplies, for which MWBEs had been tapped as vendors, he said.

Health + Hospitals’ Covid-related MWBE spending for fiscal 2021 was $267 million, of which $223 million went to city-certified diverse businesses, said Danielle DiBari, senior vice president of business operations and chief pharmacy officer. Covid-related MWBE spending as a proportion of

their public hospital system chooses to spend its multibillion-dollar budget.”

In response, DiBari said the health system is transparent on its MWBE strategies, operation infrastructure and implementation plans.

“For the comptroller to get to a better place in reporting this out, there needs to be better communication,” DiBari said. “I did not get reached out to for this report, and I'm not sure if anyone got reached out to either. We’re happy to partner with them as we’re proud of our numbers.”

When it comes to the city’s Health Department, the comptroller reported that it had allotted a fairly robust share of contracts to MWBEs, compared to other city agencies. Of its $379 million in Covid-related contracts, $159 million, or 42%, was awarded to diverse vendors. The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s overall grade, however, fell to C for fiscal 2021 from B the previous year.

“Though we respect the comptroller’s work, the grade is calculated based on payments and not on registered contracts, thus [it] is an

undercount,” a Health Department spokeswoman said.

Health equity Local stakeholders stressed the importance of supporting MWBEs during the Covid era. “It was difficult for small businesses even before the pandemic, and it has only gotten more difficult during,” said Gretchen Susi, deputy director of Brooklyn Communities Collaborative, a nonprofit with an enterprise initiative to help MWBEs contract with Brooklyn hospitals.

With people of color disproportionately affected by the pandemic, supporting MWBEs—which tend to stem from such communities—is a form of health equity, Stringer said in the report. Susi agreed, saying that when local businesses in diverse neighborhoods are excluded from major economic opportunities by large institutions, especially hospitals that rely on neighborhood ties and trust, it sets the community up for worse outcomes when a pandemic hits.

“Lifting up MWBEs becomes more than just about the money,” Susi said. “It’s about building civic infrastructure.” ■

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chief executive officer K.C. Crain senior executive vice president Chris Crain group publisher Jim Kirk

EDITORIAL

publisher/executive editor

City comptroller’s MWBE spending report shows government still has work to do Blasio administration has made it a priority to help such businesses win city contracts, establishing the Mayor’s Office of MWBEs in 2016. As reported in this week’s cover story, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s camp has certified more than 10,570 MWBEs across the five boroughs (up from 3,800 in 2013) and announced a goal of awarding $25 billion in city contracts to such businesses by 2025. Of that amount, the MWBE office says, it has doled out $21.3 billion in contracts so far.

As Stringer wrote in his report, though, there were multiple opportunities for city agencies to contract with diverse businesses for Covid supplies. Items such as face masks, disposable gowns, thermometers and hand sanitizers could have been sourced from MWBEs, he said.

Many of the agencies quibbled with the findings, putting forth their own numbers.

In response to the report, Magalie Austin, director of the Mayor’s Office of MWBEs, said: “We are incredibly proud that 25.3% of eligible contracts were awarded to city-certified MWBEs during FY21,

AGENCIES MUST BE FULLY TRANSPARENT ABOUT EACH DOLLAR THAT GOES OUT were the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Financial Information Services Agency, the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Department of Small Business Services and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

The findings come after the de

N

assistant managing editor Telisha Bryan deputy digital editor, audience & analytics art director Carolyn McClain photographer Buck Ennis data editor Amanda Glodowski senior reporters Cara Eisenpress,

Aaron Elstein, Eddie Small reporters Ryan Deffenbaugh, Maya Kaufman,

Brian Pascus, Natalie Sachmechi, Shuan Sim oped editor Jan Parr,

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an increase of approximately $62.5 million compared to FY20.”

She said the report used “flawed methodology to paint an unfair picture,” a sentiment echoed by Health + Hospitals officials.

Although the city government has been doing the work, it’s clear from Stringer’s report that there is still a lot left to do. For some agencies, turning to minority and women vendors is obviously not yet second nature. It’s also clear from the fallout over the report that city agencies are not on the same page about MWBE spend-

ing. For this initiative to be truly successful, the agencies must be fully and readily transparent about each dollar that goes out so it can be tracked and the actual impact can be measured.

MWBEs have long complained that the process of securing government contracts has been cloudy and arduous. The only way to showcase that improvements have been made is for all agencies to be aligned in reporting where the money is flowing so there is never a question about how the city supports businesses. ■

Christine Rozmanich, Laura Warren people on the move manager Debora Stein,

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We need a plan to ease rising gridlock so people can return to work smoothly ew York City is facing the music—the music of honking horns from frustrated drivers who are sitting in more gridlock than ever.

It will only get worse because many people feel more comfortable sitting behind the wheel on their commute rather than taking mass transit. Gridlock already is making our roads less safe; the summer had the highest number of traffic fatalities in the past seven summers.

Just as we have adapted since the pandemic, we must adapt to accelerate the return to the office—and we must do it in a way that reflects a balanced approach to overcoming gridlock.

As New York returns as a vibrant, attractive destination for businesses and entrepreneurs, the city has indirectly been asking us to change our behavior.

From the conversations around

editor-in-chief Cory Schouten,

cory.schouten@crainsnewyork.com

Jennifer Samuels

OP-ED

BY JEFF FRIEDMAN

EDITORIAL

GETTY IMAGES

L

ast week city Comptroller Scott Stringer’s office released a report on city contracting with minority- and women-owned business enterprises for goods and services related to Covid-19 in fiscal 2021. The results were dismal. According to the report, from March 2020 to July 2021, the city spent over $3.5 billion on such contracts, and only 16% of that money went to MWBEs. The report found that six entities did no Covid-related contracting with MWBEs. The comptroller’s office counted NYC Health + Hospitals, the city’s public health system, as one even though it is technically a public benefit corporation. The others

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr.

congestion pricing to encourage mass transit to driving during off-peak hours, the city is telling us that traffic is horrible, and we must do something about it, The paradigm of how offices are used and occupied and how we commute to them has shifted, and in return we must shift. If we do, we can ultimately make the city better and safer.

Here’s how:

• As more individuals return to

the office, we have to get traffic under control. Schedule flexibility is one of the keys to curbing traffic. With the world connected 24/7, the hours become more fluid, and our traditional 9-to-5 presence in the office becomes less important.

• It’s all about the logistics of coordinating deliveries with offices, companies and businesses so that the majority are not being made during peak daytime hours. This will make our streets

more manageable and our businesses more efficient, and it will give more time back to the truck drivers who spend hours circling city streets only to end up double parking.

We can use technology to manage deliveries and schedule them in a way that provides a more balanced approach in this new normal. We are seeing this done around the World Trade Center site and other locations.

According to Department of Transportation figures, more than 89% of goods coming into the city are delivered by truck, and 80% of the commercial activity in Manhattan’s central business district occurs between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.

As e-commerce continues to significantly increase, adding further strain on our roads, we need to spread out our deliveries better. It’s worth noting that cities from Bogota to London have implemented ambitious overnight delivery programs that have had

favorable results.

• If we are to get more workers back into the office sooner, we need to offer greater flexibility on our railroads to the suburbs, where many New Yorkers moved during the pandemic.

For example, the Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road still offer only monthly tickets at a discount. The introduction of a flex pass in which users receive a discount on 10 trips would get the new suburbanites back into the city, increase ridership and encourage schedules to revert to 100% prepandemic levels. It also would help take cars off the road.

The future of work will always include the office, but to what extent depends on our ability to get gridlock under control. We have the tools to do it. All we need is the drive. ■

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CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. chairman Keith E. Crain vice chairman Mary Kay Crain chief executive officer 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] chairman Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. [1911-1996]

Jeff Friedman is CEO of Building Intelligence, a New York City– based software company.

8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

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OP-ED

As the pandemic pushes more people outside, flexible street space is a public health necessity

M

ore and more, residents and advocates are calling for a rethinking of street space—that is, streets that accommodate not just vehicular traffic but several kinds of uses equally. This demand is rising as residents turn to cycling and walking to mitigate climate change and as we see a surge in package deliveries with the rise of Amazon and other online retailers.

In some city neighborhoods, streets see little vehicular traffic and yet remain off-limits to the residents and businesses that could use them for dining and concerts, among other purposes. This demand is rising as the pandemic pushes more people outdoors. Flexible street space is no longer a luxury—it’s a public health necessity.

But making street space more community-friendly is hard work.

Street spaces need to accommodate pedestrians, personal vehicles, buses, delivery vehicles and outdoor diners. They need to be

fully accessible to people with disabilities. (Consider New York’s Pedestrian Ramp program, which required $1.6 billion to increase accessibility.)

Who controls the streets?

Environmental factors also come into play. In New York, for example, the streets are home to roughly 25% of the city’s urban tree canopy. Infrastructure factors exist as well: the electrical and sewer wires and pipes that exist beneath the asphalt.

Who controls decisions about the streets can be confusing. The city Department of Transportation is in charge of city streets, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is in charge of operating buses. This means that changes to bus routes and bus stops require extensive coordination between the two entities—there’s no single decision-maker.

