Crain's New York Business, May 29, 2023

Flatiron property sells for $161M at auction, ending a strange saga

BY C. J. HUGHES

For the second time in two months, the famous Flatiron Building has sold. But this time the winning bidders are familiar faces around the wedge-shaped landmark.

A group led by Je Gural’s GFP Real Estate, which already controls a majority of the downtown o ce

building, beat out four other rivals in a May 23 auction with a $161 million bid.

It’s the second auction since March for the Fifth Avenue property, which has been convulsed by in ghting among its owners and had to be sold on the orders of a judge. At the rst auction, a low-key investor from Virginia named Jacob Garlick, virtually unknown in New

York real estate circles, scored the win with a $190 million bid. But Garlick never paid his 10% deposit, or $19 million, killing the deal.

“I feel good, truthfully,” Gural said shortly after the gavel banged down on a podium outside a Lower Manhattan courthouse just before 3 p.m. “I really didn’t know how it

A GROUP LED BY Jeff Gural (holding No. 25) beat out four other rivals with its $161 million bid. See FLATIRON on page 37

GENESIS REALTY GROUP PRINCIPAL JAC ZADRIMA walks through solar panels on the roof of one of his Bronx apartment buildings.

City’s mental health response unit responded to only 16% of calls, new data shows

BY JACQUELINE NEBER

The city’s Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division continues to reach just a small portion of redirected 911 calls, 16%, according to data released by the city on May 24.

The goal of the program, known as B-Heard, is to deploy mental health professionals from the New York City Fire Department and mental health workers from New York City Health + Hospitals to scenes where an individual is experiencing a mental health crisis, instead of police.

Of the more than 13,000 mental health calls made to 911, just over 2,000 received a B-Heard response during July and December 2022.

people present imminent harm to themselves or others, or calls where EMS workers do not have enough information to assess harm risk. To that end, the teams reached 53% of eligible calls.

Both figures represent a downward trend from the last time the city shared data about the program’s reach. During the year prior, New Yorkers made 11,000 mental health 911 calls, 22% of which were routed to B-Heard. Teams from the pilot program, which launched in June 2021, were deployed to 73% of eligible calls for the period between July 1, 2021, and June 30, 2022.

However, not every mental health 911 call is eligible for a B-Heard response. According to the city, typically the program does not respond to calls that require immediate transport to a hospital, calls where

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The most recent data, which speaks to the third and fourth quarters of 2022, shows that 39% and 42% of people per quarter, respectively, who were assisted by B-Heard teams were helped onsite with de-escalation, counseling services or a referral to community-based care. Meanwhile, 12% and then 7% of people were transported to a community-based health care or social service location, while 49% and 51% were taken to the hospital.

Fewer people were taken to the

hospital in these quarters than in the first year of operation, while a greater number of New Yorkers were assisted on-site.

Increased need

B-Heard launched in Harlem before expanding into parts of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens, and it is set to grow to cover the rest of the Bronx and other high-need neighborhoods. Since the program began, teams have consistently responded to an increasing number

of quarterly calls, with one exception in the first quarter of fiscal 2023, as the pilot expands to new neighborhoods.

In B-Heard’s first year of operation, the teams logged an average response time of 15 minutes and 30 seconds, almost two minutes slower than their average response time in the program’s first six months. The city has removed the response time metric from the data report.

In April Mayor Eric Adams announced the fiscal 2024 budget

would include $27 million in additional funding to expand the B-Heard program, but some representatives from the city agencies that coordinate the pilot were unclear in City Council hearings two weeks ago on how that money would be used to grow the pilot. The funding represents 68% of the city’s $40 million earmarked to address mental health in the city.

Joint effort

The program is a joint effort between the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health, New York City Health + Hospitals, the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York City Police Department and the New York City Fire Department.

According to the Fire Department’s council committee hearing report, the fiscal 2024 funding for the program includes “an additional $26.9 million” and “a baseline addition of $24.5 million in the outyears to support increasing the program’s coverage to 25 precincts.” The funding will also add 64 positions to support the program’s expansion to south Brooklyn and western Queens, the report said. Crain’s has reached out to the mayor’s office of community mental health, H+H, FDNY, NYPD and the city Health Department. ■

For the first time, Manhattan edges out San Francisco in new early-stage startups

BY CARA EISENPRESS

Silicon Alley lives!

The borough of Manhattan has the largest number of earlystage startups in the U.S. for the first time, besting San Francisco, the longtime center of startup activity, over the 12 months ending March 31, according to data from Carta, a San Francisco-based equity management platform for startups.

There were 543 companies based in Manhattan that raised a seed or series A round between March of 2022 and March of 2023, according to Carta. During the same period, 486 San Francisco-based companies raised either of these earlystage rounds.

“Most of that is actually concentrated between Soho and Flatiron, a walkable stretch of 1.5 miles,” tweeted Shai Goldman, a New York employee for San Francisco-based financial management software firm Brex; Goldman helps build

founder communities in New York.

Goldman was nodding at one of the features that has set New York apart from its competition—being a dense, culture-rich city where tech workers want to live.

Carta’s figures are broken down by county, not region, and in total, the four Bay Area counties on its list still beat out the two included in New York, Kings and New York counties. Kings, or Brooklyn, had 101 companies that raised series A or seed rounds in the period.

New tech center?

Manhattan startups raised only $3.6 billion, Carta found.

$3.6B

Still, the data about early-stage companies rings true with the anecdotes of New York City’s enthusiastic tech leaders, who have noted that the city has felt like the center of the American tech universe for more than a year, especially as city life has come back from pandemic closures in the Big Apple. Even work-from-home trends seem to be working for New York, as tech employees elsewhere use their big salaries to make a move to Manhattan.

The name Silicon Alley was aspirational in the 1990s when early tech boosters coined the term. For decades following, the going wisdom for founders and engineers remained the same: go West for tech opportunity. Even after a slew of tech-enabled consumer-products companies found success in the 2010s, California remained the place to be for would-be software disrupters.

Overall funding in the San Francisco area is still more than twice the amount that is deployed in New York City, and both cities have seen extreme funding dips since 2021. The startups that raised seed or series A in San Francisco raised $4.3 billion in total in the year in question, while the 543

“There was a concern that location doesn’t matter anymore, and that wouldn’t be great for Manhattan,” said Alexander Rinke, co-CEO of Celonis, one of the largest private tech companies in New York. “I think that’s not the case,” he said, adding that team members spend a lot of time at Celonis’s 1 World Trade Center offices.

By 2016, when Rinke was scouting cities for the U.S. headquarters of Celonis, which he co-founded in Munich, Germany, he said that New York City didn’t seem like such an obvious place to build. He liked the diversity of the employers and noticed the momentum, especially among smaller startups scaling up.

“We haven’t regretted it,” he said of building the American business from the city. “It’s an amazing place to grow a company in the tech space.” ■

TECHNOLOGY

AMOUNT RAISED by 543 Manhattan startups

The B-Heard program is set to expand next year and receive $27 million in additional funding

OF THE MORE THAN 13,000 MENTAL HEALTH CALLS MADE TO 911, JUST OVER 2,000 RECEIVED A B-HEARD RESPONSE

BUCK ENNIS

A HIGHER PERCENTAGE of people were assisted by B-Heard teams on-site in the last six months of 2022 than in the pilot’s first year of operation.

Itselectric wants to make EVs more accessible to city dwellers

The Brooklyn Navy Yard startup will share revenue with building owners

The upstart: Itselectric

Like many New Yorkers, Nathan King and Tiya Gordon considered buying a car to provide safe transportation for their child during the pandemic. And to avoid polluting the city, they wanted to buy an electric vehicle. is, however, proved impossible. e couple lives on the bottom oor of Crown Heights brownstone where there is no place nearby to charge a car. eir quandary, however, inspired an idea—a new model for electric vehicle charging stations aimed at city neighborhoods where no one has a driveway or a garage to house a charger.

New York City aims to have 10,000 curbside electric vehicle chargers installed by 2030 to make the process convenient for the roughly one million residents who park their car on the street. It currently has roughly 100.

King and Gordon’s startup, Itselectric, aims to provide those chargers by employing a unique revenue share model that partners with property owners.

e company, based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, says it can install one of its small chargers in front of pretty much any building in the city—residential or commercial. It runs a cable a few inches under the sidewalk and plugs into the property's existing electrical connection.

Itselectric pays for the equipment and installation. When vehicle owners pay for a charge, the startup shares the resulting revenue with the property owner.

Gordon, the company's chief operations o cer, estimates that given a 20% utilization rate, a single charger will generate about $1,000 a year in revenue for a property owner.

e company, which recently closed on a $2.2 million preseed round, hopes to have 100 chargers installed by the end of the year. It just installed the rst six, at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park and at Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard though a partnership with partnership with Hyundai Cradle and the city's Economic Development Corp. “Only 94 to go!” says King, the CEO.

The reigning Goliath: ChargePoint

Campbell, California-based ChargePoint, founded in 2007, provides electric vehicle charging to both businesses and homeowners. It maintains 225,000 active charging ports

across North America and Europe. Its annual revenue for the scal year ending January 2023 topped $468 million.

How to slay the giant King and Gordon met as students at Parsons School of Design in the late ’90s. By the time they got their startup idea, they had married, and King was an architect at a prestigious rm, specializing in large urban projects. Gordon was a design operations veteran. While neither knew anything about startups, King took a leap and quit his job. Gordon characterizes the move as “terrifying.” ey were risking their careers at the height of the pandemic.

“However, at the same time, right in front of us, there for the taking, was this idea,” she says. “And along with it, the chance to seize a once-in-alifetime opportunity to make a huge impact in the ght against the climate crisis. We had to go for it.”

Early indications provided some reassurance that they weren't crazy. eir rst step, in the fall of 2021, was to nd an industrial design rm willing to help them create an electric charger small enough for a city sidewalk.

“A lot of these companies won’t work with you unless you can give them a contract for hundreds, if not thousands, of units,” says Gordon. “We were like, ‘Well, we need one prototype, and we don't have a website.’ ”

But on the strength of their idea, they hooked up with a big design rm that has partnered with local governments, including New York City, to create urban street furniture.

e founders initially funded their business with small checks—typically $2,000 to $5,000—from professional contacts who liked their idea. In February 2022 they were accepted into a climate-focused startup accelerator program which provided another $100,000 in funding. ey sank nearly all their early funding—roughly $250,000—into the prototype. (It will cost about $2,800 to manufacture a market-ready charger).

Knowing they'd need to partner with cities to install curbside chargers, they cold-called potential advisers who could guide them. ey quickly teamed up with one of the original Citi Bike founders, along with Michael Replogle, a former NYC Department of Transportation deputy commissioner for policy.

It’s been relatively easy to nd property owners eager to have a charger installed in front of their home or business, the

founders say—their current wait list of several hundred potential partners was generated entirely by word of mouth.

La’Shawn Allen-Muhammad, executive director of the Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, says she's excited about the possibility of having several Itselectric chargers installed at a large residential and commercial building, the BVille Hub in Brownsville, that is slated to be completed in 2025. If installed, they would be the rst electric chargers in the neighborhood.

“Typically, communities like Brownsville are 10 years behind when these shifts happen,” she says. “We wanted to be at the forefront.”

e biggest challenge, the founders say, has been fundraising. With no startup experience or business school pedigree, they didn't t the traditional pro le and have endured more than 300 rejections, according to Gordon.

Among their backers is e Helm, a venture capital rm which invests in early-stage, women-founded startups. Lindsey Wood Taylor, founder and general partner at e Helm, says she was attracted to the model's scalability and the startup’s willingness to share revenue with homeowners. “ ere’s a whole democratization piece not just around accessibility, but with sharing wealth and pro t,” she says.

The next challenge

Over the next ve years, Itselectric hopes to serve a large portion of the estimated 40 million U.S. drivers who park their car on the street. But to install their curbside chargers nationally, they’ll need to negotiate agreements with dozens of large municipalities.

Replogle, the former deputy commissioner, says the fact that they are Brooklyn-based and manufacturing their chargers right here in the U.S. will give them a leg up as municipalities look for partners that will help them comply with “Buy America” rules to quality for federal grants. “Some of the other companies are European and might have some challenges with the Buy America requirements,” he says.

ey’re also forging good relationships with key city agencies, he says, "and the pilot they launched at the Brooklyn Army Terminal and Steiner Studios bodes well." ■

Anne Kadet is the creator of Café Anne, a weekly newsletter with a New York City focus.

ANNE KADET

ITSELECTRIC co-founders

Tiya Gordon (left) and Nathan King

Price slashed by 23% at Billionaires Row condo

At $130 million, the unit at 432 Park Ave. is still the city’s third-priciest home

BY C. J. HUGHES

The top-floor unit at 432 Park Ave., one of the tallest apartment buildings in the world, may be starting to come down to earth on price, very relatively speaking.

The full-floor apartment in the skyscraping condo, which has seven bedrooms, nine baths and spans 8,255 square feet, reduced its price last week to $130 million, down from the $169 million it was asking in 2021 before being withdrawn from the market in 2022. The $39 million drop represents a 23% discount. The 96th-floor apartment also has a 93-foot-long great room, a library and a private elevator.

$130M

“The original listing was widely understood to be indefensible while our new price is in line with the market,” Alexander said. But Harry Levin, a New Jersey-based attorney who handled the paperwork for the initial transaction, did not return a call.

Even with the big chop, the Billionaires Row apartment is one of the city’s most expensive. Only two units at Central Park Tower, a new condo building at nearby 217 W. 57th St., are pricier, according to StreetEasy. The penthouse there is listed at $250 million, while a highfloor duplex, No. 107/108, is $175 million.

THE SELLER REPORTEDLY HAS NEVER SPENT ONE NIGHT IN THE APARTMENT

Its seller, Fawaz Alhokair, a Saudi Arabian billionaire whose development company owns nearly two-dozen malls, purchased the unit, No. 96, in 2016 for $88 million. He still stands to make a massive profit if the penthouse were to trade at its current price.

In the past seven years, Alhokair, who also reportedly controls Saudi Arabia’s Gap, Zara and Banana Republic franchises, has never spent one night in the apartment, according to comments that the unit’s listing agent, Tal Alexander, made to The Wall Street Journal last week.

POLITICS

In fourth place is another at 432 Park, No. 79, a five-bedroom apartment asking $92 million.

Elevated interest rates have dragged on the city’s sales market even in the luxury tier, whose affluent buyers may not seem like the types to rely on loans for home purchases. But the business world in general is feeling a sting from higher borrowing costs.

In April, condo and co-op sales in Manhattan plunged 42% year over year, according to research from the firm Douglas Elliman.

The third tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,397 feet, 432 Park, which was developed by Harry Macklowe and

CIM Group, has also apparently been plagued by loud noises, broken elevators and flooding resulting from improper construction. In fall 2021, 432 Park’s condo board sued the de-

velopers over the alleged problems.

Twenty-two of the 125 apartments at 432 Park were for sale as of May 19, according to StreetEasy.

Living in Alhokair’s apartment

does not come cheap either. The unit’s monthly costs are $24,012 for common charges and $15,724 for taxes, a total of $39,736, or $476,832 a year. ■

Madison Square Garden can stay put if it makes room for a bigger Penn Station, Manhattan borough president says

BY NICK GARBER

Madison Square Garden should be granted its request for a new operating permit, the Manhattan Borough president said—but only if it shrinks its current footprint to make way for an expanded Penn Station.

Mark Levine’s recommendation, issued May 22, throws cold water on the idea that the Garden could move, which was a key demand by the local community board. Levine, echoing comments by MSG Entertainment executives, said in his recommendation that “no viable alternative site” had ever been found.

“There’s no site that has community buy-in, a willing current property owner, good mass transit, a way to finance it,” he said in an interview.

But Levine said he is “incredibly compelled” by a new plan, gaining momentum in recent weeks, in which MSG would sell its attached

theater and a service road to the Italian developer ASTM, which would in turn demolish them and build a new Eighth Avenue entrance to Penn Station as well as a glassy train hall surrounding the arena. Crain’s reported this month that the two parties were nearing a $1 billion deal.

“It would activate what’s currently a blank wall of a streetscape,” Levine said. “I think it’s an inspiring vision.”

Levine says the new permit should last five years—then be extended indefinitely, as MSG wants, if the Garden works with the city, state, Amtrak and NJ Transit to develop a plan for expanding Penn Station.

Levine’s stance, while only advisory, is a formal step in the city’s monthslong review process for MSG’s new permit request, and could influence the subsequent binding decisions by the City Planning Commission and City Council.

Community Board 5, which had the first say on MSG’s request, recom-

mended denying it a permit last month, unless it develops a plan to move within three years and make way for a fully expanded Penn Station.

‘Narrow opportunity’

The board’s hopes were bolstered by an MSG executive’s February suggestion that the Garden could move across Seventh Avenue to a site controlled by Vornado Realty Trust. But the company later clarified it had no intention to move, unless it were offered billions of dollars in public funding for a new arena.

Explaining why he came down differently than CB5, Levine said the city’s last attempt to tie MSG’s permit to its relocation, in 2013, failed to force the Garden to move. Plus, the city has a “narrow window of opportunity” to remake Penn Station, with relatively friendly faces in the White House, Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation

who could pitch in funding.

“That might not be true in 18 months,” Levine said. “We’d be taking a big risk if we just sit back and wait. Last time we did that, we lost a decade.”

Layla Law-Gisiko, CB5’s land use chair, said she was not discouraged by Levine’s plan, since it would still task MSG with developing a plan for a better Penn within the decade.

“It’s a big victory against the status quo,” she said.

The new ASTM plan has a central role in Levine’s recommendation, which—while not naming a particular company—would instruct MSG to convert its theater into “a new train hall” along Eighth Avenue. Levine said he knew that the developer was in talks with MSG, and got the sense that MSG was open to the idea.

Skeptics, including Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Janno Lieber, have called the ASTM idea wasteful, since 70% of Penn Station

riders pass through its east entrance on Seventh Avenue. But Levine points out that nearly 100,000 daily riders still use the Eighth Avenue side, which would make it one of the nation’s biggest rail hubs on its own.

MSG’s application will now head to the City Planning Commission, followed by a decisive City Council vote this summer. Elected officials appear to have learned lessons from 2013, when MSG’s initial 50year permit first came up for renewal. That year, then-Borough President Scott Stringer and the council both demanded that the Garden make a plan to move within 10 years—but it never did so.

Levine, who previously argued for moving the Garden, is not the only one to change his mind in recent months. The leader of the Municipal Art Society, a longtime proponent of relocating MSG, said in an op-ed last week that it should stay put and sign onto the ASTM plan. ■

432 PARK AVE. NO. 96 has seven bedrooms, nine bathrooms, a 93-foot-long great room, a library and a private elevator.

Super-big JPMorgan lays out plans to get even bigger

JPMorgan Chase executives laid out a case last week for the nation’s biggest bank, with nearly $4 trillion in assets, to grow bigger still by providing more services to a uent clients.

