About 38.4 million people will take to the roads this Memorial Day weekend, the most in more than two decades of data tracking the holiday’s travel numbers, according to the American Automobile Association.
About 43.8 million people will embark on trips of all forms during the weekend leading into the May 27 holiday, with plane travel, cruises and public transport also proving popular, the group said. That’s the second-highest number AAA has seen since 2005, when consumer sentiment had recovered from the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had yet to be roiled by the 2008 financial crisis.
Notably, the number of expected travelers this year surpasses 2019 levels, showing that the travel industry has recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic and is thriving again. That recovery is right on schedule, as travel numbers typically take about four years to rebound from collapses, said AAA spokeswoman Aixa Diaz.
“There’s been a psychological shift around travel,” Diaz said in an interview. “We were so restricted in where we were able to go and what we were able to do, now people are willing to spend their money on experiences rather than just things.”
Retail gasoline prices will be similar to this time a year earlier, AAA said, even as demand leading into the summer hovers at the lowest levels since 2020. Still, prices at the pump may creep up as the summer driving season kicks into full force, AAA said.
A rebound in domestic travel would be a positive signal for global demand at a time when concerns about the strength of Chinese consumption are lingering. Crude prices are still up for the year amid production cuts from OPEC and its allies, and markets are looking ahead to the alliance’s meeting on June 1, where it’s expected to continue the supply curbs into the second half of the year.
New York City will soon have its day in state court to allege that the oil industry misled city consumers about the impact of their products on the climate.
Federal Judge Valerie Caproni on Thursday rejected Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and the American Petroleum Institute’s request to transfer the lawsuit out of state court, where it was originally filed, to a federal venue where the companies believe they are more likely to win. Caproni’s ruling enables the case to move forward in New York state court after three years of legal limbo.
The city’s suit, which was filed in 2021 by former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration, charges the oil giants with “systematically” violating city consumer protection law through false advertising and deceptive trade practices. Several other cities, counties and state governments have filed similar cases to hold oil companies financially accountable for their role in warming the planet.
Attorneys for the companies argued that the case belongs in federal court because it seeks to limit fossil fuel emissions, but Caproni said that that is not what the city is looking to achieve.
“The claims in the city’s complaint are about false and misleading advertisements,” she wrote. “Those claims do not become claims about transboundary pollution and foreign affairs just because the alleged deception relates to the impact of fossil fuels on the climate.”
The timeline of the case isn’t clear, but Hilary Meltzer, chief of the city law department’s environmental division, said the city is eager to press the case.
“The City deserves its day in court to hold these defendants accountable for their false and misleading statements to New York City consumers,” Meltzer said in a statement to Crain’s. “It’s time to get to the merits of this case.”
A judge has ruled that the city must pay more than $13 million total to the daughter of late developer Horace Bullard, whose dreams of creating a year-round amusement park in Coney Island never came to fruition, after years ago seizing her property along the famous Brooklyn boardwalk, according to a notice that appeared in the city register Monday.
Comptroller Brad Lander will cut a check for $6.1 million plus interest — the city already paid $7.5 million nearly a decade ago after taking the property — to Jasmine Bullard of Wantanabe Realty Corp., whose father died of ALS in 2013. In 2016, using eminent domain, the city took control of three of her parcels, at 1520 Surf Ave. and 1507 and 1519 Boardwalk West, adjacent to the site of the original Thunderbolt roller coaster that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani controversially demolished in 2000.
After years of delays related to Covid and various appraisals of the then-vacant land, Kings County Supreme Court Judge Wayne Saitta finally issued a judgment. The comptroller will issue the check May 20, according to city records. James Greilsheimer, of the New York-based law firm Kramer Levin, who represented Bullard, told Crain's neither side is planning to appeal, though Bullard isn't very happy with the decision either.
"We had hoped for some more," said Greilsheimer, who added that the city had hoped for less.
Bullard had owned about 150,000 square feet of property before the city seized roughly 55,000 square feet of it to create contiguous parkland in what's known as the people's playground.
But the question of what will become of the property she still owns — the site of the former Thunderbolt — remains. Dick Zigun, the self-styled "mayor of Coney Island" who founded Coney Island USA and the annual Mermaid Parade, said its value is high, thanks to a past rezoning allowing for a nearly 30-story hotel — but the community would love to see more rides there.
"We all want to know what she has planned for that. We all want her to sell it," said Zigun. "It's a big puzzling question mark in the neighborhood."
