Crain's New York Business

ASKED & ANSWERED Why workers hold the power in the current market

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POLITICS

TECH STILL WANTS YOU

Despite a spate of recent layoffs, the sector is training apprentices for roles at a record pace

BY CARA EISENPRESS AND RYAN DEFFENBAUGH

BY BRIAN PASCUS

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ayor Eric Adams wants to turn city government away from byzantine protocols that frustrate businesses and property owners and toward a streamlined approach with fewer regulations and less reliance on long-standing building codes.

The mayor last Wednesday said he plans to introduce a series of zoning initiatives he hopes will make it easier for businesses to expand their footprint, speed up the conversion of empty offices into affordable housing and help property owners transition into a green economy. He said the changes, which he outlined but did not flesh out in detail, would encourage city agencies to focus less on fines and enforcement and more on helping businesses.

Speaking to a business audience, the mayor spelled out actions that he said, “will lay the foundation for a new era in energy, housing and commerce.”

“Going forward, we are going to do things differently,” Adams said.

“Some of these ideas are long-term visions that will play out over the years to come. Others are practical plans that will produce results on a shorter timeline.”

Updating the city’s zoning code is key to Adams’ economic agenda.

238

NEWSPAPER

BUCK ENNIS

60%

See TRAINING on page 19

Mayor touts efforts to aid business expansion, residential conversions The zoning changes are meant to decrease agencies’ focus on fines

B

efore joining Accenture’s fellowship program in the fall of 2020, Jaquinn Young, a 24-year-old Brooklyn resident, was working 10-hour shifts in a cold-storage warehouse.

“Negative 20 degrees inside a freezer—I knew I didn’t want my TRAINING whole life to be this way,” Young DAY said.

He had done some online NUMBER of tech training and listeducation and ed it on LinkedIn. training programs Accenture reoperating in cruiters found his the city as of profile on the soFebruary 2020 cial media platform, and then he applied for and was accepted by PERCENTAGE the global profesof Accenture’s sional services apprentices who company as an are people of apprentice, a paid color role that provides one year of onthe-job training. The firm, whose New York office is in Hudson Yards, hired him in November for a fulltime role as an application development associate, helping an insurance client work with its software programs. While working full time, Young is also training toward a certification in Google Cloud

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TECHNOLOGY

VOL. 38, NO. 22

REAL ESTATE A broker finds his calling handling air-rights deals

PAGE 14

YOUNG says he was recruited on LinkedIn by Accenture for its apprenticeship program.

© 2022 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC.

See ZONING on page 22

GOTHAM GIGS

INSTANT EXPERT

BROOKLYN RESTAURANT OWNER SEEKS TO INSPIRE

How the MTA plans to boost bike access

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STATS AND THE CITY

How New York stacks up on guns EVENTS CALLOUT

THURSDAY, JUNE 16 2022 EXCELLENCE IN DIVERSITY & INCLUSION Join Crain’s on June 16 from noon to 2 p.m. for a luncheon celebrating Diversity & Inclusion Lifetime Achievement Award winner Cheryl McKissack Daniel, a trailblazing construction and real estate executive. Four D&I category winners will also be revealed. This event is an opportunity to celebrate and network with the professionals making the workplace more representative.

MANHATTAN MANOR 201 W. 52nd St. CrainsNewYork.com/ 2022D&I

I

n the wake of the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, gun control debates are raging again.

Although detailed firearm data tends to be difficult to obtain, in New York state, a person is required to pass a background test to obtain a gun license. The resulting data provides context on how the issue has evolved across the state.

How background checks work New York’s gun background checks are conducted by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which is part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The checks are intended to verify that the buyer does not have a criminal record or isn’t otherwise ineligible to purchase a gun.

Since the system launched in 1998, just 1.5 million out of 300 million checks conducted nationally, or 0.5%, have been denied, according to the NICS website. Gov. Kathy Hochul said 18-year-old Payton Gendron, who is accused of fatally shooting 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket, obtained his weapons legally by passing necessary background tests.

The number of background checks in the state has increased since 2000 and peaked in 2020, at more than 507,000. In 2021 there were nearly 465,000.

QUICK STATS

1,052

DEATHS from guns in New York in 2020, the latest year of available data

NEW YORK’S RATE OF GUN DEATHS HAS STAYED FLAT SINCE 2005; THE RATE IN OTHER STATES HAS NEARLY DOUBLED Percentage change in the number of deaths by firearm per 100,000 people, 2005–2020

CREATED WITH DATAWRAPPER

BY AMANDA GLODOWSKI

141K

BACKGROUND CHECKS

conducted in New York state so far this year

5.3

GUN DEATHS per 100,000 people, a rate that has stayed flat since 2005

Stats and the City is a column by Data Editor Amanda Glodowski that dives into the numbers driving business and daily life in New York City. You can view the latest installment at CrainsNewYork.com/stats-city

SOURCE: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; map data: Tilegrams/NPR

THE NUMBER OF GUN BACKGROUND CHECKS IN NEW YORK STATE SPIKED IN 2020 AND 2021

Number of background checks

600K

507,940

400K

200K 0

2000

NOTE: 2022 data is through May.

2020 SOURCE: Federal Bureau of Investigation

Vol. 38, No. 22, June 6, 2022—Crain’s New York Business (ISSN 8756-789X) is published weekly, except for no issue on 1/3/22, 7/4/22, 7/18/22, 8/1/22, 8/15/22, 8/29/22 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 2022 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved.

Northwell is on a mission to fight food insecurity in New York. That’s why we created Wellness on Wheels: a program that brings healthy food and nutrition guidance to thousands of school kids. Because when it comes to raising the health of our communities, well can’t wait.

Learn more about how we’re taking on food insecurity at RaiseHealth.com

WE’RE DRIVEN TO FIGHT HUNGER BECAUSE WELL CAN’T WAIT 2 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 6, 2022

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REAL ESTATE: THE CLOSER

Optimizing the air up there: How one broker is making his mark selling invisible real estate Broker Brian Strout has built his career handling air-rights transactions in the city

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hen Brian Strout decided he wanted to join Florida’s real estate industry, he realized his résumé didn’t fit the bill.

“From the beginning of college, my friends who were interested in real estate had all their internships and course selections for that,” he said. “They were getting all the sexy jobs for high-rises in Miami and Orlando.”

But he was studying engineering.

Strout spent some time working for a developer in rural Lakeland, Florida. He worked for another developer in South Carolina, then he left for New York in 2011 to get a master’s in real estate at New York University. His interest in urban planning led him to start reading about the city’s dense zoning laws and about air rights—the open space above properties that can be sold to nearby developers looking to build higher.

“While I’m researching, I find that Robert Shapiro’s name keeps popping up, and he’s sort of the godfather of [the air rights] industry NATALIE in New York,” Strout SACHMECHI said. “I cold-called him and told him I wanted to talk to him about a set of circumstances surrounding three neighboring properties.”

After discussing it, Shapiro offered him a job. Today 95% of Strout’s business is focused on air-rights deals.

Why do your clients choose you?

Clients choose me because I’m a specialist.

There are plenty of brokers out there who do plenty of asset classes, but they’re not spending 95% of their time on the ins and outs of air rights. It’s seeing things from previous deals and navigating what may be a problem or not.

What do you love most about selling air?

I love that it’s a very abstract concept. It’s made-up rules, not a natural law.

There’s a quotation in case law that air rights are a double abstraction—an abstraction based on an abstraction. You have rules and regulations that say what sites can absorb air rights and how much, but I like complicated situations and doing research.

BUCK ENNIS

What’s your secret sauce for getting clients?

Doing a good job on previous deals. Most of the people I work with find me through word-of- mouth or are repeat customers. Our business tends to come to us.

I have a nuanced understanding, and I do research that other people don’t. It’s less about pricing and square footage and more about the districts with unique rules and regulations that the zoning attorneys would know, but they don’t have the market information.

STROUT

If you step back for a second, it’s really cap and trade for zoning and density.

What’s your favorite kind of air to sell?

Inclusionary housing air rights. If developers preserve or create affordable housing, they get credits they can sell. It’s a meaningful piece of the business—probably 60% to 70% of it. Another reason we get a lot of business is that these air rights are technically not viewed as real estate, so the pricing for those transfers are not publicly recorded. We have knowledge around pricing and square footages that few people have.

“easy” deal is nice once in a while to make up for other deals, which are on-and-off, multiyear negotiations that sometimes still don’t end up transacting for a particular reason.

The way we celebrate a big deal is unlike how brokers typically go out for drinks. Back then, what we typically did was host a lunch

how this market operates. It’s a finite world of how you can even get a deal done—it’s very prescriptive. You can’t take your $40 million and go and just buy another asset.