“We’re breaking records for the number of times we say ‘wealth management,’” Jennifer Piepszak, co-CEO for community and consumer banking, said at JPMorgan’s annual investor day.

and the bank is No. 1 in the New York, Los Angeles and Chicago markets. It is unlikely regulators would let the bank increase its total deposit share, although that was also the conventional wisdom before JPMorgan was essentially handed First Republic Bank.

Con dence

AARON ELSTEIN

e bank already does quite a bit in wealth management, managing $3 trillion in clients assets, but Piepszak said there are “real opportunities” to do even more by serving existing clients online and through a branch network that spans all states except Alaska and Hawaii. ose branches hold 11% of all bank deposits in the nation, up from 7% a decade ago,

ON POLITICS

Wall Street is con dent the bank can continue to grow, especially when smaller banks are hobbled by rising interest rates and lack the diversi cation of JPMorgan, which in addition to serving average depositors and small businesses is also a major corporate bank and lender to private equity rms. (Its market share has grown there, too.)

JPMorgan’s stock trades for 10 times next year’s expected earnings, a hefty 40% premium over regional banks. Its market value of

$400 billion is almost twice that of the second-biggest U.S. bank, Bank of America.

“ e point is simple: e company is resilient, and we believe we are well positioned for a broad range of environments,” Chief Financial O cer Jeremy Barnum said, noting the bank expects a “mild” recession this year.

JPMorgan is a “steady disciplined growth story that we’ve all gotten accustomed to,” Evercore ISI analyst Glenn Schorr said in a client note May 22. “ e fortress balance

Mayoral waves crash both ways. How now for Adams?

It’s been a momentous few years for mayoral races in major American cities.

Long the domain of parochial Democratic machines, mayoral elections have become nationalized, with progressive and moderate Democrats vying for in uence over cities like New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. is month, progressives were hoping to continue their winning streak, aggressively backing a former city council member named Helen Gym in her quest to become the next mayor of Philadelphia.

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrived in the City of Brotherly Love for a raucous campaign rally. e Working Families

cialists didn’t formally endorse Gym—they focused on city council campaigns—but urged their membership to vote for her.

ere were reasons to believe this formula would be successful: e same politicians and groups had helped vault Brandon Johnson, a proud Black progressive, over Paul Vallas, a white former schools chief with a police union endorsement and close ties to Obama administration alums, in the Chicago mayoral runo . A city that had been governed for decades by the Daley machine and Rahm Emanuel, once Barack Obama’s combative and avowedly centrist chief of sta , has elected a staunch ally of the local teachers’ union in Johnson.

Last year, Los Angeles voters chose Karen Bass, a congresswoman who belonged to the Congressional Progressive Caucus, over Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer and former Republican, to be their next mayor. In 2021, Boston voters overwhelmingly sent Michelle Wu, an Elizabeth Warren protégé, to City Hall. Johnson, Bass and Wu are not all alike, but they began to represent a progressive front in large cities where probusiness moderates had traditionally reigned.

Vulnerabilities

sheet…allows JPMorgan to weather storms and bene t from the occasional crisis casualty.”

e bene ts from the latest crisis casualty, First Republic Bank, became even more clear last week when JPMorgan said the acquisition would raise net interest income this year to $84 billion, $3 billion higher than the previous projection. At its investor meeting, JPMorgan served the freshly baked

cookies First Republic has been serving at its branches for years.

During a break in the management presentations, the bank played “Treat You Better” by Shawn Mendes, whose lyrics underscored JPMorgan’s marketing message: “Tell me, why are we wasting time/ On all your wasted crying/When you should be with me instead?/I know I can treat you better/Better than he can.” ■

Party, founded in New York but now a national player, invested signi cant resources in Gym, who campaigned on police reform and expanding Philadelphia’s social safety net. Local Democratic So-

Philadelphia, however, did not follow the same script as Chicago. For one, Philadelphia lacks a mayoral runo : e top nisher in the Democratic primary becomes the nominee automatically. Even with a runo , though, Gym would not have been elected. She nished a disappointing third behind Rebecca Rhynhart, a former city comptroller with more establishment ties, and Cherelle Parker, an ex-city council member. Parker won.

New York City, of course, had elected its own moderate Democrat in 2021, Eric Adams. Parker, who is set to become the new mayor of Philadelphia after a general election that is little more than a formality in the heavily Democratic city, is a politician in the mold of Adams. Both are Black and both are deeply concerned with the level of crime in their cities. Parker campaigned on restoring stop-and-frisk to curtail gun violence, which is a far bigger problem in Philadelphia than in New York. Despite being less than a fth of the size of New York, Philadelphia recorded more homicides in 2021 and 2022. Black voters represent the largest plurality in Philadelphia and they mostly backed Parker. In an echo of New York’s 2021 contest, upscale white voters and younger progressives were split, with the former

choosing Rhynhart and the latter rallying around Gym. Gym had hoped to make history as Philadelphia’s rst female and Asian American mayor. It was not to be.

For New Yorkers, the question might be what this means for 2025, when Adams is likely to seek re-election. Perhaps not much: Philadelphia is a very di erent city, with its own racial dynamics and struggles with crime. Still, Adams will be heartened that Parker can be his ally down I-95.

Incumbents usually win, and it’s easy to bet on Adams cruising to re-election, with his enormous war chest and support in New York’s Black working class neighborhoods. He does have vulnerabilities, however, particularly with the large number of voters who didn’t support him in 2021 and haven’t grown any

warmer to his style of politicking. Afuent and gentri ed neighborhoods won’t be friendly to Adams. He’ll have his work cut out in a rankedchoice voting election, particularly if a stronger contender emerges. ere’s still time for that to happen.

Quick takes

● As the legislative session in Albany winds down, it looks to be one of the more disappointing in recent memory. Major housing bills failed and the a ordability crisis will continue, unabated.

● Will the seasonal outdoor dining program work? Shed construction and storage is costly, and some restaurant owners may decide it’s not worth the hassle. ■

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

ROSS BARKAN

“THE COMPANY IS RESILIENT, AND WE BELIEVE WE ARE WELL POSITIONED FOR A BROAD RANGE OF ENVIRONMENTS” JPMORGAN is the nation’s biggest bank.

CHERELLE PARKER, a former Philadelphia City Council member, is that city’s likely next mayor.

A LARGE NUMBER OF VOTERS DIDN’T SUPPORT HIM IN 2021 AND HAVEN’T GROWN ANY WARMER TO HIS STYLE OF POLITICKING

DR. LINDA FRIED Columbia’s Mailman public health system

INTERVIEW BY AMANDA D’AMBROSIO

Earlier this month, the federal government ended the Covid-19 public health emergency, transitioning the country from a period of historic investments in population health and preventive care. But as the country shifts from the emergency mindset, Dr. Linda Fried, who leads Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, is advocating for continued investments in public health from New York City of cials and business leaders. Fried, a geriatrician by training who has led the public health school for the last 15 years, said that as modern medicine lengthens our lives, leaders should invest in preventive health measures that improve the quality of our lives too.

Why should we invest in the public health system?

Over the last 100 years, we’ve added 30 years to human life expectancy, which is astounding. The challenge is how to stop this ridiculousness of thinking that longer lives are a disaster and recognize that there is a huge opportunity if we invest to create health across those longer lives for everybody. The history of medicine in the U.S. and the world has been the history of taking care of people when they’re ill. The history of public health is [about] how to keep them from getting ill in the rst place. You need both.

Do you think that interventions the city employed during the pandemic, such as the Test & Treat Corps, could be used for other public health crises?

I think the challenge is that those responsibilities were, to my mind, misallocated to the Health + Hospitals Corporation medical care system, and stripped away from the public health system. They should be reallocated

POLITICS

DOSSIER

WHO IS SHE Dean, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health; senior vice president of Columbia University Irving Medical Center; director of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center

GREW UP Stuyvesant Town

RESIDES Upper West Side

EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts, University of Wisconsin Madison; Doctor of Medicine, Rush Medical College; Master of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

MEDICAL BACKGROUND Before her training in public health, Fried became an internal medicine physician and geriatrician. She has become a nationally recognized expert in aging, and serves as the director of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center.

PROUD MOMENT As the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health recently commemorated its 100year anniversary, Fried said that she is proud of the scienti c knowledge her institution has produced to prepare the country for health emergencies. “We’re ready for the next 100 years,” she said.

back to the public health system—which has 100 years of knowledge about how to do this well— and then, built up. It makes no sense to keep allocating to medical care, things that are outside of medical care’s knowledge set.

Where would you like to see investments in New York City’s public health system? New York City’s public health system should be a source of pride because it’s among the top two in the country. It’s wonderful, but it’s highly underresourced. Like all public health systems in the US, it doesn’t have the workforce that it needs to deliver the programs on the ground that would protect health. We underpay people, we don’t hire

City sues architects who designed inaccessible Hunters Point Library

BY NICK GARBER

The city has led a lawsuit against the architects who designed the ashy-butinaccessible Hunters Point Library in Queens, saying the rm should be forced to cover the $10 million needed to make the building usable for people with disabilities.

e suit, led May 18 in Manhattan State Supreme Court, says Steven Holl Architects violated its contract with the city by designing an inaccessible building, since their 2010 deal stipulated that the library had to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Instead, when the $41 million building on the Long Island City waterfront opened in 2019 to rave reviews in some quarters, advocates quickly noted that its design, based around a central staircase, rendered it unnavigable for wheelchair users and others with limited mobility—not to mention risky for children clambering along the steep stairways.

Queens Public Library o cials quickly relocated some shelves of

books to areas near the building’s sole elevator, away from their initial location within “tiers” that were reachable only via the stairs. But within a month of the library’s opening, the Department of Justice opened an investigation into whether the building violated the ADA, later joined by a class-action lawsuit led by disability-rights advocates against the city and the library system.

Violations

Both of those cases remain pending, as well as a third probe by the city’s Human Rights Commission. And though the Queens Library system rst insisted that the building’s reworked shelves were technically ADA-compliant, the city admits in its suit that the “temporary” x—now nearly four years old—will not be enough to bring the building into line with ADA, as well as other federal, state and local laws.

Indeed, the suit contains a laundry list of inaccessible building features, including the staircase and “tiers” of shelves, a rooftop terrace, a second- oor children’s area with

multiple levels of steps, and cramped bathrooms that lack enough space for wheelchair users to maneuver.

“ e city will be required to make substantial changes to the Library in order to make it compliant,” the suit reads, putting the cost of those repairs at $10 million. e suit does not go into detail about what renovation work would need to be done.

In a statement, Steven Holl Architects said “there is no wrongdoing here.”

“ e community library is public architecture which we love and will continue to support in any way we can,” a spokeswoman from the rm said in a statement to Crain’s. “Since the City has made the unfortunate decision to commence a lawsuit, we will not be commenting further at this time and intend to vigorously defend against these claims.”

Besides breach of contract, the city also accuses the rm of negligence and malpractice for not catching the shortcomings sooner.

Chris McVoy, a senior partner at the rm who is named in the suit, told e New York Times in 2019

adequately quali ed people. Then it tends to get its money in very earmarked ways. This means that the public health system in New York—which does a great job of collecting data to understand what the problems are—can’t reallocate money to match the problems. Their hands are tied.

What’s the reason for the lack of investment?

The public health system, like our medical care system in a lot of ways, has not been modernized since 1960. There’s no governmental investment in the public health system. There’s a lot of health services research on medical care and a lot of funding for that research. This is the work that schools of public health should do, but there’s no money to do it. The second part is that there’s a lot of work that shows that human beings have trouble valuing prevention. We’re not so good at taking the long view of saving lives by preventing people from getting sick in the rst place, and making the prospect of proactive investments that the evidence shows are really effective.

How should leaders think about allocating resources to the public health system following the pandemic? Public health is one of the key bases of a successful society. New York City made this very important investment through the Economic Development Corporation Life Sciences Council in creating the Pandemic Response Institute which our school is leading. We need partnership from the business community and providing help with the operational funding that the city didn’t provide. The city provides capital funds. We need the business community, coming out of this pandemic, to remember that there’s going to be another one, and we could be ready. We could provide the world’s model on how a city pandemic-proofs itself. ■

THE CITY SAYS it will cost $10 million to bring the Hunters Point Library into compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act and other laws.

that the inaccessibility was “a small wrinkle in an incredibly successful project,” conceding that architects had not considered the need to provide an “exactly equivalent browsing experience” for people with disabilities. (ADA requires that people with disabilities be given “the full and equal enjoyment” of public facilities.)

e rm’s other projects include a Columbia University athletics center, a building at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute and expansions of

the Kennedy Center in Washington and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

e federal suit over the library was brought by patron Tanya Jackson along with the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York. Filings from last month state that the city is in the midst of negotiations with the plainti s.

Plans for the Hunters Point Library were revealed in 2011, but years of delays pushed the start of construction until 2015. ■

MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL OFFICE

City moves to seize another property in Hudson Yards for a long-planned park

BY C. J. HUGHES

The city has moved to seize more property for a Hudson Yards park from the family that controls the ferry company NY Waterway.

Set down below the street and crossed by Amtrak tracks, the nearly two-thirds-of-an-acre parcel is between 10th and 11th Avenues and spans West 36th to West 37th Street. It sits in the path of the next phase of the Bella Abzug Park

of it, plans show. Indeed, the “city does not seek to acquire by condemnation in this proceeding any right, title or interest held by Amtrak,” according to a petition led with Manhattan’s Supreme Court on Tuesday that would initiate eminent domain proceedings.

e property appears to be owned by the Imperatore family of New Jersey, which made its fortunes in trucking in the mid20th century but may be best known for some shrewd bets in the 1980s to snap up defunct train tracks near the Hudson River in New Jersey to create the transit hub Port Imperial.

erty through an action known as an easement, documents show. Arthur Imperatore died in 2020.

e court ling does not spell out how much money the city would be willing to pay to seize the Imperatore property, which totals about 30,000 square feet. And a message left with Edward Imperatore, an attorney who handles real estate matters for the family, was not returned by press time.

Similar tactics

project, whose rst section opened in 2015 but which has been two decades in the making.

e city appears to be targeting not the land under the tracks but the air above them. A platform would be built at the sunken site to level it with the surrounding landscape and the park would go on top

e Imperatores have controlled the Hudson Yards site since at least the 1980s, according to court documents. In 1991, Amtrak began running trains through the property to Penn Station in a bid to lessen congestion at Grand Central Terminal, where Amtrak trains to Manhattan used to stop. Imperatore granted Amtrak permission to use the prop-

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But o cials often launch eminent domain proceedings if they can’t come to an agreement with landlords about appropriate values. Under eminent domain laws, the city has the right to seize property for a public purpose, such as a park or highway but is required to pay market value for the land, though that value is often disputed. e owners can also challenge whether their property is necessary for public use.

Michael Bauscher, an attorney with Carter Ledyard and Millburn, a rm that has handled many Hudson Yards cases on behalf of the city and is involved in the current case, did not return a call. And an email

MITIGATING RISKS FOR MIDDLE MARKET COMPANIES AMID CRISIS

issues continue to take root and demonstrate their staying power, how can middle market businesses mitigate risks during difficult times?

1. Build key relationships

3. Leverage technology

sent to the Hudson Yards Development Corp., the group that has orchestrated the development of the far West Side, was not returned by press time.

e move against the Imperatores comes a few months after the city began eminent domain proceedings against other landlords who own properties in the area in order to seize four sites. Among them is the Midtown Convention Center Hotel, a now-closed property at 522 W. 38th St.

And in June 2022 the city used similar tactics to take control of a title to 515 W. 36th St., a site with a 251-unit apartment building developed by Lalezarian Properties, though the goal appears to be to use a portion of the property for the new park.

When the master plan for Hudson Yards was unveiled in the mid-2000s, the city said 10 sites were needed to create the park. All told, the city rezoned the once-industrial neighborhood to allow 24 million square feet of o ce space, more than 13,000 housing units, 1 million square feet of retail space and 2 million square feet of hotels. But much of that vision has not yet been realized.

e Imperatore site, which sits in a shallow valley between two rough-faced rock walls, would gain a 150-foot-wide strip of parkland sandwiched between two skinny streets, Hudson Boulevard West and Hudson Boulevard East, according to a diagram led in conjunction with the case.

e con guration would be similar to what exists with the current Bella Abzug Park, which now spans West 34th to West 37th Streets. Ultimately, the park, named after a former Congresswoman, will be a total of four acres and reach all the way to West 39th Street.

In 1947, Arthur Imperatore founded APA Transport Corporation with several of his brothers. en in the early 1980s, he snapped up 2.5 miles of defunct rail lines in Weehawken, New Jersey from the bankrupt Penn Central company for about $8 million. Port Imperial, which is served by NY Waterway ferries, occupies the site today. ■

Three years have passed since the initial outbreak of Covid-19 and businesses have had to pivot and remain agile to respond to a volatile market and changing consumer demands. Ongoing disruptions in the supply chain, unstable capital markets, and a changing labor force are just a few challenges businesses continue to grapple with as a result of the pandemic.

Most recently, several U.S. banks have collapsed since March, causing turmoil for not only companies who banked with them, but others who worried about the stability of their own financial institutions. As these

Having trusted advisors that your business can rely on is paramount. In times of crisis, it is important to have an inner circle who can help the business navigate difficult situations. If your CPA was not one of the first phone calls you made for business advice during the pandemic or the banking crisis, then it might be time to find a new one. For middle market businesses, having an attorney and a banker you can trust is also critical.

2. Diversify

Most wealth advisors would recommend diversifying your portfolio, and the diversification should not stop there. Considering the recent banking crisis, businesses should consider keeping assets at several institutions and try to limit the exposure of cash exceeding FDIC limits. Businesses should also monitor customer and vendor concentrations which can expose companies to certain risks.

According to Citrin Cooperman’s Manufacturing and Distribution Practice’s forthcoming Spring 2023 Pulse Survey, only 37 percent of middle-market respondents have fully implemented data analytics tools and processes. Data analytics, process automation, and artificial intelligence can help businesses monitor important key performance indicators, improve efficiencies, and understand customer behavior. If your business is not using technology to improve processes and efficiencies, now is the time to make the investment.

Though the future of our economy, a recession, or a possible downturn remains unclear, history tells us that there will always be another issue on the horizon that is out of our control. In business, as in life, it is best to be prepared, proactive and anticipate disruption.

“Citrin Cooperman” is the brand under which Citrin Cooperman & Company, LLP, a licensed independent CPA firm, and Citrin Cooperman Advisors LLC serve clients’ business needs. The two firms operate as separate legal entities in an alternative practice structure. Citrin Cooperman is an independent member of Moore North America, which is itself a regional member of Moore Global Network Limited (MGNL).

