Crains New York - November 19, 2012 - (Page 3)

FLIPPING THE LIGHTS FANTASTIC: RFR Properties’ office building at 17 State St. stood out in the dark, thanks to its emergency generator. IN THE BOROUGHS QUEENS Rockaway retailers’ juiceless reopenings Coping without lights, fridges and ATMs. Free goods abound BY HILARY POTKEWITZ Most of Rockaway Beach Boulevard, the main commercial strip in Rockaway, Queens, was an uninterrupted wall of battered steel gates as of late last week. Traffic lights hung dark. The still-powerless neighborhood was, for the most part, closed for business. But take a walk south along the boulevard to Beach 115th Street, and signs of enterprise are starting to peek through. At Eden Delicatessen, at 11507 Rockaway Beach Blvd., “Open” is scrawled in pink marker on the store’s window. From the street the place looks dark, but the generator In Rockaway as roaring on the of late last week: sidewalk is the tipoff for the activity within. It’s been more PAGES in the than two weeks Small Business Administration’s since Superdisaster loan storm Sandy,and application store owner Bozena Brzostek and her sister, Aleksandra, are COST of a cup of coffee or hot meal still wiping down at relief stations shelves and cleaning, but they’re ready to get back to busiCLOSING TIME ness. All the for many powerless shops doors on the deli’s refrigerators hang open—there’s no cold air to keep in, after all—but Ms. Brzostek has been improvising.She’s been buying goods near her home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and bringing them to the store to sell every morning. She started with pastries and bread, which were sold from a table out front. Then she started lugging in bottled water. More recently she’s added cheese and other food items, and the ever-popular blackout essential, beer. “There are no lights here. People need beer!” said Ms. Brzostek. Nearby, a handful of stores have reopened—mostly food and hardware stores—all powered by generators. The merchants are all pretty much in the same boat. They are struggling to return to business while continuing the cleanup, but without the power to keep food cold He who has the biggest generator wins New must-have amenity? Backup power. Just make sure it’s flood-proof BY DANIEL GEIGER In just three short weeks, it’s become the question uppermost in the minds of a wide variety of Manhattan office tenants. “They want to know that wherever they’re going, the building has a backup generator,” said Louis D’Avanzo, a broker at Cushman & Wakefield. Backup power has long been a principal concern for financial firms,Web and technology companies, and others that must be up and running 24/7. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, it has become the new must-have for tenants of all stripes. As a result, once-esoteric infrastructure like 2,000-horsepower diesel generators are front and center in lease discussions. Yet as the storm has propelled backup power into the spotlight, it has laid bare the limitations of such systems. As many companies discovered late last month, generators are valuable only if they actually work. That was the lesson at 55 Water St., the city’s largest office building and one of its best armed when it came to coping with blackouts.The 3.8 million-square-foot behemoth boasted an array of 14 generators that had been situated high up in the building, well out of harm’s reach in case of flooding. Those units could turn out 11 megawatts, enough to provide for all of the building’s electrical needs during an outage. Yet, when Sandy’s 14foot-high storm surge hit lower Manhattan on that fateful Monday evening, the generators immediately cut out, and the lights went off. Down in the basement, the fuel See GENERATORS on Page 24 ODDS & ENDS 4 $0 Dusk Fundraisers help small businesses Merchants sidelined by storm get love from local residents and politicians BY THERESA AGOVINO Like many fundraising auctions, last week’s event at the Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn featured a celebrity hawking some coveted— or at least unusual—items. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz sought bidders for the opportunity to record his famously booming, accented voice on an answering machine or voicemail message. A two-hour party at the carousel in Brooklyn Bridge Park was also on the block. Mr. Markowitz’s oratorical skills raised $700, while the carousel soiree brought in $4,000 as part of the night’s purse of at least $25,000. But the money isn’t headed for disease research or college scholarships. It’s earmarked to help about a dozen small businesses in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood that were upended by Superstorm Sandy. “The community really came out and supported each other,” said Alexandria Sica, executive director of the Dumbo Improvement District, which organized the event. It is one of several organizations, including the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce’s nonprofit foundation, the Lower East Side Business Improvement District and the re- One event raised $25,000 for Brooklyn mom-and-pops cently formed Restore Red Hook, that are raising money for small firms devastated by the storm. Like traditional charities, they are host- ing benefits and using social media to raise awareness and cash. These organizations say their efforts are vital to rebuilding the neighborhoods hit hardest by Sandy because small businesses will provide the goods and services—and, perhaps most important, jobs—that are necessary for recovery. Without aid, these job engines may not be able to reopen, especially if they didn’t have flood insurance. “Jobs are essential,” said Nancy Ploeger,president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. “They are not as essential as food and water, but they are still essential.” So far, the chamber’s foundation has raised $5,000 toward its goal of See FUNDRAISING on Page 28 See ROCKAWAY on Page 28 November 19, 2012 | Crain’s New York Business | 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - November 19, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
SMALL BUSINESS
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
OWNED COMPANIES
THE LIST
CLASSIFIEDS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crains New York - November 19, 2012