What’s an interesting deal you’ve worked on?

It got killed by a change in zoning. It was a Midtown hotel, and we were in conversations with the neighbor to the west that owned the Hippodrome Building to buy the air rights. The neighbor to the east was a nonprofit, so we were having conversations with it too. The zoning there allowed you to buy air rights from any and all sources.

In 2015 the city enacted a law that prohibited large hotels from being converted to any non-hotel use. After in-depth conversations, the deal died down.

You can live and die by the zoning rules.

The deals we do are based on previous zoning that has been changed to date. ■

“IT’S SEEING THINGS FROM PREVIOUS DEALS AND NAVIGATING WHAT MAY BE A PROBLEM”

How did you celebrate your first big real estate deal?

For my first big deal, it was 25,600 square feet of off-site inclusionary housing in Midtown West in May 2018 between Silverstein Properties and the developers SK Development, CB Developers and Ironstate Development.

The building was The West at 547 W. 47th St. We got the buyer and the seller to a negotiated agreement quickly. As a broker, an

or a dinner at Robert’s residence.

People appreciate a more casual lunch, and they appreciate the personal touch of you picking the food and setting up and having lunch on a private terrace.

A client is about to walk out the door. What’s your Hail Mary move to keep the deal intact?

It’s less about the client walking out the door and more about educating the client and the counterparty on the front end by telling them

Know a New York City broker who should be featured in Crain’s? Contact Natalie Sachmechi at natalie.sachmechi@ CrainsNewYork.com.

June 6, 2022 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | 3

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RESIDENTIAL SPOTLIGHT

Scammer Madoff’s notorious Upper East Side apartment is trying for its third buyer in 12 years

The unit at 133 E. 64th St. is on the market for $18.5 million six years after its latest owner expanded the place

BY C. J. HUGHES

O

ne of the more infamous apartments of modern times is looking for a buyer—again.

Bernie Madoff’s penthouse, where the disgraced financier was arrested in 2008 in connection with bilking investors out of billions of dollars and where he spent his last few months before reporting to prison in 2009, is on the market for $18.5 million.

Whether the subsequent buyers never warmed to Penthouse S/No. 11C at 133 E. 64th St. or it’s simply dogged by bad karma, the Upper East Side duplex co-op seems to have a hard time keeping owners.

$18.5M

LISTING PRICE for Penthouse S at 133 E. 64th St. show—for a much brighter scheme.

Indeed, many pieces of furniture, many of the walls and some of the rugs are now white.

But six years after Benenson expanded the place, he’s trying to sell it.

It’s unclear from floor plans if Benenson ever officially merged Penthouse S and No. 11C. But the listing promises seven bedrooms, six and a half baths and a red tile– lined wraparound terrace that is little changed from ­ the Madoff era.

If $18.5 million is too steep, buyers can opt to purchase only the original Madoff property for $15 million. John Burger, the Brown Harris Stevens broker handling both listings, declined to comment.

FOR YEARS THE UNIT WAS CALLED PENTHOUSE A, BUT NOW IT HAS A NEW NAME

Madoff malaise But Burger may hide the fact that the apartment was once inhabited

by Madoff, whom a judge called “extraordinarily evil” before sentencing him to 150 years behind bars. For years the unit was known as Penthouse A. But since marketing began, it has a new name, Penthouse S, in an apparent bid to obscure the unit’s history—and perhaps to break its curse.

Madoff died in April 2021 in a prison hospital. In 2010 his son Mark, who worked alongside his father, died by suicide. In 2014 Bernie’s other son, Andrew, also an employee of the family firm, died of

BROWN HARRIS STEVENS

Alfred Kahn, an executive known for turning animated characters into toys, spent $8 million in 2010 to buy the apartment from federal officials, who had seized it to help compensate Madoff’s victims.

But Kahn parted with the apartment for $14.5 million four years later as he and his wife, Patsy, were divorcing. The buyer was Lawrence Benenson, a principal of the real estate company Benenson Capital Partners, a family-owned business that owns chain store–leased retail berths across the country.

Benenson snapped up an adjacent apartment, No. 11C, for $4 million in 2016, filings show. Along the way the apartment traded the somber tones of Madoff’s tenure—a bathroom was almost entirely onyx when he lived there, listing photos

133 E. 64TH ST. PENTHOUSE S offers seven bedrooms, six and a half baths and a wraparound terrace, according to the listing. cancer. The sole living family member is Madoff’s wife, Ruth.

Benenson seems to have drawn a bad hand with the apartment.

Even if it sold at its full asking price, he would realize zero profit. He did not return a call left with his com-

pany for comment.

A 12-story prewar edifice that has about two dozen units, 133 E. 64th St. had another infamous shareholder in recent years: Matt Lauer, the former host of the Today show. Lauer bought a four-bed-

room unit in the co-op for $5.9 million in 2004, but after being ousted from NBC following allegations of “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace,” Lauer unloaded the apartment in 2018 for $8 million. ■

IN THE MARKETS

S&P Global suspends earnings forecast because of ‘extraordinarily weak’ markets

S

&P Global has suspended financial guidance for this year, a sign that market turmoil is taking a toll on top Wall Street institutions and posing a threat to the city’s finances.

S&P’s problem is that the bond-rating giant doesn’t have many new bonds to rate.

Corporate debt markets have turned frigid as investors shift their money into risk-free Treasuries offering a nearly 3% return. Issuance of speculative junk bonds has plunged by 75% this year, research firm Dealogic found. The market

has also gone quiet for leveraged fewer bonds than last year and 40% loans, which are used to fewer leveraged loans. finance leveraged buyThat would reduce revenue by $600 million, the outs. company said.

“Debt issuance volumes have been extraorInvestment-banking dinarily weak year to revenue across the board date,” S&P said in a stateis down 38% globally this year, Dealogic found. ment. “Given the volatility Companies are borrowand uncertainty in the issuance environment, the ing less, they aren’t mergcompany cannot affirm ing as much, and the marAARON ELSTEIN ket for initial public its previously issued guidofferings has gone silent. ance.”

The big change in the market- Barring a sharp turnaround, layoffs place means S&P could rate 35% at banks and asset managers seem

likely in the second half of the year.

Tough for the city A tough year on Wall Street would be tough for the city. The securities industry accounts for only 5% of New York’s workforce but a fifth of private-sector wages. The industry’s tax revenue was vital to getting the city through the pandemic in decent fiscal shape.

Last year the securities industry generated $58 billion in profits, the second-most ever, but the Independent Budget Office estimates that sum will fall by more than half

this year, to $25 billion.

S&P’s fortunes illustrate how quickly the landscape is changing.

As recently as early May, the company forecast 2022 earnings would come in as high as $13.60 a share. But it lowered that estimate to a range of $12 to $12.25 a share after its core ratings business showed a 15% decline in first-quarter revenue.

S&P scrapped the reduced earnings target and said it planned to provide new financial guidance when it reported second-quarter results in the summer.

In February S&P completed its $44 billion acquisition of financial-data provider IHS Markit. The company said it expected to let go of 140 employees this year as a result, a small fraction of its 35,000 workers. ■

4 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | June 6, 2022

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ON POLITICS

Real estate industry recaptures power in Albany

Leaders won’t move the tenant-friendly good cause eviction bill, indicating real estate’s power is again on the rise

T

‘Good cause’ isn’t radical Relatively speaking, good cause is not as radical as either side—the leftists in the housing movement or the landlords in opposition—believes it to be. The affordability crisis in New York won’t be solved by good cause, and landlords will still reap profits. Much-needed housing development can continue, and high rents can still be posted.

What will change is the ability of landlords to capriciously evict working-class and poor tenants, even when they pay their rent on time. Housing court won’t be as

NEW YORK STATE CAPITAL, ALBANY, NY

BUCK ENNIS

here was much hope for the tenant movement entering this year. With Democrats holding supermajorities in both chambers of the state Legislature, it appeared the years of real estate industry dominance in Albany had come to a close.

The new era would resemble something like 2019, when Democrats seized control of the state Senate: progressives calling the shots and sending a flurry of bills to the governor’s desk, where they would be reluctantly signed into law. Andrew Cuomo, the disgraced former governor, was closely aligned with real estate developers and landlords yet accepted the passage of a sweeping protenant package that, among other things, ended the abililandlords ROSS BARKAN toty oftake their apartments out of the rent-stabilization system. It was a landmark victory for the left in New York.

Three years later, the terrain has begun to shift. In 2020 and 2021, the executive branch under Cuomo regained clout as the pandemic raged and lawmakers turned over inordinate emergency powers to the governor. Even when those expired, the pace of legislating did not match its pre-pandemic peak. This year a large number of Democrats in Albany believed they could pass the final piece of the housing package that was dropped in 2019: good cause eviction.