Brian Sosa is a partner and NYC Manufacturing & Distribution Practice Leader for Citrin Cooperman with 15 years of experience in audit and business consulting.

THE CURRENT Bella Abzug Park

THE CITY APPEARS TO BE TARGETING NOT THE LAND UNDER THE TRACKS BUT THE AIR ABOVE THEM

City must make sure Local Law 97 penalties are reinvested into climate goals

Local Law 97 shows the city is committed to shrinking its vastest source of greenhouse gases: emissions from buildings. Now the city must make sure the plan doesn’t punish building owners who are helping alleviate another of New York’s toughest challenges: a ordable housing.

As reporter Caroline Spivak writes in this week’s Crain’s Forum, upgrades in bringing buildings to compliance require hefty investments in replacing boilers, installing solar panels, modernizing HVAC systems, among many other upgrades. Many building owners have until 2024 to meet initial emissions targets.

something completely unrelated to strengthening the city’s resiliency. We are in favor of the city creating a dedicated fund, where that money can be used by owners of rent-regulated buildings to meet Local Law 97’s mandates in a timely fashion. ere are a multitude of pathways to compliance, and depending on the building, the changes can be complex and costly. But owners of buildings with rent-regulated units face a unique challenge: raising the rent to help cover the bill for upgrades is largely o the table due to state law.

COMPTROLLER BRAD LANDER attends a Local Law 97 rally.

Failure to comply will spell hefty nes, but as it stands, the penalties collected will go back into the city’s overall revenue. Not earmarking the funds for anything speci c runs the risk that it will be spent on

OP-ED

Mayor Adams’ administration has said they are exploring ways for the city to help with green nancing options, and this seems a relatively straightforward one. Comptroller Brad Lander has called on the city to create a Green A ordable Housing Fund to help a ordable housing developments comply with the law, and other large cities, like Boston, have similar funding mechanisms in place.

Additionally, it would set a bad precedent for the city to enact sweeping legislation requiring signi cant building upgrades for

buildings that have less exibility in increasing their bottom line to secure funds needed to be compliant. With the expiration of 421-a and no viable options to replace the plan, it would not be wise to pile on another disincentive to building more a ordable units in the city. To be fair, the city has granted buildings with a ordable units a decent amount of exibility. Under Article 321, owners can either demonstrate that the emissions are below the 2030 emission limits or show that they’ve implemented 13 changes on a list of energy conservation measures by the end of 2024. e

changes fall short of a full overhaul of a building’s systems and include tasks like repairing or replacing steam traps or upgrading common area lighting. e DOB has also hinted that it may reduce nes or lower emission targets for owners who can prove they’ve made a “good faith e ort.” ere is a deluge of big problems facing the city that require signicant time and money to solve. If the money from Local Law 97 doesn’t have a speci c destination, it could be allocated to initiatives that have nothing to do with climate change, watering down the impact of Local Law 97 and making the pathway to a greener city more strenuous. ■

New York isn’t dying; it just has to change

BY FORTH BAGLEY

Prognostications of the end of the city are everywhere. In a recent New York Times opinion piece, for example, omas Edsall argued that many of this country’s metropolises are being hollowed out as a uent whitecollar workers relocate to peripheral suburban centers and embrace work-from-home. e bigger the city, the more perilous its future. New York is in the cross hairs.

It’s true that remote work is putting tremendous strain on the city’s commercial o ce space. So, too, are high interest rates. Further, the adoption of AI will likely exacerbate dwindling o ce demand, doing to white-collar workers and their o ce space what robots did to their blue-collar counterparts and their workshops and factories.

But it would be a mistake to conate challenges to the traditional o ce building with those of the American city, especially New York. To write o our city because we identify it as purely a center of work is to underappreciate how

much it has been a magnet of innovation, activity and leisure, particularly over the past 20 years, as well as to lose the opportunity to project how the city will be occupied in the future. In fact, broader trends suggest that New York is still very much a place in which people want to live, visit and play, even if they aren’t working in traditional o ce buildings. While commuter ridership is down, for example, non-rush hour ridership is back to pre-COVID levels and rising.

Firstly, while hybrid work is putting pressure on the traditional ofce building, the sum total of the technological advances of the last two decades has fundamentally bene ted urban residents more than their suburban and rural counterparts, unlocking the commercial and social viability of neighborhood after neighborhood.

Secondly, just as the abandonment of industrial areas enabled the transformation of miles of urban waterfront across the U.S. into vibrant parks and residences, the shrinking o ce market will allow

us to remake many neighborhoods in the city into more exciting places to be. For decades, the basic building block of the city has been the o ce building. But as a single use it was limited in how it could activate street life. Cities with dense residential centers such as Vancouver and Miami are consistently rated higher as places people want to live than cities without downtown residential stock. Adding more and more residential and mixed-use buildings will make our city more dynamic and resilient.

Innovation

Lastly, not all o ce space is created equal. New York City’s neighborhoods breed more innovation, cultural capital and economic activity than surrounding non-urban areas. Neither remote work nor the adoption of AI will change the value proposition between centercity and non-urban o ce space. Our new o ce buildings will look radically di erent in ten years, re ecting how we work alongside AI, accommodate hy-

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brid and reduced workforces, and focus on environmental, physical and mental health.  ey will be more nancially successful because they will be that much more connected to the places where we want to congregate, learn, and advance our careers.

If New York City can quickly adapt zoning and building codes, invest in environmental resiliency, and upgrade transportation infrastructure, that will enable these transformed o ce buildings, as well as more residential and lifestyle program, to permeate and enliven our city. New York will then win the next three decades. Put simply, many of the critics are wrong. e story of the next half century won’t be the death of New York City. It will be a story of urban innovation as we transform our highest density commercial environments to accommodate the way we all want to live. ■

Forth Bagley is a managing principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), a global architecture rm headquartered in New York.

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IT WOULD NOT BE WISE TO PILE ON ANOTHER DISINCENTIVE TO BUILDING MORE AFFORDABLE UNITS

Adams must support all human services workers

BY MICHELLE JACKSON AND JENNIFER JONES AUSTIN

New York City took an important step toward economic fairness and racial and gender justice recently. The Adams Administration and DC37, the city’s largest municipal labor union, agreed on a new contract that will raise wages for tens of thousands of city employees. The new contract demonstrated the mayor’s support for workers, many of them women of color, whose pay has been modest at best.

health clinics and immigration offices. They run domestic violence shelters, foster care agencies and after-school programs. They are 80,000 strong in this city; 75% of them are people of color, 70% of them are women, and 55% are women of color.

As head of an anti-poverty organization FPWA and executive director of the Human Services Council, both of which advocate for the sector, we know that New York City would be lost without these workers. Their pay doesn’t begin to equal their contributions, and that puts us all at risk.

MAYOR ADAMS MUST ALSO SUPPORT ESSENTIaL WORKERS IN THE HUMAN SERVICES SECTOR

But city workers aren’t the only ones who need fair, livable wages. Mayor Adams must also support essential workers in the human services sector. However, despite repeated calls for just pay, his budget proposal leaves them out.

Human service workers are the invisible engine that keeps this city moving. They work in childcare centers, food pantries, mental

Underfunded city contracts have led to insufficient, unjust pay that has not even remotely kept up with the cost of living in New York. Sixty percent of human service workers qualify for government assistance. Here’s what that means: Full-time case workers who connect New Yorkers to food and other public benefits by day often have to live on those very same benefits at night.

That’s why the Human Services Council started the JustPay campaign, which demands fair wages and a cost of living adjustment in this year’s city budget. Last year,

Without action in Albany, our housing crisis will worsen

BY CARLO A. SCISSURA

While Governor Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams have put forward long-overdue policy proposals to confront New York’s housing crisis head-on, the double-barrel bad news is that the governor’s proposals were not included in the final state budget — and the housing crisis is not slowing down.

The city needs 560,000 new homes by 2030 to keep pace with expected population and job growth. But without the policy tools in place to actually build this housing, the city won’t be able to meet this goal, and hardworking families will continue to suffer. Building multifamily projects in New York City is already increasingly difficult, if not nearly impossible, with rising construction costs, supply chain disruptions, high interest rates and the everexpensive cost of land.

The numbers are not encouraging: Only 22 filings for multifamily foundation applications were submitted to the NYC Department of

Buildings in February 2023 for 432 proposed units, according to recent data compiled by the Real Estate Board of New York.

The historically low number of filings follows a concerning trend we saw last year. There were 441 foundation filings in the first six months of 2022, followed by just 186 filings in the year’s second half. This steady decline began around the same time when the 421-a program expired on June 15 last year and never rebounded.

Necessary tools

We’ve been working closely with state leaders to ensure they understand that without procurement reform, robust capital spending and removing barriers to build more housing, New York will continue to fall behind other states in the region. Without the proper tools to spur the development of affordable rental housing, it simply won’t get built. And so it now rests on the legislature to pass, and the governor to sign into law, housing policies outside of the budget process by the end of session in June. If they don’t

hundreds of workers took the fight directly to City Hall. This year, you can expect to hear from us again. And that’s why FPWA has advocated since 2020 for a true cost of living measurement for New York City, to guide decision makers about what income is required to meet basic living expenses. Fortunately, 81% of voters in the 2022 citywide election supported that measure, and beginning in 2024 the

city will have to produce an annual estimate of what it costs to live and work here. But we can’t wait until then to pay human services workers fairly.

Stepping up

This sector’s work has become even more important this year, as New York has greeted a wave of asylum-seekers who need serious support — from immigration ser-

vices to housing to mental health counseling. The human services sector has provided all that and more. According to HSC’s winter survey, 96% of groups are providing these services out-of-pocket, without a formal contract in place. Stretched to their limits even before, this crisis has been nearly existential for some providers. But it hasn’t stopped this sector from stepping up for New York City in its time of need.

It’s time for New York City to step up for them. Giving these workers a raise will make our city fairer and more racially equitable. JustPay will help workers who provide lifesaving services reach self-sufficiency and true financial stability.

When Mayor Adams faced the need to pay city workers more fairly and combat governmentsponsored structural inequity, he responded. Now that the ink has dried on DC37’s new contract, the mayor needs to take the next step. He must ensure human service workers receive the fair wages they deserve. ■

Michelle Jackson is executive director of the Human Services Council. Jennifer Jones Austin is CEO and executive director of FPWA, an anti-poverty policy and advocacy organization.

act now, the housing crisis will only worsen and push middle-class families out of the city, further stalling our economic recovery.

An extension of the 421-a completion deadline by four years for projects that were approved before the program expired would cost the state nothing, and ensure that 33,000 new homes will be built, of which 8,200 are affordable. These units risk not meeting the current deadline due to financing and supply chain delays, putting their 421-a benefits at risk, jeopardizing the projects and further reducing our housing pipeline.

The governor’s executive budget also included a proposal calling for eliminating the outdated cap of 12

FAR that holds back our ability to meet the demand for housing. Removing the cap on density for residential development would encourage the construction of housing in high-opportunity areas that already have access to mass transit and job opportunities, as the Building Congress outlined in a recent report on Transit-Oriented Development. It would also trigger the city’s mandatory inclusionary housing requirements, paving the way to build housing that is truly affordable for New Yorkers.

Finally, judicious changes to state law would allow more largescale conversions of commercial buildings to residential use. Older office buildings in Manhattan are

struggling to compete with newer offices due to the impacts of the pandemic. Let’s reimagine them in a way that helps alleviate a different and far more pressing problem: lack of housing.

Some of our government leaders understand the urgency. The budget process showed that others are hesitating. But they have mere months left to take decisive action. Will New York continue its dangerous decline in housing production, or will we rewrite our future as a place that can be affordable, accessible and livable for all? ■

Carlo A. Scissura is president and CEO of the New York Building Congress.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING in the Bronx. The city needs 560,000 new homes by 2030 to keep pace with expected growth.

GETTY IMAGES

NEW YORK’S LARGEST PUBLICLY HELD COMPANIES

Ranked

BLOOMBERG

This year could very well be Bed Bath & Beyond’s swan song on the list of largest publicly held companies. Store closures first announced in mid-2022 turned into bankruptcy in a matter of months for Bed Bath & Beyond. After shuttering about 90 stores, and a few last-ditch efforts in the form of financial deals, the company filed for Chapter 11 in April of this year, putting the remaining 14,000 employees on the line. The initial steps in the court process are to liquidate the remaining 260 stores and search for a buyer for its assets.

The company estimated that the proceeds from all sales will be about $718 million, according to court documents, and the retailer has about $1.8 billion in total funded debt obligations. The company estimated it had assets of $4.4 billion and total debt of $5.2 billion as of late November, and the number of creditors is between 25,001 and 50,000, with BNY Mellon having the biggest unsecured claim of $1.18 billion.

— Amanda Glodowski

No. 49 Bed Bath & Beyond

NEW YORK’S LARGEST PUBLICLY HELD COMPANIES

BERTOLINI

No. 64 Oscar Health

The Tribeca-based insurance rm enjoyed a second consecutive year of triple-digit revenue growth, with revenue increasing by 111% in 2022, following a 297% growth spurt the previous year. The soaring revenues can be attributed to increased premiums, more memberships and including plans that have higher premiums. Membership with the rm also ballooned, growing by 93% from 2021, according to its nancial disclosures. The plan also enjoyed increased membership. Oscar’s co-branded plan with Cigna, which is now more than 62,000, a stark contrast from less than 17,000 in 2021.

The company’s CEO, Mario Schlosser, stepped down at the beginning of April. He was replaced by Mark Bertolini, the previous chief executive of Aetna. He will receive a base salary of $600,000, a target annual bonus of 30% of his base, and 10,320,000 shares of Class A common stock. Nearly 3 million of those will be vested based on the passage of time, and more than 7 million will be based on his achieving certain performance goals.

— A.G.

LARGEST EMPLOYERS

The top 10 employers have a workforce of nearly 2 million.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp.

MARK

No. 94 Revlon

It was a rollercoaster of a year for cosmetics firm Revlon. The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in June, after the company struggled financially for years. At the time, the company carried $3.3 billion in long-term debt and $2.3 billion in assets, with more than 150,000 square feet of office space in the Financial District. While a bankruptcy filing may typically hurt shareholders, the stock rose to $8 from less than $2 the following week after garnering the interest of the memestock crowd on Reddit.

Then, the company requested $16.4 million in cash bonuses for employees (excluding CEO Debra Perelman), to discourage workers from abandoning the company during bankruptcy. A judge approved the request, capping the cash bonus at $130,000 per recipient. A later ruling stipulated that the top executives could be paid up to $36 million in bonuses, which would include the CEO. A bankruptcy judge also approved the company’s request to terminate its office and retail leases at 200 Park Ave. South as part of the Chapter 11 proceedings, releasing the cosmetics company from nearly 46,000 square feet of space.

Most recently, in early May, the firm emerged from Chapter 11 with $2.7 billion in debt wiped from its balance sheet, leaving it with $1.5 billion in debt outstanding and $236 million in liquidity. Also absent was its longtime owner Ron Perelman His 85% stake was wiped out in a court-supervised reorganization. His daughter remains chief executive. — A.G.

Source:Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence. Additional research by Amanda Glodowski. NewNewYorkYork areaareaincludes NewYorkCity andNassau,SuffolkandWestchester countiesinNew York,and Bergen, Essex,HudsonandUnion countiesinNewJersey. Allcompanieslisted were headquartered in the NewYork areaandpubliclytradedas of April 23,2023, and they hadreleased their mostrecentannualearningsdata by thatday.Allfinancial figures arefromthemostrecent 10-Ksornewswire dataavailableas of April 23.The mostrecentdataforcompanies witha fiscal year ending ina monthfromMarch through Decemberarefor 2022, andthemostrecentdataforcompanies witha fiscal year ending in January or February are for 2023. Rankings and percentage changes are based on unrounded numbers.

Source:Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence. Additional research by Amanda Glodowski. NewNewYorkYork areaareaincludes NewYorkCity andNassau,SuffolkandWestchester countiesinNew York,and Bergen, Essex,HudsonandUnion countiesinNewJersey. Allcompanieslisted were headquartered in the NewYork areaandpubliclytradedas of April 23,2023, and they hadreleased their mostrecentannualearningsdata by thatday.Allfinancial figures arefromthemostrecent 10-Ksornewswire dataavailableas of April 23.The mostrecentdataforcompanies witha fiscal year ending ina monthfromMarch through Decemberarefor 2022, andthemostrecentdataforcompanies witha fiscal year ending in January or February are for 2023. Rankings and percentage changes are based on unrounded numbers.

Prior to the regional bank’s collapse in March, Signature Bank had notched more than $2.6 billion in revenue in fiscal year 2022. The Midtown-based bank had $110 billion in assets and $89 billion in deposits and was a smaller institution than Silicon Valley Bank, the first regional bank to fail this year. After SVB was seized by regulators, Signature was faced with a rush of orders from clients attempting to withdraw nearly 20% of the bank’s total deposits. Regulators ultimately seized the bank after realizing it was $5 billion short of what it needed to satisfy depositors’ requests.

Prior to federal regulators’ seizure of the bank, Signature warned in its financial disclosures that its growth could be impacted if there was additional trouble in the cryptocurrency market.

Earlier in May, a hearing in Washington revealed that 40% of the bank’s total deposits came from 60 customers and 14% belonged to just four of those customers, making the bank vulnerable during March’s run. In the hearing, the government went on to say that poor management and board oversight led to Signature’s fall.

“You’ve placed blame everywhere but accepted absolutely none yourselves,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, said to Signature executives at the hearing. “I find that disconcerting and disappointing.”

— A.G.

AVERAGE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES across the companies that made the list.

No. 78 Signature Bank

GREENING BUILDINGS

Flipping the switch on greener buildings

Building owners and managers share strategies for slashing greenhouse gas emissions to comply with Local Law 97

BY CAROLINE SPIVACK

In the bowels of a red brick apartment building in the northwest Bronx, Jac Zadrima stood in an empty space where a hulking steam boiler once sat. e massive equipment had crowded the room, lling it with a racket of clanging that disturbed tenants upstairs. Now the basement was quiet. Instead of a boisterous boiler that ran on natural gas, two refrigerator-sized pieces of equipment hummed in the corner. ey are what powers the ve-story building’s more e cient, hydronic hot water system.

Zadrima, the principal of Genesis Realty Group, which owns and manages mostly rent-stabilized apartment buildings in the Bronx and upper Manhattan, said the roughly $800,000 investment was a strategic e ort to get ahead of green mandates for city buildings.

e project, installed some seven years ago at the University Avenue apartment building, has come to be a model for similar work Zadrima is exploring for at least ve other properties. Despite taking early action he still has work to do on the University Avenue building and others he oversees ahead of a looming deadline to comply with Local Law 97, the city’s sweeping climate regulation that sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have tried to be proactive but we feel like the nish line keeps moving for us,” said Zadrima. He added that he supports the spirit of the law to combat climate change but is frustrated by its logistical and nancing challenges. “We met with some consultants on Local Law 97,” he said, “and

although we’re doing great, we still need to adopt more measures.”

