Crains New York - May 27, 2013 - (Page 3)

IN THE BOROUGHS QUEENS Atlas Park shrugs off doubters New owners woo more affordable shops as way to resurrect mall BY KERRY MURTHA BY ANDREW J. HAWKINS Krystal Pescatore, vice president of Harlem-based Advantage Plumbing, has 25 employees, 17 trucks— and a $50,000 headache. That’s how much she forks over to the city every year for the hundreds of parking tickets issued to her vehicles. Any truck making five or six stops a day seems to get slapped with at least one $115 violation, sometimes more, for double-parking or blocking traffic, she said. “If you take the $50,000 I’m spending, and then you take what I’m spending to fight them, that’s all wasted money,” Ms. Pescatore complained. “Anybody who has a commercial vehicle in Manhattan has these same issues.” Indeed, the plumbing company’s parking-ticket tab pales in comparison to those of FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. Together with Verizon, Time Warner, FreshDirect and other businesses with large delivery Big shows, small crowds: B’way attendance dips again Superstorm Sandy, weak fall season lead to drop in ticket sales, flat revenue BY THERESA AGOVINO Broadway ended the 2012-2013 season with a bang, as shows like Matilda drew rave reviews and packed houses. But the strong finale wasn’t powerful enough to compensate for the Great White Way’s dreadful start. Overall attendance fell sharply for the season that runs from May to May, marking the second consecutive year of declines. A combination of critical duds and repercussions from Superstorm Sandy kept many patrons from theaters during the fall. Additionally, the spring’s biggest hits, like Mo- town: The Musical and Kinky Boots, opened late in the season, after the die had been cast. Other late-season winners included limited-run star vehicles Lucky Guy, the late Nora Ephron’s last play, featuring Tom After the storm, ‘people returned tickets like crazy’ Hanks, and I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers, Bette Midler’s one-woman show. With 51 weeks counted, attendance for the 2012-13 season slid 6%, to 11.3 million, compared with the same period a year ago, according to the Broadway League, the industry trade group.That comes after a 2% decline the preceding year. Meanwhile, the box office this season came in flat at $1.1 billion— ending four years of revenue growth. Sales stood still despite a 9% increase in the average ticket price, to $101. “This has been a very strange season because all the successful shows opened at the end,” said Seth Gelblum, a lawyer at Loeb & Loeb who has many Broadway clients. “The results are a fluke of timing.” Mr. Gelblum noted that the Broadway community continually monitors data for evidence of a tipping point where higher ticket prices trigger a drop in attendance. He doesn’t believe that is what happened this season. He said much of the rise in the average price is attributable to sensations like The Book of fleets, they compose the bulk of the city budget’s $550 million-a-year parking-ticket bonanza. Just in the first three months of this year, FedEx racked up $1.8 million in parking violations. A spokesman for UPS said the Atlanta-based delivery company was also paying the city more than $1 million a quarter for parking infractions. See HIGH COST on Page 24 See ATLAS on Page 9 STATS AND THE CITY by Emily Laermer GRAB A WRENCH: On a radio show, Mayor Michael Bloomberg advised “average” high-schoolers to skip college and instead become plumbers. $15K TOTAL COST of Empire State College’s plumbing-related associate’s degree, covered for Local 1 union members $180K TUITION AND FEES to attend a four-year NYU undergrad program 4,600 of ACTIVE MEMBERS Local 1, NYC’s plumbers’ union $53 AVG. HOURLY PAY for an unsupervised NYC plumber, vs. $27/hour avg. for all NY-area employees 5 YEARS of experience required to become an unsupervised plumber Sources: UA Local 1, Plumbers of New York City; Empire State College; New York University; Bureau of Labor Statistics; NYC Department of Buildings istockphoto The bane of many companies, parking tickets defy solutions TICKET TO RIDE: Critics say the city has institutionalized illegal parking. FedEx ran up $1.8 million in violations last quarter, and UPS hit seven figures as well. buck ennis All in the cost of doing business When the Shops at Atlas Park opened on the 25-acre site of a former industrial complex in central Queens in 2006, people who lived nearby praised the mall’s handsome design, with its whitewashed stucco walls, fountains and stately magnolias, but balked at actually buying anything at its collection of upscale shops. Few people could afford the boutiques’ handsome merchandise. Now the Macerich Co., which bought Atlas Park out of bankruptcy in Queens Supreme Court in early 2011 for $54 million, is pursuing a different game plan. It is one that draws on the Santa Monica, Calif.based company’s experience as the owner of 80 malls across the country, including a highly successful one just two miles down 80th Street— the mammoth Queens Center. “If we work within the needs of this community, we can dramatically increase foot traffic,” said Dawn Simon, senior marketing manager for Atlas Park. To do that, Macerich is putting the finishing touches on two big ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY See BROADWAY on Page 24 May 27, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 27, 2013

In the Boroughs
In the Markets
Small Business
The Insider
Business People
Opinion
Alair Townsend
Greg David
Steve Hindy
Report: Largest Companies
The List
Classifieds
For the Record
Real Estate Deals
New York, New York
Source Lunch
Out and About
Snaps

Crains New York - May 27, 2013