Furiously opposed by landlords and building owners, good cause eviction would restrict rent increases to either 3% or 1.5 times the inflation rate, whichever is higher, and prevent landlords from denying lease renewals to tenants who had consistently abided by the terms of their leases. Every tenant in New York, in essence, would enjoy some of the protections of a rent-stabilized tenant. Local legislatures have passed good cause into law in the cities of Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Newburgh and Albany. Versions of good cause already exist in California, Oregon and New Jersey.

clogged with cases.

Given that good cause supporters weren’t attempting to socialize housing, but merely to give tenants more leverage when their leases are up, it was plausible that the bill would fly through the Legislature this year. It’s important to remember the New York City Council cannot make good cause law; a 1970s-era provision prevents the city from strengthening its rent laws without state approval. Albany controls the city’s fate here.

And Albany, right now, is shooting good cause down. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who, like her predecessor, is drawing close to the real estate industry, won’t affirm her support for the bill. Neither legislative leader—Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie nor Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins—is prioritizing its passage. Progressive Democrats, once ascendant, are finding themselves up against a wall: The legislative session ends on June 2. (This should be an artificial deadline since there’s no reason state lawmakers can’t show up in July or Au-

gust to pass important bills, but they won’t.)

Good cause appears dead for a variety of reasons, some of them illegitimate. A number of Democrats are afraid of passing controversial or notable bills in an election year.

Others claimed they were too focused on the redistricting chaos and now want to concentrate on re-election and raising money.

ary. Current events aren’t enough of an excuse for inaction.

More moderate members of the state Assembly remain ideologically opposed to good cause—or at least skeptical. White suburban and upstate Democrats view it more as a New York City issue. Within the city, the Assembly caucus is not as progressive as it might appear at first blush. A number of Black lawmakers in Brooklyn and Queens, many of them representing both homeowners and tenants, have chosen to side with the former over the latter. Homeowners are a more organized constituency that has, with assistance from the real estate lobby, decried good cause as hurting their ability to rent out parts of their houses to tenants. Meanwhile, there are state Senate Democrats heeding the cries of smaller landlords who see good cause as a threat to their profit-making.

It’s not, but that argument is winning, and both legislative leaders appear to be giving up, for now, on fighting for a bill that should have become law years ago. For the

DEMOCRATS WANTED TO PASS THE FINAL PIECE OF THE HOUSING PACKAGE DROPPED IN 2019 Legislative oxygen has been consumed, in recent days, by the response to the Buffalo mass shooting, the looming repeal of Roe v.

Wade, and the debate over whether to renew a version of the 421-a tax abatement.

But Democrats should be able to walk and chew gum at the same time, and there’s no reason serious consideration of good cause can’t happen when the bill has been floating around Albany for several years. A hearing was held in Janu-

tenant movement, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. The real estate industry, no longer on the defensive, has definitively halted their progress.

Quick takes ● Max Rose, the former Democratic member of the House of Representatives, has announced that, after redistricting, he will take on Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in a rematch in the 11th Congressional District. It will be a very daunting race for Rose in a district Trump won by eight points and in an environment that will very much favor the GOP. ● The 421-a property tax exemption appears dead in Albany, at least for now. The loss of the tax break for developers is a big blow to both Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams, who wanted versions of the abatement to continue. ● It’s official: New York has two primary dates, one for Assembly races on June 28 and another for the state Senate and U.S. House races on Aug. 23. Blame court decisions for the confusion, which will diminish turnout. ■

Ross Barkan is an author and journalist in New York City.

6 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | June 6, 2022

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president & ceo K.C. Crain group publisher Jim Kirk publisher/executive editor

EDITORIAL

Frederick P. Gabriel Jr.

New York state shows the way with sensible gun rules that make us safer National Rifle Association and Second Amendment absolutists block every attempt at sensible gun regulation that could make our schools, offices, grocery stores, movie theaters and hospitals safer. Public safety is a major priority for business owners in New York, where gun violence has escalated post-pandemic.

There’s strong evidence that straightforward gun licensing and regulation help save lives: New York’s rate of gun deaths per 100,000 people has remained flat since 2005, while 47 other states saw an increase in the rate (see Stats and the City, page 2). Only California and New Jersey, two other states that have beefed up regulations, saw their rate of gun deaths fall.

New York, the fourthlargest state by population, had the 18th-highest total number of gun deaths in 2020. Background checks in the state have steadily risen, to a peak of 507,000 in 2020.

The state’s reasonable moves to regulate firearms look downright conservative compared to

STRAIGHTFORWARD GUN LICENSING AND REGULATION HELP SAVE LIVES Tulsa, Oklahoma. Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to sign the bill.

The state is already one of the most restrictive on guns, including a ban on military-style assault rifles.

That’s in stark contrast to the state of play in Washington, D.C., where Republicans backed by the

editor-in-chief Cory Schouten,

cory.schouten@crainsnewyork.com managing editor Telisha Bryan assistant managing editor Anne Michaud data editor Amanda Glodowski digital editor Taylor Nakagawa audience engagement editor Jennifer Samuels art director Carolyn McClain photographer Buck Ennis senior reporters Cara Eisenpress,

Aaron Elstein, Eddie Small reporters Maya Kaufman, Brian Pascus,

Jacqueline Neber, Natalie Sachmechi, Caroline Spivack op-ed editor Jan Parr,

opinion@crainsnewyork.com executive assistant Brittany Brown to contact the newsroom:

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I

t turns out, common-sense regulation of guns is possible—at least in Albany.

On the last day of the state legislative session, Democratic supermajorities voted to require buyers of semiautomatic rifles in New York to be 21 years old (up from 18) and have a license, banned the sale of bullet-resistant armor to civilians and beefed up “red flag” laws that allow the seizure of firearms from those deemed likely to harm themselves or others.

That makes New York the first state to pass legislation in response to the awful mass shootings in Buffalo; Uvalde, Texas; and

EDITORIAL

Canada’s response to the shootings; it has moved to fully ban the purchase, sale or import of handguns in addition to a ban on military-style weapons. “In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right,” an official there told The Associated Press.

Back in New York, elected officials are bracing for a challenge to the new and existing

regulations from gun advocates and the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule soon on the state’s concealed-carry licensing process. Hochul has promised a special session if the court deems the state’s rules too broad.

The direction Albany took last week is reassuring. Commonsense gun regulation is the right path forward. ■

sales manager Courtney McCombs account executives Kelly Maier, Marc Rebucci,

Laura Warren people on the move manager Debora Stein,

dstein@crain.com CUSTOM CONTENT associate director, custom content

Sophia Juarez, sophia.juarez@crainsnewyork.com custom content coordinator Ashley Maahs,

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www.crainsnewyork.com/events manager of conferences & events

Ana Jimenez, ajimenez@crainsnewyork.com senior manager of events Michelle Cast,

OP-ED

A road map for City Hall to make inroads and model climate change leadership

michelle.cast@crainsnewyork.com REPRINTS director, reprints & licensing Lauren Melesio,

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

Simone Pryce

BY ANITA RAMAN

W

orkers want Mayor Eric Adams and New York City’s leaders to “get stuff done” on climate change.

My team and I at Cornell University recently released “Climate for Change: A Complete Climate Jobs Roadmap for New York City,” a report based on 3,200 hours of policy research and interviews with the city’s labor, environmental and political leaders. The report, released in consultantion with Climate Jobs New York, a union coalition representing 2.6 million workers, includes extensive details on how the Adams administration can take actions that will lead to net-zero emissions, create more than 1 million community-sustaining jobs and reduce inequality in the city.

The first thing to “get done” is to address inequities in health outcomes and facility conditions by making the city’s public schools carbon-free and healthy—because 1.2 million students, teachers and

faculty occupy schools.

This means investing in a workforce that can make deep energy-efficiency retrofits such as upgrading plumbing, electrical and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, followed by installing 1.1 gigawatts of building-integrated and rooftop solar energy and battery storage.

Expanding this work to New York City Housing Authority and health and hospital buildings could reduce institutional and commercial building emissions by nearly 12%, create more than 320,000 jobs and improve the lives of up to 3 million New Yorkers.

The city has project labor agreements with the New York Building and Construction Trades Council, so work on public schools, public housing and public hospitals would be high-quality union jobs.

To ensure these jobs go to frontline communities, the city should increase funding for direct-entry pre-apprenticeships, which are paid job-training programs that

prepare workers to enter union apprenticeships and careers.

These investments can also help dismantle structural racial inequality. Investing in career access can reduce incarceration and support New Yorkers who have historically been excluded from opportunities and have borne the brunt of pollution and climate-related impacts.