Eight months from now, in January 2024, Local Law 97 will begin to take e ect for some 50,000 buildings— threatening substantial penalties for those who fail to comply. e law, which was passed by the City Council in 2019, applies to buildings larger than 25,000 square feet, with the bold target of cutting carbon emissions 40% by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.

Many buildings must meet the law’s initial targets by 2024, but there is no universal approach. e path to compliance depends on building type, age, nances, existing systems and how well—or poorly—a building has been maintained. Local Law 97 allows some properties, such as Zadrima’s mostly rent-regulated Bronx building, to comply on a di erent timeline.

As the law’s deadlines approach, property managers, coop boards and building owners are confronting the realities of what it takes to meet the requirements of Local Law 97. Crain’s spoke with owners and managers at three buildings—a mostly rent-stabilized apartment building, a luxury co-op, and a market-rate apartment tower—for a sense of the unprecedented change needed to slash greenhouse gas emissions in the pursuit of a healthier future for the planet and New Yorkers.

Even those who recognize the need for the climate-

FAQS ON LAW

Questions answered on sweeping climate regulation.

PAGE 19

COMPLIANCE

Local Law 97 will offer ‘pathways’ to green affordable housing.

Page 19

GOOD INTENTIONS

City’s new climate policy does not re ect science. Page 20

“WE HAVE TRIED TO BE PROACTIVE BUT WE FEEL LIKE THE FINISH LINE KEEPS MOVING FOR US”

GENESIS REALTY GROUP PRINCIPAL JAC ZADRIMA (left) and Victor Grado, building superintendent at 2800 University Ave., showing off the replacement boiler

GREENING BUILDINGS

few projects that could substantially reduce the building’s emissions is a $4 million window replacement project.

friendly mandates are frustrated by the enormity of the challenges and what they say is the vague direction from city agencies. Compliance is a journey that takes plenty of time, labor and creative nancing.

No universal approach

ree years after the City Council approved Local Law 97 in 2019, the Department of Buildings nalized its rst batch of rules in December. But questions about how the law will work lingers, and the DOB plans to issue more rules in the coming months. In the meantime, building owners are at work developing a path forward for retro ts, the planning and execution of which can take anywhere from days to years.

About 70% of buildings that fall into the 25,000-squarefoot category already meet the 2024 emissions limits, but the outlook changes by 2030. en, just 30% of those buildings will meet stricter carbon caps, according to a November report from Comptroller Brad Lander.

Sustainability experts say some buildings are better positioned to comply with the law because of upgrades that pre-date Local Law 97. Others are exploring what changes are feasible now. And still others have projects well underway to reduce their carbon footprint.

e process starts with closely examining a building’s emissions data, identifying what can be done to cut carbon, and guring out the labor and investments needed to comply.

“It’s truly, we found, that you have to go building by building,” said Matthew Resnick, director of project management at Akam, a property management rm working with upwards of 75 co-op and condo buildings toward compliance. “We learned pretty quickly that there’s no holistic approach, for the most part, on how to get buildings there.”

Building owners can embark on relatively easy measures rst, such as replacing lighting with LEDs and insulating pipes. e upfront costs for bigger projects, like swapping out boilers with electric heat pumps, can be signi cant but can eventually lead to lower utility bills, Resnick said.

Property owners may be wary of taking on those larger-scale, more nancially onerous projects, but they may ultimately be necessary to meet the 2030 targets and beyond.

“Most of the people I’m dealing with have been kicking the can down the road and now they’re realizing that they can’t anymore,” said Marc Karell, principal of sustainability consulting rm Climate Change & Environmental Services.

For example, one condo complex Karell worked with in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx features sprawling windows that take advantage of idyllic views of the Hudson River. To management’s dismay, Karell said one of the

“ ey have this sort of yin and yang debate of, ‘Gee, we ought to be preparing for the 2030 Local Law 97 standard, but on the other hand, 2030 is far away and we would have to spend $4 million dollars that will raise our fees,’” said Karell.

“Once the city starts issuing nes people are going to nally get the message,” he added.

Rent-regulated roadmap

“ ere is a silver lining to all of this in being in the rentstabilized and a ordable arena,” said Zadrima, of Genesis Realty Group.

Since more than 35% of the apartments in his redbrick University Avenue building are rent-regulated, the property has two alternative pathways to compliance under what’s known as Article 321: Owners can either demonstrate that the building’s emissions are below the 2030 limits or they can show that by the end of 2024 they’ve fully implemented a list of 13 items called Prescriptive Energy Conservation Measures. Zadrima said those options give him some leeway.

To date, Genesis Realty has added about 50 solar panels to the roof of the 59-unit University Avenue building, which is home to working- and middle-class families. at shaves more than $20,000 o the building’s annual utility bill, according to Zadrima. When tenants move out, workers upgrade individual apartments with enhancements such as new insulation, LED lighting and more e cient windows. Much of this work was made feasible with the help of utility company incentives and funding from the state, said Zadrima.

Still, the building’s emissions aren’t quite below the 2030 carbon cap, so Zadrima said he’s looking to comply with Local Law 97 through the list of prescriptive measures. Items from the city’s list don’t reinvent systems but rather seek to improve current ones, with things like repairing heating system leaks, insulating water tanks, and

installing timers on exhaust fans.

“ e biggest thing right now the a ordable housing market is talking about is the race to the nish line to get these things implemented,” said David Sivin, senior project manager at building systems and energy consultant PVE.

Some of the prescriptive measures require building sta to access every single apartment, particularly to make upgrades to radiators. Zadrima said that has emerged as a hurdle for properties that still use steam heat.

“Getting 100% access into any one building is near impossible,” he said. “ ere’s just so many di erent factors. Scheduling with tenants is an issue. Even if you have everyone cooperating, just scheduling 100% of the units is a logistical nightmare.”

e DOB has indicated that it may reduce nes or alter emission targets for owners who can prove they’ve made a “good faith e ort.” e agency hasn’t yet de ned good faith e orts, but DOB spokesman Andrew Rudansky said building owners who have taken such steps “will be able to avail themselves to that provision of the law.”

BRIAN ASPARRO, chief operating of cer of Carbon Quest

A co-op ahead of the curve

e situation is very di erent for a 172-unit co-op building just south of Union Square. Once known as the International Tailoring Company Building, the former 13-story manufacturing space was converted to luxury co-ops in 1980. e Fourth Avenue property is market rate so, unlike Zadrima’s building, it must comply with the law’s escalating carbon caps through 2050.

Before Eric Einstein took over as the co-op board’s president, he served as the building’s treasurer. In that role, Einstein made it a point to run the building at a surplus by increasing the co-op’s maintenance fees by about $50 each year—even when it wasn’t strictly necessary.

Instead of walloping tenants with hefty assessments, those modest increases allowed the property to build up a cash reserve in anticipation of a re nancing that would raise $15 million toward replacing ine cient heating and cooling systems that were nearing the end of their life.

“We sort of put the frog in cold water and then started the pot as opposed to having to do it all at once,” said Einstein. “I sort of built a coalition within the board that was willing to do that. And I also did a lot of work myself to really understand the technologies out there, the costs involved.”

e co-op worked closely with Resnick’s team at Akam and engineering and construction rm Ecosystem Energy to devise a path forward.

Work is still in progress, but today the building’s systems look drastically di erent than ve years ago: Heat pumps and adiabatic coolers, which remove heat by evaporating water using dry air, have replaced a giant cooling tower on the roof. More e cient boilers have been installed in the basement and are waiting to be turned on. And workers are in the process of going oor-by- oor to replace fan coil units, which are used to heat or cool a room, with newer technology, among other changes. When all is said and done, Einstein says the building will be in compliance with the law through 2050.

“It’s important for each building to take its own approach to this because no building is the same in terms of where you’re starting,” Einstein said. He acknowledged that his building lucked out by securing a low-interest mortgage during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Experts are advising clients to look into low-interest loans and grant opportunities, which are becoming more plentiful, as well as federal subsidies and state funds for

GREENING BUILDINGS

ing’s two gas boilers and cool those emissions to a liquid. From there, the liqui ed greenhouse gas is trucked to a concrete factory in Brooklyn where the carbon is mixed into and stored within concrete blocks.

Joshua London, senior vice president of Glenwood Management, which oversees the Broadway building, said he decided to test out the technology after making a series of upgrades that still didn’t adequately shrink the building’s emissions. Currently, the apartment tower could face more than $81,000 in annual nes once Local Law 97 takes e ect, according to London.

London said he would rather wait to pursue extensive electri cation projects in the building until the city’s power grid relies less on fossil fuels. In carbon capture, by contrast, London saw an immediate solution. e technology traps about 60% of the building’s carbon dioxide emissions. London declined to share costs for the system but said Glenwood is looking at a payback period of about ve-and-a-half to six years.

sustainability projects. DOB encourages owners unsure of their next steps to connect with the city’s NYC Accelerator program for free, personalized guidance on near- and long-term retro ts, along with information on nancing and incentives.

In an April update to the city’s climate plan, the Adams administration said it will “develop nancing tools and innovative mechanisms to accelerate Local Law 97 compliance by 2030.” O cials say they are working with state partners to identify incentives to help building owners decarbonize and are aggressively pursuing federal and state dollars to assist with the transition.

e mayor’s o ce would not share its timeline for when it will make some of those new mechanisms available to building owners.

A possible tech remedy

Others have looked to emerging technologies in their shift toward a greener footprint.

Carbon capture, which seeks to prevent planetwarming carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere, is a technology typically utilized in industrial settings.

But in the basement of Grand Tier, a 30-story luxury apartment tower on the Upper West Side, a network of pipes and tanks suck up carbon dioxide from the build-

COMMON BUILDING UPGRADES

Brian Asparro, the chief operating o cer of CarbonQuest, which implemented the building’s carbon capture system, described the technology as a potential “bridge” to when replacing boilers and electri cation projects are most feasible for a given building.

“We were just blown away because it was just so obvious,” London said. “How better to reduce your carbon footprint than to not let that carbon dioxide and pollution actually ever get out of the building?”

Not everyone agrees. As written, Local Law 97 does not explicitly allow carbon capture as a viable o set, according to the DOB. But the Adams administration is actively exploring the technology and how to potentially regulate it.

“We are eager to continue these conversations,” said Kayla Mamelak, a spokesperson for the mayor’s o ce. “[We] are currently working on a pilot program to better understand their technology to determine whether and how it can further the city’s decarbonization goals.”

Carbon capture is particularly contentious among environmental advocates who fear the technology could slow down the transition of the city’s existing buildings to electri cation.

“I think carbon capture should be viewed as a last-mile not a rst-mile approach to decarbonization,” said John Mandyck, CEO of the Urban Green Council, a nonpro t dedicated to decarbonizing buildings.

“We can’t undermine or delay the actions that are needed,” Mandyck added. “We have to do everything that we can to decarbonize buildings rst.” ■

In order to comply with Local Law 97’s emissions reductions, building owners must make retro ts. Some are relatively easy updates, while others can be time-consuming and costly. What changes are necessary can vary greatly depending on the building. Here are some common changes for a mix of building types.

UPGRADE HVAC EQUIPMENT

Replacing heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems with more ef cient technology

INSTALL SOLAR PANELS

Solar can help buildings save on their electric bills.

UPDATING OR REPLACING

WINDOWS

Changes to a window or a full replacement can help a building retain heat or stay cool.

REPLACE BOILER

Particularly when a boiler reaches the end of its useful life, a cleaner boiler or electric equipment could go a long way toward reducing a building's carbon footprint.

LIGHTING

Swapping out inef cient lights to LEDs is highly cost-effective.

INSULATION

Insulation around pipes, in walls, and in other spaces helps shore up heating and cooling leaks.

TEMPERATURE SET POINTS

Adjusting the temperature of something simple like hot water can help make a building more ef cient.

BUCK ENNIS

BUCK ENNIS

GRAND TIER, 1930 BROADWAY

GREENING BUILDINGS

Brooklyn-based Kelvin pitches building owners on a novel way to lower energy costs

BY CARA EISENPRESS

Marshall Cox was working toward his PhD in electrical engineering at Columbia University when his houseguest complained about the temperature of his student apartment.

e guest was Cox’s twin brother, a ballet dancer who had accepted a part on Broadway and asked to crash. e year was 2012. At night, he was discovering the sti ing indoor climate produced by steam systems in the vast majority of New York City residential units.

“He complained nonstop about the heating,” said Cox, now the founder of Kelvin, a Brooklyn Navy Yard-based company that installs hybrid electri cation HVAC systems for legacy buildings.

Having an engineer for a brother has its perks, and Cox fashioned a radiator cover out of bubble wrap to keep some of the heat out of the room and help his brother sleep. e rustic prototype eventually became a product called Cozy, a smart thermostatic radiator enclosure that works as a physical barrier to trap heat before it enters a room. An internet-connected infrared thermometer and custom software provide feedback to the building’s boiler about when to turn on and o .

More than a decade later, Cox is staring down a basement boiler-sized opportunity. New York City’s buildings are sprinting to install a ordable, quick-turnaround updates that will cut emissions in compliance with Local Law 97, which goes into

ing more e cient in the long run. “People may say they care about it, and they do, but there’s little wiggle room,” he said.

e ect in January. At the same time the federal government has made the radiator enclosure eligible for an In ation Reduction Act tax credit, drastically reducing the cost of installation.

Cox said he feels that the proximity of the emissions deadline has required building managers and co-op boards to recognize that there are ways to reduce reliance on natural gas without incurring enormous expense. “A few years ago, it was electrify or nothing,” Cox said of the atmosphere in the green-building movement.

Crunching the numbers

But that mindset led to stasis, he said, since electrifying an entire building costs tens of millions of dollars, and residents have nowhere to live in the meantime. Coop boards have a duciary duty to improve a building’s bottom line, so they were unable to move forward on big environmental investments that would make the build-

Now, he said, the math is easier. A New York City steam-heated building could out t its radiators with Kelvin’s enclosures for about $10 per unit per month without paying a cent in capital expenditures up front. Since Kelvin modies each enclosure to custom t each radiator, installation partners don’t need specialized HVAC certi cation to put them in. Afterwards, building-wide heating expenses drop 25% or more, according to a 2018 report by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. e company said installations can lower costs and energy use by as much as 45%. For most buildings, that alone would bring emissions below Local Law 97’s 2024 and 2030 benchmarks, Cox said.

When an enclosure prevents heat from entering one apartment, which is already at a comfortable temperature, it heads to a colder apartment. e boiler does not have to kick on again, which brings about the savings.

“ e people in the building who were really hot are really happy,” said Chris McGinnis, who is on the board at the coop at 2 Charlton St., a 175-unit building that installed the Cozy in 2021. Kelvin said there are 4,000 units in the northeastern U.S. that have a Cozy. Other customers include universities and city agencies.

At rst, buildings had to pay upfront. Cox later added rebates and creative -

nancing, but he said the IRA tax credit eligibility has changed the business, drumming up demand from less well-capitalized landlords or co-op boards uninterested in levying assessments.

New name, new products

Cox’s company was called Radiator Labs until recently, but on May 18 it announced it had raised $30 million in a Series A round and was rebranding as Kelvin. e money will go to meeting demand for the regulation-fueled growth ahead, especially by hiring engineers, operations sta and sales team members. e new name re-

FOCAL POINTS

ects an expansion from just radiators to a suite of smart products, including heat pumps and individual thermal batteries, which Cox said could help legacy buildings turn to electricity for 80% of their heating and cooling needs.

“I haven’t been as excited about a company in a long time,” said Christian Hernandez, partner and co-founder of 2150, a climate-focused venture capital rm with headquarters in Europe, which led the fundraising round. “Who’d have thought I’d be so passionate about radiator covers?” e Partnership Fund for New York City also joined the round as an investor. ■

COMPANY Kelvin, formerly known as Radiator Labs

FOUNDED 2011

MANAGEMENT Marshall Cox, founder and CEO

FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES 22 and projected to grow to 33 by the end of the second quarter

SYSTEMS SOLD TO DATE 15,000

PRODUCT MIX Easily installed radiator covers that moderate the amount of steam heat that goes to each residential unit, keeping each apartment temperate and reducing heating costs by as much as 45%

GROWTH STRATEGY As legacy residential buildings look to decarbonize, both to meet regulatory benchmarks and reduce costs, Kelvin will introduce additional products toward an energy-storage solution that will replace up to 80% of natural gas usage in a building. That includes the existing radiator covers, as well as heat pumps that work in above-freezing weather, and individual thermal batteries that can automatically take in electricity at night, when it’s cheaper, and store it for use with the heat pump during the day.

Company’s “Cozy” device covers radiators and can reduce a building’s heating cost by 45%

MARSHALL COX, founder of Radiator Labs, now known as Kelvin, based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard

“I HAVEN’T BEEN THIS EXCITED ABOUT A COMPANY IN A LONG TIME”

The most pressing questions about Local Law 97

FAQs on the sweeping climate law and building decarbonization

BY CAROLINE SPIVACK

Readers shared questions with Crain’s on Local Law 97 and what it will take for the city’s buildings to achieve a greener future. We spoke with experts and city officials for answers.

What is Local Law 97?

Local Law 97 is a sweeping climate plan that targets carbon emissions from buildings—the city’s single greatest source of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The City Council passed the bold legislation in 2019 under former Mayor Bill de Blasio. Most buildings that are over 25,000 square feet must comply with the law’s mandates beginning in 2024. That covers about 50,000 city buildings. Carbon caps will become increasingly strict in 2030, and every five years until covered buildings are expected to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. Certain buildings, such as affordable housing, can comply on different timelines.

Can the city’s grid handle building electrification right now?

In the near term, it will not strain the city’s grid for buildings to switch to electric power rather than burning fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal for heating and cooking. That’s according to a 2021 report from the Urban Green Council, a nonprofit that studies building decarbonization.

Colder temperatures allow the grid to carry more power, which offers extra capacity to electrify heating in buildings with heat pumps. New York City’s peak power demand, on average, is 42% higher in the summer than the winter. As buildings embrace energy efficient technology that will also erode the peak demand. The grid will need to evolve to meet future demand. But there is time, according to John Mandyck, CEO of the Urban Green Council.

“There is plenty of room to electrify before we have to systematically worry about the grid,” said Mandyck. “That shouldn’t be a cause for delay for people to take electrification steps today.”

How will the city help pay for the transition?

The Adams administration is working on it.

