Talk Bronx New York

Retail, office development finally gets off ground in South Bronx

Shoppers crowd the Hub retail district, where Harris Stores, below, sells 300 items a day from its 99-cent sidewalk rack.

The South Bronx

site had sat empty since a mayoral groundbreaking ceremony.

The mayor was Abe Beame, and the year was 1976. The ceremony marked the first of three decades of false starts in a slice of the city that had more than its share of undelivered promises.

But finally, last year, megadeveloper Stephen Ross built a two-story retail and office building at Third Ave. and E. 156th St., and renovated the parking garage next door.

Shoppers in the neighborhood known as the Hub said they like what his firm, the Related Cos., delivered.

Yonarys Ramos runs errands at the building’s Rite Aid on her way home from work in the admissions office of Boricua College because the drugstore stays open until 9 p.m.

Ramos, who has four kids, gets school supplies at its Staples. And she thinks the prices are right at its Nine West outlet store — her cousin bought a purse there for just $5.

“I hope they build more stores,” said Ramos, 31.

She’ll get her wish if Related becomes a joint-venture partner with Blackacre Capital and Cypress Equities in a massive development planned nearby at a nearly empty, six-acre site at E. 149th St. and Bergen and Brook Aves.

Related wants in on the proposed 1.1 million-square-foot project, called the Plaza at the Hub. Before getting involved, the developer is asking the Bloomberg administration to move a city agency into an office building that would be part of the project, sources said.

Also, Related is seeking changes in the development plan, for instance, to include more housing. The current design calls for up to 250 apartments, 375,000 square feet of shops, a large supermarket, a 14-screen movie theater and about 1,000 parking spots.

Officials at the city Economic Development Corp. and execs at Related — which built the ritzy Time Warner Center and is now constructing the Gateway Center mall at the former Bronx Terminal Market — wouldn’t discuss the proposed project. Regarding the Third Ave. project, Glenn Goldstein, the president of Related’s retail division, did say he’s in “advanced negotiations” with a casual restaurant about renting the last vacant space, on the ground floor of the garage.

While development officials were reticent, real estate brokers were eager to talk about changes the proposed Plaza at the Hub project would bring.

“A regional-tenanted corridor would get an opportunity to have lots of national tenants — and parking spaces, so people would come in by car,” said broker Steve Lorenzo of NAI Friedland Realty. “It would bring the Targets of the world to the Hub and make it a place for 21st-century shoppers.”

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City probing top Bronx court officials on heirs’ 20M

The city has launched a probe of top court officials in the Bronx accused of improperly investing $20 million left behind by New Yorkers who died without wills, the Daily News has learned.

City Controller William Thompson has blasted Public Administrator John Raniolo for “financially irresponsible decisions” that tied up the assets of 37 estates and that taxpayers now have to cover through city payouts.

Sources close to Thompson said the matter had been referred to the city Department of Investigation.

“There’s concern about the making and the magnitude of the investments,” the source said. “Where is the due diligence here? It’s mind-boggling.”

A DOI spokeswoman confirmed the agency was “aware of the matter” but declined further comment.

Even though heirs couldn’t get at their money, Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman let politically wired lawyers and accountants collect $2.1 million in fees.

Lawyer Michael Lippman, who helped get Holzman elected twice, took $1.9 million in fees before filing legally required affidavits saying what he did to earn them.

Heirs have been trying to get their loved ones’ estates closed for years, yet Holzman never asked Lippman to provide explanations as to why the cases lingered so long. One began as far back as 1990, another in 1995.

Lippman told The News he considered the investments legal and that he did nothing wrong.

The public administrator is supposed to put assets in secure investments such as Treasury bills.

In 2005, former Public Administrator Esther Rodriguez handed the money to broker JB Hanauer & Co., which put the money in investments called auction-rate securities.

