Crain's New York Business - December 17, 2012 - (Page 6)

Partying at the post office With train station years away, empty Farley is event venue BY LISA FICKENSCHER It was a party to remember: a fabulous fete for Samsung’s Galaxy Note II, unveiled on Oct. 24 with an hourlong concert by Kanye West while 1,000 guests nibbled on fare from celebrity chef Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill. And where was this glamorous event? The James A. Farley Post Office building, which has become a hot venue on the event circuit these days. “We’ve had four fashion shows, dinners and other parties over the past six months,” said Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the building. “It’s a very cool space.” The massive structure, where millions of pieces of mail were once sorted and U.S.Postal Service trucks pulled in to unload, is now one of the most unconventional event spaces in the city. Of course, its life on the party scene is temporary. The five-story building—which occupies two city blocks at Eighth Avenue between West 31st and 33rd streets—is slated to become Moynihan Station and Amtrak’s new home in a few years. Construction has begun on phase one of the project, which includes extending the train tracks from Penn Station to Farley and creating two entrances to the facility. This phase is expected to be completed by 2016. The Related Cos. and Vornado Realty Trust are the developers of the project. “After decades of press releases, construction is finally going on at Farley,” Mr. Foye said. In the meantime, party on. Skylight Group, which owns four highend event spaces in the city, signed an agreement with the Port Authority this past summer to book a certain number of events in the eastern part of the building. It is a temporary, nonexclusive arrangement, Mr. Foye emphasized. According to a Port Authority spokesman, the agency did not issue a request for proposals to solicit operators of the space. “It is open to all,” the spokesman said. could even be a good spot for 2014 Super Bowl events. The game’s weeklong fan fest is shut out of the Jacob K. Javits Center because of a previously booked trade show. The building’s new life kicked off in September during Fashion Week, when Rag & Bone, Phillip Lim and others held shows in what is being marketed as Skylight at Moynihan Station. The events company declined to comment on its deal with the Port Authority, but two spaces are available: one with 41,000 square feet in the former mail-sorting room and one with 33,000 square feet in the former postal dock. Both rooms were used for the Samsung party in October. “It’s a tremendous space,” said Bret Csencsitz, the general manager of Gotham Bar & Grill, which handled the food for the party.“I’m hoping to do another event there in May.” Over the years, the Port Authority had approached others to lease space at the landmarked building. “They were talking to museums to use it as storage space and to movie studios,” said Juliette Michaelson, vice president of strategic initiatives for the Regional Plan Association. The advocacy group had pushed for a plan to convert the western side of the Farley building into a conference center. But the idea has not been embraced by the industry that would use it. “I think at this point everyone just wants someone in there as a tenant,” Ms. Michaelson said. THE INSIDER by Chris Bragg and Andrew J. Hawkins A 2014 Super Bowl spot? The idea is to generate income for a unique property that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to maintain and is largely empty aside from a small Postal Service presence and some government offices. The Empire State Development Corp. is responsible for the financial upkeep, but last year Gov. Andrew Cuomo directed the Port Authority to take control of the Moynihan Station project. “We think this is a way to introduce people to this iconic building,” Mr. Foye said. According to sources, the site E Turf war over campaign reform fforts in Albany and New York City to curb union and corporate campaign spending sparked a turf war and denunciations last week. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman proposed regulations to bring sunlight to so-called dark money in local elections by forcing New York nonprofits that spend on campaigns to disclose their donors. Spending by business interests on the 2013 mayoral election, on a likely statewide referendum to legalize casino gambling, and on local ballot measures regarding hydrofracking would likely be subject to the rules, which Mr. Schneiderman could implement unilaterally. nism (a model for Mr. Cuomo’s efforts in Albany) sounded the alarm on a union-backed City Council bill it said would open a “gaping loophole” in the system. Lawmakers supporting the bill portrayed it as a tweak, but Speaker Christine Quinn, who initially supported its quick passage, shelved it until 2013 after Mayor Michael Bloomberg, her ally, denounced the measure. Hours after Mr. Schneiderman’s plan grabbed headlines,Gov. Andrew Cuomo downplayed them in a radio appearance,noting that Mr. Schneiderman lacked the power to regulate out-of-state spending. Mr. Cuomo instead touted his own intention to reform state campaign finance laws in 2013. “You have all these national not-for-profits that aren’t registered in New York, but we were just watching their advertising during the presidential campaign,” Mr. Cuomo said. “I want them covered also.” However,Mr.Cuomo’s decision to stay out of a recent battle over control of the state Senate, won by a coalition of five independent Democrats and 30 Republicans, could well result in watered-down campaign finance legislation. Mr.Cuomo and Mr.Schneiderman, who succeeded the governor as attorney general, have long had a tense relationship. But Albany observers say Mr. Cuomo’s latest upstaging of Mr. Schneiderman brought the sniping to new heights. Despite those tensions, one big political spender that Mr. Schneiderman’s new regulations might not affect is the Committee to Save New York, a business and real estate-backed group that has spent millions pushing Mr. Cuomo’s fiscally conservative agenda. The group focuses on issue-based television campaigns, not on the election-related spending covered by the attorney general’s proposal. In New York City, meanwhile, the agency that enforces the city’s publicly funded elections mecha- Courting danger As the Obama administration and congressional leaders moved to avert the fiscal cliff, the New York State Bar Association warned last week that their failure would trigger an 8.2% funding cut to the nation’s court system. For New York, which already has the busiest courtrooms in the country, that would likely mean shorter hours of operation, worker furloughs and longer case backlogs. Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to a speedy trial, so the impact would be concentrated on civil litigation, costing businesses time and money.Courtrooms would close earlier to maintain staff levels. Cases could be delayed for weeks or months, or suspended altogether. “The New York state and federal courts hear the most complex commercial cases in the country,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a business group that includes large corporations.“They’re already terribly backlogged,with huge delays.” Crain’s Insider, our award-winning politics newsletter, is now a blog. Read it every day at www.crainsnewyork.com/insider 6 | Crain’s New York Business | December 17, 2012 istockphoto http://www.crainsnewyorkinsider http://www.crainsnewyork.com/insider

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York Business - December 17, 2012

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

Crain's New York Business - December 17, 2012