What’s more, despite the vital need to be more creative with streets, many municipalities still bristle at the idea. Policymakers

and others in the community might fear that more flexible street space will mean fewer places for shoppers to park—and thus less parking revenue for the city. Perhaps adding that new bus lane would inadvertently disrupt cyclists on the road–or that new outdoor dining space could slow bus traffic.

Other common worries include the sustainability and long-term costs of revamping street space or the jurisdictional challenges involved such as navigating a public-private partnership between the city and the local businesses that would use the reimagined street space.

A fantastic start While these concerns are legitimate, the return on investment on recalibrating streets to be more community-friendly will be high.

Businesses can expand beyond their front door, adding momentum to the local economy. More outdoor spaces mean a safer environment amid the pandemic and a

BLOOMBERG

BY CELESTE FRYE

healthier population. Artists can display their work in more public places, fueling local culture.

The city DOT’s Open Streets program opens up space for art and concerts and for sitting, walking and playing. It does these things by temporarily closing designated streets to vehicular traffic. It's a fantastic start.

Still, there’s more to be done. New York must continue to evaluate spaces and how people use them— and whether these uses can be improved.

It will quickly find there’s room, and a will, for improvement.■ Celeste Frye is co-founder and CEO of Public Works Partners.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes submissions to its opinion pages. Send letters to letters@CrainsNewYork.com. Send op-eds of 500 words or fewer to opinion@CrainsNewYork.com.

Please include the writer’s name, company, address and telephone number. Crain’s reserves the right to edit submissions for clarity.

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OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 9

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THE LIST LARGEST COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MANAGERS Ranked by square footage under management in New York City

RANK

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

AMANDA.GLODOWSKI@CRAINSNEWYORK.COM COMMERCIAL SQ. FT. THIRD-PARTY SQ. FT. MANAGED IN THE CITY MANAGED IN THE CITY (IN MILLIONS) 2021/ (IN MILLIONS) 2021/ 2020 1 2020 2

COMPANY/ LOCATION

PHONE/ WEBSITE

HEAD(S) OF NEW YORK OFFICE

Cushman & Wakefield Inc. 1290 Sixth Ave. New York, NY 10104

212-841-7500 cushmanwakefield.com

Toby Dodd President, New York tristate

69.57 66.54

69.57 66.54

1,268 JPMorgan Chase, Centene, Altice, TIAA

JLL 330 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10017

212-812-5700 jll.com/newyork

Peter Riguardi Chairman and president, New York region Stephen Schlegel Chief operating officer, market director

57.10 55.40

57.10 55.40

2,198 n/d

CBRE Group Inc. 200 Park Ave. New York, NY 10166

212-984-8000 cbre.com

Matt Van Buren President, Northeast division

35.00 33.00

35.00 33.00

1,729 DE Shaw, PJT Partners, AIG, Pacific College of Medicine

Brookfield Properties 250 Vesey St. New York, NY 10281

212-417-7000 brookfieldproperties.com

Ben Brown Managing partner

31.00 27.70

0.00 0.00

659 EY, NHL, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, Amazon

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

212-894-7000 vno.com

Steven Roth Chairman, chief executive Michael Franco President, chief financial officer

28.61 28.65

5.52 5.94

n/d Facebook, Amazon, Google, Bloomberg

SL Green Realty Corp.

One Vanderbilt Ave. New York, NY 10170

212-594-2700 slgreen.com

Marc Holliday Chairman, chief executive

27.90 28.89

2.07 2.07

905 ViacomCBS Inc, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) Inc., Sony Corp., TD Bank US Holding Company

Hines 345 Hudson St. New York, NY 10014

212-230-2300 hines.com

Tommy Craig Senior managing director Sarah Hawkins Chief executive, East Region

21.01 23.70

15.28 17.41

286 Mitsui Fudosan America Inc., Cantor Fitzgerald, Publicis Groupe, Horizon Media

Tishman Speyer 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111

212-715-0300 tishmanspeyer.com

Rob Speyer President, chief executive

19.40 20.60

2.60 2.78

n/d Colgate-Palmolive, Jeffries, NBCUniversal, MetLife

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

18.79 16.60

0.00 0.00

366 UBS, Bank of America, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Newmark 125 Park Ave. New York, NY 10017

212-372-2000 nmrk.com

David Falk President Barry Gosin Chief executive James Kuhn President

16.22 n/d

16.22 n/d

238 A+E Networks, Cleary Gottlieb, Hermès, lululemon

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

212-609-8000 gfpre.com

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

15.89 15.89

3.31 3.31

418 Legal Aid Society, New York City Health & Hospitals, NYU, ASPCA

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

14.00 14.00

0.00 0.00

n/d Spotify, Group M, Moody’s, Droga 5

The Durst Organization 1 Bryant Park New York, NY 10036

212-257-6600 durst.org

Douglas Durst Chairman Jonathan Durst President

13.00 13.00

0.00 0.00

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

212-407-2400 rudin.com

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

10.35 10.35

0.00 0.00

329 Blackstone, KPMG, BlackRock, Thomson Reuters

Boston Properties Inc. 599 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10022

212-326-4000 bxp.com

John Powers Executive vice president, New York region

8.68 8.68

1.15 1.15

189 Shearman & Sterling, Weil Gotshal & Manges, Kirkland & Ellis, Millennium Management LLC.

Paramount Group Inc. 1633 Broadway New York, NY 10019

212-237-3100 pgre.com

Albert Behler President, chief executive

8.58 8.60

0.64 0.62

291 Clifford Chance LLP, Allianz Global Investors LP, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Norton Rose Fulbright

Empire State Realty Trust Inc. 111 W. 33rd St. New York, NY 10120

212-687-8700 Anthony Malkin empirestaterealtytrust.com Chairman, president, chief executive

8.27 8.26

0.00 0.00

755 LinkedIn, Shutterstock, Sephora, Signature Bank

Cohen Brothers Realty Corp.

750 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10022

212-838-1800 cohenbrothersrealty.com

Charles Cohen President, chief executive Steven Cherniak Chief operating officer

7.65 7.65

0.00 0.00

525 Interpubic Group of Companies, WeWork Companies, Meredith Corporation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

L&L Holding Co. 142 W. 57th St. New York, NY 10019

212-920-3360 ll-holding.com

David Levinson Chairman, chief executive Robert Lapidus President, chief investment officer

7.26 7.26

0.93 0.93

143 Tiffany & Co., Grey Advertising, Citadel, Mastercard

Adams & Co. Real Estate 411 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10016

212-679-5500 adamsre.com

David Levy Principal

6.97 6.97

6.97 6.97

211 Dashlane, Taboola, Milliman, New York Presbyterian

RFR Realty

212-308-1000

Gregg Popkin President Aby Rosen Cofounder, principal

6.85 6.85

0.00 0.00

Continued onCorp., page 12 450 Morgan Stanley, PVH Etsy, PayPal

Peter Duncan President, chief executive

6.71 9.11

1.68 2.01

375YORK Park Ave. rfr.com 10 | CRAIN’S NEW BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

2021 CITY EMPLOYEES 3 ACTIVE CITY TENANTS

1,450 Bank of America, Conde Nast, TikTok, Bank of Montreal

New York, NY 10152 George Comfort & Sons Inc. 200 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016

P010_CN_20211025.indd 10

212-481-1122 georgecomfort.com

44 Freshly, Havas Health, New York Life Insurance Company, 10/20/21 2:50 PM 1199SEIU

AT THE CENTER OF

WHAT’S NEXT Fueled by ideas, expertise and passion across borders and beyond service lines, our Cushman & Wakefield real estate professionals create solutions to prepare our clients for what’s next. By empowering our property managers to understand client business objectives and tailor best-in-class services to each property’s unique needs, we are leading the way in property management in New York City.

Cushman & Wakefield is proud to be ranked

#1 Commercial Property Manager of 2021 / New York City

cushmanwakefield.com

CN020458.indd 1

10/20/21 2:05 PM

16 17 THE 18 LIST

Investment Bank, Norton Rose Fulbright

Empire State Realty Trust Inc. 111 W. 33rd St. New York, NY 10120

212-687-8700 Anthony Malkin empirestaterealtytrust.com Chairman, president, chief executive

8.27 8.26

0.00 0.00

755 LinkedIn, Shutterstock, Sephora, Signature Bank

Cohen Brothers Realty Corp.

