Crains New York - April 15, 2013 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS VOL. XXIX, NO. 15 MOTORCYCLE MADNESS hits Brooklyn as hipsters hit the road PAGE 21 ® WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM APRIL 15-21, 2013 PRICE: $3.00 REPORT SMALL BUSINESS Verizon to pull 1,100 downtown workers Two floods in two years force Brooklyn move, but telecom’s HQ remains in Manhattan BY CHRIS BRAGG TRENDING DOWN: Paid sick days will add $80,000 to Stephen Werther’s annual costs at Wink fashion boutiques. Feeling the squeeze buck ennis Verizon plans to permanently relocate about 1,100 workers from its downtown corporate headquarters to Brooklyn by the end of this summer, a move the company says was spurred in part by the threat of rising water in low-lying lower Manhattan. “Our 140 West St. building is in a flood zone,” Verizon management wrote to employees in an early February memo. “Our goal is to give you a state-of-the-art facility and avoid having to, again, send you to a temporary work location if and when severe flooding occurs.” Twice in the past two years—after Not just paid sick days. Rash of regs jacks up costs, stifles growth BY ALI ELKIN NEWSPAPER Stephen Werther woke up March 29 to discover the cost of doing business in New York had risen again. Next year, the owner of Wink fashion boutiques will shell out around $220,000 before he sells a single sundress. The night before, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and labor leaders had hammered out a deal that would require thousands of small businesses to offer workers five paid days off a year.For Mr. Werther, that means an additional $80,000 after he’d already budgeted an extra $140,000 to comply with the new federal health insurance mandate. 67% DECLINE IN PROFIT in 2012 at Michael Sinensky’s six bars in Manhattan “Unfortunately, small businesses don’t have much political clout,” Mr. Werther said. Business owners like Mr. Werther are feeling betrayed these days.Despite lip service from mayoral candidates and other politicians about small business being the city’s—and the country’s— See SQUEEZED on Page 16 REPORT SMALL BUSINESS Startups compete over biz-plan pitches; other entrepreneurs tap tax breaks P. 13 THE LIST Largest events/trade shows P. 15 See VERIZON on Page 19 Landmark call speeds demolition Frank Lloyd Wright showroom quickly razed after notice BY MATT CHABAN For six decades, a luxury-car showroom with a distinctive swooping ramp stood at the corner of Park Avenue and East 56th Street. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it was the first of only three New York projects by the modernist master. In six days late last month, the dealership was destroyed. “The loss of a Frank Lloyd Wright, it’s a national tragedy,” said Simeon Bankoff, director of the Historic Districts Council. Like so many in New See WRIGHT on Page 20 http://WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - April 15, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
CORPORATE LADDER
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
REPORT: SMALL BUSINESS
THE LISTS
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - April 15, 2013