Funding available Other things workers want the mayor to get done: invest in 15 gigawatts of local offshore wind development and port infrastructure; adopt the Regional Planning Association’s Triboro proposal, a 24mile light rail connecting the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and potentially Staten Island; and mandate 100% cool roofs or green roofs.

This plan requires a historic multiyear financial investment in climate. Luckily, the city can start today with immediate funds yet to be tapped, such as the $12 billion going to the city from the Federal In-

frastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The money can be used for transportation projects such as the Triboro, bus rapid transit and electric vehicle charger installations.

The city is also eligible to compete for an additional $150 billion in federal funds.

On the state level, there is at least $4.2 billion in green bonds available for green jobs projects.

Additional funding mechanisms are listed throughout the report.

There is both a will and mechanism to get stuff done on climate change, and New Yorkers believe Adams and other elected officials in New York can model the climate leadership that will help America become more equitable, safe and resilient. ■ Anita Raman is a 2022 Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project, in cooperation with the Yale School of Climate Change Communication; and a research and policy development associate at Cornell University.

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8 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | JUNE 6, 2022

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OP-ED

In rail transport, here’s what London got right that New York keeps getting wrong

L

ondon underground made the buzz May 24, when the brandnew Elizabeth line opened to the public. The new railway includes 26 miles of deep tunnels under central London. It connects Heathrow Airport to Canary Warf and Shenfield to the east, and it’s fully integrated with London’s existing commuter rail network.

If you were to superimpose this glorious piece of infrastructure over the New York region, you would connect John F. Kennedy International Airport to New Brunswick with direct one-seat service while you served multiple stations in Queens, Manhattan, Newark and beyond.

The Elizabeth line cost $23 billion. That’s a steep price tag, but when you consider what you’re getting for your money, you realize that it’s actually a pretty good deal: London got 60 miles of track; 26 miles of new tunnels; and 10 brandnew stations, including numerous

new stations in Central London.

Oh, and did I mention that no building needed to be bulldozed to bring this to life?

By comparison, the railways in New York have been designing Gateway, a new 4.2-mile tunnel under the Hudson River, a refurbished Penn Station, and eight new tracks that would require bulldozing six city blocks, with no added connectivity. The current price tag on this project: from $30 billion to $40 billion, almost double London’s cost.

What London got right that New York keeps getting wrong is that the Elizabeth line is not designed as a terminus railway into Central London but as a through-running line connecting faraway points from the east and the west to areas of importance (airport, financial center and business district).

When an NJ Transit train comes into Penn Station at rush hour, instead of going back empty to New Jersey, it proceeds to Sunnyside Yard in Queens, across the East River, to park.

These trains could continue eastbound to other parts of Long Island.

With through-running trains, towns and cities that have been in danger of being left out and left behind would be back in the game.

Breaking down silos There are challenges to be worked out. Locomotives run by NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road don’t speak the same language.

Some trains are powered by catenary; others run on diesel or are powered by the third rail. To be interconnected, they would have to adopt a common language.

More important, we need greater political vision to force a marriage between the railroads’ operations.

We can draw hope from the Franco-English partnership that created the Eurostar. If the French and the British were able to build a highspeed service from Paris to London, no doubt New Jersey, New York and Amtrak can figure out an average-speed Metuchen-Ronkonkoma ride.

ALAMY

BY LAYLA LAW-GISIKO

The Northeast Corridor has a lifetime opportunity to tap into the most robust federal funding ever available, to vastly improve our transit system.

Every transit advocate will tell you: The time is now. Yes, it’s now, but to do what? Build another last-century terminal with no connectivity? Or a forward-thinking ambitious through-running connective railway system?

In New York we need a cutting-edge piece of infrastructure

that will provide mobility and economic resilience for the century to come. As it was in London, through-running at Penn Station must be the preferred alternative. ■ Layla Law-Gisiko chairs the Land Use, Housing and Zoning Committee for Manhattan Community Board Five. She is a member of the Penn Area Community Advisory Committee Working Group and an Assembly candidate in District 75.

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6/2/22 3:53 PM

INSTANT EXPERT

How a new MTA plan will boost bike and pedestrian access WHAT IS THE BIKE, PEDESTRIAN AND MICROMOBILITY STRATEGIC ACTION PLAN?

AFTER YEARS of Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials’ reluctance to open up the agency’s bridges to cyclists, the authority is LIEBER developing a plan to better integrate bikes and pedestrian access across its transit networks. “We want to improve customer access to our environmentally friendly MTA services, however they get to their train or bus,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber.

THE PLAN, which the MTA says it will release later this year, is following through on a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul in December. It requires the agency to plan for and encourage bike and e-scooter use at its bridges, stations and other facilities. MTA officials say the plan’s goal is creating “equitable access to transit systems and supporting sustainable transportation.”

BUCK ENNIS

THE ISSUE

GOVERNORKATHYHOCHULOFFICE/FLICKR

BY CAROLINE SPIVACK

HOCHUL

THE PLAYERS

“WHEN YOU GET FARTHER OUT IN THE CITY, WALKING DISTANCES TO SUBWAYS CAN INCREASE A LOT”

WHY IS THE PLAN NEEDED?

ISTOCK

THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION has shown that it is possible to successfully—and with minimal cost—repurpose road space for bike paths, such as with the Brooklyn Bridge and Pulaski Bridge, noted Jon Orcutt, a former director of policy at the DOT who currently works with Bike New York.

Orcutt said the MTA’s planning efforts could benefit from a meeting of the minds between bridge officials at both agencies, and the authority should be creative in implementing short-term solutions while it crafts a longer-term roadmap. For instance, that could include partnering with the DOT to install bike parking on municipal land just outside subway stations to make it more attractive for riders to bike to stations.

“When you get farther out into the city, the walking distances to subways can increase a lot, and bike access is a good way to address that,” said Orcutt. “I would hope that [the MTA is] finding some low-hanging fruit where they can do things quickly—like this year—and not wait for the planning process to wind its way through MTA world.”

BLOOMBERG

WHAT CHANGES COULD THIS PLAN SPUR?

THE MTA IS THE LEAD AGENCY on the plan. To support its work, transit officials have hired Sam Schwartz Engineering as a consultant on the project toward achieving five core goals: improve bike, pedestrian and micromobility access at subway stations and bus stops; enhance access at Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad stops; integrate trip planning and payments with bike-sharing and electric scooter services; strengthen coordination with municipalities on these efforts; and create pedestrian and bike access to infrastructure operated by the authority’s bridges and tunnels department.

METRO-NORTH RAILROAD

UNDER CURRENT MTA RULES, cyclists are not allowed to bike the agency’s seven bridges and two tunnels. Pedestrian paths are accessible at four of the spans, but the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge and the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge all lack pedestrian and bike access. Instead, certain MTA buses equipped with bike racks can shepherd cyclists over the spans.

Transit experts say the new plan could be the first step toward the MTA ushering in a wave of new bike and pedestrian infrastructure on its bridges. “We’re seeing a cycling boom across the city,” said Kate Slevin, executive vice president of the Regional Plan Association, “and part of accommodating that is improving connections between the boroughs and allowing people to travel outside of Manhattan.”

RECENT STEPS THE MTA HAS TAKEN toward a more bike-friendly transit system include eliminating a rule last summer that riders on its commuter railroads obtain a permit to bring bikes on board.

The agency has also added new bike lockers at six Metro-North stations and 18 LIRR stops, and launched a secure bike storage pilot at Grand Central Terminal with Oonee, a Brooklyn-based startup whose mini-pod offers six bike parking spaces.

SHABAZZ STUART, CEO OF OONEE

BLOOMBERG

SOME BACKGROUND

10 | CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS | June 6, 2022

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6/2/22 4:40 PM

ON REAL ESTATE

Setting aside billions for affordable housing will be toothless if the city doesn’t make zoning changes

M

ayor Eric Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams are clashing over billions

where, and that is where the real fights tend to occur. So although billions for affordable housing would be very nice and sorely needed, the money will not be nearly as effective if it isn't accompanied by changes to the city’s zoning policies.

of dollars.

In his State of the City address, the mayor proposed committing $5 billion to the creation of affordable housing over the Wonky changes next 10 years in the upcoming budget. In her To his credit, the mayor State of the City address, just proposed zoning the speaker proposed changes last Wednesday committing $4 billion to morning meant to spur affordable housing in the EDDIE SMALL the creation of more afnext year alone. fordable housing in the The pair will likely go back and city. The text amendment aims to forth for a while before eventually make it easier to convert commerlanding on a certain number of bil- cial buildings into residential ones lions that they will tout as extreme- and reduce parking requirements ly ambitious and that affordable taking up space that could otherhousing advocates will decry as not wise be used for more housing, enough. among other measures.

