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Rye Brook, NY Con Edison’s announcement on January 18 that effective March 15 it will no longer accept new natural gas customers in rapidly developing lower Westchester County due to a severe shortage of available supply, is a wake-up call for all who are focused on the economic present and future of Westchester and the entire metropolitan area. In light of Con Edison, the Business Council of Westchester will immediately organize a campaign to bring together the best minds from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to address the natural gas shortage crisis head-on and present viable, practical solutions.

Manhattan, NY Related Companies and The Hudson Companies have launched plans to bring 340 new units of affordable housing to Roosevelt Island. The developers and their city and state partners at the NYC Housing Preservation Department, NYC Housing Development Corp. and NYS’ Homes and Community Renewal agencies closed on the property on December 26th, 2018. Construction for Riverwalk 8, a 21-story building, located at 460 Main St., began in January and occupancy is expected in 2021.

New York, NY IREM NYC held its January Breakfast Meeting, “Property Management in the Age of #MeToo.” For years, courts have provided guidance on the definitions of sexual harassment and sexually hostile work environment, and on the defenses available to employers. Their breakfast meeting provided an overview of what constitutes sexual harassment according to legislation, EEOC guidelines and case law.

Albany, NY On January 27-29, the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York (ACEC New York) held their annual Winter Conference for the second year at the Capital Center and Renaissance Hotel in downtown Albany. This event is the largest conference on the ACEC New York calendar, and this year’s attendance exceeded all expectations with over 400 engineering and related professionals, as well as agency and authority personnel, in attendance. The conference also offered parallel tracks for CFOs/business managers, emerging leaders (engineering professionals preparing to take on top leadership roles in engineering firms), and a new track for HR personnel, which turned out to be a popular addition.

New York, NY Professional Women in Construction (PWC) - New York Chapter launched its 2019 Experienced & Emerging Mentorship Program on January 25. In June 2017, PWC launched its first Experienced & Emerging Mentorship program. The inaugural program paired 50 of the chapter’s members into 25 pairs. PWC is now taking applications from members to launch the third year, after a successful second year in 2018 with 28 pairs.

New York, NY With a western view of the Midtown skyline, BOMA New York packed their event space in January’s Lunch & Learn called, I.T. – As a competitive differentiator. Raj Goel, founder of Brainlink International, addressed the sold out room about a myriad of different types of cyber threats to be aware of. He shared real-time case studies and best practices to both educate and to be better prepared.

New York, NY Helmsley Spear, LLC is collaborating with Hercules SEZC, a blockchain-based supply chain software company, in the initial phase of documenting rent rolls for Helmsley Spear’s commercial leases and providing confidentiality and indisputable historical building documentation for two of its properties in Lower Manhattan. The collaboration has the potential to transform rent roll processes through blockchain technology open approach to database management. This technology will improve security, privacy, interoperability and smart contract flow framework with an indisputable digital audit trail. Helmsley Spear president Kent Swig said, “Changing real estate trends, intense competition and increasingly complex financial considerations require an understanding of investment and management risk and rewards.” 

Manhattan, NY The Armani Group and SL Green have launched plans to redevelop the Giorgio Armani boutique at 760 Madison Ave. The fully reimagined 97,000 s/f building will be home to a new flagship Giorgio Armani retail boutique and 19 residences designed by Giorgio Armani. Giorgio Armani will conceive the residential interiors and the designer intends to take up residence within the building upon its completion. New York architecture firm COOKFOX will serve as architect on the project and redesign the new building to reflect the evolution of the Armani brand which has become a perfect complement to the Upper East Side.

Manhattan, NY According to United Management and Reuveni Real Estate, Dahlia, a 20-story residential building on the Upper West Side, has officially “topped off” construction. A catered recognition ceremony, held at the building located at 212 West 95th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave., attracted guests who toured the construction site, viewed project renderings and signed the last beam that was then hoisted and placed at the top of the building. The project is being developed by United Management in conjuction with Certes Partners. CetraRuddy is the design architect and interior designer, RKTB is the architect of record and JRM is the construction manager of the project.