750 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10022

212-838-1800 cohenbrothersrealty.com

7.65 7.65

0.00 0.00

525 Interpubic Group of Companies, WeWork Companies, Meredith Corporation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

7.26 7.26

0.93 0.93

143 Tiffany & Co., Grey Advertising, Citadel, Mastercard

Charles Cohen President, chief executive Steven Cherniak Chief operating officer

LARGEST MANAGERS L&L HoldingCOMMERCIAL Co. 212-920-3360PROPERTY David Levinson

19 20 21 1 22 2 23 3 24 4 525CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS 2021 6 7 8 9 10CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS 2021 11 12 13Honor Minority Executives 14in Commercial Banking 15 RANK

142 W. 57th St. New York, NY 10019

ll-holding.com

Chairman, chief executive Robert Lapidus President, chief investment officer

Adams & Co. Real Estate 411 Fifth Ave. COMPANY/ LOCATION New York, NY 10016

212-679-5500 adamsre.com PHONE/

David Levy Principal

WEBSITE

HEAD(S) OF NEW YORK OFFICE

RFR Realty& Wakefield Inc. Cushman 375 1290Park SixthAve. Ave. New York, NY 10152 10104

212-308-1000 212-841-7500 rfr.com cushmanwakefield.com

Gregg Popkin President Toby Dodd Aby RosenNew Cofounder, principal President, York tristate

6.85 69.57 6.85 66.54

0.00 69.57 0.00 66.54

450 JPMorgan Morgan Stanley, Corp., 1,268 Chase,PVH Centene, Etsy, Altice,PayPal TIAA

George Comfort & Sons Inc. JLL 200 330 Madison Ave. New York, NY 10016 10017

212-481-1122 212-812-5700 georgecomfort.com jll.com/newyork

6.71 57.10 9.11 55.40

1.68 57.10 2.01 55.40

44 Freshly, Havas Health, New 2,198 n/d York Life Insurance Company, 1199SEIU

Kaufman Organization 450 Ave. CBRESeventh Group Inc. New York, Ave. NY 10123 200 Park New York, NY 10166

212-471-4300 kaufmanorganization.com 212-984-8000 cbre.com

Peter Duncan Riguardi Chairman and president, New President, York regionchief executive Stephen Schlegel Chief operating officer, market director Edward Hart Chief executive Matt Van Buren Steven Kaufman President, Northeast division President

6.10 6.70 35.00 33.00

1.67 1.74 35.00 33.00

129 Kleinfeld, Fortress Financial, Anheuser Busch, AdobeAIG, 1,729 DE Shaw, PJT Partners, Pacific College of Medicine

Rockefeller Group Brookfield Properties 1271 SixthSt. Ave. 250 Vesey New York, NY 10020 10281

212-282-2000 212-417-7000 rockefellergroup.com brookfieldproperties.com

Daniel Moore Ben Brown President, chief executive Managing partner

5.80 31.00 5.80 27.70

1.10 0.00 1.10 0.00

290 League Baseball, 659 Major EY, NHL, Cravath, Swaine & Latham & Watkins, Sirius XM, Moore, Amazon NBCUniversal

Columbia Property Trust Inc. Vornado Realty Trust 315 Ave.Ave. South 888 Park Seventh New York, NY 10010 10019

212-433-4100 212-894-7000 columbia.reit vno.com

5.56 28.61 5.56 28.65

2.18 5.52 2.18 5.94

165 Snap Inc., Pitchbook, n/d Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Google, Netflix Bloomberg

SL Green Realty Corp.

One Vanderbilt Ave. New York, NY 10170

212-594-2700 slgreen.com

Paul TetiRoth Executive vice president, national real Steven Chairman, chief executive estate Michaeloperations Franco President, chief financial officer Nelson Mills President, chief executive Jeff Gronning Executive vice president, chief Marc Holliday investment officer Chairman, chief executive

27.90 28.89

2.07 2.07

COMMERCIAL SQ. FT. THIRD-PARTY SQ. FT. MANAGED IN THE6.97 CITY MANAGED IN THE6.97 CITY 6.97 6.97 (IN MILLIONS) 2021/ (IN MILLIONS) 2021/ 2020 1 2020 2

211 Dashlane, Taboola, Milliman, 2021 CITY New York Presbyterian EMPLOYEES 3 ACTIVE CITY TENANTS

905 ViacomCBS Inc, Credit Suisse Securities (USA) Inc., Sony Corp., TD Bank US Holding Company Crain's New York Business uses staff research, extensive surveys and the most current references available to produce its lists, but there is no guarantee that these listings are complete. To qualify for this list, companies must manage commercial

property in the five boroughs of New York City. Commercial square footage and third-party square footage have been rounded, but rankings are based on unrounded numbers. Executives may have additional titles. All figures are as of Sept. 30 212-230-2300 Tommy Craig Seniorrefers managing director 15.28 286 Fudosan of the given year.Hines n/d-Not disclosed. 1--Figures include office properties only. 2--Third-party square footage to property managed by a company other21.01 than the owner. 3--Full-time and full-time-equivalent only, Mitsui including union America membersInc., and administrative employees.

345 Hudson St. hines.com Sarah Hawkins Chief executive, East Region 23.70 17.41 Cantor Fitzgerald, Publicis

MINORITY EXECUTIVES IN COMMERCIAL BANKING New York, NY 10014 Tishman Speyer 45 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10111

212-715-0300

Rob Speyer

19.40

2.60

n/d Colgate-Palmolive, Jeffries, NBCUniversal, MetLife

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

18.79 16.60

0.00 0.00

366 UBS, Bank of America, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison

Newmark 125 Park Ave. New York, NY 10017

212-372-2000 nmrk.com

David Falk President Barry Gosin Chief executive James Kuhn President

16.22 n/d

16.22 n/d

238 A+E Networks, Cleary Gottlieb, Hermès, lululemon

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

212-609-8000 gfpre.com

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

15.89 15.89

3.31 3.31

418 Legal Aid Society, New York City Health & Hospitals, NYU, ASPCA

14.00 14.00

0.00 0.00

n/d Spotify, Group M, Moody’s, Droga 5

tishmanspeyer.com President,EXCLUSIVE chief executive DATA? VISIT CRAINSNEWYORK.COM/LISTS 20.60 2.78 WANT MORE OF CRAIN’S

MINORITY EXECUTIVES IN COMMERCIALLarry BANKING Silverstein Properties Inc. 212-490-0666 Silverstein Chairman 7 World Trade Center New York, NY 10007

silversteinproperties.com

Marty Burger Chief executive Tal Kerret President

The Durst Organization 1 Bryant Park New York, NY 10036

212-257-6600 durst.org

Douglas Durst Chairman Jonathan Durst President

13.00 13.00

0.00 0.00

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

212-407-2400 rudin.com

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

10.35 10.35

0.00 0.00

329 Blackstone, KPMG, BlackRock, Thomson Reuters

8.68 8.68

1.15 1.15

189 Shearman & Sterling, Weil Gotshal & Manges, Kirkland & Ellis, Millennium Management LLC.

8.58 8.60

0.64 0.62

291 Clifford Chance LLP, Allianz Global Investors LP, Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Norton Rose Fulbright

This isBoston a special print editorial feature within Properties Inc. and digital 212-326-4000 John Powers Lexington 17, Ave.2022 issue that bxp.com Executive vice president, New York region Crain’s599 January will recognize minority New York, NY 10022 leaders and executives who are currently serving in a Vice President or senior level role in commercial banking Albert for at Paramount Group Inc. 212-237-3100 Behler 1633 Broadway pgre.com President, chief executive least 10 years.

Nominees must also serve as role models New York, NY 10019 or mentors to others and/or promote inclusive practices in the workplace. We are welcoming nominations to help us determine recognized feature.

Empire those State Realty Trust Inc. in this 212-687-8700 Anthony Malkin

16 17 18

Groupe, Horizon Media

1,450 Bank of America, Conde Nast, TikTok, Bank of Montreal

111 W. 33rd St. New York, NY 10120

empirestaterealtytrust.com Chairman, president, chief executive

8.27 8.26

0.00 0.00

755 LinkedIn, Shutterstock, Sephora, Signature Bank

Cohen Brothers Realty Corp.

750 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10022

212-838-1800 cohenbrothersrealty.com

Charles Cohen President, chief executive Steven Cherniak Chief operating officer

7.65 7.65

0.00 0.00

525 Interpubic Group of Companies, WeWork Companies, Meredith Corporation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

SUBMIT TODAY: L&L Holding Co. 142 W. 57th St. New York, NY 10019

212-920-3360 ll-holding.com

David Levinson Chairman, chief executive Robert Lapidus President, chief investment officer

7.26 7.26

0.93 0.93

143 Tiffany & Co., Grey Advertising, Citadel, Mastercard

Adams & Co. Real Estate 411 Fifth Ave. New York, NY 10016

212-679-5500 adamsre.com

David Levy Principal

6.97 6.97

6.97 6.97

211 Dashlane, Taboola, Milliman, New York Presbyterian

RFR Realty

212-308-1000

Gregg Popkin President Aby Rosen Cofounder, principal

6.85 6.85

0.00 0.00

450 Morgan Stanley, PVH Corp., Etsy, PayPal

Peter Duncan President, chief executive

6.71 9.11

1.68 2.01

19 CrainsNewYork.com/NotableMinoritiesExecBanking Nominations close on November 15.

20 21 22

375YORK Park Ave. rfr.com 12 | CRAIN’S NEW BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021 New York, NY 10152

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TECHNOLOGY

To stem abuse, city launches regulations for an artificial intelligence–powered New York

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

F

GETTY IMAGES

or all its ability to speed government services and boost jobs in the technology industry, artificial intelligence carries the potential for abuses, including “explicit, outright discrimination,” if not properly regulated, a new city report warns.