The reality is that any number Wonky changes like these will be they land on won’t be enough—not just as, if not more, important than by itself at least. Because once the the amount of funding the city puts money is approved, the affordable behind creating affordable places housing units still need to go some- for New Yorkers to live. Although

there is broad agreement that New York has an affordable housing crisis, once the rezoning process comes to the fore, arguments over everything ranging from the size of the building to the number of affordable units to how affordable those units will actually be take hold, bringing a pretty quick end to any common ground.

These are essential conversations to have, but they can often lead to no affordable housing at all.

At the Long Island College Hospital site in Cobble Hill, for instance, Fortis Property Group ultimately decided to develop luxury housing rather than go through the rezoning process to build a larger project with affordable units. And multiple neighborhood rezonings that Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration attempted collapsed in the face of opposition from the local council member, including one in Bushwick that the city estimated would have created up to about 2,000 affordable housing units.

The billions proposed by the

mayor and the speaker are still critical investments, to be clear. If anyone is morbidly curious about how the city’s affordable housing crisis could get worse, cutting funds would be a good place to start.

But throwing money at the problem without substantial legislative changes is not enough to make a meaningful difference to New

demonstrating that there is a huge difference between providing money for a good cause and ensuring that the money is effective.

Preserving the stock Housing experts have already concluded that factors such as inflation, rising interest rates and supply-chain issues have made preserving the city’s existing stock of affordable units more likely than building new ones in the near future.

This is understandable, but few would argue that keeping New York’s inadequate affordable housing supply at its current level would constitute progress.

New York City should make it as easy as possible to build more affordable housing units despite these headwinds, and changes to its zoning rules would be a great place to start. ■

THROWING MONEY AT THE PROBLEM IS NOT ENOUGH TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE York’s affordable housing supply.

Well-funded Covid-relief efforts ranging from the emergency rental assistance program to the Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant program to the shuttered venue operators grant have all experienced major problems actually getting their money into the hands of the New Yorkers who need it,

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HEALTH CARE

BY MAYA KAUFMAN

C

onsolidation activity among local digital health startups is poised to accelerate the rest of this year, even as private financing is getting hit, experts said during a NYC Health Business Leaders panel discussion Wednesday on how mergers and acquisitions are reshaping the sector.

Jon Swope, senior managing director of investment banking at SVP Securities, where he leads the firm’s

ended in disaster—primarily because of issues with governance, relative valuation and the decision of who will serve as chief executive, Swope said—but the current market environment is making buyers and sellers anxious to the point that such mergers will pick up.

Anticipated growth Because of the climate, deals may also include a greater share of equity and more milestones, panelists said.

Many startups are still flush with money after a record-breaking year of fundraising and will be acquisitive throughout the year, panelists said.

New York-based digital health and life science startups raised $9 billion in 2021, up 150% from the previous year, NYC Health Business Leaders found in a report released earlier this year.

“We’ll likely see strong, fundamentally sound digital health companies acquiring assets throughout 2022 to increase market share and drive revenue growth,” said Bunny

“WE’LL SEE DIGITAL HEALTH COMPANIES ACQUIRING ASSETS THROUGH 2022” digital health and health-tech practice, said he expects M&A activity to peak later this year. The current market environment, however, will result in cuts to valuations and more “mergers of equals,” or deals between firms of roughly equal size, he said.

That kind of deal has traditionally

Ellerin, co-founder of NYC Health Business Leaders and its CEO. Kindbody, a NoMad-based fertility startup, announced in February that it would acquire Vios Fertility Institute, doubling its national footprint of fertility clinics to 26 and propelling its valuation to $1.15 billion—hitting unicorn status.

Shilpa Patel, Kindbody’s co-founder and chief business and legal officer, said Wednesday that the deal hastened its path to profitability by several quarters.

She said the startup is in the process of acquiring companies in the genetics and surrogacy spaces.

CEO Gina Bartasi previously told Crain’s that Kindbody planned to go to market with a Series D funding round after the Vios acquisition closed.

But the speakers, who included Thirty Madison CEO Steve Gutenberg and RubiconMD co-founder and CEO Gil Addo, said startups

BUNNY ELLERIN of NYC Health Business Leaders

ADRIENNE NICOLE PRODUCTIONS

Digital health M&A to peak later this year, experts say

might want to retool and wait to get in on the game—or at least adjust expectations for their valuation.

“My advice is to sell at the top of the market,” Addo said to a hearty

laugh from the audience.

NYC Health Business Leaders was founded in 2009 to bring together local leaders in the health care industry. ■

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ASKED & ANSWERED

INTERVIEW BY AARON ELSTEIN

J

essica Rabe, 27, is co-founder of investment industry analysis firm DataTrek Research and one of Wall Street’s sharpest analysts. In addition to digging through earnings data to divine market trends, she’s an expert at mining Google for information on consumer spending patterns. Rabe has also fashioned herself into one of the leading experts in the fast-growing cannabis business, which should be rolling out across New York state by the end of the year.

Let’s start by talking about the stock market. Is the bear market over?

I think the market will remain volatile until it gets a better sense of how high the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates. At the same time, Wall Street analysts are cutting earnings estimates, and it’s hard to see stocks rallying when corporate earnings growth is slowing.

And yet wages are rising.

The pandemic fundamentally changed the U.S. labor market. For example, Google search volumes for “remote work” are double prepandemic levels, and those for “ask for raise” are up 30%. Workers clearly have the bargaining power to demand flexible work and higher pay in the current environment. The next recession will determine how permanent these changes really are.

Let’s talk weed. Will the black market end when recreational cannabis becomes available in New York?

prosecutors aren’t doing anything. This is going to be a challenge for the state’s ability to collect taxes on it.

WHO SHE IS Co-founder, DataTrek Research

What kind of tax revenue are we talking about?

GREW UP Chatham, New Jersey (and she still lives in the state) EDUCATION Bachelor’s in economics, Gordon College SMART COOKIE Rabe entered college when she was 16, got her first Wall Street job when she was 19, and co-founded DataTrek when she was 22.

LEGITIMATE BUSINESS Rabe became interested in cannabis after sales were legalized in Colorado.

She wanted to see how a black-market enterprise morphed into a legitimate one. “We haven’t seen anything like this since the end of Prohibition,” she said.

POTENCY TAX She adds that New York is taxing cannabis based on potency, not volume.

That’s intended to close a loophole in other states that encourages users to buy the most mind-blowing ganja.

I doubt it. The black market in California is twice the size of the legal one. You already see unlicensed trucks and stores selling flower and edibles in Midtown. When it’s legal for stores to sell cannabis, it’s going to be tough to compel users to pay more, especially with inflation so high.

How can the state crack down?

It sent cease-and-desist letters and threatened charges, but police and

Colorado generates more tax revenue from cannabis sales than alcohol or tobacco. It collected $423 million last year on $2.2 billion in marijuana sales. I think New York could exceed those figures because its population is much larger than Colorado’s, and it gets lots of tourists, too.

Didn’t recreational weed just become available in New Jersey?

It did on April 21, and in the first month the state reported $24 million in sales from just 12 dispensaries, none accessible by public transportation. New Jersey is drawing customers from New York and Pennsylvania. The governor of Pennsylvania really wants to legalize recreational cannabis, but for now New Jersey has the first-mover advantage.

Is federal legalization next?

Not for a long time, especially if Republicans regain control of Congress.

So long as it remains a state matter, marijuana supply chains must be confined within a single state, and this poses challenges for those entering the business. As an example, Boston Beer Co., which makes Sam Adams, is experimenting with non-alcoholic cannabis beverages. But transporting the product across state lines is a problem.

Will the day come when bodegas sell weed like they sell beer and cigarettes?

That day might already be here. The smell of marijuana is everywhere. ■

JESSICA RABE/BUCK ENNIS

JESSICA RABE DataTrek Research

DOSSIER

2022

HEALTH CARE LEADERS Crain’s New York Business’s 2022 Notable Health Care Leaders list recognizes individuals and their accomplishments in healthcare administration, clinical services, research, nursing and more.

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HEALTH CARE

Postnatal care for moms and families slow to enter the city’s burgeoning health-tech scene

BY JACQUELINE NEBER

A

s fertility health-tech firms have proliferated across the city, postnatal care remains a facet of women’s health that has grown much more slowly.

Flatiron-based fertility clinic Kindbody has expanded nationally, and so far it has raised more than $155 million, according to figures from Crunchbase. Progyny, which is headquartered in Midtown and helps employers build better fertility benefits packages, reported 40% revenue growth since last year. And SoHo-based Maven, which provides telehealth services to women and families, reached unicorn status in August 2021.

have a waitlist.