More than two decades ago, Giuliani tore down the landmarked Thunderbolt roller coaster, which had become a Hollywood icon. A federal jury later ruled that Giuliani violated Horace Bullard's rights and had no justification to tear down the coaster, which operated from 1925 until the early 1980s but was out of service when the former mayor had it torn down. Eventually, Bullard won a $1 million settlement from the city, which he reportedly never collected, according to The New York Times.
That wasn't Bullard's first run-in with Giuliani. A $450 million plan Bullard had dreamt up in the 1980s to revitalize the park was first thwarted by a financial crash that decade and later by Giuliani, who revoked approvals for the project — a move that Bullard, who was Black and Puerto Rican, later characterized as racist, the Times reported.
The city did not respond to a request for comment about its plans for the the sites or the judge's decision. Attempts to speak with Bullard before press time were unsuccessful.
A judge has ruled that the city must pay more than $13 million total to the daughter of late developer Horace Bullard, whose dreams of creating a year-round amusement park in Coney Island never came to fruition, after years ago seizing her property along the famous Brooklyn boardwalk, according to a notice that appeared in the city register Monday.
Comptroller Brad Lander will cut a check for $6.1 million plus interest — the city already paid $7.5 million nearly a decade ago after taking the property — to Jasmine Bullard of Wantanabe Realty Corp., whose father died of ALS in 2013. In 2016, using eminent domain, the city took control of three of her parcels, at 1520 Surf Ave. and 1507 and 1519 Boardwalk West, adjacent to the site of the original Thunderbolt roller coaster that former Mayor Rudy Giuliani controversially demolished in 2000.
After years of delays related to Covid and various appraisals of the then-vacant land, Kings County Supreme Court Judge Wayne Saitta finally issued a judgment. The comptroller will issue the check May 20, according to city records. James Greilsheimer, of the New York-based law firm Kramer Levin, who represented Bullard, told Crain's neither side is planning to appeal, though Bullard isn't very happy with the decision either.
"We had hoped for some more," said Greilsheimer, who added that the city had hoped for less.
Bullard had owned about 150,000 square feet of property before the city seized roughly 55,000 square feet of it to create contiguous parkland in what's known as the people's playground.
But the question of what will become of the property she still owns — the site of the former Thunderbolt — remains. Dick Zigun, the self-styled "mayor of Coney Island" who founded Coney Island USA and the annual Mermaid Parade, said its value is high, thanks to a past rezoning allowing for a nearly 30-story hotel — but the community would love to see more rides there.
"We all want to know what she has planned for that. We all want her to sell it," said Zigun. "It's a big puzzling question mark in the neighborhood."
More than two decades ago, Giuliani tore down the landmarked Thunderbolt roller coaster, which had become a Hollywood icon. A federal jury later ruled that Giuliani violated Horace Bullard's rights and had no justification to tear down the coaster, which operated from 1925 until the early 1980s but was out of service when the former mayor had it torn down. Eventually, Bullard won a $1 million settlement from the city, which he reportedly never collected, according to The New York Times.
That wasn't Bullard's first run-in with Giuliani. A $450 million plan Bullard had dreamt up in the 1980s to revitalize the park was first thwarted by a financial crash that decade and later by Giuliani, who revoked approvals for the project — a move that Bullard, who was Black and Puerto Rican, later characterized as racist, the Times reported.
The city did not respond to a request for comment about its plans for the the sites or the judge's decision. Attempts to speak with Bullard before press time were unsuccessful.
Cornell University’s medical school is moving out of 30,000 square feet of lab space on the Upper East Side, the latest piece of grim news for the landlord formerly called New York City REIT that is distancing itself from its troubled portfolio.
The move-out, effective when Weill Cornell Medicine’s lease at 400 E. 67th St. expires next month, was disclosed Friday in a report by bond-rater KBRA. The university rented space in the first two floors of the Laurel, a 31-story condominium tower developed in 2007 and owned by NYC REIT, a firm that last year changed its name to American Strategic Investment Co. to underscore its effort to own things besides New York real estate.
On April 30, American Strategic said it put three Manhattan properties on the auction block: The office buildings 9 Times Square and 123 William St., plus the condo 196 Orchard St. The 165,000 square-foot Times Square building is 30% vacant.
“These strategic dispositions are in furtherance of the company’s previously announced repositioning of the company’s investment portfolio and expanded business plan to invest in assets beyond Manhattan real estate,” said the REIT, which trades under the “NYC” stock ticker on the New York Stock Exchange.
American Strategic amassed a portfolio of 1.2 million square feet of Manhattan office and residential space starting a decade ago, when interest rates were ultra-low and optimism about New York City real estate was ultra-high. Most of the acquired office buildings are Class B and have struggled to retain tenants since 2020.
