Crains New York - August 12, 2013 - (Page 1)

CRAIN’S NEW YORK BUSINESS TALK ABOUT SCALING UP Fishing trips may be the ultimate office getaway PAGE 37 FPO ® VOL. XXIX, NOS. 32, 33 WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM DOUBLE ISSUE Small wonders Shoebox-size food outlets (85 sq. ft., anyone?) prove to be money magnets Regulator puts city pensions on notice MICROSIZE ME: Alon Kruvi’s four-foot-wide Simply Sliders draws midtown lunch crowds outside—because there’s no room inside. DFS chief Lawsky asks city comptroller about middlemen banned years ago BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI Simply Sliders, a new takeout spot popular with the lunch crowds around Grand Central Terminal, is a lot like nearby food joints. It offers a trendy product—small Angus-beef burgers, fried chicken sandwiches and french fries wrapped in checkered paper. Customers have their choice of beverages,ranging from a variety of sodas to lemonade, and there are plenty of napkins for messy eaters. Yet unlike other eateries, Simply Sliders is only 85 square feet in size—a fourfoot-wide cubby nestled between a Subway and a Lotto store on East 43rd Street. “We’re an innovative model,” said Alon Kruvi, who opened Simply Sliders in May and pays about $3,000 in monthly rent.“We’re not paying for storage—we’re basically a stationary food truck.” Honey, I shrunk the café! Across Manhattan, local food entrepreneurs, eager to open their own storefronts, are squeezing into tiny, shoeboxshaped retail properties less than 200 square feet in size. Traditionally, such nooks were reserved for jewelry or scarf sellers, or the occasional magazine and newspaper stand.Food operators,subject to stringent rules and regulations from the city’s Department of Health, usually steered clear. Yet this new crop of foodies, hoping to save on rent and appear more creative aesthet- BY AARON ELSTEIN State regulators are worried that pension-fund middlemen at the center of a scandal that sent former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi to prison are back in New York City. In a July 29 letter obtained by Crain’s, officials at the New York State Department of Financial Services told the New York City Employee Retirement System to provide a description of its policy concerning placement agents, the names of people who acted in such a capacity between 2007 and 2012, and the investment firms that hired them. Regulators also want to know if any plan trustees have introSee PLACEMENT AGENTS on Page 36 Breaks for posh pads cause stir SIZE MATTERS Small footprints, big profits: Ⅲ Simply Sliders (pictured) on East 43rd Street: 85 square feet, $4,500 in projected annual sales per square foot Ⅲ Meatball Obsession on Sixth Avenue: 212 square feet, $3,400 in annual sales per square foot Ⅲ Screme Gelato Bar on West 94th Street: 108 square feet, $3,000 in annual sales per square foot Ⅲ Bisous Ciao Macarons on Bleecker Street:180 square feet, $2,500 in annual sales per square foot Real estate industry under fire for giving donations to state pols BY DANIEL GEIGER buck ennis See SMALL WONDERS on Page 35 WATCH a related video at CrainsNewYork.com/video THE SPORTING NEWS NEWSPAPER AUGUST 12-25, 2013 PRICE: $3.00 P. 3 A-Rod costs Yanks PLUS: Dolan vs. Ratner on Long Island. P. 17 Super Bowl partyers plan AND: Fútbol! Football! Soccer! They are five of the most ambitious residential projects the city has seen in years. They are the work of some of New York’s top developers, and their condominium apartments are expected to sell for millions—in some cases tens of millions—of dollars each. And as of early August, they all have two other things in common. All five were revealed to be set to receive massive tax breaks from the state of New York, and subpoenas from Gov. See TAX BREAKS on Page 36 http://WWW.CRAINSNEWYORK.COM http://www.CrainsNewYork.com/video

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - August 12, 2013

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

Crains New York - August 12, 2013