She said it is impossible to work with insurance companies right now because what the retreat provides–care that is at the intersection of nonmedical service and hospitality–isn’t covered. Rates range from $1,450 to $1,950 per night.

The retreat, however, is working toward partnering with insurers.

“From the moment the baby arrives, the mom is placed on the back burner. We’re giving moms time to focus on themselves,” Nam said.

Limited options While the Boram retreat opened recently, there have been other resources across the city for postnatal care, but the programs are few and far between.

The Motherhood Center, a postnatal care startup based in NoMad, has been open for five years and says it was the first of its kind in the city. The center offers a day program for moms, outpatient services, and support and education programs. Clinicians include perinatally focused social workers, psychologists, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists and reproductive psychiatrists. Moms can receive help with medication management, bonding and attachment therapy, anxiety and depression coping skills, couples’ counseling and partner support.

“New stressors have ravaged the perinatal population. PMADS [perinatal or postpartum mood and anxiety disorders] are the No. 1 complication associated with childbirth,” said Paige Bellenbaum, founding director and chief external relations officer of the Motherhood Center. “And we still don’t have mandatory screening for PMADs.” “[This is] an intensive level of care that helps women feel better faster,” Bellenbaum continued, adding it is advantageous that the center exists outside of any hospital system because the system can be “siloed.”

The center’s day program accepts all insurances and accepts Medicaid patients for free. Outpatient services are fee-for-service.

The city’s Health + Hospital system launched the 3-2-1 Impact program in 2018. The program’s goal, said Dr. Mary McCord, the clinical lead for the project, is to provide care to children and their mothers and support kids’ social and emotional development to improve their long-term health trajectory.

The full 3-2-1 program is available at Bellevue, Gouverneur and Queens hospitals. Parts of the program have been extended to all other H+H sites, and maternal medicine is available at all 11 hospitals.

Health+Hospitals also operates the Maternal Home program, which provides social determinants of health screening for women and

There’s one women’s health space, however, that most tech firms haven’t traversed yet: postnatal care.

Postnatal care is important in treating perinatal mood and anxiety disorders, a group of symptoms that include postpartum depression and anxiety, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and psychosis. Symptoms could be present during pregnancy as well.

These disorders affect approximately 1 in 5 women, and that number could be much higher in actuality, because many women may not report their symptoms.

While there’s a large need for postnatal care, many women do not receive it.

Budding business Boram Nam, the founder of the Boram Postnatal Retreat based in Midtown, is attempting to close that gap. The retreat, which opened May 5, offers comprehensive postnatal and baby care for mothers up to six weeks post-delivery. The clinic offers services such as evidence-based healing practices, nutrition and community building.

Registered nurses are available to monitor vitals for new mothers.

Nam, who self-funds the clinic with her husband, Suk Park, created the retreat after hearing about the comprehensive, lengthy postnatal care friends in her native Korea experienced.

The retreat is in a 20,277-squarefoot space. The founders have invested $1.5 million of their own money, using proceeds from a previously founded company that was sold to SoftBank. The retreat employs about 20 associates who provide around-the-clock service for guests. It has three managers and a director.

So far, the retreat has serviced more than 20 mothers. It has 16 guestrooms, and Nam hopes to

ISTOCK

“NEW STRESSORS HAVE RAVAGED THE PERINATAL POPULATION”

identifies providers for them to use.

Mothers also receive “wraparound” care from social workers and other service coordinators, said Dr. Wendy Wilcox, the chief women’s health officer for H+H. Any mother who comes to H+H

for pregnancy care is covered regardless of insurance or immigration status. Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing for women to be covered through their first postpartum year, Wilcox said, to address the idea that pregnancy complications and

PMADs don’t end soon after birth.

McCord and Wilcox want to make the 3-2-1 program the model of care at every H+H site.

H+H provides half of the funding for the 3-2-1 program; the other half comes from a grant. ■

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POLITICS

Governor spotlights two outer-borough projects in kickoff for $25 billion affordable housing plan

BY BRIAN PASCUS

A

HOCHUL

BUCK ENNIS

five-year, $25 billion investment into affordable housing initiated by Gov. Kathy Hochul is beginning to take shape through two developments in New York City’s outer boroughs.

Recently, Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams celebrated construction milestones for two new affordable housing products, financed in part by $25 billion the governor secured in her April budget agreement. Hochul and Adams announced construction had begun on the first phase of Edgemere Commons, a $100 million, 11 building mixeduse affordable housing complex in Far Rockaway, Queens. Edgemere Commons will eventually produce more than 2,000 affordable housing units with new retail, parking, community centers and outdoor public space.

“By investing in this $100 million mixed-use development, we are creating high-quality housing, medical services, commercial activity and public space that [will] re-energize neighborhoods and build a more inclusive, safe and vibrant community for all,” Hochul said in a statement.

The first phase of Edgemere Commons will include a 17-story residential tower with nearly 200 units of affordable housing, 23,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and 24,000 square feet of new parking. The 11-phase project is the result of a rezoning of the former site of Peninsula General Hospital Center, which closed in 2012 and sat on roughly 9 acres.

RuthAnne Visnauskas, commissioner of Housing and Community Renewal, the state’s division supervising affordable housing development and maintenance, called Edgemere Commons “a game

services center on the ground floor of the building.

“Thanks to this $84 million investment by Gov. Hochul and Mayor Adams, we are another step closer to ensuring all seniors in our borough have access to the decent, affordable housing they need and deserve,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, who represents the neighborhood of Morrisania.

While not funded by the $25 billion state initiative, completion of the Bronx development for seniors complements the governor’s affordable housing agenda, Hochul’s office said.

“I CAN TELL YOU THAT CLOSE TO 1 MILLION RENTERS IN NEW YORK CITY ARE RENT-BURDENED” changer” for the Far Rockaway community. She expects the project to become an “economic engine” for the neighborhood.

The governor and the mayor also announced the completion of the Trinity-Reverend William James Senior Apartments in the Bronx, a 153-unit affordable housing development for seniors in the Morrisania neighborhood, near Yankee Stadium.

The Trinity-Reverend William James Senior Apartments project features 144 apartments for seniors with an income at or below 60% of the area median income, and 57 apartments for seniors who were formerly incarcerated, with on-site services provided by a nonprofit out of a 5,400-square-foot social

Public-private partnership The $100 million Edgemere Commons development is a public-private project that includes management from three real estate groups.

The Arker Cos. and Slate Property Group will construct tower one and handle the first phase of development.

Tishman Speyer, which purchased 10 of the 11 building sites from Arker for $90 million in November, will develop the remaining phases, totaling more than 2.2 million square feet. These include 38,000 square feet of public outdoor space, 77,000 square feet for com-

NEEDS UNMET

through an affordable munity spaces and 72,000 rental program for sesquare feet of retail that includes a supermarket niors. and fitness center.

More units needed “We’re hoping to bring in a supermarket, which The two projects are is really needed there,” only the earliest steps in NUMBER of said David Schwartz, the governor’s plan to affordable co-founder and principal create or preserve more housing units of Slate Property Group. than 100,000 units of afHochul hopes to create in the next “All types of neighborfordable housing across five years the state in the next five hood retail, anything you’d normally need: cofyears.

Although roughly 2,300 fee shops, nail salons, new units will be develgroceries and sit-down restaurants—it’s really oped in Far Rockaway AMOUNT of state under-retailed, that part and Morrisania, housing funds needed to of the Rockaways.” advocates note that the help subsidize The state’s financing for need is greater, and dethe development Edgemere Commons invelopers are running out of the units of time. cludes $14.7 million in “I can tell you that close tax-exempt bonds and $47.7 million of equity in federal to 1 million renters in New York City low-income tax credits from the Di- are rent-burdened, and tens of vision of Housing and Community thousands of New Yorkers are expeRenewal. The city’s Department of riencing homelessness on any given Housing Preservation and Develop- night,” said Brendan Cheney, direcment contributed nearly $23 mil- tor of policy and communications at the New York Housing Conferlion in subsidies.

The state contributed most of the ence, an affordable housing nonfunding for the Morrisania afford- profit.

Cheney said the New York Housable housing development. Housing and Community Renewal gen- ing Conference didn’t have an exact erated roughly $62.5 million in number in mind when it came to financing through tax-exempt overall new unit production, but he bonds and tax credits, among other emphasized that the city constructsubsidies. The Department of Hous- ed an average of 8,000 new units of ing Preservation and Development affordable housing per year under contributed $13 million in funding former Mayor Bill de Blasio and

100K $25B

that that should be the benchmark under Adams.