New York, NY Hello Living LLC, a full-service real estate development firm based in Brooklyn, has launched and established Hello Living’s investment platform, “Hello Vision.” The Hello Vision investment platform will provide financing for ground-up and renovation development projects, currently located in NYC, and will strategically invest in several real estate asset types, including multifamily, mixed-use, medical and office.

Manhattan, NY Oxford Properties Group, the global real estate arm of OMERS, has reopened the interior public plaza at Olympic Tower — a new, architecturally distinct retreat in East Midtown. Located at 645 Fifth Ave., Olympic Tower is a office and retail destination. In addition to the renovated public space, the $30 million redevelopment of Olympic Tower brings a modern private lobby and new amenities for the building’s customers. The fully-occupied tower is home to the headquarters offices of the National Basketball Association as well as MSD Capital and Richemont North America.

Sayville, NY Brian Campbell has purchased an 829 s/f, free-standing retail building at 32 Foster Ave. for $260,000. The new owner is still in discussion with architect, John Bracco, regarding plans for the property. Talks of quick serve, professional office, or a hair salon is at the top of the list. Carmine LiBretti of Industry One Realty Corp. represented the buyer as well as the seller, 5 Ch’s Properties LLC.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY American Investment Properties has brokered the $1.675 million sale of 117 Main St. The 6,000 s/f property contains office and retail space. Ron Koenigsberg, CCIM, president, of AIP represented the seller and Lyle Alper, associate of AIP, represented the buyer. 

Brentwood, NY Ralph Perna, executive managing director at Newmark Knight Frank, has brokered one $4.4 million sale and five leases totaling 165,400 s/f. The deals include the following: • The $4.4 million sale of 75 Emjay Blvd., Brentwood. The 43,000 s/f building sold to Universal Door from Brooklyn. The seller was Michbi Door.  Perna represented both sides.

Mineola, NY Charissa Kwan, MAI, AI-GRS, has been elected president of the Long Island chapter of the Appraisal Institute for 2019. Serving Nassau and Suffolk counties of Long Island, the chapter assists local real estate appraisers to earn Appraisal Institute professional membership designations and provides appraisal education and networking to the real estate and related industries.

New York, NY The Long Island Real Estate Group (LIREG), of which Richard Herzbach is co-president, recently arranged a special tour of the MTA East Side Access Project. East Side Access provides new LIRR service to the east side of Manhattan, supplementing existing service to Penn Station on Manhattan’s west side and Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn. The East Side Access megaproject is one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects currently underway in the U.S. with a history that reaches back to the 1950’s when discussions were first held regarding regional transportation planning. The project encompasses work in multiple locations in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx and includes eight miles of tunneling.

This column is offered to help educate agents new to commercial and investment brokerage and serve as a review of basics for existing practitioners.  A part of the tax bill that became law at the end of 2017 was the “Investing in Opportunity Act,” which established the Opportunity Zone program. The idea was to create incentives to revitalize economically distressed communities using private funding not taxpayer dollars.

Uniondale, NY Gabriella Botticelli has joined the law firm of Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP as an associate in the tax certiorari practice group. She concentrates her practice in the specialty area of property tax refund and reduction, commonly known as tax certiorari. Botticelli has experience with properties throughout NYS, specifically the Suffolk, Nassau, and Westchester counties.

Cold Spring Harbor, NY According to Deirdre O’Connell, CEO of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, the firm has named Deborah Hauser as its COO. Longtime COO Tom Calabrese will be assuming a senior executive advisor role. “Since Deborah Hauser took her first sales management post in 2012, she’s been a galvanizing force in the tremendous growth of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty,” said O’Connell. “Her deep understanding of the organization and the industry at large stems from her early success as a top producing real estate advisor whose expertise has continued to develop through a succession of management positions.”