“The city is exploring new financing tools for climate retrofit projects to assist owners in meeting Local Law 97 requirements, including working with the state to identify innovative state incentives,” officials wrote in PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, published in April. The plan goes on to say that the city will “increase the supply of green financing available” to support building decarbonization, along with highlighting existing programs. The mayor’s office would not say when the city hopes to make some of those new tools available to building owners.

In the meantime, the city says it continues to pursue grants, rebates and other funding available through the federal Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Utility companies and the New York State Energy Research and De-

velopment Authority also have programs. Comptroller Brad Lander has called on the city to create a Green Affordable Housing Fund to help affordable housing developments comply with the law. He’s suggested building a fund made up of payments made by commercial buildings in lieu of penalties for excess annual emissions.

How will renewable energy credits factor in?

Local Law 97 allows building owners to offset certain emissions by purchasing credits from projects that are delivering renewable energy to the city’s grid. Under an initial round of rules published in December, the Department of Buildings restricts the use of renewable energy credits to emissions generated from electricity use.

The stipulation means that the credits can’t be used to offset fossil fuel emissions for heating and hot water, which indicates that commercial buildings will likely benefit from the credits more than the residential sector. Currently there is no cap on how much a building can rely on renewable energy credits to comply with Local Law 97, but city officials have indicated that they plan to impose future limits on the use of credits. It’s worth noting that the credits aren’t expected to be plentiful in the city until the second half of the decade.

What will enforcement look like?

Building owners will be required to submit emissions reports to the city. Beginning in 2025, if a building exceeded its annual 2024 emissions limit it could face fines of $268 for every ton of carbon dioxide over the limit. Building owners may also be on the hook for other penalties and violations, but those have yet to be finalized by the DOB. Expect the city to share more details on enforcement in the coming months.

Will building owners be able to apply for relief from the law?

Rohit Aggarwala, the city’s chief climate officer and commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, said during a City Council hearing last year: “We have no intention of giving anyone a free pass or letting anyone off the hook, but we also see no benefit to the environment in punishing someone who is actually doing everything possible.”

Building owners who make a “good faith effort” to comply with the law may receive reduced penalties or have their carbon caps lowered. The city has yet to clarify how it defines a good faith effort. Andrew Rudansky, a spokesperson for the DOB, said the agency will detail what that entails in rulemaking expected in the months ahead. Building owners should be warned: This will not be a “get out of jail free” card. The general idea is to give property owners who may be faced with extraordinary circumstances an opportunity to plead their case for relief. ■

MEETING NEW YORK STATE AND CITY climate goals is imperative for owners of affordable multifamily housing. Deadlines loom for compliance with Local Law 97 and Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act mandates, with severe financial penalties for noncompliance.

While both market rate and affordable multifamily buildings larger than 25,000 square feet must comply with Local Law 97 by deadlines beginning next year, the costs of compliance will especially impact owners and developers of affordable housing who face a constant challenge of running and maintaining their buildings on very tight margins.

Financial penalties for non-compliance are onerous. It’s estimated that 20% to 25% of buildings will exceed their emissions limits in 2024 if owners take no action to improve their building’s emissions performance. Building owners need to start thinking about where they fall under one of three “pathways” established to facilitate LL97 compliance. Then they must determine their buildings’ carbon footprint, and the scope of work required for decarbonization compliance. Based on that information, owners can determine compliance costs and sources of funding to do the work.

New York City is providing flexibility to owners of affordable housing in the form of three pathways to LL97 compliance:

● PATHWAY 1: Earliest compliance prescriptive list

Rather than strict carbon emissions caps and penalties, affordable housing in this pathway must complete a prescriptive list of carbon savings measures. Or, the housing must be under the 2030-2034 carbon emissions limits by 2024. These measures are designed to be completed between major building renovation cycles and are focused on maximizing the efficiency of existing heating and domestic hot water equipment rather than replacing equipment.

To qualify properties must have greater than 35% of units that are either rent stabilized or rent regulated, including rent stabilizations through regulatory agreement (with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Homes and Community Renewal or the Housing Development Corp.), the Rent Stabilization Law of 1969 or the Emergency Tenant Protection Act of 1974. Most of the city’s affordable housing will fall into this category, especially if financed through HPD.

● PATHWAY 2: Slightly delayed compliance

This category of housing offers the least flexibility of the three pathways and will be required to meet standard emissions limits and penalties. Compliance is delayed two years, beginning in 2026 rather than 2024. This pathway has the same criteria as Pathway 1, but for properties where less than 35% of units are rent regulated. It is intended for properties with a majority of market rate units, often in buildings with units that have transitioned from rent regulated to market rate.

● PATHWAY 3: Most delayed compliance

These projects have much more time to comply with LL97—until 2035 instead of 2024—but they must meet the emissions limits or face penalties consistent with the general inventory of multifamily buildings in the city.

Mitchell-Lama projects not participating in Housing and Urban Development programs are in this pathway, as are city Low Income Housing Tax Credit properties financed through HCR and with no HPD financing or rent stabilization requirement, and those not fitting into any previous category. Mitchell-Lama properties with any HUD units fall into Pathway 1.

In addition, it’s important for owners and developers of affordable multifamily buildings to be aware of an array of grants, loans and subsidies that can offset the costs of LL97 compliance, including many available under the Inflation Reduction Act, which nearly doubled the Solar Investment Tax credit to 50% for regulated affordable housing.

Also, housing agencies in New York offer incentives to meet climate goals through funding for high-performance, all-electric projects. HCR announced the Clean Energy Initiatives, and HPD just announced its Future Housing Initiative involving subsidies that can be combined with other funding and subsidy programs offered by the state and city.

Delay in LL97 compliance can be very costly to multifamily building owners, in financial penalties for missing deadlines as well as in lost opportunities to obtain grants and other incentives designed to offset the costs of required building decarbonization upgrades. Some of these programs expire soon. ■

Esther Toporovsky is the president of HP Sustainability Solutions, a unit of the NYC Housing Partnership.

LOCAL LAW 97 WILL OFFER

‘PATHWAYS’ TO GREEN AFFORDABLE HOUSING

ESTHER TOPOROVSKY

BUCK ENNIS

GREENING BUILDINGS

THREE IDEAS TO IMPROVE LOCAL LAW 97 IMPLEMENTATION

THE CLOCK IS TICKING. Experts in the field keep telling us we need to make changes to prevent catastrophic climate disasters. The U.S. government has implemented laws, regulations and programs to reduce carbon emissions. New York City, for instance, created Local Law 97 to limit emissions from buildings over 25,000 square feet with penalties for violators. Yet despite LL97’s good intentions, this “sticks and no carrots” approach is not only excessively punitive, but also technically and sociologically flawed.

The managers and owners of multifamily residential properties citywide are absolutely confounded by the harsh economic penalties that come with the law. Cooperative and condominium board members are also astonished at the high cost of energy conservation and efficiency measures. What we need is a more comprehensive approach that recognizes the differences between buildings and their occupants. What do we have instead? A policy using a metric that does not reflect science. For example, the current unit of measurement for emissions quantification is a metric ton of carbon dioxide and equivalent greenhouse emissions, or tCO2e, per square foot. This method has three problems. Firstly, energy use and resulting emissions for space heating and air conditioning depend on cubic footage, not square footage or area. Secondly, energy consumption and emissions are not always proportional to square footage, as more people in small apartments use more energy per square foot than those in larger apartments. Wealthier residents also tend to spend more time away from their apartments than middle- to lower-income apartment dwellers, which affects energy usage. Finally, energy usage cannot be managed effectively without data. Residents may pay their energy bills directly or have the bill included in their rent, and property owners, managers or boards do not have access to this information.

New York can address these issues in several ways. The city can set per capita standards instead of square footage requirements, or exclude apartment electricity usage and hot water from the emissions quantification. This would allow building owners and managers to focus on reducing energy use for space heating, public space electricity and hot water production. Even if hot water usage cannot be reduced, it can be produced more efficiently.

Cities, especially New York, are known for their energy efficiency, as energy consumed per capita is used as a metric. Multifamily buildings are well-insulated,

and smaller façade exposure reduces the energy required for space conditioning. People also tend to use public transportation, bicycles or walking instead of driving cars. The current policy, however, penalizes densely populated buildings with higher energy efficiency when energy use is evaluated per square foot.

The city is blaming its citizens and property owners for carbon emissions instead of holding politicians accountable for a lack of downstate wind, solar or hydro power on the grid. Despite promises of Quebec hydro power in 2008 and anticipated off-shore wind power in 2021, our downstate grid continues to emit more carbon because politicians have closed two Indian Point nuclear power plants instead of adding clean power sources. Not to mention compromising the grid’s reliability due to policies that shut down high-emissions peaker plants without clean power replacements.

Lastly, the city refuses to allocate the billions of dollars that LL97 penalties will generate toward building conservation and efficiency efforts. Instead, the funds will be placed in the city’s general coffers.

It’s time for new and creative thinking about how we reduce emissions effectively. Local Law 97 isn’t the way to go about it. ■

Margie Russell conducts continuing education, certification programs and peer networking events as the executive director of the New York Association of Realty Managers.

Lewis Kwit is the founder and president of Energy Investment Systems. He consults on technological and policy issues at the city, state and national levels.

MARGIE RUSSELL

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SPOTLIGHT on WESTCHESTER

In Westchester County, we’re always about taking the next step towards economic development and growth in our communities. We are proud to have developed a culture in Westchester as a place where innovation thrives.

While we are strategically located just outside of New York City, life here isn’t just about our big neighbor to the south. Our County is a great place to visit and an even better place to call home – a beautiful tapestry of more than one million people. We are a picturesque and green County, boasting beautiful views, parks and landscapes, and a vibrant County with bustling downtowns and business districts.

We are home to a distinct and diverse corporate roster, which has allowed our strong economy to excel above the rest. From IBM, a great multinational corporation, to financial services companies like MasterCard, to consumer products from PepsiCo, to the biotech and health care boom powered by companies like Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. – Westchester truly has it all.

We are constantly searching for new ways to improve life for our residents and business community, to help our startups and small and mid-sized companies succeed. Our office of Economic Development has introduced a host of new programs to aid our fiercely talented workforce, and we are working in lockstep with our chambers of commerce in all of our municipalities in Westchester.

Our new Downtown Improvement Grant (DIG) Program will help multiple municipalities reimagine and revitalize their downtown economic engine through a program consisting of professional consulting, and up to $250,000 in implementation support. Launch1000 is an innovative, self-paced program designed to help turn creative ideas into viable ventures, and has helped hundreds of businesses to launch and thrive in Westchester. Our Tech Accelerator Powered by Cela and the Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator Program help established startups scale quickly.

We are all about reaching beyond our borders to welcome fresh ideas from all industries.

George Latimer Westchester County Executive

Photo by Margaret Fox

On the road to discoveries

Westchester County gives a tour of its burgeoning Life Science field

In Westchester, it’s not out of the ordinary to see groups of visitors arrive at tourist destinations like the Kykuit or Lyndhurst estates or perhaps Sleepy Hollow. But on a recent spring morning, the people filing off the bus in Tarrytown were arriving at a site that was far more non-descript from the outside while holding wonders of its own within.

The group was arriving at the labs for Sapience Therapeutics, a clinicalstage biotechnology company forging a new class of peptide-based cancer therapeutics for two presentations to kick off the first Life

“Experts like Dr. Cairo are a draw,” she says; startups and mid-sized companies will often look to position themselves near leaders like Cairo and others in Westchester to possibly collaborate with them, gaining credibility and experience.

Novick adds that the cluster of businesses and research centers are important in other ways. “Companies want to come where there’s an availability of talent—even for the accountants because you’ll find one who’s an expert in life science business—and employees know it’s less risky to move to a region because if their job doesn’t work out there are other companies there.”

The big magnet in that regard is Regeneron, the 35-year-old biotechnology company that has 4,000 employees in the region and continues to expand its footprint. “Regeneron is a fantastic asset and gives us credibility,” Novick says, but while a visit to their lab and campus anchored the tour, she adds that the company was a hook to show off the broader array of activity. “All of this spotlighting work is ‘Regeneron plus…’ saying, ‘Since we have your attention…’” The tour began with start-up Sapience, which was a start-up in New York Medical College’s BioInc@ NYMC incubator, which has expanded rapidly and moved into its new digs last December; and Retia Medical, which developed the Argos Cardiac Output (CO) Monitor for advanced hemodynamic monitoring of high-risk patients.

Sapience founder and CEO

20,000 square feet, as well as about the college and Westchester County Medical Center campus, followed by a drive around the grounds to see buildings like a new pavilion built in 2019.

Next up was a visit to two neighbors, Leviant Inc. and Clarapth Inc. Leviant CEO and co-founder David Eigen showed off the company’s patented Focused Multivector UltraViolet Light equipment which disinfects hospital rooms, killing 99.9% of infectious pathogens in under two minutes; the company, which had $2 million in sales last year and expects to triple that this year, is currently redesigning its equipment to make it even more flexible and space efficient, Eigen said. (They are currently raising about $7 million in growth equity.)

A tour of Clarapath showed off SectionStar, the first, fully automated, all-in-one tissue sectioning and transfer system that increases capacity, reliability, and consistency—this is an especially crucial development because New York has a shortage of histotechnologists who can even handle slides in the old-fashioned time-consuming manner by hand. “The biopsy backlog is a public health crisis no one talks about,” says president and CEO Eric Feinstein, who added that their machine will not only speed up the process dramatically but will dramatically reduce human error. “We’re at an inflection point, with an aging population, higher incidences of cancer and labor shortages and we’re flying blind.”

The penultimate stop was Regeneron, the county’s superstar, which senior director Marcus Jones noted had been named the top biotech company in the world six of the last twelve years by Science Magazine. He said the company, which develops all products in-house, has had nine federally approved drugs but with 35 products now in clinical development, they hope to double that total in ten years.

The company debuted its genetics center in 2013, which was the highlight of the tour but there’s plenty more to come. Regeneron is planning a major expansion of eight new buildings and more than 3.5 million square feet of construction over 14.5 acres, including its own power plant, a daycare center and other amenities like an event space and buildings that put science on display, says Ben Suzuki, Executive Director, Real Estate & Facilities Management. “We want to celebrate science.”

Sciences Tour organized by Westchester County; the guests on the tour included representatives from Empire State Development who fund projects, organizations with investors, and other interested parties.

“This was an awareness campaign,” says director of economic development Bridget Gibbons. “We want to make people in New York City and in Westchester aware of the globally significant scientific research and development going on here. It’s too well kept a secret.”

Deborah Novick, the county’s director of entrepreneurship and innovation, says the government can help bring people together to invest, create start-ups or foster collaborations. “We want to let the outside world know about what is happening in our key sectors,” she explains. “These people might know developers or start-ups or investors who might start a business or move here if they understand there’s a lot of vibrant activity and support from the county government.”

Westchester, which has more than 8,000 life science jobs, is becoming known for therapeutics and robotics with a lot of research going on in cancer and brain issues, both Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injuries. But Novick and Gibbons say that this is happening organically; even when they choose winners from the competitive entry for the county’s biotechnology accelerator program— which offers six months of free, personalized founder education and which has created 62 jobs and raised $15 million—they are not picking thematically.

“We don’t interfere with the market,” Gibbons says. “It’s natural selection.”

The tour served two purposes—showing how close the labs and research centers are to Manhattan but also how close together they all are to each other. Gibbons points to world-renowned experts like Dr. Mitchell Cairo, a leader in pediatric oncology research at Westchester Medical Center and New York Medical College, who gave a talk on the tour.

Barry Kappel explained that scientists understand a lot about why cells become cancerous but it remains difficult to target them with drugs; his experiments have been developing stabilized peptides to penetrate the cells; if these new therapeutics improve effectiveness, this approach has the added advantage of being far less toxic than radiation or chemotherapy.

Marc Zemel, co-founder and CEO of Retia Medical, explained how their monitor is an early detection system for when patients are oxygen deprived, providing better outcomes at lower cost by finding problems before disaster strikes. (He says it’s 50 percent more accurate than the nearest rival.) Retia raised $15 million a year last year to expand their business and has grown to 20 employees; Zemel says the hospital not only improves care and saves hospitals money but it has a high-profit margin.

The next stop was the biotechnology incubator (BioInc@NYMC) at New York Medical College, where the first speaker was Dr. Robert Amler, a dean at the school, who explained that the incubator not only provides lab space but high-tech freezers a start-up could not easily afford. He credits Kappel and Sapience with putting the program on a map. “Barry showed you could start with an idea and make something happen,” he says. “This is real people making real discoveries.” There were several other speakers including Dr. Cairo, who discussed cell therapy as the future for curing once-intractable diseases like sickle cell anemia; he told the story of a six-year-old boy on a ventilator who received experimental trial treatment and was cured and is now a high school football star en route to Harvard University.

The discussion also included information about the expansion of the BioInc space, which has recently doubled in size and is approaching

Before the evening reception, the bus made one last stop at the non-profit research center Burke Neurological Institute, where Dr. Rajiv Ratan talked about the looming epidemic of brain issues from traumatic brain injuries and dementia. “In Westchester at

Neurocures New York, we have industry, government and academia coming together to solve problems,” he said. A group of postdocs then explained their experiences and their work before leading a tour of BNI’s labs.

Overall, Gibbons says, the tour was a tremendous success. “We’ve gotten such great feedback that we’ll probably start doing this twice a year,” she says. The next one is planned for October.

“There is so much happening here that we’ll have other companies to show off on the next tour,” Novick added.

Participants and organizers of the Westchester County Life Sciences Tour.

Jonathan Levy, General Counsel + Co-Founder, Arjun Patel, Director of Engineering, Leviant Inc., with their SPACE-1 FMUV Cleaning Device For Full Room and Equipment Cleaning.

Ready to ride

Rye Playland’s makeover includes new rides and much more

For a 95-year-old person, a facelift may seem an excessive indulgence. But for an amusement park nearing the century mark, a major makeover is a necessary step. Parts of Rye Playland will be a grand work in progress for the next couple of years, but, executives say, it’s all in the name of steering the park toward a brighter future.

The park had been run by Westchester County until last year when Standard Amusements, founded by local boy made good, Nick Singer, was awarded a 30-year-management agreement. With the deal in place, both the county and the company are pouring resources into Playland. “Nick wants to return the park to its glory,” says Playland’s new general manager Jeff Davis. “We’ve met with community groups, and they’ve been great. Everybody wants Playland to succeed and communication is good.”

Last year, the park didn’t open until June because of construction, so 2023 marks Standard Amusement’s first full season. The work is continuing, so Playland’s prices are remaining low. (Westchester County residents already get discounts across the board.)

“It’s a great time to come because we’re a real value proposition,” Davis says. “We’re probably the cheapest amusement park around right now.”

