Battery Park City Authority Board of Directors (again) debates support for Connection bus: It's that time of year again, when the Battery Park City Authority board of directors wonders how much the Connection bus run by the Downtown Alliance is costing the BPCA, and whether that cost is reasonable. At the board of directors meeting on Thursday, Robert Serpico, the Authority's CFO, said of the bus, "It's a great service to our community."

The free bus makes a total of 37 stops between the South Street Seaport, where it begins its route, and Broadway near City Hall, where it turns around to return to the Seaport. According to Serpico, 18 of those stops are in Battery Park City, where 45 percent of all rides begin and 49 percent end.

Battery Park City is not in the Downtown Alliance Business Improvement District, but nevertheless has been contributing $632,000 a year to fund the shuttle. "We pay a little less than our fair percentage of the cost to the Downtown Alliance," said Serpico, who recommended that the subsidy be continued.

Dennis Mehiel, chairman of the BPCA, observed that the Alliance's contract with the current bus company will expire in one year. "Given the portion that we're funding here, do we have a right of reasonable approval on the contract that they entered into?" he asked.

Serpico replied, "I don't think we have a right to say no or yes. We work cooperatively with them."

Mehiel was not entirely satisfied with that answer. If the contract has been in place for years, he said, "it is what it is. I'm simply suggesting that we put them [the Downtown Alliance] on notice - we think you're wonderful, we love you, but when you're negotiating the new contract, we want to see that contract before you approve it. You're going to run it and all that stuff. We're not trying to take over, but we want full transparency and be able to reach a judgment that what you're doing is rational before we sign on for 30 or 40 percent."

 

"OK," Serpico said. - Terese Loeb Kreuzer 

"At World Trade Center Site, Rebuilding Recreates Intersection of Long Ago," New York Times, 7/31/14. Beginning on Aug. 1, "New Yorkers will be able to do something they have not done in nearly half a century: stand on the corner of Cortlandt and Greenwich," says The New York Times. "It will be the first recreated street intersection on what had been the monolithic World Trade Center site, the first three-dimensional expression of a long-sought goal to reintegrate the 16-acre site with the rest of Lower Manhattan. This new crossroads, with constantly merging streams of pedestrians, ought to go far in restoring an urban pulse to the trade center site, which was cut off from its surroundings by design before Sept. 11, 2001, and by catastrophe and construction ever since." For the complete article, click here.

"World Trade Center contractor charged with fraud," New York Business Journal, 8/1/14. "The owner and CEO of DCM Erectors, a company that's done about $1 billion worth of construction work at the new World Trade Center in Manhattan has been charged with wire fraud and conspiracy," says the New York Business Journal. "Prosecutors alleged Larry Davis paid at least two minority-owned businesses for work that those businesses did not do in order to meet contractual requirements set by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to subcontract out work to such businesses, according to a report by Reuters. Executives with those two businesses have already pleaded guilty and are cooperating with authorities, the report added." For the complete article, click here.

"How NYC neighbors jointly sell units as larger apartments - at larger prices," New York Post, 7/30/14. "With New York real estate inventory reaching a six-year low, sellers - and their crafty brokers - are trying new strategies to gain an edge on the market," the New York Post observes. The latest trend is "crowd selling" in which several owners with contiguous apartments combine them and ask a hefty price. "Crowd-selling's most ambitious - if not audacious - example has to be a current sale at The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton New York, Battery Park," says the Post. "Here, Ryan Serhant of Nest Seekers got three adjoining apartments from a pair of owners to come together into one massive listing on the 39th and 40th floors. The result will be a penthouse-duplex with 15,434 square feet inside with space for 12 bedrooms and 15 bathrooms (depending on final configuration) and 2,193 square feet of terraces. The asking price: $118.5 million." However, the article mentions a caveat for would-be buyers in Battery Park City. "Historically, apartments in Battery Park City have traded at much lower prices since land there is land-leased (which means the buildings do not own the earth beneath them)," says the article. "In fact, the highest-priced area residence sold for $11.7 million earlier this year - a five-bedroom, 3,513-square-foot penthouse at The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton." For the complete article, click here

"Protestant nonprofit to buy downtown office condo," Crain's New York Business, 7/31/14. "Having just sold its landmarked headquarters building on Park Avenue South for a reported $50 million, one nonprofit is parking some of those proceeds into new office space in lower Manhattan," says Crain's New York Business. "The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, which provides funding for faith-based social service groups, is acquiring a 33,000-square-foot floor at 40 Rector St. for more than $13 million, according to sources. "The organization is acquiring the space from Philips International, a company that purchased the 19-story, 600,000-square-foot office property in 2000 and converted it into commercial condos. Philips International has since sold off or is in contract to sell most of the property." Several nonprofits are already in the building. "Office condos are favorable to nonprofits because the purchase allows them to avoid paying real estate taxes that have to be paid when renting office space," the article explains. For the complete article, click here.

"Teens caught aboard 'Casino Royale' yacht," New York Post, 7/30/14. "Two kids from the projects wanted to feel like billionaires for a night, so they slipped aboard several glitzy megayachts docked near the World Financial Center - telling cops they were 'just chillin'' on them, according to law enforcement sources cited by the New York Post. "Carrying flashlights, Trey Cruz, 20, and his pal Justice Mejias, 16, allegedly raided cabinets for beer inside the 'Casino Royale,' a $42 million James Bond-themed megayacht at the North Cove Marina at around 5 a.m. on Sunday, law enforcement sources said." For the complete article, click here.

Ongoing: The National Museum of the American Indian is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission. It offers free films, docent-led tours of its exhibitions and tours of its premises, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, designed by Cass Gilbert. The building, which was completed in 1907, is a National Historic Landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. One Bowling Green. Phone: (212) 514-3700. For the museum's calendar, click here.