The 115-page “New York City AI Strategy” document, published Oct. 13 by John Paul Farmer, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s chief technology officer, is the most comprehensive municipal effort yet to understand how algorithms and automation are likely to influence how New Yorkers live.

“Artificial intelligence and machine learning are rapidly assuming integral roles in everyday life,” Farmer said in the report’s introduction. “But the general public and some key decision-makers do not yet understand them well.”

itself as a baseline to help guide lawmakers’ decisions, says: ● New York City has become a hub for the industry, capturing 13% of all U.S. jobs in artificial intelligence and $7 billion in private investment. The city is also a base for AI research by Facebook, Google and Microsoft, as well as by health centers including Mount Sinai. ● The growth of the technology necessitates that city regulators

have a grasp of how it works, such as how the Taxi and Limousine Commission must understand how Lyft and Uber use AI to predict demand, price rides and dispatch drivers. ● Government has used the technology to uncover potential locations with lead contamination in water and to identify students at risk of not graduating. More controversial uses include algorithms in

the court that assess whether a person should be released before trial and facial-recognition technology employed in NYPD investigations. ● The city developed an AI program to automatically analyze the 15,000 utility bills the Division of Energy Management pays each month for facilities. The system spotted small anomalies and errors that added up to $4.5 million in refunds in the past two years.

The report stops short of recommending any direct policies. It suggests the city consider how to better harness AI to share data among departments and with the public, through the New York City Open Data website. It also suggests officials open up more career-training programs in the AI and machine-learning fields as well as engage the public to hear how use of the technology has affected them. ■

THE MATRIX, a hit movie from 1999, predicted a dystopian AI-driven future.

THE POSSIBILITY OF AI ABUSES IS AN ISSUE THAT LAWMAKERS ARE GRAPPLING WITH AT MANY LEVELS The possibility of AI abuses is an issue that lawmakers are grappling with at many levels. Advisers to President Joe Biden recently suggested he spearhead a technology “bill of rights” aimed at protecting Americans from artificial intelligence tools that invade privacy or discriminate.

Human biases One major area of concern is that decision-making programs powered by AI have human biases baked in, affecting how people are hired, admitted to schools and even criminally sentenced. A bill under review in the City Council, for instance, would require online hiring tools that rely on artificial intelligence for decision-making to be audited for biases.

The city report, which describes OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 13

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10/21/21 4:42 PM

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CN020461.indd 1

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RESTAURANTS

BY CARA EISENPRESS

and install electric or natural gas heaters. The prohibition is to ensure safety from fire because propane gas can ignite and explode.

At stake is whether restaurants can keep counting on revenue from outdoor seats, which they say are important for New Yorkers who remain cautious about clustering inside as well as those who prefer not to show proof of vaccination and are thus not allowed indoors.

T

he temperatures are falling, and dozens of restaurateurs have been calling Derek Kaye, owner of NYC Propane Delivery, to order tanks to power the heaters that have kept their outdoor diners warm.

Kaye has to give them bad news: The city let an executive order expire on May 31 that had made propane heaters legal for restaurants.

“I let people know we are waiting on guidance from the city on what

Weather-dependent “The restaurant is full,” said Elaina Scotto, co-owner of Fresco

by Scotto on East 52nd Street, “but outdoors is packed.” On nights with terrible weather, she said, cancellations increase dramatically.

Dining rooms were closed much of last fall and winter, so restaurateurs relied upon heaters to make outdoor setups more comfortable. Propane heaters did not require a permit or expertise to use. The heaters run a few hundred dollars each; restaurants might have over a dozen to heat all the tables. Each heater did need a daily propane tank delivery since tanks

“IT WAS A BIG HELP IN GETTING US THROUGH THE TOUGH WINTER” the rules will be,” Kaye said.

The guidance is now out: No propane heaters are allowed at outdoor dining setups this year, said Mayor Bill de Blasio’s representative, Mitch Schwartz. Instead, the city is offering $5,000 grants to restaurants with less than $1 million in annual revenue to purchase

cannot be kept on-site overnight. In April restaurant owners wrote to de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to ask the city to create a heating plan. Then came the May cancellation of propane.

Kaye said he and his clients had heard nothing all summer and early fall.

The city’s Department of Buildings did issue two bulletins about alternative heating sources—electric and natural gas—during the summer. Both systems require professional installation and inspections before they may be used.

Fresco by Scotto spent about $10,000 to put in electric outdoor heaters. They immediately shorted the electricity in the restaurant but are now functioning well.

COURTESY OF DEREK KAYE

As dining outside takes a chilly turn, restaurants can’t use propane heaters

KAYE USED TO DELIVER propane tanks to city restaurants now left in the cold over outdoor dining.

Cold alternatives Those who relied on propane heaters last year did not want to make the investment in the alternatives before the city said they had to, Kaye said. Enforcement of the no-propane rule will start Jan. 1.

Two-thirds of the dining space at Lola Taverna in SoHo is now outdoors, said Will Makris, a partner.

“It was a big help in getting us

through the tough winter without indoor dining being available,” Makris said. “It’s still a vital part of what all restaurants are doing.” He and his partners said they would follow city rules and not use outlawed heaters.

Kaye said he thinks restaurants will soon be besieged by disap-

pointed customers accustomed to the balmy weather.

“Even the 60s gets chilly, and in the 50s they need the heat,” he said."

De Blasio seemed unmoved.

“Whether we like it or not, winter is very different than it used to be,” he said at a press event last Monday. ■

REAL ESTATE

Brooklyn luxury market has strongest week in months

BY EDDIE SMALL

B

Our top priority is your bottom line.

BUCK ENNIS

rooklyn’s luxury market just finished its biggest week since June.

The borough recorded 35 deals totaling more than $116 million the week of Oct. 11, split among 20 townhouses and 15 condos, according to the latest report from Compass, which defines Brooklyn’s luxury market as all properties priced at $2 million or more. The median asking price that week was about $2.8 million.

The borough had not seen a week with 35 luxury deals since June 7, and it had not seen a week with more than 35 deals since May 24, when there were 36 transactions.

Twenty-six deals worth about $88.3 million were made in Brooklyn two weeks ago.

The properties that week spent an average of 139 days on the market and went under contract at an average discount of 1%.

The most expensive deal was for a townhouse at 20 Prospect Park West in Park Slope. It went under contract for $7.5 million. The fivebedroom, five-bathroom home was built in 1919 and spans roughly 5,500 square feet, with several fireplaces and about 1,300 square feet of outdoor space, including a patio and a roof terrace.

The second-priciest deal that week was for a townhouse at 22

Verandah Place in Cobble Hill. It went under contract for a little less than $7 million. The property spans about 3,200 square feet, with five bedrooms and four bathrooms.

Other notable deals in the Brooklyn luxury market that week included a townhouse at 269 Warren St. in Cobble Hill for $6.3 million and a condo at 50 Bridge Park Drive in Brooklyn Heights for about $4.3 million.

Queens deals Long Island City’s luxury market, defined as properties priced at $1 million or more, recorded six deals the week of Oct. 11, split among five condos and one house, according to Compass. The sales were worth about $7.5 million in total, and the properties spent an average of 59

days on the market.

That was a slight uptick from the week before, when there were five deals for about $6.8 million.

The most expensive deal to go under contract the week of Oct. 11 was for a condo in Arris Lofts at 27-28 Thompson Ave. for about $1.5 million. The condo spans about 1,400 square feet and has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.

The second-priciest deal was for a condo in Skyline Tower at 3 Court Square for about $1.4 million. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit spans 932 square feet.

The townhouse that went under contract was at 38-12 27th St. It spans about 1,500 square feet, with five bedrooms and three bathrooms and went for a bit less than $1.3 million. ■

Count on our Construction Advisors to help you reach your business goals. grassicpas.com/construction

OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 15

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HEALTH CARE

Pharmacies having trouble getting health insurers to reimburse them for Covid-19 tests they perform

BY MAYA KAUFMAN

I

ndependent pharmacies in New York are struggling to get insurers to pay for the Covid-19 tests they perform, despite federal and state guidelines that require health plans to cover them, local pharmacists said.

Steve Moore, former president of the Pharmacists’ Society of the State of New York, a not-for-profit association, said he and the association’s member pharmacists have trouble getting reimbursement from commercial health plans and hear varied explanations for why that is.

Moore said some plans say they will not cover tests for patients with

cost-sharing, including at pharmacies. That includes tests for patients who are asymptomatic and who have no known or suspected exposure to the virus; plans are not supposed to use medical screening criteria to deny coverage of tests.

“It is imperative for the health and safety of all New Yorkers to have broad access to Covid-19 infection and antibody testing, including testing performed at a pharmacy,” Lisette Johnson, chief of the state Department of Financial Services’ health bureau, wrote in a May 2020 letter to insurers.