Davis says all the work is necessary because the park had fallen into some disrepair. “When the work is complete, almost every part of the park will be touched and Playland will look brand new while retaining its historical features.”

The park added a new ride last year, The Old Rye Motorbike Factory, and has another newcomer, Jack the Puppeteer, coming

here,’” Davis adds, pointing to the “gorgeous location” on the water as another benefit.

The beach will have volleyball courts and kayak and paddleboard rentals, the Tiki Beach restaurant on the pier has a new owner with a new beer garden and a refreshed menu and paddle boats, shaped like dragons and swans, are being reintroduced on the lake. At the fountain plaza-- which, like the boardwalk and other parts of the park, is open to the public without charge— there’ll be a new interactive adventure called Play!Verse, with 10 unique thematic rooms that feature LED light shows, interactive infinity mirror tricks and more, creating a multi-sensory and dynamic photo op for all, as well as a new retail shop. “We’re taking the park into the future, even while the rides are paying homage to the history,” Shuster says.

haven’t been here in a while,” Davis says. “We want to re-educate people so they know it’s new and improved with all these things to see and do.”

Davis says the New York market is big enough to accommodate Playland and multiple amusement park competitors but that there’s so much out there-- from big league sports to Broadway-- that Playland must find ways to stand out. “There’s so much noise,” he says. “There’s so much to do, forget about the money, it’s about getting people to part with their time.”

Last fall, the park ran a Black Friday promotion offering discounts on summer passes. Shuster says the season pass sale was “a chance to try different messaging” and a way to get people thinking about Playland at a different time and hopefully to spread the word about all the renovations and additions.

from Italy this summer, with a new ride for 2024 in the works. (It will be announced later this summer, Davis says.)

Meanwhile, Standard Amusements refurbished the area around the beach-- adding a 35-foot slide for kids, along with new furniture and kayaks. “Additionally, the County did a beautiful job of creating a gorgeous $30M family- style pool, with a four-foot depth maximum, as well as redid the locker rooms and Bathhouse,” says Davis “We are doing a heckuva lot of work here.”

Director of Marketing and Sales Stacy Shuster says change begins at the front door. For the first time, she says, the park will have a grand entrance-- “a fountain plaza, with water and music and lights” -- that will give visitors “a sense of arrival.”

Beyond that, Playland aims to fulfill Nick Singer’s vision of something new to do every ten feet.

“Giving people lots of unexpected things to do is a key here,” Shuster says.

“We want to turn this into a campus, a destination where people will know about all the things to do and say, ‘Let’s spend a weekend

Davis wants people not only to stay longer on each visit but to come back more often. Toward that end, he’s looking to extend the calendar by opening earlier to take advantage of spring break and extending into the fall with activities around Halloween. “I don’t think there’s a park out there that doesn’t do something like that,” Davis says, adding that he’d even look for Christmas possibilities, like a lighting exhibit, ice skating or a holiday marketplace. He also envisions public art around the property. That’s something that he says will also appeal to the locals in the community who come to enjoy the beach and boardwalk for free. “There are people here every day, in every kind of weather, which provides a unique energy.”

To make this all happen, Standard Amusements has brought in a slew of new staffers, including Davis and Shuster. “We added expertise across the board, from the finance guy to the rides guy,” Davis says, adding that while there are still some county employees working in maintenance and other areas, some retired from or left the county’s employ to come work for Standard Amusements. Playland is also a major employer of local youth each summer-- Davis says the park employs more than 800 locals and the food vendor, whose employees go through Standard’s training too, adds another 200 hires.

With all these new ingredients, the next step is bringing people out to sample the goods.

“It’s amazing how many people know Playland, but

Pass members, who are traditionally locals, are vital, Davis says because they provide a financial foundation. “They push you through the slower weekdays and the days with questionable weather,” he explains. “Then when summer time arrives we get the vacationers who tend to spend more and they push you through that season. So, we need a multi-faceted approach in driving attendance.”

Now that they can offer a full day or even a weekend’s worth of action, Shuster says. Playland will try to expand its circle first by going after people in the further reaches of Westchester. But then she will also target Long Island and New York City, starting with promotional outreach on Metro-North, which is how many city folk would travel there. After that, she’s set her eyes even further afield; hoping to draw visitors from Connecticut’s Fairfield County, with one day hopes to become a national and international destination.

Old Rye Motorbike Factory ride.

Playland Park, open since 1928.

Playland’s brand-new family pool.

A Yonkers renaissance

The City’s mayor says emphasis on housing, jobs, education and green space is paying off

college-bound there are plenty of film industry jobs and they will be connected to that world through their school experience.

That school and the Justice Sonia Sotomayor Community School now under construction will help ease a capacity crunch that Spano has made a major priority.

But schools superintendent Edwin Quezada says that while the mayor has worked diligently to improve the situation the state must provide more funding.

“Albany needs to be more responsive,” Quezada says, explaining that many of the city’s school buildings are more than 90 years old and need “significant investment.”

Quezada argues that the state needs to change its funding to more accurately reflect life in Yonkers, which is treated more like a suburb because of its proximity to New York and home in Westchester County, then like a city with many underprivileged children.

“This formula gets in the way,” he says. The state’s Foundation Aid, which is money for education, gives Buffalo $688 million, Rochester $515 million and both Yonkers and Syracuse below $400 million, Quezada says, even though Yonkers and Rochester are roughly equal in population while Buffalo is only marginally larger (and Syracuse is notably smaller.) This problem extends to other aid, for buildings and transportation— “I hold everyone in the state government accountable,” he says. “We need the formula reviewed. Yonkers is an urban community and needs to be treated the same as these other cities.”

Mike Spano has lived in Yonkers his whole life and he also has represented it in the state legislature or from the mayor’s office for much of the last thirty years. So Spano knows well the city’s major issues and what the priorities need to be. These days, Yonkers—the state’s third largest city—has crucial housing and business development plans, ambitious goals for, and tremendous pride in, its education system and a desire to add a touch of green to this dense city.

While much needs to be done, Spano, now in his third term as mayor, feels the city is heading in the right direction. “There are great things happening in Yonkers,” he says. “It’s a wonderfully diverse city bustling with activity. We’re going through a renaissance—and our diversity is a strength.”

The city will be bustling even more when its plans for Chicken Island come to fruition… finally. Chicken Island is a huge lot next to City Hall in the heart of downtown that the city has been looking to redevelop for forty years. “Nothing has panned out but now we finally have plans,” says Jim Cavanaugh, president and CEO of the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency.

The property was bought by AMS Acquisitions, which has just succeeded in getting through a lengthy rezoning process and City Council approval. Next up is the planning board before construction finally begins. The end result would be a “huge development,” Cavanaugh says, that includes 3,500 units of housing—the city has added 12,000 under Spano since he became mayor in 2012 so this would be a significant addition.

“We’ve done pretty well along the waterfront but this would extend development upland and into downtown and that’s really important,” Cavanaugh says.

A large chunk of the new units would be affordable housing. Cavanaugh explains that Yonkers has an ordinance requiring 10 percent of all new units be affordable but the City Council is likely going to bump that number to 13 percent. “While you want a mix of housing in the city, we do need affordable housing here because the household income in Yonkers is lower than in White Plains and a lot of other local towns and villages,” Cavanaugh says. He says they’ve reduced the percentage of families stressed by housing costs (at least 30 percent of their income) from 46 percent in 2015 to 42 percent but they’re still above the county average.

Spano is proud of the 12,000 units added already but also of the

fact that Yonkers already has been exceeding its own rule—in his three terms, about 22 percent of the new units have been affordable. “I challenge anyone to find another city in the state that’s at 22 percent,” he says.

There’s potential for even greater growth, Cavanaugh says if as the city expects, Empire City by MGM Resorts gets one of the three downstate casino licenses the state is getting ready to issue. He says that as a racino the site already generates about $21 million in revenues for the city “but if it becomes a full casino, revenues could as much as double and jobs will ramp up.”

The other major player in Yonkers, Lionsgate, is also growing. The company’s initial studio there worked out so well, Cavanaugh says, that they bought a property a block away and have begun building a second studio and they are now in contract for a property on the Yonkers and Bronx border to build on a third site.

Spano says the housing the city built, often after cleaning up brownfields on the site of old factories, was appealing to Lionsgate and encouraged them to come here. “We’re enjoying the fruits of our labor,” he says, though he adds that the new jobs that will continue coming from the casino and the studios will mean even more housing will be needed… making Chicken Island even more important.

Both MGM Empire, which Cavanaugh notes is a union shop, and Lionsgate, have provided local jobs with good wages but soon Lionsgate’s connection to the community will extend even deeper. Cavanaugh points to plans for a new school on the new Lionsgate site.

Great Point Studios, owner and operator of the Lionsgate Studio Yonkers, will manage renovations of the buildings already there. The school, which should open in 2024, will accommodate 500 students from Grades 6-12, with a focus on media and the performing arts—the curriculum will be developed with S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Students will have a pathway to acceptance at Syracuse, although Cavanaugh points out that for students who are not

Despite these disadvantages, Spano points to the fact that the city, with 70 percent of its students living below the poverty line, still graduates students at a 90 percent rate, which is higher than some wealthier Westchester towns.

As a child of Yonkers, Spano knows not only the importance of educational opportunities but also of having a livable city, which is why he has focused so much attention on creating access to the city’s waterfront and more green space. “We’ve taken every opportunity to expand our parks—if someone doesn’t pay taxes or

abandons a property and it’s next to a school or park, then instead of re-selling the land, we preserve it,” he says.

Last year, the city snapped up a bus depot and added a sliver of county property along the waterfront, spending $13 million to create a 3.8-acre park there for the city’s families. The newest park (and 81st in the city) was developed in a public-private partnership called Martin Ginsburg Park. It is a terraced park on the side of a hill which will also provide locals with access to the 26-mile Old Croton Aqueduct State Trail. “It’s a beautiful property and we could have sold it for several million dollars to a developer, but we knew it needed to be protected as parkland,” Spano says.

Spano believes people “like the vibe here” in Yonkers and that maintaining the focus on housing, jobs, education and parkland will keep it that way.

70 Pier Street.

Hudson Piers rendering.

YONKERS IS THE NEW HOLLYWOOD ON HUDSON

The unprecedented renaissance underway in the City of Yonkers is now premiering a spectacular new sequel! Yonkers is Hollywood on Hudson, home to the new 1 million square foot Lionsgate Studios complex, the largest modern fi lm and TV production facility on the East Coast. Located along the beautiful Hudson River, this state-of-the-art media center is helping to complete the transformation of the Yonkers waterfront with local businesses benefi tting from the expected 1000+ people working at the studio complex. And with the rapid growth in streaming media, other major fi lm and TV studios are now eyeing Yonkers which offers one of the most easily accessible locations in the New York Metro area.

Rising high

The Cappelli Organization reaches new heights with its Westchester Towers

When the 28-story tower, 3Thirty3 opened at 333 Huguenot Street in New Rochelle last June, developer Louis Cappelli expected the building’s 285 luxury units to rent out in perhaps eighteen months. Yet here it is less than a year later and the 435,000 square foot building—which features apartments with white quartz countertops, walk-in closets and panoramic views—is more than 92 percent leased.

“It’s the most successful rent-up on any job I’ve ever done,” Cappelli says. “The demand is out there—it costs so much for a mortgage right now that people are probably deciding that renting is the more cost-effective option, so they are flocking to rental apartments. The demand is strong.”

It’s not just this one building, either, says Cappelli, the managing member of The Cappelli Organization. “We have more work going on now than we have had in 46 years in the business,” he says, explaining that some of those projects are underway, some are just getting started and some are going through local approval processes. “There are millions of square feet to be developed and thousands of apartments that we’re working on in Westchester County, mostly in New Rochelle and White Plains.” His company is also finishing projects in Coney Island and the Bronx.

Among the projects are another 28-story tower across the street from 3Thirty3 at 325 Huguenot, with another 244 luxury units, which is expected to be completed by year’s end. Additionally, late last year, the Cappelli Organization and RXR broke ground on Hamilton Green, a $650 million project on the site of the former White Plains Mall. Located just two blocks from the recently renovated White Plains Metro North Train Station (and only a block from the White Plains Central Business District), the project features four mixed-income multifamily buildings totaling 860 rental units, more than an acre of publicly accessible open space, dining, retail and commercial spaces.

The other famous mall in White Plains, the Galleria, was still surviving but needs a re-thinking—so the owners, Pacific Retail Capital Partners and Aareal Bank, are partnering with SL Green Realty and the Cappelli Organization to redevelop the property. They plan to transform the site into a mixeduse development centered on residential development and amenity-based retail.

All this activity is not merely the result of pent-up demand after the world shut down in 2020 because of the pandemic. In fact, Cappelli points out, their company didn’t really miss a beat.

“We worked straight through the lockdown,” he says. The company was considered essential because of our contractors’ work on utilities and brownfield cleanups. “Everybody worked in the office, and it was a go full-on our job sites. We had nurses and protocols in place and testing on the job every morning. We spent a lot of money making sure people were as safe as they could be. We had very few people test positive.”

The full calendar is the result of a confluence of factors, starting with low interest rates and a booming economy pre-pandemic, followed by money from the federal government in the aftermath of the pandemic. Additionally, a lot of the jobs have been created on former brownfield sites or in Opportunity Zones. Cappelli says, “they are great projects in great locations and those sites are incentivized for building.”

Even the current economic situation with inflation and climbing interest rates doesn’t particularly strike fear into Cappelli’s heart. “We’re in it for the long term, so everybody’s looking past this,” he says. “In a lot of places we fixed our rates so we’re not floating on everything. We managed the finances well.”

Additionally, he notes that at 71 he has seen it all before.

Born in the Bronx and raised there and in Yonkers, Cappelli graduated from Notre Dame with an engineering degree and worked for his father in electrical contracting before moving into real estate development. His first property was in Valhalla and he made his name in the mid-1990s taking over development and construction of New Roc City, the first big step in revitalizing New Rochelle’s downtown. A decade later, he helped start the reshaping of White Plains with City Center. All his successes have made him one of the county’s premier builders. Beyond being the founder of the Cappelli Organization, Cappelli is the Chairman and CEO of two subsidiaries—LRC Construction and Cappelli Development Company.

“I’ve been through four or five recessions in my career, but you get through it and it has always been a happy ending,” he says, adding that concerns about transit-oriented development when Manhattan’s offices are sitting halfempty are also overblown. “How many times have we seen everybody write Manhattan off—in the ’70s, the ’80s, the ’90s—only to have it come back with a roar. So, I think transit-oriented development is a good place to be and will continue to be very successful.”

In a recession, he says, the key is to pick locations or deals where people didn’t finance properly and need to get out. “There’s valuations of land you can buy right now that are extremely attractive if you have a long-term view,” he says. “Now is the time to be buying that land and getting approvals done.”

Cappelli has long praised New Rochelle for their “brilliant” reimagining of the land use process that created an overall environmental impact statement that now enables building approvals within 90 days of submission and developers are adding 6,000 units to downtown, which “gives everybody confidence because you can see an actual city being built.” But in this particular moment, he notes that the more traditional approach of White Plains and Yonkers—where it can take a year to eighteen months for approval and “you need to be way more patient”—can also work in their favor.

“If it takes time that’s actually fine; why rush to get something approved tomorrow when the interest rates are at eight percent,” he says, adding that while some equity investors are pulling back, the smart ones know it makes sense to start a job now when you don’t need the construction loans. “It’s smart to spend your development money getting something approved during the recession and then start building later. In a year, certain rates will be going back down. It’s an election year next year and the smart money is saying that things will be fine by then.”

The company has an added advantage when it comes to dealing with the ebbs and flows of business from supply chain shortages to climbing interest rates.

“We have a different perspective because we are the developers or co-developers but we’re also the builders so we’re much more in control of our destiny,” Cappelli says. “We can’t control interest rates or the banks, but we can hedge that. We can’t control rising costs but we can redesign something if the original materials become too expensive. We have fewer moving pieces.”

Bruce Berg, the Cappelli Development Company CEO adds that other in-house disciplines like architecture and engineering help the company with redesigns or pushing projects through in a cost-effective way. “That’s a unique trait among developers,” Berg says.

That ability to adapt fits in with the “everything comes and goes; you have to work your way through it”—a sagacity that Cappelli has gained in his decades in the business. Still, he says, dryly, “I like wisdom, I just don’t like being 71. I would like to have the wisdom and be 51.”

Centre at Huguenot Phase II. This is the second phase of the 435,000 square-foot Centre at Huguenot complex in New Rochelle. This 28-story building features an additional 249 apartments and ground-level retail space.

Hamilton Green. Hamilton Green, a state-of-the-art residential project that will replace the shuttered White Plains Mall with four mixed-income multifamily buildings totaling 860 rental units. This includes 78 on-site affordable units, accessible open space, as well as a variety of dining, retail and commercial spaces.

One & Two Clinton Park. One Clinton Park located at 26 South Division Street in New Rochelle features 352 apartments in a 28-story tower with ground-level retail space. Two Clinton Park, a 28-story tower with 390 apartments and ground floor retail space.

APROMINENTLEADERINREALESTATE DEVELOPMENTANDCONSTRUCTIONIN THENORTHEASTWITHA45-YEARTRACK RECORDOFPROVENEXCELLENCE.

INNOVATION STARTSHERE www.cappelliorg.com

Siteselectionandanalysis

Projectmanagementanddevelopment

Constructionmanagementandcontracting

Tenantrepresentationandleasing

Propertyandassetmanagement

Realestateinvestmentandfinancing

SustainabilityconsultingandLEEDcertification

Designandarchitectureservices

An easy summer getaway

Warm weather ushers in plenty to do in Westchester County

As spring transitions into summer, Westchester County is in full bloom, with a bouquet of activities offering something for everyone.

“Warm weather travel is already underway,” said Natasha Caputo, Director of Tourism & Film for the County. “Westchester has so much to offer visitors and locals alike this summer.”

The season kicks off with the re-opening of Kykuit, the majestic estate that was home to four generations of the Rockefeller family. “Kykuit is an iconic attraction and a strong draw for visitors who

want to be wowed in Westchester County,” Caputo comments.

The months of June and July feature an abundance of new activities and old favorites, starting with Westchester Magazine’s Wine & Food Festival, June 6-10 that is a multi-day celebration of wine, food, beer, spirits, chefs and restaurants. The following week, Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts commences its summer season, now featuring more family concerts and a diverse musical lineup including, classical, opera, gospel, roots, punk and more.

The County’s culinary scene is thriving with more new restaurants opening, including Red Horse by David Burke, which opened at The Opus in White Plains. A new Spanish restaurant Buleria Tapas and Wine Bar in Tuckahoe featuring authentic, classic dishes inspired by Seville and One Rare Italian Steakhouse in Scarsdale.

