Crains New York - May 6, 2013 - (Page 9)

REAL ESTATE DEALS Regus locks up another suite deal O ffice-suite provider Regus has locked up a 10-year deal at 101 Sixth Ave. It is taking 32,000 square feet on two full floors at the 23-story tower, where asking rents are in the $70s per square foot. Jones Lang LaSalle brokers Mitch Konsker and Matt Astrachan represented landlord Edward Minskoff, while other JLL brokers, whose names were not disclosed, represented the tenant. The lease is the latest in a string of them for Regus, which boasts 1,500 locations around the globe. During the past two years, the company has added about 200,000 square feet in Manhattan, bringing its total portfolio here to just over 1 million square feet, spread among about 40 locations. Donna Scott, a vice president at Regus who oversees its New York City portfolio, said that demand for office suites has picked up in the city since the recession, as employees who were laid off during the downturn have either joined or started new businesses. “We definitely see a lot of entrepreneurs branching out and wanting to Chelsea Park’s basement pump A Chelsea apartment building is bulking up. For the good of its tenants’ health and its own bottom line, Chelsea Park, the new residential complex at 260 W. 26th St., has inked a 15-year lease with Blink Fitness for an outpost in the building’s basement. The 15,500-square-foot gym will have an entrance on Eighth Avenue. It is scheduled to open by the end of 2014. The asking rent was $55 per square foot. The space was originally intended to be a garage for the building, said Winick Realty Group’s Alexander Hill, who represented building owner Chelsea W26. Blink Fitness was represented by Peter Levine of Charter Realty and De- get into a communal environment,” Ms. Scott said. Even large corporations have become users, she said, as they have sought to downsize their office portfolios and outsource some of their space needs. “About half the Fortune 500 companies use us in some capacity,” Ms. Scott said. The company also signed a 34,000-square-foot lease in March at 1 Rockefeller Plaza. In the coming weeks, Regus will open a three-floor location at 747 Third Ave., its first New York branch to have a groundfloor lounge for members. Regus is rumored to be in negotiations to take yet another location, a 25,000-square-foot space at 132 W. 31st St., according to several sources familiar with the company’s plans. —daniel geiger velopment. The Chelsea location will be its 14th in the city. Mr. Hill said he expects the gym to be particularly popular with School of Visual Arts and Fashion Institute of Technology students. “It’s affordable fitness for the area,” Mr. Hill said. “Students are looking for a $20- or $30-a-month option for working out. It should be a great fit.” —ali elkin BARE BONES 257 PARK AVE. SOUTH ASKING RENT; TERM: Undisclosed; long-term lease SQUARE FEET: 44,000 TENANT; REP: The Environmental Defense Fund; Alan Desino of Colliers International LANDLORD; REPS: The Feil Organization; inhouse representation by Brian Feil and Robert Fisher BACK STORY: The nonprofit renewed its lease at the Gramercy Park building, where it has had offices since 1996. 225 VARICK ST. 330 SEVENTH AVE. ASKING RENT; TERM: $45 per square foot; five years ASKING RENT; TERM: High $40s per square foot; seven years and three months SQUARE FEET: 14,000 TENANT; REP: Splashlight Photographic and Digital Studios; Michael Frantz of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank LANDLORD; REP: Trinity Real Estate; in-house representation by Tom Lynch BACK STORY: The company is expanding to house new studio facilities, according to The Commercial Observer. SQUARE FEET: 4,450 TENANT; REPS: DHA Capital; Arkady Smolyansky and Michael Hirsch of CBRE Group Inc. LANDLORD; REP: Four Star Holding Co.; Michael Driezen of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank BACK STORY: The real estate investment, development and advisory firm will take part of the 19th floor, according to The Commercial Observer. SMALL BUSINESS Hotels, restaurants targeted; NYC’s high employee turnover increases risks BY ELAINE POFELDT J oey Tabush doesn’t want to take any chances when it comes to protecting customers’ credit-card data at his juniors’ clothing retail store, Lucky 21. To keep it out of the hands of hackers, Mr. Tabush invested in a PC-based point-of-sale and inventorymanagement