The Department of Health and Human Services last year issued guidance authorizing qualified pharmacy technicians to administer Covid tests and Covid vaccines, noting that pharmacies are “well positioned to aid Covid-19 testing expansion.”

But insurers maintain differing policies on which tests are covered and when, as Crain’s has previously reported.

no symptoms, even though federal guidelines explicitly include patients who are asymptomatic. Some claim it is covered as a medical benefit but not as a pharmacy benefit, he said. In other instances, a pharmacist may be denied, but a patient will succeed in getting a test covered after the fact by submitting the bill.

“It would be nice if we could have some consistency,” Moore said.

The federal and state governments require insurers to cover diagnostic Covid-19 testing without

Deny, deny, deny Ambar Keluskar, a pharmacist at Rossi Pharmacy in East New York, Brooklyn, said almost all insurers have denied his claims for Covid specimen collection fees, with the exception of some Medicaid managed-care plans. Insurers say the service is not covered or that the pharmacy is an invalid location, Keluskar said.

Pharmacies like his rely on the

ISTOCK

“THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE PAYING, BUT THEY’RE JUST CHOOSING NOT TO”

reimbursements to cover labor costs; the Medicare rate for specimen collection is just over $23.

(Laboratories process the tests and bill separately.)

“They’re supposed to be paying for these services, but they're just choosing not to,” he said.

Rapid tests that pharmacies both administer and analyze are more of a gamble, he said, because the costs are higher, and claims may not be adjudicated for weeks.

Leslie Moran, senior vice president of the New York Health Plan Association, which represents 28 insurers in the state, said health insurers are not disputing that pharmacists can administer Covid tests.

Moran attributed the issue in part to improper billing and said plans have been working with pharmacies to correct medical-coding errors.

“It’s frustrating on both sides to have this be an ongoing problem,”

she said.

Moran also noted the distinction between testing for diagnosis of Covid-19 and broad-based testing for reasons such as travel or going back to school.

Rejected claims can always be disputed, Moran added. Pharmacists noted that's easier said than done.

“It’s practically a full-time job chasing down insurers to get paid,” Keluskar said. ■

ECONOMY

BY RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

H

ybrid work—where office jobs involve at least a couple of days at home—could sink spending at city retailers by as much as $1.6 billion each year, according to a new report from Comptroller Scott Stringer.

The report is the latest warning about the potential long-term harms of the pandemic and remote work on the restaurants, shops and service businesses that cater to 9-to-5 office workers. Before the pandemic, an estimated 500,000 office workers commuted into the city from outside the five boroughs, spending an average of $353 at local businesses each week—worth $8.1 billion annually. Such workers are only slowly trickling back into Midtown and Lower Manhattan 18 months into the pandemic.

Losing spending from office commuters for two days of each week would result in a tax revenue loss of about $146 million each

year, Stringer found. That wouldn’t be a huge hit to the city’s overall tax revenues of $7 billion annually, but the loss in dollars won’t be shared equally. “The loss of foot traffic and lower sales may be severely felt by small businesses in the city’s commercial districts,” Stringer said.

Local spending Office workers represent about half of the 1 million people who work in the five boroughs but live elsewhere. The other commuters are in professions generally unsuitable for remote work, Stringer found, such as construction, manufacturing and retail.

Just 23% of office workers had returned regularly to Manhattan offices as of August, according to the most recent survey data available from the Partnership for New York City business group. At least 70% of the firms the group surveyed expect to maintain hybrid options for their employees.

The loss in overall spending by

commuters could be partially offset, Stringer said, by increased local spending from New Yorkers who work outside the city but are now staying home regularly to work remotely.

About 110,000 residents fit that description; they are capable of generating about $350 million in annual local retail spending with their extra days home, worth about $35 million in sales tax revenue that might have gone elsewhere.

About 3.7 million New Yorkers live and work in the city, representing the majority of the workforce.

But their spending could change too, Stringer noted, shifting to residential neighborhoods and away from traditional office districts.

A number of unknowns remain regarding how remote work will affect local retail spending, the comp-

ISTOCK

Office employees continuing to work from home could take a $1.6B bite out of retail spending

troller’s report acknowledged.

“If increased remote work usage were to cause city residents to relocate outside the city,” Stringer wrote in the report, “the resulting loss in tax revenue could increase significantly as the city’s resident tax base

shrinks.”

Even if residents did not move away from the city, increased time spent at second homes outside the area for the wealthiest New Yorkers could take a bite out of retail spending and tax revenues. ■

16 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

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ASKED & ANSWERED KPMG

WHO SHE IS Managing partner, KPMG’s New York office

INTERVIEW BY AARON ELSTEIN

2020 REVENUE $29 billion

esenia Scheker-Izquierdo was named managing partner of KPMG’s New York office Oct. 1, making her the first woman and Latina to oversee the Big Four accounting firm’s largest market. She also leads its U.S. and global building construction and real estate tax industry group. She joined KPMG as an intern in 1998 and was made partner in 2009.

In her new position, she considers the role office buildings will play in a post-pandemic landscape.

She says she doesn’t think the Great Resignation is cause for much concern.

BORN Morningside Heights

Y

RESIDES Upper East Side EDUCATION Bachelor’s and master’s in accounting, University of Florida WORK ETHIC Scheker-Izquierdo was born in New York but raised in Miami Beach by her mother, who is from Cuba.

She started working as a telemarketer at age 13 and managed an H&R Block office while attending college. “I’ve never not had a job,” she said.

TEAM STATS Scheker-Izquierdo now oversees the 6,500 employees working out of the New York office.

We’re speaking via Microsoft Teams with cameras off. Are you trying to pare down video calls?

Oh, no, not at all. Do you want to turn the camera on?

No thanks, but I wonder how you handle all the video meetings?

We implemented Heads Down Wednesdays, where we block out internal meetings for three hours, and instituted No-Camera Fridays just to give people that break. I’m seeing more clients face to face, and that’s much better.

How is KPMG handling the return to office? PwC last month said 40,000 staff members may work remotely forever.

We’re looking at hybrid environments, where people come

in on certain days of the week. We haven’t required vaccines for our employees but are approaching a 90% vaccination rate.

Does a hybrid office mean KPMG will need less space?

Asking everyone to come in a few days a week doesn’t change your footprint.

Companies will look at their need for office space differently, but demand is picking up, especially in technology and life sciences.

Women account for 60% of auditors and accountants but only 10% of top management at New York firms. Are you disappointed with the lack of progress?

I think we’ve made a lot of progress. Every CEO we talk to is focused on diversity. Accounting firms are well ahead on this. In real estate, there’s a focus on recruiting and re-recruiting when people step out of the workforce.

More people than ever are quitting their job.

What do you make of the turnover?

I always tell my team, “Attrition goes in cycles.”

The pandemic presents unique circumstances, but we’ve seen before that when economies recover, people make changes.

Who helped you most with your career?

Steven Messing, who I met soon after starting at KPMG. He’s still my mentor. He understood my curiosity, knew I’d worked since I was really young and invested in me. My dad was not in my life after my parents divorced. Steve taught me the real estate industry and his passion for tax policy. He always tells me the same old stories, and we laugh.

If someone is interested in a business career, why choose accounting?

That’s easy: Accounting is the foundation to operating any business. We and the other Big Four firms serve every industry you can imagine, provide almost every service imaginable, and we are global. I always tell a client when they ask me “Can you do this,” yes, I’m sure we can. ■

BUCK ENNIS

YESENIA SCHEKER-IZQUIERDO

I work at 345 Park Ave., and the streets are buzzing again at lunchtime. I am a pretty optimistic person when it comes to the office.

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OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 17

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MIDTOWN

AT LEFT, FROM TOP, Midtown’s Chrysler building, 660 Fifth Ave. and Park Avenue corridor. Above, Jeffrey Peck, Daniel Altman and Jeffrey Goldman in Belkin Burden Goldman’s new office at One Grand Central Place.

NEW LEASING ACTIVITY ABOUNDS Leasing activity in Midtown, in square footage Q3 2021

7 9

40

41 21

6,

36

1,

30

8 09 9,

57

6,

87

5

91 9, 74 2 1, 09 5, 01 2

1, 57 6, 54 4 2,

New/expansion leasing volume

Renewal activity

Renewal/expansion activity

SOURCE: Colliers

said Steven Durels, SL Green’s director of leasing. “With the LIRR coming to Grand Central, nobody’s really going to need to sacrifice. The physical environment that surrounds Grand Central is a less chaotic assault on the senses than Penn Station.”

Overdue new product One Vanderbilt is about as close to Grand Central as an office building can possibly get. SL Green opened the building to much fanfare in September 2020, and it is more than 91% leased, the company said, despite the rough state of the office market.

Its proximity to Grand Central comes up in almost every discussion the company has about the building with prospective tenants, Durels said. That it is a new building plays a role in its appeal as well and makes it more competitive with places such as Hudson Yards, he said.