The idea of making Westchester a place for all visitors is also evident in two new programs for people with disabilities. Westchester County Airport’s (HPN) Hidden Disabilities Sunflower Program supports passengers with hidden disabilities and accessibility needs. Travelers can voluntarily choose to wear a sunflower lanyard as a way to discreetly inform the airport staff and others that they have a disability.

Westchester County Parks recently launched an Adaptive Hike Program allowing individuals living with disabilities the opportunity to immerse themselves in Westchester County Parks— at no cost to the user—on All-Terrain Track Chairs. Individuals with their family, friends, or caregivers will be able to experience a guided hike of one to two miles.

This summer, Westchester will be featured in the very first Cycle the Hudson Valley bicycle tour, a fully supported seven-day, 200-mile tour from the Albany area to NYC which follows the Empire State Trail—the longest multi-use trail in the nation.

Partnering with others in the Hudson Valley has been a great success, further supporting the overall visitor experience,” said Caputo, noting that Caramoor, the Jacob Burns Film Center, Historic Hudson Valley, Storm King Art Center and Hudson Valley

The Abbey Inn & Spa.

Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, photo by Gabe Palacio.

Shakespeare Festival have joined together to offer the Hudson Valley Summer Arts Pass this year. “It’s about introducing visitors to new venues and making sure they have the best possible experience at each one.”

Screen tourism is another draw for tourists and people who live in the Hudson Valley. The county is a magnet for filming, from period pieces like “The Gilded Age” (which drew new visitors to the Lyndhurst estate) to utterly contemporary projects like “American Horror Story” and “Law & Order SVU.” Other filming locations within Westchester have included The Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, Glenview Historic Home at the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, Playland Amusement Park in Rye, and Edith Macy Center in Briarcliff Manor.

Caputo notes that film locations are actively embracing the fans of movies and shows. The award-winning series, “Dickinson,” which

SPOTLIGHT on WESTCHESTER

starred Hailee Steinfeld as poet Emily Dickinson, filmed some of its third season at Jay Heritage Center in Rye. Playing off the show’s Civil War-era setting, the center hosted an exhibit called “Unknown Soldiers: The Making of ‘Dickinson’ at the Jay Estate and the Real-Life History Behind It,” which featured props and costumes from the show.

Looking back even farther, Revolutionary Westchester 250 organizes and supports events relating stories of the Revolutionary War period and the founding of the United States, including reenactments and festivals.

“These events are drawing visitors and engaging local residents,” comments Caputo.

Golf is another popular outdoor activity in Westchester—and for good reason. St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson was the site of the first round of golf played in America. Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck has hosted a PGA Championship and six U.S. Opens.

In September, the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship will take place at Sleepy Hollow Country Club and Fenway Golf Club in Scarsdale. Recently announced, Winged Foot in Mamaroneck will host its seventh U.S. Open in 2028.

While most of the area’s golf courses are open to members only, there are six impressive County-owned courses, with great history, which welcome everyone out to play in Westchester.

Among them are Dunwoodie Golf Course in Yonkers, which opened in 1903, and Mohansic Golf Course in Yorktown Heights, Maple Moor in White Plains and Sprain Lake in Yonkers, all of which will celebrate their

centennials in this decade. The clubs are far from worn or weary. In the last ten years, the county has poured more than $28 million in capital improvement projects to its six courses. “Westchester County Parks are always looking to improve their public courses and we try to make them appealing to everyone,” said Caputo.

Another course, Pound Ridge Golf Club in Pound Ridge, is the only Pete Dye-designed course in New York and one of the toughest courses on the East Coast.

Economic issues are impacting leisure spending and price-sensitive travelers are looking to invest in experiences wisely. Westchester County in the Hudson Valley is a smart destination choice for those looking to go beyond without going far.

Henry Gourdine Park, Ossining.

Tarrytown waterfront, photo by Tim Grajek.

Building and listening

New Rochelle remakes its downtown with an eye on the community

New Rochelle has been dramatically reinventing itself in recent years with more than 6,000 units of new housing coming on board as the downtown soars skyward. e new look was fueled by an innovative approach to city planning that supercharged the approval process for developers.

“New York has a net housing shortage and New Rochelle is really lling a need,” says Adam Salgado, Deputy City Manager and Commissioner of Development, adding that the lease-up rate of over 80 percent indicates strong and sustainable demand. “But people don’t just live in buildings, they live in neighborhoods. We’re investing in the streetscape to support healthy lifestyles and welcoming communities.”

Kathleen Gill recently moved up from Deputy City Manager to the top spot as City Manager, attributing the building plans’ success partly due to it being “nimble.” During Covid when demand for o ce space evaporated, the City Council shi ed zoning to allow more residential development.

Salgado notes that the exibility of the zoning code and responsiveness of the IDA has meant that they’ve “been successful at weaving local incentives in with nancial products from state and federal government to spur the creation of a ordable housing.”

Gill says that in order to be truly bene cial, growth must be inclusive and sustainable. “Commissioner Salgado and I go around the city regularly and modify plans based on what we hear in communities,” she says, adding that a er hearing from locals they wanted more ownership opportunities, Gill says the IDA set new policies incentivizing townhouses and a ordable condominiums.

Gill points out that New Rochelle also ensures the give comes with a take. “We are requiring a social equity fee,” she says. “We’ll channel the developers’ resources to provide opportunities for our communities.”

ose street-level community bene ts include a refreshed Anderson Plaza, which provides retail opportunities, multi-use open space, a splash pad, and multiple communal areas, including two dedicated directly to youth programming—one in the New Roc development and one at the High Garden Tower.

“ e main focus for us right now is youth and senior programming,” Gill says, “We’re fortunate to have revenue coming in from development and Covid relief funds, which gives us the opportunity to enhance and add new programs.”

Gill says the city has tripled the size of its summer employment program and will add opportunities for part-time employment for students during the school year. Meanwhile, Gill says, the senior center downtown is small, and she has heard it’s di cult to reach for seniors living in other parts of the city. “We’re looking to provide programming in other areas of the city in community centers and churches, bringing services to people where they are,” she says.

Revenue from development is also boosting their second major focus: enhancing the infrastructure supporting the new buildings and those already there. “We’re replacing the sewer system downtown, which was long overdue,” Gill says. “We’re also doing a citywide drainage study and will go into the design of ood mitigation projects throughout the city, with the work hopefully starting next year.”

e next focal point is retail, which su ered mightily during the pandemic, and which naturally lags behind construction. “We convened a retail task force,” Salgado says, “bringing together leaders here to set up interventions and initiatives to create retail opportunities for local businesses.”

As forward-thinking development projects built around community-driven initiatives continue to emerge around New Rochelle, it’s evident that the city has worked to foster a working approach that prioritizes the needs and interests of the community—embracing its small businesses and enabling greater mobility options for its residents. Salgado says, “we want to attract potential new retailers by bringing more life to downtown.” rough this mindful development and utilization of direct community engagement, new initiatives like the upcoming “Downtown Summer Sizzle” summerlong concert series can succeed and grow. Every Saturday evening from Memorial Day until October, residents and visitors downtown can enjoy a new opportunity for fun entertainment and local delights alongside their neighbors. e much-anticipated summer festivities will be full of live music, fun for all ages, avors from local cuisines, and delights and wares from celebrated local vendors.

NEW ROCHELLE’S PLANS FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Celebrating Diversity

Our diverse neighborhoods, historic businesses, and new startups make up the fabric of our city, showing character and sophistication.

Planning Cohesively

The New Rochelle recipe for sustainable growth fosters economic opportunity, social equity, and sustainable development, and serves as a model for the region and the country.

Developing Vibrancy

The energy and culture of downtown New Rochelle allows businesses and residents to thrive. Open your dream cafe, boutique shop, or new o ce just steps from the transit center.

Cultivating Connection

Accessible infrastructure and neighborhood parks throughout the city give area residents access to local businesses, work opportunities, and recreation.

LIVE HERE. WORK HERE. GROW HERE. Learn more at ideallynewrochelle.com/work-here

New Rochelle Downtown Skyline from Five Islands Park Nightlife -

Photo by Gina LeVay.

Life in green and blue

Cortlandt develops business areas while protecting open space and readying a new swimming spot

Richard Becker is collecting money for sewer systems. Becker is the supervisor for the town of Cortlandt and knows that making his plans—from transit-oriented development to a reinvigorated swimming area in an old quarry—requires finding funding for sewage.

“To develop any transit-oriented development we need to improve the infrastructure,” Becker says, pointing to seven million dollars awarded by the state that will update a sewage plan in the village of Buchanan and allow the town to connect into it. The improved sewer services will ultimately lead, Becker hopes, to housing being developed near the train station.

“We definitely need more rentals as well as townhouses for purchase,” Becker says. “We need all types of housing because there are very few rentals in this area and not everyone can afford to buy.”

While rental units would attract younger people, Becker also believes the 99 townhouses planned for the new “Medical-Oriented District” would allow people living in bigger homes to downsize when they’re ready and then move into the area’s planned assisted living facility to continue to “age in place,” Becker says. “The MOD has been approved by the town board and developers are now actively engaged.”

The second property in the MOD has been approved for up to 150,000 square feet of Class A medical space, which Becker says will likely be developed in cooperation with New York Presbyterian. The other area needing new sewer and infrastructure work is known as the Quarry Site in the hamlet of Verplanck. Cortlandt

wants to develop the limestone quarry that dates back to the 1850s and is now filled with water. (It acquired the land from Con Edison.) “The water is pristine, it’s an aquamarine blue green that looks like the Caribbean,” Becker says.

Economic advisor George Oros says the idea of developing the area around it with restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and other businesses is an “easy sell,” or will be when it’s all connected to the municipal water and sewer system. “We now have a $3.2 million dollar grant to get started on our plans,” Oros says before adding that the town is also listening to the desires of the residential neighborhood nearby. He expects decisions to be made by the end of the year.

“This will happen,” Becker says. “I don’t care if it happens slowly where we do only one thing at a time—get people swimming then add a restaurant and then a bed-and-breakfast—and let it all evolve over many years.”

For Becker, it’s another way to fulfill his mandate of keeping Cortlandt a sustainable, semi-rural town with an emphasis on open space. “For every acre we develop, we try preserving an acre,” he notes, adding that last year when a developer was having difficulty financing a 30-acre plot, even after planning board approval, the town bought the land to preserve it and make sure there was green space in the area near a commercial district.

“We’re strict about what gets developed in our green areas,” Becker says. The town recently updated its policies to pass a strict ordinance that prohibits clear cutting of trees to make room for solar panels. “We’re not getting rid of woods for that; those areas are already green.”

Of course, Becker also believes in nurturing the town’s businesses and is looking to boost the area of Montrose. To do so he needs money to modernize the facades to create a more coherent community feel, and, of course, to extend the sewer system in the downtown. Cortlandt has reapplied for the state’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative, which would provide ten million dollars.

He says most applicants get it on their second or third time and he’s confident about Cortlandt’s chances. “That money would allow us to totally re-envision this commercial district,” Becker says. “The boost for businesses would encourage developers in the TOD, which would encourage more businesses, creating a virtuous cycle.”

THE TOWN OF CORTLANDT IS WHERE LIFE WORKS AT HOME, WORK AND PLAY

AND IT IS PRIME FOR INVESTMENT!

Commercial space is often available with twice the space at half the cost, along with access to a highly educated and diverse workforce as well as a location near major transportaation. Cortlandt is committed to aiding investors and entrepreneurs through a streamlined approval process.

Four Strategic Areas for Growth

In all, there are four strategic areas of potential economic growth,based on Cortlandt’s award winning Sustainable Master Plan.

The Master plan focuses on trends for the future of employment, such as work from home options and co-work spaces in order to reduce commute times, reduce negative impacts on the environment and attract a new talented workforce.

WHAT WORKS FOR YOU?

For more information on how the Town of Cortlandt can help bring your business and investment here contact: George Oros, Town of Cortlandt, Economic Development Coordinator at goros@townofcortlandt.com

If you are looking to locate, expand or relocate your business, Cortlandt is the smart choice.

Cortlandt is where life works… for your employees, your customers and your business.”

- Supervisor Dr. Richard Becker

Clocktower Crossing, Cortlandt.

Unpacking data, informing philanthropy

Westchester Community Foundation uses its new data index to target philanthropy

face. “We want the nonprofit sector and our communities to become more data driven. People can get lost in data, so we want them to have context for understanding what the data reveals. ”

The Foundation’s board chair, Sarah Jones-Maturo (who is also president of RM Friedland), praises the Index for being “interactive and user friendly,” which she sees as fitting in with the mission of “strategically fortifying nonprofits and supporting the overall economic vitality in the community.”

Users can look at the Index’s key indicators like graduation and poverty rates for education to see where the inequalities are, she explains, which can inform giving strategies as donors seek nonprofits that have had success tackling specific issues. Rossi notes that the Index allows users to focus on one specific topic across all Westchester communities or to look at all the subjects in one given municipality.

Connecticut, has developed a shared standard for water quality testing to measure the health of the Sound. “We provided a strategic framework and supported innovative work by partnering closely with scientists and community groups,” Rossi said. By providing early money, the Collaborative established annual reporting standards that the Environmental Protection Agency is now funding, enabling funders to move on to other Sound-related issues. One top priority is workforce investment, which grew in importance during and coming out of the pandemic. Rossi says the Foundation’s “multi-pronged approach” involves working with job-training providers, local institutions of higher education and local employers to ensure that training providers are better synced up with employers and potential employees are ready to start on day one. (Programs help with workforce development in fields ranging from construction to health care to information technology.)

Westchester County is home to some of the nation’s wealthiest communities, yet it also features cities and neighborhoods with high rates of poverty, along with health, environmental, and socio-economic disparities—issues that are directly correlated with race and ethnicity. The Westchester Community Foundation (a division of the New York Community Trust) seeks to address those inequities, and now Executive Director Laura Rossi is making the most of a new tool they’ve developed, the Westchester Index.

“We want to help donors and foundations target effectively and to help the press access data to tell these stories,” Rossi says, adding that the Foundation is writing a series of articles (the first is about housing affordability) to illuminate what the data is telling us in terms of understanding the complexity of issues our communities

(For instance, the housing article shows that homeownership rates countywide among Black and Latino residents are 37% and 35%, compared to 73% among whites, but are even lower in places like Yonkers; the percentage of residents paying at least 30 percent of income on housing is just 23 percent in Scarsdale but hits 50 percent in Mount Vernon.)

The Foundation takes on an array of issues, from workforce development to human services to studying transit-oriented development to environmental sustainability. “We try to find promising approaches, seed them and then bring them to scale,” Rossi says.

The Long Island Sound Funders Collaborative, which the Foundation helped establish with funders from Long Island and

Speaking of the pandemic, Rossi says the Foundation is “wellversed in crisis” and how to have the most impact, whether it’s dealing with families displaced by Hurricane Floyd or something bigger, like Covid-19. “We have provided support to the COAD-Communities Organized After Disaster—a group that now meets regularly instead of waiting until the next disaster.”

Overall, Rossi says, the Foundation does a lot of funding to strengthen the local nonprofit sector. “Our role as a philanthropic organization is as a connector and convener and as a funder—we have the flexibility to invest that government often doesn’t have,” she says. “We make strategic investments and work well with the county government to share information and avoid duplication of government funding.“

Five Benefits of establishing a Corporate Donor Advised Fund in the Westchester Community Foundation

Volunteers pack pantry goods at HOPE Community Services, New Rochelle.

Photo credit: Ari Mintz

A splash of color

How MacQuesten Development breathes life into affordable housing

When Rella Fogliano, CEO of MacQuesten Development, was six years old, she’d tag along to construction sites with her father, Sabino Fogliano—an Italian immigrant who had become a successful general contractor. She’d also go into Manhattan and look at the beautiful buildings and dream of owning one.

Enamored with this world, she began working part-time for her father at seventeen and then, after graduating from Fordham University, she joined him full time. When he retired in 1988, she created her own company, named for the Mount Vernon street where they’d started out. The company has become a force to be reckoned with in Westchester and New York in developing and building affordable housing, with “a blend of income qualifications”—50 to100 percent of the area median income—says the company’s executive vice president Joe Apicella, who joined Macquesten in 2015, adding that their projects in Westchester are transit-oriented development. (He brings the expertise in navigating the government agencies that help with the financing of affordable housing.)

But the company doesn’t just throw up any affordable housing. “Most affordable housing looks like a box and it’s very easy to point them out,” Apicella says. “We make a conscious effort to make sure our buildings stand out. We build affordable housing in ways that others don’t, so it looks and feels like high-end housing.” Affordable housing should not be stigmatized.

MacQuesten’s slogan is “We blur the lines between luxurious and affordable” and the company emphasizes the use of color and distinctive design touches outside and inside its buildings to give each a unique flavor.

Apicella says that’s Fogliano’s imprint. “This is a family business, and she wants to put a personal touch on all her buildings,” he says. “She brings in colors and patterns for exteriors and interiors and common areas that really enliven each building. She’s really a genius at that. The exteriors become local landmarks.”

For instance, in Mount Vernon, the Modern, home to 81 affordable housing units just a block from the train station, is an 11-story building adorned with bright red and yellow squares. Also near the station is MacQuesten’s 22 South West, a 17-story building with 189 affordable housing units (many with Hudson River or Manhattan views) and 149 underground parking spaces, which features orange accents along the facade. (The $95 million building replaced a gas station and parking lot after a brownfield cleanup.)

“This project won design awards and people have held it out as a model for TOD and affordable housing,” Apicella says. “The building materials don’t have to be expensive—as it’s about design effort and being selective and having a real sense of what looks smart and neat and sustainable.”

Currently, Apicella says, the company has three projects in Westchester. Breaking ground this summer is St. Clair Residences in Yonkers, which will add 76 affordable units and a 2,500 square foot retail space to the Waterfront Downtown community—it will feature a range from studio apartments up to three-bedroom units. (The project will contribute 240 construction jobs and about 20 permanent jobs). Next up will be a 74-unit building in Ossining to provide affordable housing for seniors 62 and older. That project is moving into the financing phase, Apicella says, with the first shovelful of dirt expected by year’s end. And in pre-development,

there’s “The Parker,” a 16-story, 160-unit building (with 144 parking spots) in Yonkers.

For Apicella, who previously worked on luxury projects like the Ritz Carlton White Plains and Trump Plaza New Rochelle, he says his years at MacQuesten have been “a great experience.”

“It afforded me the ability to service a different market, where we create housing for people who otherwise might not have a roof over their heads,” he says. “It’s very gratifying.”

22 South West Mt Vernon, St Clair, Yonkers.

SPOTLIGHT on WESTCHESTER

A winning bet

MGM Resorts is ready to earn a full casino license, bringing revenue and jobs for Yonkers

competitive” but she will confess that they are hopeful for a variety of reasons.