Adolfo Carrión Jr., the Housing Preservation and Development commissioner, testified in May that HPD would add more than 20,000 units per year and perhaps close to 30,000. He added, however, that HPD defined housing production as both new construction and preserving existing units.

Cheney said that most of the new HPD financing will go to cover increased costs, namely higher interest rates and the rising price of construction materials, rather than building new units.

“From our analysis, the new money won’t help them create more units above what they’ve done in the recent past,” he said.

There’s also the issue of timing.

Schwartz said that construction of phase one at Edgemere Commons was expected to take 24 to 30 months.

Jessica Katz, the city’s chief housing officer, defended the impact more than 2,000 units at Edgemere Commons would eventually have on the housing crisis, “Not only is this a major housing investment,” Katz said, “but Edgemere Commons represents the type of holistic community development projects that are helping us provide all New Yorkers with the amenities, jobs and resources they deserve to have locally.” ■

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development to advance into a software development role at the company.

Versions of Young’s path have become increasingly common in the city as a range of technology training and support programs have multiplied in recent years, with initiatives like Accenture’s making good on the promise that the tech industry can offer better jobs to more New Yorkers.

Many but not all programs started just after the Great Recession, when the city’s tech sector took on new importance in the wake of the financial crash’s reputational dam-

tech downturn, these training programs are flourishing.

In-house training Accenture launched its apprenticeship model in 2016 with five apprentices in its Chicago office. In six years the model grew to 1,200 roles across the U.S. and Canada. About 60% of the firm’s apprentices are people of color, nearly half are women, and 80% do not have a four-year degree, said Laura Peterson, senior managing director of Accenture’s communications, media and technology business in the Northeast and the firm’s managing partner in New York. In New York City, 3.4 million residents over age 25 do not have a college credential.

That appeared to be a missed recruitment opportunity to a firm already dedicated to learning on the job.

“It’s not finding talent,” explained Peterson. “It’s creating talent.”

Apprenticeship programs are still somewhat rare, particularly in the technology industry. There were 92 state-registered programs based in the city as of last year; only two were for tech roles, though, compared with 83 in the building trades. Google’s New York City office has 60 apprentices at the moment. Accenture has published a playbook for running apprenticeships, which clients have already begun to adopt.

Increasingly common are partnerships between independent training courses and corporations.

Amazon, for one, has enlisted Per Scholas, a nonprofit training organization, to coordinate an initiative to train 20 of its workers to become technical account managers in the cloud for Amazon Web Services.

“It’s a specific role we are training for,” said Abe Mendez, managing director at Per Scholas’ New York chapter. Because of an ongoing need to fill tech account manager

“YOU DIDN’T NEED ANY SORT OF DEGREE, JUST DRIVE AND AMBITION TO LEARN MORE”

BUCK ENNIS

age to Wall Street. As tech grew, some pushed for the East Coast to build the sector equitably.

Now, with more open positions than qualified candidates, employers have embraced a wider range of potential hires for technical positions, some using apprenticeship models, others managing deep engagements with the city’s traditional educational institutions and still others working closely with tech-training organizations.

As an example of how far things have come, by February 2020, there were at least 238 tech education and training organizations aimed at both children and adults operating in more than 850 locations across the five boroughs, according to a study by the think tank Center for an Urban Future. With company-run apprenticeships and tech degree programs, there are even more entryways into a tech career.

And even with the possibility of a

HIRING AND FIRING THOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL high-profile downsizings at tech-focused companies and there are concerns about more to come, employers say they are still hungry for tech talent. Around 70% of 350 local company leaders said they expected to increase tech-related hiring this year, according to a poll by Accenture and Tech:NYC conducted earlier in 2022.

At the same time, however, website Layoffs.fyi counted 7,274 New York City–based jobs at tech firms that have been eliminated since the start of the year, led by 2,800 at Peloton, 3,000 at Better, and 495 at wellness site Noom.

It is hard to get a clear picture, in part because technology jobs are hard to define. There is no single Department of Labor code for the field, nor is there agreement about whether to define a tech job by responsibility or the classification of the employer as within the tech industry. One 2018 estimate from Forrester Research put the number of tech jobs around 330,000; other metrics put it in the mid-200,000s, up from around 130,000 as counted by the New York Federal Reserve in 2016.

By tracking three sectors—publishing, which includes software publishing; computer systems design; and “other information services”—that comprise the bulk of the industry, Barbara Denham, senior economist at Oxford Economics, estimates that tech firms employed around 12,000 more people in April 2022 than they did in February and March 2020.

“In New York, the numbers definitely defied the trend that we are shedding staff,” said Denham. “There is no indication that we have peaked.”

However, the “other information services” sector has shrunk in recent months. The category includes jobs in data processing and web hosting and is down 2%, or 1,900 positions, since November.

—C.E.

PELOTON AND NOOM have led the way in layoffs since the start of the year.

roles, Mendez said, he expected that all the participants would have jobs at Amazon or Amazon clients almost immediately.

For Young at Accenture, learning on the job made perfect sense. “You didn't need any sort of degree or background for the program,” he said, “just drive and ambition to learn more.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg created Cornell Tech; Bill de Blasio promised computer science at all city schools and established a wide-ranging talent pipeline meant to align education and industry.

The initiatives are flourishing.

For one, the Tech-in-Residence Corps, a group of industry employees who teach at City University of New York schools, now includes 30 The city’s part courses each semester, reaching a New York’s commitment to tech- total of 5,000 students. Around 100 nical education and workforce de- local tech firms have participated, velopment has been long and rela- sending their employees into classtively steady. The vision of former rooms to share up-to-date industry information, inform curricula and spark relationships with potential future employees. The city began the program and, as intended, has handed management over to CUNY. For another, a program called CUNY 2X Tech, which vowed to double the number of CUNY students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in a technology-related field within five years, was able to reach its goal a year ahead of schedule. In 2016 CUNY schools handed out 989 technology bachelor’s degrees, according to Robert Domanski, director of higher education for the tech talent pipeline at the city’s Department of Small Business Services. Last year that grew to 2,144, and early data for year five shows an even greater increase, he said. CUNY tech alumni HSU hopes to have been getting jobs at a increase the number pace that increases by 16% of participants in year over year, and enPursuit’s training try-level salaries have programs each year. jumped from $78,000 on average to $90,000. After the five-year period ends,

he said, CUNY 2X will continue in some form.

Bootcamps boom Demand for short-term bootcamps, both free and tuition-based, has shown no sign of letting up, according to firms including Per Scholas and Flatiron School, founded in New York in 2012 and now owned by Carrick Capital Partners.

Per Scholas said it is training 800 workers this year in its free threemonth programs in subjects including software engineering and cybersecurity, double the number in 2020. At tuition-charging Flatiron, there are more in-person training cohorts and increased demand for online offerings in recent months, according to the firm. New York City applicant volume grew 25% in the first half of 2022 compared to the last six months of 2021, driven by residents looking for better careers and compensation.

Long Island City–based Pursuit works slightly differently. It currently trains about 250 participants a year in technology fields. CEO Jukay Hsu aims to increase the number of trainees slightly in coming years. Most participants train for about 12 months, but they stay in the program until they are deemed job-ready. Once they get hired, Pursuit fellows receive program support for three years.

Like most bootcamps, Pursuit’s works closely with the industry to be sure it is teaching in-demand skills and pivots as needed. Hsu said a commitment to the future could help the firm and its fellows weather any hiring downturn.

“It’s less about the short-term implications of the economy,” he said. As an example: Despite the layoffs at fitness-tech firm Peloton, Hsu said, the company has this year hired more of Pursuit’s graduates than ever before. ■

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Notice of Qualification of DERBY COPELAND EQUITY FEEDER I, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/22/22.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/13/22. Princ. office of LLC: 41 Madison Ave., 40th Fl., NY, NY 10010. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Investing.

Notice of Qualification of LYTICAL VENTURES CI II QP, LP Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/11/22.

Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/26/22. Princ. office of LP: 250 W. 55th St., 37th Fl., NY, NY 10019. NYS fictitious name: LYTICAL VENTURES CI II QP, L.P. Duration of LP is Perpetual.

SSNY designated as agent of LP 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. Name and addr. of each general partner are available from SSNY. DE addr. of LP: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of LP filed with Jeffrey W. Bullock, Secy. of State - State of DE, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St. Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901.