“Midtown didn’t have as much new product and/or very heavily renovated product, so tenants were sacrificing on location and going to Hudson Yards,” Durels said. “But now that you’ve seen some big buildings go through major renovations and new structures like One Vanderbilt coming online, tenants don’t have to sacrifice location, and

“GRAND CENTRAL IS GRAND AND IT’S CENTRAL—THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS” even more attractive option for the endpoint of a commute—and potentially take away one of the main draws of offices near the much-maligned Penn Station, even as officials work to extend the Metro-North Railroad to that station as well.

“Within our portfolio, clearly the buildings that surround Grand Central Terminal—whether Third Avenue, Lexington, Park—anything that’s within a five- to 10-minute walk of Grand Central seems to be getting a lot more leasing velocity,”

Q3 2020

06 1, 15 8

Q3 2019

1, 89 9, 70 0

on the subway for another leg of their trip. The pockets of Midtown closest to major transportation hubs such as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station are thus seeing a particularly strong popularity boost, said Jeffrey Peck, vice chairman at real estate brokerage Savills.

“Most tenants today are in the market not only to be in Midtown, but to be proximate to Grand Central and Penn Station like never before,” he said.

About 36% of Manhattan’s 540 million-square-foot office market is within a 10-minute walk of such transit hubs, and easy access has become even more of a talent draw coming out of the pandemic.

Leasing activity was particularly strong in Midtown during the third quarter, when companies took about 3.3 million square feet of space in the neighborhood, compared with 1.8 million square feet in Midtown South and 775,000 square feet downtown, according to the latest office report from CBRE. This was even more activity for the neighborhood than during the third quarter of 2019—before the pandemic—when Midtown saw about 2.9 million square feet of leasing compared with about 2.6 million in Midtown South and 1.8 million downtown, CBRE found.

To be sure, the office market shows plenty of scars from the pandemic. The citywide vacancy rate stands at 18.3%, a level unseen in more than 30 years in New York.

The full market value of office buildings fell by $28.6 billion across the city on the fiscal 2022 assessment roll, the first time office property markets declined since at least fiscal 2000, and more than $850 million in property taxes are estimated to be erased in the city’s fiscal 2022, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office said. Midtown’s vacancy rate during the third quarter was lower than Manhattan’s overall, at 12.9%, but still much higher than two years ago, when it was 7.6%, according to CBRE’s figures.

A number of high-profile new office buildings in Midtown, such as SL Green’s One Vanderbilt and L&L Holding Co.’s 390 Madison Ave., have added to the neighborhood’s appeal and could be a bright spot for its future. With the Long Island Rail Road poised to reach Grand Central next year, Midtown will become an

PHOTOGRAPHY BUCK ENNIS

FROM PAGE 1

they’re willing to pay for better-quality product and better-located product.”

The newer office buildings are at least as important to Midtown’s popularity as its being home to Grand Central. Between 2011 and 2021, the area had a net loss of 11.7 million square feet worth of large office tenants, mostly because they were flocking to newer developments in other parts of Manhattan, real estate brokerage Colliers found. Now, however, the neighborhood is getting almost 9 million square feet of new office space by 2024, which surpasses downtown for the future outlook. (CBRE considers Hudson Yards to be part of the Midtown office market, whereas Colliers considers it part of Midtown South.)

Although new office space tends to go hand in hand with more expensive lease rates, many of the financial services firms that Midtown caters to have done fairly well since the pandemic began, making it easier for them to decide to upgrade their office space when their current leases expire, said Eric Cagner, a broker at Newmark who focuses on Midtown.

Renovating these spaces is still important for landlords to attract tenants, said Andrew Wiener, L&L’s director of leasing. Although being right by Grand Central is a very attractive perk, the sheer amount of

new office space hitting the market remains too high for landlords to rely solely on location.

“Owners who simply leave their product the same and are going to say, ‘We’re close to transportation.

That’s enough’—it’s not enough,” Wiener said. “In this market, there’s still too much space.”

Although New Yorkers are never short on things to criticize about Penn Station, that area is poised for a major transformation, thanks in large part to Vornado Realty Trust’s ambitious plans for the neighborhood. The company has already completed its redevelopment of 330 W. 34th St., and it is at work on transforming the Farley Building at 390 Ninth Ave. and two projects dubbed Penn 1 and Penn 2 into new office buildings.

Related Cos. spokesman Jon Weinstein cited Hudson Yards’ proximity to Penn Station as a big reason why the developer has “zero concern” about its office buildings losing popularity coming out of the pandemic.

“Our Hudson Yards office space is 93% leased, with the highest rents in the city—reflective of the outsized demand,” he said.

Employee leverage Belkin Burden Goldman’s office was already close to Grand Central when the law firm started to look for a new one in mid-2019. The

company was not initially committed to staying in the neighborhood.

The firm explored space downtown, further east on Second Avenue and further west by Times Square, but it ultimately decided to move even closer to the transportation hub. The firm announced in January that it would trade 270 Madison Ave. for One Grand Central Place. The law firm just moved into its new space in mid-October.

“Grand Central is grand, and it’s central, so it gave us the best of both worlds,” said Jeffrey Goldman, a partner at the law firm. “Second Avenue or Third Avenue and Sixth Avenue, it still was a schlep to major transportation hubs for most of our employees.”

The company’s decision is indicative of the growing importance of making sure workers have a relatively easy commute as the city emerges from the Covid crisis.

When the pandemic first hit, avoiding a subway ride on the way to the office was largely seen as a health and safety issue. But with the widespread availability of a vaccine, declining infection numbers and subway ridership levels hitting record highs for the pandemic, this has become a less-pressing factor.

What has emerged is a growing understanding that employees will have more leverage going forward over how often they return to the office, and having an office right next to a hub like Grand Central is a good way to make working in person a more tenable option.

“The C-level suite is saying, ‘Let’s make the commute and amount of time coming in as little as we possibly can so our people will not fight it as much and not be as reluctant to come in,’ ” Newmark’s Cagner said.

CBRE Vice Chairman Paul Amrich echoed this point, adding that he did not see this trend going away soon, now that remote work has been in place for so long.

“Every employer is saying, ‘OK, my employees have a bigger choice.

I want them in the office because I want to keep and rebuild our culture and get everybody together, so whatever I can do to make their commute easier is going to be helpful,’ ” he said. “And, obviously, location to mass transportation is a huge part of that.” ■

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MWBE FROM PAGE 1

$3.5 billion pot.

Of more than 10,500 MWBE-certified firms in New York City, 1,683, or 16%, received city dollars in fiscal 2021, according to city Comptroller Scott Stringer, who last week issued a “Making the Grade” report that gave the city a C- for its MWBE spending in fiscal 2021, which ended June 30. The comptroller’s office had given the city a C the previous two years.

“It’s depressing, to be sure,” said Jessica Walker, president and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. “It’s such a lost opportunity.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has made improving the chances of MWBEs receiving city contracts a priority—notably by establishing the Mayor’s Office of MWBEs in 2016. The administration ushered in Local Law 1 in 2014—legislation that established participation goals for MWBEs across four city industries: construction, professional services, standard services and goods.

The administration has certified more than 10,570 MWBEs across the five boroughs, up from 3,800 in 2013.

The administration also announced a goal of awarding $25 billion in city contracts to MWBEs by 2025, which it says it is on track to meet.

The administration and some city agencies argue that the comptroller’s report obscures the city’s progress because it measures MWBE

contracts fulfilled, or paid out, against a swath of city contracts; the administration’s reporting showcases a higher proportion of MWBE contracts awarded within the categories covered by Local Law 1.

Obstacles abound The middling assessment from the comptroller’s office underscores the city’s failure to meaningfully involve MWBEs in the city’s procurement process.

There are economic obstacles unique to MWBEs, said Gretchen Susi, a deputy director of nonprofit Brooklyn Communities Collaborative, which helps such firms contract with hospitals. MWBEs tend to be slightly less price competitive compared with larger vendors, Susi said, and the typical billing cycles that can stretch up to 90 days often make certain contracts untenable for small businesses that rely on shortterm payments to stay afloat.

Some minority and female business owners who spoke with Crain’s said they often need to go through a months-long certification process with both the city and the state. They then face a complex competition for contracts, city funding and reimbursements.

Selma Bartholomew, owner of Legacy Pathways, an education consulting company in the Bronx, recalled how despite her certification, she was given only a single day to apply for a contract with the Department of Education before the application timeline expired. She said she

believes she was offered the opportunity just so the agency could say it had invited an MWBE to apply. She didn’t get the bid and learned later the contract had already been fulfilled before she applied, she said.

“It’s that kind of pattern that nobody cares about, and when we call them on it, they say we made a mistake,” Bartholomew said. “When we take a close look, there’s a consistent pattern of discrimination.”

Stringer recommended the next comptroller enact a racial-equity audit of every city agency in his or her first 100 days to identify diversity gaps among suppliers and practices that could be considered biased against communities of color. He also suggested the next administration adopt a “Rooney rule,” similar to what NFL teams use in their head coach and management job searches, which would require women and people of color to be interviewed for every cabinet-level position.