Of the ten major applicants, Empire City is the sole applicant from the Hudson Valley and Duffy points out that like Resort Worlds at Aqueduct, they currently operate as a racino. “Speed to market is critically important to the state and we are ready,” she says. “We can transition the gaming floor from a video lottery facility to a full casino immediately.”

Additionally, the gaming commission is looking to repatriate the jobs and revenue New York is currently losing to casinos in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut, Duffy says, arguing that all roads lead to Empire City, and easy access from all three states to Empire City is “absolutely a positive.” Then, of course, there’s the track record, not just at Yonkers Raceway but around the world.

“MGM Resorts is a global leader in entertainment and gaming,” Duffy says. “MGM Resorts is the third largest ticket seller of live entertainment in the world. We’re operating with nearly a $100 million payroll for our workforce and the investment we make in our communities and in our workforce, which is union-represented, supports our application.”

the fabric of this community and our community partners are as excited as we are for this property to be developed to its full potential,” Duffy says.

While Duffy won’t reveal details for developing the remaining 60 percent of the 97-acre property, she points to what MGM Resorts does elsewhere as a predictor, meaning a performance venue and other world-class amenities are likely. She explains why it would be a boon for Yonkers and Westchester residents. “We would triple our workforce, resulting in the immediate hiring of thousands of new employees.”

“These are well-paying, family-sustaining jobs,” she says. “It’s a special industry because regardless of the letters attached to your level of education—it could be GED or MBA—there’s a career to be developed at MGM Resorts for you. We invest in helping people develop careers, not just jobs.”

When New York State eventually announces the three winners of full casino licenses in the downstate region, most experts predict that two will go to Resorts World at Aqueduct and Empire City Casino by MGM Resorts (Empire City).

Taryn Duffy, Vice President of Public Affairs, Northeast Group, isn’t declaring victory just yet, saying the process is “incredibly

One final factor in Empire City’s favor, Duffy notes, is that this is the rare licensing process nationwide that is counting community support as a major ingredient. “Many of the others will be hard pressed to get community support,” Duffy says. (Most proposals in Manhattan, for example, are facing stiff local opposition.)

Yonkers Raceway has been operating for 124 years, Empire City Casino is headed into its seventeenth year and MGM Resorts has invested more than $800 million in the property. “We’re part of

Beyond the individuals hired, Duffy points out that even as a racino, they draw nine million visitors yearly, generating more than $4 billion for the state’s education fund over sixteen years. “We also support non-profits in the community and focus on procurement efforts with local companies for services and product—we spend more than $30 million with companies within 20 miles of our property while having an incredibly limited offering,” she says. “We haven’t even scratched the surface of our potential.”

Duffy predicts a full commercial license will support the creation of nearly 10,000 indirect and induced jobs and generate a billion dollars of economic activity for the region. “It’s very exciting,” she says.

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would all turn out.”

With last week’s victory, Gural’s group, which includes the Sorgente Group and ABS Real Estate Partners, will essentially acquire the 25% stake in the tower held by the person with whom they have been fighting, an investor named Nathan Silverstein. The dispute began over renovation and conversion plans for the vacant building, whose most recent commercial tenant, Macmillan Publishers, moved to Lower Manhattan in 2019.

Silverstein couldn't be reached for comment by press time.

On display

Clubby and a bit opaque, the commercial real estate world doesn’t usually play out its transactions in front of dozens of people in a public space.

But that’s exactly what happened May 23 as about 80 people, many of them reporters, gathered at the top of the steps of Manhattan’s Supreme Court building on Centre Street to watch as one of the city’s most beloved structures came up for grabs.

The auction, which started with offers of $50 million and lasted about 15 minutes, with two short breaks when the bidding got heated, was in turns predictable and suspenseful, as several bidders hung in till almost the end.

Eli Lever, a principal at the New

York development firm 21B who hoped to buy the Flatiron and turn it into apartments, pushed as high as $120 million. And Lajos Horvath, an investor from Florida, and his son Leon Horvath, a Corcoran broker, who were wielding paddle No. 3, kept bidding well past $150 million. For his part, Garlick did not appear to be in attendance, and a message left with his spokesman was not returned. GFP and the other owners have sued Garlick for his promised $19 million.

But in the end, the last paddle raised was No. 25, that of Gural, who gazed at the ground during the thick of the wagering with a cool expression on his face. “I get more nervous when my racehorses race,” he said.

To avoid the mess of the last auction, the court-appointed trustee made every bidder come with a $100,000 check to weed out unserious buyers. Gural’s assistant handed his to the auctioneer after the gavel sounded. Gural was required to fork over 10% of the total, or $16 million, by May 25.

But Gural avoided a much bigger bill. Had his team pursued a purchase after the last auction in March, they would have been on the hook for $189.5 million, their runner-up bid. Gural also took a moment to marvel at the long, strange trip of the past few weeks.

Now that he and his partners control 100% of the Flatiron, “New Yorkers don’t have to worry about the building,” Gural said. ■

What to know about the MTA’s proposed fare and toll increases

BY CAROLINE SPIVACK

Anickel and a dime. That’s how much the Metropolitan Transportation Authority aims to raise fares on the city’s subway, buses and paratransit this summer under a plan proposed May 22. Fares and tolls will also rise across the MTA’s regional networks. Here’s what commuters can expect.

How much is subway and bus fare going up?

Under the MTA’s proposal, the base fare would rise by 15 cents from $2.75 to $2.90, a 5% increase. The MetroCard’s seven-day unlimited pass would go up 3% by $1 from $33 to $34, while the 30-day unlimited would increase 4% by $5 from $127 to $132.

Those who commute by express bus would see the base fare jump by 4%, or 25 cents, from $6.75 to $7. And the seven-day express bus pass would go up $2 from $62 to $64, a 3% rise.

OMNY users who have earned unlimited rides after 12 taps each week would be able to take advantage of the feature during any

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

CONSTRUCTION

Clune Construction

Clune Construction has promoted Jessica Doyle to Sr. Vice President, Marketing & Communications. Doyle oversees all national marketing efforts for Clune’s seven of ces. She also co-leads the development and implementation of Clune’s marketing strategy and creative and technological initiatives. Because of her creative skill set, Doyle is hands-on with much of Clune’s content creation. She holds a BFA in Photography from NYU and a Master of Architecture from Boston Architectural College.

CONSTRUCTION

Clune Construction

Clune Construction is pleased to announce Anthony Tigri’s promotion to Vice President, Project Executive. With over 25 years of experience in construction management, Tigri is known in the industry for being a hardworking, diligent and fair leader. Because of his dedication to quality and long-standing client relationships, Tigri has helped grow the high-end retail portfolio for Clune’s New York of ce. Tigri holds both a BS and MS in Civil Engineering from the Stevens Institute of New York.

LEGAL SERVICES

Barclay Damon LLP

Sara Dorchak, counsel, has joined Barclay Damon’s Trademarks, Copyrights & Licensing Practice Area.Sheconcentrates her practice on assisting a wide range of clients in all stages of trademark and copyright prosecution and enforcement. Dorchak represents clients in appeals and in opposition and cancellation proceedings before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board, and she les documents and trademark applications with the USPTO. She is also an adjunct professor at St. John’s University School of Law.

seven-day period, instead of the current Monday through Sunday model.

Are LIRR and Metro-North fares increasing?

The Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad are not spared from fare hikes. Since the fare depends on where customers are traveling, one-way peak tickets would generally increase by 4.3% with a standardized off-peak discount of about 26% compared to peak fares. Weekly and monthly passes would each rise by 4.3%, with monthly passes capped at $500.

For commuter rail riders within the five boroughs, the City Ticket fare will remain at $5 for off-peak service with a new $7 peak fare pilot. Far Rockaway would be added to the program, while the MTA may discontinue its Atlantic Ticket, which costs $5, for those traveling between Atlantic Terminal and stations in Queens and Brooklyn.

Will bridge and tunnel tolls cost more?

Yes, drivers are also on the hook. The MTA is exploring two options for its nine bridges and tunnels:

One scenario would hike fees across the board by 7%, while the alternative would increase the E-ZPass rate by 6% and the tolls by mail rate by 10%.

The increases would translate to E-ZPass rates between $6.96 and $7.01, and tolls by mail rates between $10.88 and $11.19 for the Robert F. Kennedy, Bronx-Whitestone, Throgs Neck and Verrazzano-Narrows bridges and for the Queens Midtown and Hugh L. Carey tunnels.

Those traveling on the Henry Hudson Bridge would see E-ZPass tolls between $3.19 and $3.21 and tolls-by-mail fees from $8.03 to $8.25. Motorists driving over the Cross Bay and Marine Parkway bridges would pay E-ZPass tolls from $2.60 to $2.62 and tolls-bymail from $5.45 to $5.60.

When will the new fares start?

The MTA will hold two public hearings on the proposal in June, and the MTA’s board expects to take a final vote in July. Transit officials say they hope to implement the fare increases by Labor Day, Sept. 4. ■

LEGAL SERVICES

Barclay Damon LLP

Lee Jacobs has joined the New York City of ce of Barclay Damon as a partner in the Labor & Employment Practice Area and on the Hotels, Hospitality & Food Service and Cannabis Teams. Jacobs, the former managing partner and chair of the Employment Practices Group at Helbraun Levey, focuses his practice on representing a wide variety of individual and corporate clients in the restaurant, hospitality, and cannabis industries in complex employment-related matters in both state and federal court.

COMPANIES ON THE MOVE

To place your listing, visit www. newyorkbusiness.com/companymoves or contact Debora Steinat 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Lilker, an IMEG Company New York, NY 212.695.1000 lilker.com

Lilker Associates Consulting Engineers joined IMEG, a national engineering rm on May 1, 2023. Following IMEG’s recent merger with Long Island-based Cameron Engineering, the rm expands its footprint in New York to more than 220 team members. Lilker, an IMEG Company, offers mechanical, electrical, plumbing and re protection engineering, as well as technology, lighting, special inspections, and energy and sustainability services from of ces in Manhattan, Long Island, and the DC Metro area.

CLASSIFIEDS

Contact

POSITIONS AVAILABLE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL

Consultant-PS Consulting needed by Verizon in New York, NY to perform PCI security assessment and consulting to clients. May work from home. Rate of pay: $158,454 to $182,000 per year. To apply, email resume to vz-apply@verizon.com.

Ref. Job # SHSUE-L.

Associate VP - Global Credit Sr.

Software Engineer (The Carlyle Group Employee Co., L.L.C. – New York, NY); Mult. pos. avail. Offer’d salary $235,000 to $245,000. Engage in hands-on full-stack technical design & developm’t, particularly as it pertains to complex system compon’ts. Ensure tech deliverables maint’n alignm’t w/ business priorities.

F/T. Posit’n based in New York, NY. Permitted to telecommute up to 3x per week. Apply w/ resume to HR3@carlyle.com. Ref Job ID: 6609299

IT Category Manager (Citadel Enterprise Americas Services LLC – New York, NY); Mult. Pos. Avail. Offering a salary of $145,000 to $215,000 per year. Support the implementation & continuous innovation of the Enterprise Resource Plann’g (“ERP”) systems. Coordinate efforts in integrating a Source to Pay (“S2P”) system with the broader Info Tech (“IT”) framework to optimize purchasing, spend, & tech processes.

F/T. Resumes: citadelrecruitment@citadel.com.

Job ID: 6670511.

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Psychotherapy Counseling

Services LCSW PLLC. Arts of Org filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 5/2/23. Office location: NEW YORK County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the PLLC served upon him/her is: 418 Braodway ste N, Albany, NY, 12207. The principal business address of the LLC is: New York. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.

WEDDLE & GILMORE ARCHITECTS, PLLC filed an App. for Auth. with the Dept. of State of NY on 5/1/2023. PLLC formed in AZ on 8/21/1998. Office located within NYS: New York County. The Sect'y of State of NY is designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Goetz Fitzpatrick LLP, Attn: John B. Simoni Jr. Esq., One Penn Plaza, Ste 3100, NY, NY 10119. Purpose: Architecture.

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 #041B - Plumbing Only bids responsive to the entire scope of work will be considered and, to be successful, bidders must be prequalified by Turner. Certified M/WBE and Small Business (13 CFR part 121) companies are encouraged to submit.

In order to receive the bid packages, potential bidders either (1) must initiate the prequalification process by submitting a Subcontractor/Vendor Prequalification Statement to Turner, or (2) must be prequalified based on a prior submission to Turner (Note: Prior prequalification submissions that remain current will be considered as previously submitted or may be updated at this time.) All bidders must be prequalified by the bid deadline: July 6th 2023 and initial submission of a prequalification statement not later than July 6th, 2023 is strongly encouraged All bidders must have an acceptable EMR, and will be subject to government regulations such as 44 CFR and Federal Executive Order 11246. Successful bidders will be required to use LCP Tracker compliance verification software. Note that while this is a New York City prevailing wage project, union affiliation is not required for BP #041B

A Webcast about the above Bid Package/s will be held on June 8th, 2023 Attendance is optional for all; the Webcast is designed to assist potential M/WBE subcontractors/vendors.

Link: Please join this meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetupjoin/19%3ameeting_NTVjNmZlMTctODdjNy00YWRmLWJmMmYtZjI4NzNjMzcwNWVi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2220e277 00-b670-4553-a27c-d8e2583b3289%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22732a90ce-24b7-42eb-bf78-d638e2a629ac%22%7d

To obtain further information about contracting opportunities and/or the prequalification package and bid solicitation package/s, please contact Lyndsey Spangel, lspangel@tcco.com 646-842-1659.

The date for the virtual public opening at the Turner Construction Company office located at 66 Hudson Yards, New York, New York, is July 7th, 2023 10 AM

Link: Please join this opening meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetupjoin/19%3ameeting_NThmN2MzNDctNGEzNC00MTA5LWE2NjYtZTI0ZWVjZGVmM2Nj%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22 %3a%2220e27700-b670-4553-a27c-d8e2583b3289%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%22732a90ce-24b7-42eb-bf78d638e2a629ac%22%7d

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES

Notice of Formation of 80TH 12J, LLC

Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/02/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Daniel Sperling, 300 Manida St., Bronx, NY 10474.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

BRONX PRIMARY MANAGEMENT, LLC

filed Arts. of Org. with the Sect'y of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/16/2023.

Office: New York County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Julio A. Sanchez, 3421 Broadway, NY, NY 10031. Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of Bonfatti LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/5/23. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon who process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 115 W 130th St. Bsmt A, NY , NY 10027. R/A: US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave. #202, BK, NY. Purpose.: any lawful act.

PUBLIC & LEGAL NOTICES

Notice of Formation of STURDY INCLINE LLC, Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/24/23/ Office

Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 228 PARK AVE S, #974932 NY, NY 10003 R/A: US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave, #202, BK, NY 11228 Purpose: any lawful act.

Notice of Formation of REED PLACE LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy . of State of NY (SSNY) on 2/27/23. Office location: BX County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 1418 Reed PL. Bronx, NY 10465.

Purpose: any lawful act

Notice of Formation of Prince Driving Schol LLC. Arts of Org filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/12/23. Office

Location: BX County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 1759-B Jerome Ave, Bronx, NY 10453. Purpose: any lawful act.

NOTICE OF FORMATION of DU SEL LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY. Arts of Org filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 3/17/23. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 99 Warren St, NY, NY 10007. R/A: US Corp Agents, Inc. 7014 13th Ave, #202, BK, NY 11228. Purpose: any

Notice of Qualification of BRSP BLANCHARD LIC, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/12/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/27/23. Princ. office of LLC: c/o BrightSpire Capital, Inc., 590 Madison Ave., 33rd Fl., NY, NY 10022. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (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, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901.

Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Notice of Qualification of 744 Madison Sale Center, LLC

Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/08/23. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/04/23. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with State of DE, Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

Purpose: any lawful act

DAVE SALVANT and a partner launched the Squire app in 2015, allowing customers to book and pay for appointments in advance.

DAVE SALVANT

FROM Coney Island, Brooklyn

RESIDES Lower East Side EDUCATION Bachelor’s in political science and economics, University of Albany; M.B.A., University of Wisconsin

FINANCE BACKGROUND

Salvant worked at JPMorgan Chase and Axa before launching his startup in 2015 with Songe LaRon, a corporate lawyer he met at a party in Harlem.

FLAIR FOR HAIR He said the biggest challenge to running a barbershop or hair salon is understanding that the workers see themselves as artists and need to be treated accordingly. He said at most shops, the person cutting your hair takes home 60% of the bill.

App helps salons cut back on admin work

Squire, fueled by $165M in venture funding, is used in about 3,500 locations

BY AARON ELSTEIN

For 35 years Dave Salvant’s aunt ran Coney Island Hair Salon from a Mermaid Avenue storefront wedged between the Maria Cuchifrito restaurant and a Chinese takeout joint. Salvant spent summers at the shop, sweeping the oor and running errands.

“It was a safe space,” he recalled.

“My aunt worked late every day.”

All that time gave Salvant a few ideas for making the business of hair salons and barbershops better.

In 2015 he and a partner unveiled an app called Squire that enables customers to book and pay for appointments in advance while helping proprietors manage payroll, apply for loans and handle other administrative tasks. Fueled with $165 million in venture funding since inception, the app is used in about 3,500 shops across North America and the U.K.

Salvant reckons there are 100,000 barbershops across the country, and within 18 to 24 months, Squire will be used in enough of them to turn pro table. Revenue has doubled in each of the past three years, Salvant said, and even though the market is inhospitable for startups, one thing that always grows is human hair that people eventually need to get cut.

Test market

Success didn’t come quickly for Squire, which has its headquarters on the Lower East Side. Although Salvant knew something about barbershops and salons, at rst shop owners didn’t trust the Brooklyn native, who admired how Uber and Instacart were disrupting taxis and supermarkets, respectively. To build credibility, he and his business partner took over a client’s barbershop in Chelsea Market and ran it for the last year of its lease. It was a gamble, considering their rst $300,000 in

funding was running low.

“We bet the whole company on the shop, but I think it’s better to live with nostalgia than regrets,” Salvant said.

It turned out to be just the right move. Running the Meatpacking District shop helped Salvant gure out what barbers needed from his app. As luck would have it, the shop was close to Google’s massive o ce between Eighth and Ninth avenues, so whenever those employees came in for a cut or a shave, they were asked how the app could be improved.

“ e shop became our test kitchen,” he said, although he personally didn’t cut anyone’s hair.

Squire survived the pandemic, when nobody was getting their hair cut outside their home, and today has 200 employees.

“We don’t need any more funding,” said Salvant, who serves as president of the company. “We are all about growing.” ■

“WE BET THE WHOLE COMPANY ON THE SHOP, BUT I THINK IT’S BETTER TO LIVE WITH NOSTALGIA THAN REGRETS”