system from a company called Visual Retail Plus for his two registers. He also uses secure third-party software called PAYware PC to keep track of credit-card transactions. For an extra layer of protection, he recently added paperless signature-capture PIN pads to his system for swiping cards at the store, located on Third Avenue at East 105th Street. Total cost: more than $8,500, when his firewall and hardware are included. “Who wants to have their day tied up with credit-card fraud?” said Mr. Tabush, whose profitable busi- ness, which includes his shop and an them at greater risk of hiring someone who may cause a breach. “The online store, employs 25 people. He’s ahead of the curve.A new re- more you’re hiring, the greater your port by Symantec found that cyberat- risk,” she said. A license for Visual tacks on businesses, like hacking and Retail Plus software costs $1,750, the use of malware to steal customers’ according to Ms. Shrem. Beyond damage to their reputadata, increased by 42% in 2012. Half were aimed at small and midsize tions, retailers with lax security face businesses with 2,500 employees or potentially crushing fines. Under the fewer, and nearly one-third targeted agreements they sign to get a merfirms with 250 employees or fewer. chant account,they must agree to follow the Payment Card InPoint-of-sale systems in reTOP PLACES dustry (PCI) Data Security tail businesses are a common from where Standards, a set of security target. customers’ data are stolen: rules for firms that handle Easy targets data from credit cards, debit A 2012 report by Verizon, cards and the like. which used data from 2011, “The vast majority of Point-of-sale said one cause of the trend is system’s server small businesses can’t surthe increasing ability of crimvive a single PCI violation,” inals to automate highsaid Rob Bertke, senior vice volume attacks on “weaker president of research and targets” with poor security— Point-of-sale development at Sage Payas well as civil unrest around terminal ment Solutions, which the world,causing hackers to serves clients in New York. try to harm U.S. businesses. Credit-card issuers have Restaurants and hotels Desktop the right to fine merchants are the most common vic- computer from $5,000 to $100,000 tims, suffering 54% of Source: Verizon report per month for violations and on 2011 breaches breaches, according to Verito hold them responsible for zon. They’re followed by retailers, the cost of fraud investigations, rewho account for 20%. muneration of victims and card reHili Shrem, director of business placement, according to Aaron development at Visual Retail Plus, Messing, an attorney who specialbased in Hackensack, N.J., said that izes in information security and data the relatively high turnover at some privacy at OlenderFeldman. New York City businesses puts Mr. Messing represents a local SECURITY-MINDED: Joey Tabush invested in technology to keep his customers’ creditcard data safe. 50% 35% 18% luxury-goods and electronics retailer that was charged more than $100,000 in fines and a percentage of its sales after malware on its point-of-sale system was used in the theft of customers’ credit-card data. Although his client (which did not want to be identified) hired a forensic team to find the malware and removed it promptly, the retailer was still held responsible. “It is very difficult to challenge these penalties and fines,” Mr. Messing said. Fortunately, Verizon says that simple measures can prevent 97% of cyberattacks. Experts recommend: ⅷ Changing the default passwords for point-of-sale systems so they’re not buck ennis Cyberattacks on credit-card systems rise easy to guess. ⅷ Restricting use of the PC used to process transactions—so Websurfing staffers don’t pick up viruses. ⅷ Looking for small plastic devices that can be inserted into card swipers to steal customers’ information. ⅷ Keeping terminals in plain sight, to make tampering harder. “A lot of merchants are choosing to stick their heads in the sand about PCI,” Mr. Bertke said. “Companies really do need to take this seriously.” Ⅲ To sign up for Crain’s SMALL BUSINESS newsletter, go to www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz. May 6, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 9 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - May 6, 2013

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

Crains New York - May 6, 2013