Discrepancies claimed In the report, six agencies were found to have done no Covid-related contracting with MWBEs, of which NYC Health + Hospitals was the largest. The others were the Financial Information Services Agency and the departments of Parks and Recreation, Consumer Affairs, Small Business Services, and Consumer and Worker Protection.

Health + Hospitals spokesman Chris Miller disagreed with the report’s conclusions, noting that because H+H is a public benefit corpo-

ration, it does not use the comptroller’s financial systems except when the city is the funding source. According to H+H estimates, Covid-related expenses paid to MWBEs for fiscal 2021 amounted to $267 million. Total MWBE spending that fiscal year was $419 million, representing 28% utilization of diverse vendors, the system said.

Meghan Lalor, a Parks and Recreation spokeswoman, said the agency spent $107,000 in pandemic-related expenses with MWBE vendors in fiscal 2020 and $10,000 in fiscal 2021—which wasn’t reflected in the comptroller’s report.

Department of Small Business Services spokeswoman Julianne Cho called the comptroller’s report inaccurate and “limited in scope” and said the department’s data shows $3.4 million in certified contracts to MWBEs in fiscal 2021.

At the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, a spokesperson said the report “does not fully present DCWP’s concerted efforts in awarding contracts to MWBE vendors.” The agency is in the process of awarding six contracts to such vendors worth more than $20 million, the spokesperson added.

City agencies say the discrepancies are due to the comptroller’s accounting methodology. The figures released by Stringer’s office include spending captured by the city’s financial management system. The Mayor’s Office of MWBEs said the comptroller’s report includes only payments made to MWBEs and not

contracts that have been awarded— which creates a discrepancy, as payments can take years to finalize, whereas awards can be reported before the fiscal year ends.

“Our analysis has always graded city agencies based on dollars paid, not dollars promised,” said Amy Varghese, a spokeswoman for the comptroller’s office. “Our report grades the city based on the dollars it actually spends versus contracts it awards, because an unpaid city contract isn’t going to help an MWBE make payroll or keep the lights on.”

But the report doesn’t tell the full picture, said Magalie Austin, director of the Mayor’s Office of MWBEs. She said the city has awarded $21.3 billion in contracts to MWBEs so far and has increased the percentage of total contracts awarded within Local Law 1 categories from 8% in 2016 to 25.3% in fiscal year 2021.

That dichotomy makes it hard to assess the city’s impact or to measure how easy it is for MWBEs to do business with the city.

Regardless of which side is using the more accurate accounting method, MWBE owners themselves seem pessimistic.

“It’s all rhetoric,” said Bartholomew. “There’s nobody leading this initiative and saying, ‘These are the policies we need to move’ and asking, ‘How do we get to know Black and brown businesses and what they offer?’” ■ Amanda Glodowski contributed to this report.

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REQUEST FOR INDUSTRY FEEDBACK FOR THE BUS TERMINAL REPLACEMENT PROJECT The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey has issued a Request for Industry Feedback (RFIF) for the Bus Terminal Replacement Project. Through the RFIF, the Port Authority is continuing its dialogue with our region’s architecture, design, engineering, construction and real estate industry regarding the Port Authority Bus Terminal Replacement (“PABTR”) Project, and to garner responses from our industry partners regarding on specific issues related to the PABTR. To respond to the RFIF, Respondents must register and create a free Bonfire account at the provided link to log in and download the RFIF and associated information and to upload responses. Registration on the Bonfire platform requires a registration that is separate and distinct from all other Authority software platforms.

The Port Authority will only accept those responses in electronic format for which the submission or modification is completed at the time of the RFIF Response Due Date.

Responses will be accepted by upload only at: https://panynj.bonfirehub.com/portal/?tab=login Responses to the RFIF must be uploaded and received by the Port Authority no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 2, 2021. Respondents will receive an email confirmation receipt with a unique confirmation number once their Response submission is finalized.

The Port Authority intends to hold a virtual Project Information Session that is currently scheduled for November 17, 2021. Details will follow. Continue to monitor the website and Bonfire for updates and additional information.

Firms that have questions regarding the RFIF or how to access Bonfire may contact Megan Connors via email at meconnors@panynj.gov.

Contact Claudia Hippel at 312-659-0076 or email: claudia.hippel@crain.com

Invitation to Prequalify and to Bid Rehabilitation and Flood Mitigation of the New York Aquarium, Brooklyn, NY Turner Construction Company, an EEO Employer, is currently soliciting bids for the Rehabilitation and Flood Mitigation of the New York Aquarium from subcontractors and vendors for the following bid packages: BP #62A Fuel Supply for Temporary Boiler (Bid, Payment & Performance Bond Required) Only bids responsive to the entire scope of work will be considered and, to be sucFHVVIXO ELGGHUV PXVW EH SUHTXDOLÀHG E\ 7XUQHU &HUWLÀHG M/WBE and Small Business &)5 SDUW FRPSDQLHV DUH HQFRXUDJHG WR VXEPLW In order to receive the bid packages, potential bidders must submit a complete 6XEFRQWUDFWRU 9HQGRU 3UHTXDOLÀFDWLRQ 6WDWHPHQW 3ULRU SUHTXDOLÀFDWLRQ VXEPLVVLRQV that remain current will be considered as previously submitted or may be updated DW WKLV WLPH $OO ELGGHUV PXVW SUHTXDOLI\ E\ WKH ELG GHDGOLQH October 12, 2021 and VXEPLVVLRQ RI D SUHTXDOLÀFDWLRQ VWDWHPHQW QRW ODWHU WKDQ October 8, 2021 is strongly HQFRXUDJHG $OO ELGGHUV PXVW KDYH DQ DFFHSWDEOH (05 DQG ZLOO EH VXEMHFW WR JRYHUQPHQW UHJXODWLRQV VXFK DV &)5 DQG )HGHUDO ([HFXWLYH 2UGHU 6XFFHVVIXO ELGGHUV ZLOO EH UHTXLUHG WR XVH /&3 7UDFNHU FRPSOLDQFH YHULÀFDWLRQ VRIWZDUH 1RWH WKDW ZKLOH WKLV LV D 1HZ <RUN &LW\ SUHYDLOLQJ ZDJH SURMHFW XQLRQ DIÀOLDWLRQ LV QRW required for BP#62A. To obtain further information about contracting opportunities and/or the SUHTXDOLÀFDWLRQ SDFNDJH DQG ELG VROLFLWDWLRQ SDFNDJH V SOHDVH FRQWDFW 0DWW +DLQHV PKDLQHV#WFFR FRP RU

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Notice of Qualification of STORMFIELD CAPITAL FUNDING I, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/08/21.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Connecticut (CT) on 06/01/15. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 200 Pequot Ave., Southport, CT 06890, also the address to be maintained in CT. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 165 Capitol Ave., Ste. 1000, Hartford, CT 06106. Purpose: any lawful activities.

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF A1traininggroup LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/08/2021. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to the LLC at 485 first ave apt 3B, New York, New York 10016. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

Notice of Formation of 900 AFFORDABLE GP, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/23/21. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, NY, NY 10001. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of ASTER AND HONEY, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/24/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/23/21. Princ. office of LLC: 300 E. 56th St., Apt. 28C, NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808.

Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 3, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of SIZZLES & BERNS, LLC. Arts of Org. filed with Sec’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/9/21. Office Loc: NY County.

SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 471 Central Park West, 5D. New York, NY 10025. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of BROOKFIELD PROPERTIES (USA) LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/05/21.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/13/17. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

20 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | OCTOBER 25, 2021

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PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES Notice of Formation of FRANK ROMOFF PARTNERS LLCArts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/02/21. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 77 Charlton St., Ste. 10E, NY, NY 10014. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Lawrence Spielman, SKP, LLP, 1675 Broadway, 20th Fl., NY, NY 10019. Purpose: Investment rental property.

Notice of Qualification of Mami Pi, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/21.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/03/21. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: c/o Steve Bills, 16633 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 815, Encino, CA 91436. Address to be maintained in DE: 1013 Centre Rd., Ste. 403S, Wilmington, DE 19805. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of SCALE 959 STERLING LENDER LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/09/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/08/21. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

SSNY shall mail process to: c/o National Registered Agents, Inc., 28 Liberty St., NY, NY 10005, also the registered agent upon whom process may be served. Address to be maintained in DE: c/o National Registered Agents, Inc., 1209 Orange St., Wilmington, DE 19801. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, Division of Corporations, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. Ste. 4 Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

Notice of Qualification of 130 7TH AVE HOLDING LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/15/21. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 12/15/17. Princ. office of LLC: 152 W. 57th St., 60th Fl., NY, NY 10019. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of CPG ERIE Notice of Formation of Limited Liability Company (LLC). NAME: ROOXY LLC - Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 08/23/2021. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY shall mail a copy of process to: The LLC, 98 E BROADWAY STE 309, NEW YORK NY 10002. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

MANAGER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 09/01/21. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 419 Park Ave. S., Ste. 401, NY, NY 10016.

SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Real estate investment.