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Notice of Formation of NORTHCREST GARDENS PRESERVATION, L.P. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/04/22. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LP: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. Latest date on which the LP may dissolve is 12/31/2121. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of QTD SYSTEMS 1 LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/15/22.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Scott Markowitz, Esq., Tarter Krinsky & Drogin LLP, 1350 Broadway, NY, NY 10018.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of TIGONDEROGA NYC LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/20/22.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in California (CA) on 02/22/22. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 3535 Inland Empire Blvd., Ontario, CA 91764. CA addr. of LLC: 23300 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 200, Woodland Hills, CA 91364. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, 1500 11th St., Sacramento, CA 95814.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of MBY WOOSTER LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/26/22.

Office location: NY County. 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, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served.

Purpose: Any lawful activity

Notice of Formation of 274 WEST 71ST STREET LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/11/22.

Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 260 W. 71st St., NY, NY 10023. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office.

Purpose: To purchase, own and sell real estate in New York.

Notice of Qualification of 180 REMSEN LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/05/22.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/08/22. Princ. office of LLC: 909 Third Ave., #686, NY, NY 10150.

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: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of PJ HOUSING ACQUISITION, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/20/22.

Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., 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 BEACON SOFTWARE PARTNERS I B, L.P. Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/28/22.

Office location: NY County. LP formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/22/22. Princ. office of LP: 233 Wilshire Blvd., Ste. 800, Santa Monica, CA 90401. 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 DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., #4, Dover, DE 19901.

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670 THURSTON ROAD LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 11/27/20. 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, 1221 Fteley Avenue, Bronx, NY 10472.

Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

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PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES Notice of Formation of EC Pietanza Consulting, LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 02/21/2022.

Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served. The address SSNY shall mail process to Elizabeth Pietanza, 454 W 54th St., Unit 3F, NY, NY 10019.

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Notice of Qualification of CAROUSEL (NEW YORK) HOLDINGS LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/29/22.

Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 02/05/21. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC, 599 Broadway, 8th Fl. East, NY, NY 10012. DE addr. of LLC: 3500 S. Dupont Hwy., Dover, DE 19901.

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Notice of Formation of NORWALK NORTH PRESERVATION, L.P. Cert. of LP filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/04/22. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LP: 30 Hudson Yards, 72nd Fl., NY, NY 10001. Latest date on which the LP may dissolve is 12/31/2121. 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. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Formation of 200E79TH9C HOLDING LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/09/22.

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Notice of Qualification of BEACON SOFTWARE PARTNERS GP, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/28/22.

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PLAIN VANILLA NY LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 04/22/22. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served.

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Notice of Formation of 250 EAST 21 STREET 3F LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/27/22.

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Notice of Formation of GREEN MOUNTAIN PARTNERS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 04/21/22.

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FROM PAGE 1

The mayor said his team would introduce three citywide text amendments in the coming days to both simplify rules and knock down prevailing regulations. He aims to reform zoning laws concerning the location of businesses in certain parts of the city (such as manufacturing districts), amend outdated building codes that limit conversions and speed up agency approvals.

“Rules that made sense in the days of the rotary telephone are getting in the way of doing business in the age of the smartphone,” Adams said. “Saying ‘yes’ will improve our streetscape, make doing business easier and boost our economic recovery.”

The City Council will have a say

the number of electric vehicle charging stations across the city.

Adams referenced present hurdles: the real estate developer who cannot include a public charging station at the base of his building because of zoning rules; a property owner who is limited by city regulations on the space she can install solar panels on her rooftop.

“The technology and resources are already here,” he said. “Our job is to speed up installation, make it easier to invest in and show the globe what a city of the future looks like.”

The mayor estimated that a pipeline of green energy retrofits could produce 61,000 jobs across the five boroughs.

Conversions for housing Adams continued attacking the web of city regulations when he discussed expanding the city’s housing stock.

The failure to meet existing demand and produce enough new units lies at the feet of existing zoning laws, Adams argued. He said the proposed zoning law changes would allow a wider arrangement of housing types, ease conversions of vacated office space into affordable housing and make it easier for homeowners to alter their properties. He cited his intention to change existing zoning laws that place what he called “artificial lim-

“WE WANT NEW YORKERS TO STAY HERE, PUT DOWN ROOTS AND RAISE FAMILIES” in whether Adams’ proposals move forward.

On climate change, the mayor said, he intends to inaugurate “zero carbon zoning.” Recognizing that renewable energy is now written into state law, Adams described zoning changes that will increase the use of solar panels and expand

ADAMS

NYCMAYORSOFFICE/FLICKR

ZONING

its” on the number of studio apartments that can be exist in each new building—a policy he hopes will allow young workers to create a life in New York.

“The overarching goal is to build more housing across the city and change the rules to enable it starting now,” Adams said. “We want New Yorkers to stay here, put down roots and raise families.”

Uncertain timeline The mayor acknowledged after his speech that not all of his zoning initiatives would fall along the

same timeline. He noted that the City Council would need to be brought in, and that for specific rezoning plans or district zoning changes, a uniform land-use review procedure would be required—which is often time-consuming and requires compromises among council members whose districts are affected.

“We’re going to push as quickly as possible,” Adams said. “Some of this stuff will take three years to get what we want to accomplish.”

The mayor has tasked Dan Garodnick, who chairs the City Plan-

ning Commission, with directing the flurry of new zoning initiatives through the City Council.

Garodnick, a former City Council member from Manhattan, was instrumental in negotiations between the de Blasio administration and developer SL Green to rezone Midtown East and allow for the construction of 1 Vanderbilt, the tallest office tower in the neighborhood.

Garodnick said his team will likely make zero-carbon zoning a priority with the City Council, adding that he “believes we can move that fastest.” ■

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GOTHAM GIGS

BUCK ENNIS

GRAHAM is also a mom, with three children under age 3.

RIA GRAHAM GREW UP Canarsie, Brooklyn RESIDES Greenpoint, Brooklyn AGE 28 EDUCATION Bachelor’s in media communications, SUNY College at Old Westbury SPARE TIME Whenever Graham can manage to take some time away from the restaurant and her young kids, she prioritizes self-care. She began the practice after she had her first child. The focus on her wellness can include anything from getting her hair done or going to the movies alone to focusing on her fashion designs.

FAVORITE COCKTAIL Graham’s go-to cocktail on Kokomo’s menu is the Rude Gyal, made of rum, punch, blackberries, granita (blended frozen fruit) and lemon juice. She said the sweet but tart taste of the fruits, paired with the rum, makes it the perfect combination.

Cooking up a positive example

A Brooklyn restaurateur seeks to inspire other entrepreneurs of color

BY BETH TREFFEISEN

W

ith three children under 3, Ria Graham knows running a restaurant can be a balancing act. She and her husband, Kevol, opened Caribbean-fusion spot Kokomo in Williamsburg in the early months of the pandemic.

Owning a restaurant wasn’t always in the plans for her, though.

Graham imagined that one day she would have a fashion line, even attending a high school specialized in the industry. But she pivoted to communications in college.

After college, Graham worked at a restaurant running marketing.

One Black History Month, she was promoting a series of guest chefs that featured her now husband.

Shortly after meeting, they married, and Graham had their first child.

Graham soon realized that life as a stay-at-home mom was not what she wanted. She began to pursue an

idea to open an event space, but her real estate agent kept showing her what would become Kokomo’s location, at 65 Kent Ave. After mulling it over, Graham and her husband decided to combine his passion for food and her experience in restaurants to open their own.

Despite opening in the midst of the pandemic, the restaurant is becoming a neighborhood mainstay.

In its first six months, Kokomo made over $1.9 million in gross sales. Last year it saw $5.8 million in revenue.

Kokomo’s rooms feature vibrant decor. Paired with Instagrammable cocktails and dishes, the restaurant exudes coolness.

Her husband’s parents are both from the Caribbean, and her parents also have ties to the islands. The city hosts a number of Caribbean restaurants, so Graham wanted Kokomo to stand out. The menu features “out-of-the-box” staples such as an oxtail flatbread that fuses together a traditional favorite and pizza.

Graham has high hopes to expand Kokomo to every major city in the U.S. in five to 10 years. But for now the couple is starting with their second location, Koko to Go, which will open around the corner from their current space this year.

What motivates the couple is inspiring others. “When we first got into this, we wanted to do it for our family, to secure our family, generational wealth, making sure our children would never have to want or lack,” said Graham. “But we saw it become a much bigger picture.”

The restaurant opened during the Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Now, many young entrepreneurs of color ask the couple for their advice.

“Having conversations like that really motivates us,” said Graham.

“It makes us want to work harder so we can have a wider reach, so that in return, we can help more people with whatever dreams they want.” ■

“WHEN WE FIRST GOT INTO THIS, WE WANTED TO DO IT FOR OUR FAMILY, GENERATIONAL WEALTH. BUT WE SAW IT BECOME A MUCH BIGGER PICTURE”

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