Crains New York - October 22, 2012 - (Page 3)

IN THE BOROUGHS BRONX LEAP OF FAITH: Yvette Campbell has run Harlem School of the Arts since 2011. Among her tough calls was cutting the budget by 24%. Shops rise from ashes of big fires Merchants return to fill in blanks, reknit Norwood’s fabric BY HILARY POTKEWITZ Three years after a pair of suspicious fires devastated a portion of a busy retail strip in the Norwood section of the Bronx, bulldozers have finally lumbered onto the site to begin filling in the last portion of the gap left by the tragedy. Their arrival signals the beginning of the end of the predominantly working-class neighborhood’s struggle to knit itself back together. A single-story commercial structure boasting about 8,000 square feet of retail space—designed to accommodate up to a half-dozen stores—will rise on the site, according to plans filed with the Department of Up in the Bronx Buildings. Though the building will be FIRE STATIONS a far cry from the mega-malls transforming other sections of STRUCTURAL the city, it will FIRES in 2011 have an outsize impact on Bainbridge Avenue. HISPANIC“When peoOWNED ple see that conbusinesses struction is hapSources: NYC Fire Dept., Center for an Urban Future pening, it will give them a sense of hope,” said Michael Lambert,deputy director of the Mosholu Preservation Corp. He noted that the 2009 fires incinerated more than a dozen much-loved businesses— including a supermarket, a butcher, a baker, a cobbler, a beauty salon, a diner and a Mexican restaurant— that together were key to what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood. “Anything they can do to bring back a sense of what existed before, people will be very excited about.” Daniel Katz, who signed a master lease on the property earlier this year, is keen to deliver on that promise. “We saw an opportunity to reconstruct and put in local businesses,” he said, adding that the new building will have “a really beautiful, up-todate look” by the time it is completed early next year.The first shops should then open in the spring. “It’s an important corner, and it’s unattractive to have a vacant lot buck ennis Miracle on 141st Street forced to close for three weeks. “I can really think about the future,” said Yvette Campbell, who has been president and chief executive of the 48-year-old institution since January 2011. “We wouldn’t have survived carrying our debt.” A donation from the same foundation in 2010 helped keep the doors open, but Ms. Campbell toiled mightily to prove the school was worthy of continued, and more generous, support. Ms. Campbell sliced $1.1 million, or 24%, from the budget through such efforts as cutting staff by 68% and renegotiating service contracts. She added a preschool program to increase revenue. And she just lured noted dancer Twyla Tharp and Grammy-winning Afro-Latin-jazz musician Arturo O’Farrill to become artists in residence,which should raise the school’s profile. She’s also negotiating with jazz great Wynton Marsalis, already an adviser, to play a greater role in the institution. Her biggest problem, however, was paying $400,000 a year in debt. Few donors make grants to repay loans; they prefer to support programming. But when Ms. Campbell explained her dilemma this summer to a meeting of donorgroup executives, Rona Sebastian, president of the Herb Alpert Foundation, decided to break the mold. “In this situation, it just made sense,” said Ms. See MIRACLE on Page 28 ODDS & ENDS How a $5 million grant and savvy management got Harlem School of the Arts back on its feet BY THERESA AGOVINO The Harlem School of the Arts must be the envy of many a nonprofit these days: All its debt, including its mortgage, was paid off—and its endowment was restored and even expanded— thanks to a $5 million donation received last month from the Herb Alpert Foundation. Now the community school, which provides programs in dance, music, theater and the visual arts, is starting with a clean slate after surviving a brush with extinction in 2010, when it was 40 5,600 38,325 A perk the boss can’t afford City Council wants to give small-biz workers paid time off—a benefit some of their employers can rarely take BY EILENE ZIMMERMAN Doreen Zayer, who has owned a Staten Island spa for 17 years, can’t remember the last time she took a sick day. In fact, pregnant with her son shortly after starting the business, “I worked on my due date,” she recalled. The past few years have been especially stressful at Relax on Cloud 9. Sales have dipped by about 50% since 2008, to $500,000 annually.To survive the recession, Ms. Zayer’s business has required single-minded devotion, and the dedication of her 11 employees. Yet despite razor-thin margins, she has continued to offer health care benefits and profit sharing. Now, with business finally starting to pick up, Ms. Zayer faces another hurdle: the Paid Sick Days Act,which would require small businesses like hers to give employees at least five days off per year. “I wish I could pay my employees when they are sick,” said Ms. Zayer. “I really want to do the best for them, and if I could afford it, believe me, ‘Doing business in NYC is onerous enough’ I would.” As debate about the legislation continues, many small business owners face a similar, ironic reality. If it passes, they will be forced to provide time off that the rigors of entrepreneurial life don’t allow them to take themselves. For some owners, taking a day off is unaffordable. For others, who are entwined in virtually every aspect of their company’s operations, it’s hard to find a substitute—to the extent that some find themselves working in situations that corporate counterparts might find unimaginable. The Paid Sick Days Act, which is being See A PERK on Page 27 See RISING on Page 26 October 22, 2012 | Crain’s New York Business | 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - October 22, 2012

Crains New York - October 22, 2012
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Business People
Opinion
Greg David
Report: Real Estate
Real Estate Deals
The List
Digital New York
Classifieds
For the Record
New York, New York
Source Breakfast
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - October 22, 2012