Notice of Qualification of CSC GP, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/06/21.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/06/06. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 55 E. 52nd St., 34th Fl., NY, NY 10055. DE addr. of LLC: Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of Brilliant Earth, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 06/14/21.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 11/29/12. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 26 O’Farrell St, 10th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94108. Address to be maintained in DE: 3500 S DuPont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State, 401 Federal St #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.

AR INNOVATIONS INTL. LLC. App. for Auth. filed with the SSNY on 09/ 03/21. Originally filed with Secreatary of State of Delaware on 11/16/2017. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 245 East 63rd Street, Suite 319, New York, NY 10065. Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

Notice of Qualification of CityRock Venture Partners II, L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 10/04/21.

Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/16/21. Duration of LP is Perpetual. SSNY designated as agent of LP upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. 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 of the State of DE, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

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OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 21

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FROM PAGE 3

they are creating,” he told Crain’s.

“Let’s not think it's going to get back to the days where people have a shingle in New York City and come to work in New York City. You don’t need a shingle in New York City to survive in this global economy.”

The controversial longtime activist emphasizes that remote work has inaugurated “a new way of life, a better way of life” for city workers, and compares commuting into Midtown to being “like a sardine in a tin can going two hours one way and two hours another way.”

Instead of relying on office workers for economic activity, Sliwa argues for policy experiments to revive demand for local goods and spike a rebound. He wants to use cryptocurrency as an optional form of salary for city workers and open crypto ATMs across the five boroughs, all in the hope of incentivizing more digital-currency startups to migrate to New York from Silicon Valley.

“Crypto is the coming wave. You can’t stop it,” Sliwa said. “I see, one day, you being able to walk into a place of business to buy a slice of pizza and a can of Coke with crypto.”

Then there’s his support for universal basic income. Instead of using multiple city agencies to manage billions in social services dollars, Sliwa wants to try a two-

year experiment to see if there’s a better way to provide low-income New Yorkers with resources.

To this end, a Sliwa administration would provide 500 low-income New Yorkers with $1,100 a month for two years, for a total of $13.2 million. In Sliwa’s view, if those residents spend the money well and improve their lives, his universal basic income experiment can be an alternative to indexed welfare checks from federal, state and city social services agencies.

“I trust people. I don’t trust the government,” he said. “Why not experiment with this? New York is the epicenter of capitalism, so let’s try it out and see where it takes us.”

More with less Other unorthodox ideas are brewing beneath that trademark red beret.

Sliwa wants to eliminate property tax exemptions for private universities such as Columbia and NYU and companies such as Madison Square Garden, among others, and use the proceeds to bulk up the city Police Department by 4,000 officers. (The department has 36,000 officers in uniform.) His administration would direct a larger police force to patrol drug use and petty crime in central business districts such as Midtown. In addition, it would enforce penalties on illegal street vending, which Sliwa says harms the ability of brick-andmortar stores to compete for customers.

BE WHERE

BUCK ENNIS

SLIWA

SLIWA takes his message to the people.

“There must be the fear on the part of the illegal vendor that there will be a moment if they can’t produce the right paperwork, the items and apparel they are putting out on the sidewalk would be seized,” he said. “The city has turned a blind eye to that.”

Sliwa reserves his harshest criticism for the de Blasio administration, which he argues is “drunk on all this stimulus money” and passed a $100 billion budget that is “bursting our fiscal house at the seams.”

The Republican nominee wants to re-establish the Financial Control Board, a state entity that took over control of budgeting from City Hall during the 1970s financial crisis. Sliwa argues the board is necessary once again to remove New

York from what he sees as an over-reliance on the federal largesse Washington has provided during the pandemic.

“We think the federal government will keep printing money and sending money for us to use as our social service needs explode,” he said. “It’s not happening. We have to do more with less.”

One-on-one During a debate with Adams on Oct. 20, Sliwa spent equal amounts of time making his case to New Yorkers and attacking his opponent, whom he painted as an elitist far removed from the problems of ordinary people.

As he and Adams sparred over their public safety records and who was more trustworthy, Sliwa made

sure to contrast himself as an outsider to the political process.

“I’m the people’s choice,” he said. “Just follow me on the streets and subways. Eric Adams is with the elites in the suites.”

At each step of the debate, Sliwa took the same contrarian approach to policy that has defined his most ambitious plans.

Unlike Adams, he argued against vaccination mandates for workers, called for a return of the stop-and-frisk policing method and demanded vacant commercial real estate buildings such as Hudson Yards be turned into affordable housing.

“Look at Hudson Yards. What are we going to do, turn it into a mausoleum?” he said at one point.

“There are no tenants to lease that space. You’ll never be able to use it for commercial purposes any longer.”

When asked about congestion pricing, Sliwa argued for an alternative method for New York City to determine legislation passed by Albany: a referendum.

“How about we do something novel and stop trusting these politicians like Eric Adams and Bill de Blasio?” he asked. “Put it up for an initiative and referendum. … Let the people decide.”

The people will indeed decide come Election Day, Nov. 2, whether Sliwa and that beret belong in Gracie Mansion. ■

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GOTHAM GIGS

BUCK ENNIS

ROTHBERG’s ComedyCures Foundation has held benefits at comedy clubs.

SARANNE ROTHBERG AGE 58 BORN Philadelphia RESIDES Tenafly, N.J. EDUCATION Bachelor’s in broadcast journalism and humanities, University of Southern California; master’s in special education, Hunter College; post-graduate degree in Italian language, history and culture, University of Florence FAMILY LIFE Rothberg is married with three children.

FUNNY BONE Rothberg has taken comedy-writing classes and studied the greats. “I love what I call ‘clean comedy,’” she said. “It’s so much harder to be hilarious without attacking people or using curse words.”

CHOCOLATE OBSESSION She enjoys dark chocolate. “I was raised by a single dad, and his motto was ‘eat desserts first,’” she said. “That stuck with me so much that at my daughter’s bat mitzvah, the first course was chocolate.”

Finding the funny side of cancer

A nonprofit founder taps in to humor to make treatment more bearable

BY SHUAN SIM

B

ack in 1999 Saranne Rothberg was told she had less than five years to live following a diagnosis of stage four triple-negative breast cancer, an uncommon but aggressive form of the disease. After the doctor broke the news, a memory from college crossed Rothberg’s mind.

“I remembered reading this article about the therapeutic value of humor and laughter,” she said, “of how when the author was laughing, he experienced less pain.”

Rothberg, who was an educational entertainment and special-ed consultant at the time, went to the video store and rented every standup comedy tape she could carry.

“I needed to fill my days and nights with laughter and comedy,” she said.

Rothberg, who started going to comedy shows at age 10, was determined to make laughter a key theme of her cancer journey. “Even if it’s a

placebo, I will have had so much fun on my way out,” she thought.

As she received chemotherapy for the first time in New York, she threw what she called a “chemo comedy party.” She noticed her jokes helped her fellow patients forget they were receiving treatment. She decided then that she would bring therapeutic comedy into cancer treatment settings and later established the ComedyCures Foundation.

The nonprofit’s first offering was a hotline in which patients could dial in to hear a joke. Amateur and professional comedians, including Amy Schumer, have contributed material. ComedyCures has hosted several live events and partnered with the United Nations and the World Health Organization. It has worked with schools, hospitals and medical conventions.

This month, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Rothberg launched the “Can We Laugh at Cancer?” comedy challenge, a 31-

day campaign. Each day in October, Rothberg writes a “Tumor Humor” post. Each time the posts are shared on social media, the foundation receives a $10 donation from an anonymous benefactor—up to $20,000.

The funds will go toward future programs, which is important considering the organization’s annual fundraiser has been scrapped due to Covid-19 two years in a row. At the end of the month, the posts will be packaged into a podcast.

“I hope this body of work can show how to look at your cancer diagnosis in a different way, in a form that will exist beyond me,” Rothberg said. “I can’t think of a better way to bring joy to the world during Breast Cancer Awareness Month than incentivizing people to laugh their way through pain.”

In Rothberg’s experience, the humorous approach works. After three surgeries, 44 radiation treatments and more than two years of chemo, she is now cancer-free. ■

“I HOPE THIS BODY OF WORK CAN SHOW HOW TO LOOK AT CANCER DIAGNOSIS IN A DIFFERENT WAY”

OCTOBER 25, 2021 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 23

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10/22/21 4:44 PM

Commercial Real Estate’s Post-Covid Outlook

In-Person Event

Thursday, Nov. 4 | 5-7 p.m.

Tickets now on sale for our in-person networking event Join us for a panel discussion on the future RE development of NYC. SPEAKERS

Ken Fisher Partner Fisher Brothers

Sarah Hawkins CEO, East Region Hines

MODERATOR

Jeffrey Roseman Vice Chairman Newmark

Natalie Sachmechi Commercial Real Estate Reporter Crain’s New York Business

Register at CrainsNewYork.com/CommercialOutlook

For event questions: Ana Jimenez | 212-210-0739 | crainsevents@crainsnewyork.com For sponsorship questions: Courtney McCombs | Courtney.mccombs@crainsnewyork.com

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