Auction-rate securities offer a slightly higher yield than the more conservative investments the public administrators are allowed to make, but the bonds depend on auctions by banks to be cashed. The market for auction-rate securities froze in February because of the credit crisis.

Raniolo continued the practice after Rodriguez resigned in disgrace in 2006.

Eric Siber, Hanauer’s director of marketing and sales, said he considered the securities “relatively liquid.” On Friday, JB Hanauer indicated that $825,000 of the $20million might be released to the public administrator this week.

Hanauer broker Jason Reback has been investing for Bronx public administrators for more than 15 years. Both Raniolo and Judge Holzman said they were unaware federal authorities had suspended Reback for 10 days in 2005 for unauthorized trades. Reback did not return calls.

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Project Description

The MTA New York City Transit (NYCT), the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), and New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) are planning to introduce Select Bus Service (SBS) to New York. SBS will utilize innovative bus rapid transit elements that will improve the speed and reliability of bus service on the implemented routes.

Goals and Objectives

SBS Benefits Include:

• A new high performance transit option for NYC.
• Improve the speed, reliability and appeal of the bus system, city-wide.
• Provide measurable benefits to current customers as well as attracting new riders and supporting growth and redevelopment.

The goals of the study are:

• Identify the opportunities for SBS in NYC with the greatest potential benefits and the highest probability of successful implementation.
• Move a comprehensive, cost-effective city-wide SBS demonstration program into implementation.
• Improve those corridors not selected for the SBS demonstration by using techniques identified by the study.

Project Phases and Schedule

The first SBS corridor, Fordham Rd-Pelham Parkway  is expected to be implemented in the summer of 2008.

Major Planning Activities Include:

1. Identify strategic issues relating to SBS implementation in NYC;
2. Based on U.S. and world-wide experience, identify the range of SBS improvements that might work well in NYC;
3. Identify and evaluate all candidate corridors with SBS potential in New York City;
4. Select the 15 corridors with the highest probability of success and potential benefit; Project Update
5. Develop a preliminary concept plan for each corridor tailored to the market and physical environment in that corridor;
6. Select the best corridors and develop more detailed plans while identifying improvements that can be implemented elsewhere.
7. Comprehensive Project Reassessment.
8. Preparation of detailed plans for Fordham Road-Pelham Parkway Corridor.
9. Implementation of Fordham Road-Pelham Parkway Corridor.

• NYCSBS Main Page
• What is BRT?
• Public Involvement Process
• Project Team
• Keeping in Touch
• Project Update
• FAQs

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Bronx judge oversaw city’s bad investments of inheritance cash

Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman oversaw program that lost $20 million.

Bronx Public Administrator is changing jobs this week.

Lawyer Michael Lippman has made $1.9 million in fees relating to the inheritance accounts.

A top Bronx judge let political cronies reap lucrative fees from dozens of improperly invested inheritances - leaving taxpayers on the hook for $20 million.

The mishandling of the money - overseen by Surrogate Judge Lee Holzman and managed by two aides - let politically wired lawyers and accountants rake in $2.1 million in fees, while heirs of the 37 victimized estates couldn’t get their money.

“They take their fees and the families be damned,” said Robert Southern, who has threatened to sue to get his inheritance from his late aunt, Florence Einstein.

“Are they waiting for us all to die?” asked Sharon Gentry, whose 97-year-old mother-in-law is still waiting for her inheritance from cousin Alice Babineau, who was killed in a 1995 car accident.

A Daily News investigation found the risky investments were first made in 2005 by ex-Bronx public administrator Esther Rodriguez, who resigned under a cloud in 2006, and continued by her successor, John Raniolo.

Public administrators manage the assets of residents who die without wills until the court approves a settlement. They are supposed to invest estate money in conservative financial instruments such as treasury bills.

Judge Holzman appointed Rodriguez and Raniolo to the job and was responsible for monitoring all of the estates. He signed off on all fees and was supposed to make sure the cases moved swiftly through the courts.

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