In 2014 the firm bought the Laurel’s commercial space, plus a parking garage in the Upper West Side condominium complex formerly known as Trump Place, for $85 million, or $707 per square foot. KBRA estimated the properties are worth a combined $323 per square foot now and lowered its outlook for the properties’ $50 million mortgage to “underperform,” citing the looming Cornell exit from a fully occupied building and generally unfavorable conditions for office. Sarah Smith, executive director of public relations, said Weill Cornell is “considering consolidating some of our locations into other currently leased or owned building space to maximize these other properties by the end of the year.”
A few months after the Laurel deal, American Strategic Investment bought 9 Times Square. A building acquired in 2016, the 250,000 square-foot 1140 Sixth Ave., is newer and attractively located at West 44th Street but 23% empty. Last month lenders extended the maturity of 9 Times Square’s $49.5 million mortgage to October to give ASI time to sell the building.
ASI shares trade at just 9% of book value, according to Yahoo Finance, a figure suggesting investors have all but given up on management extracting value from its portfolio.
On an earnings call Friday, CEO Michael Anderson said he has had “some unsolicited interest in recent months on 9 Times Square and think that there will be similar interest at 123 William.” He added the firm is seeing “some increased leasing interest” at 1140 Sixth.
As to the future, “I would say that the focus is probably outside of New York.”
Jeffrey Greenberg, the chairman of buyout firm Aquiline Capital and the former head of insurance giant Marsh McLennan, has unloaded his Upper East Side apartment a few years after purchasing a new home on the West Side.
Greenberg and his wife, Kimberly, sold the five-bedroom co-op at 950 Park Ave. for $8.2 million, according to a filing that appeared in the city register Friday. The prewar corner unit, which has five baths, a living room with a fireplace, and a library, had been on and off the market for several years, according to real estate website Streeteasy.
After briefly listing the apartment in 2016 at $13 million, the Greenbergs seem to have hit the pause button before reintroducing the home in 2022 for about $9 million, meaning it finally traded at slightly below asking.
No. 950 Park, at East 82nd Street, offers about 30 units across 14 stories. It currently has three apartments for sale, including a five-bedroom listed in October at $9.5 million.
The buyers of the Greenbergs’ former 4,500-square-apartment were Joe Benavides, the managing partner of private equity firm OceanSound Partners, and his wife, Stephanie, records show.
Jeffrey Greenberg's sale appears to put the finishing touches on a relocation plan launched years ago. In 2022 Greenberg, a son of former AIG Chief Executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, snapped up a four-bedroom duplex at the co-op 88 Central Park West for $9 million. That unit, too, took a long time and sharp discounting to find a taker, as it was originally listed for $18 million in 2016.
Still, not all the units in the Central Park-facing No. 88 have sat for years. Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz sold her four-bedroom duplex in February after just a few months of marketing. It went for nearly $11 million, about $2 million more than Leibovitz was seeking.
Founded in 2005, Aquiline acquires tech companies that support the insurance industry. Recent success stories include the sale of seven-year-old Corvus Insurance Holdings, which offers protection against cyber attacks. The Travelers Cos. paid $435 million for Corvus earlier this year. Aquiline has 76 companies in its portfolio, according to PitchBook.
Greenberg founded the firm after abruptly stepping down from Marsh McLennan in the face of an investigation by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who sued March for allegedly rigging insurance prices. Previously, Greenberg spent 17 years at AIG.
A former managing director at asset manager Blackstone, Joe Benavides is today the managing partner of OceanSound Partners, a five-year-old entity that invests in software companies supporting government agencies, according to its website. It has $2.7 billion in assets under management.
Spokesmen for Aquiline and OceanSound declined to comment by press time. Sabrina Saltiel, the Douglas Elliman agent who listed the property, also had no comment. And Russell Miller, the Brown Harris Stevens agent who represented the Benavideses in the deal, did not respond to an email.
Jeffrey Greenberg, the chairman of buyout firm Aquiline Capital and the former head of insurance giant Marsh McLennan, has unloaded his Upper East Side apartment a few years after purchasing a new home on the West Side.
Greenberg and his wife, Kimberly, sold the five-bedroom co-op at 950 Park Ave. for $8.2 million, according to a filing that appeared in the city register Friday. The prewar corner unit, which has five baths, a living room with a fireplace, and a library, had been on and off the market for several years, according to real estate website Streeteasy.
After briefly listing the apartment in 2016 at $13 million, the Greenbergs seem to have hit the pause button before reintroducing the home in 2022 for about $9 million, meaning it finally traded at slightly below asking.
No. 950 Park, at East 82nd Street, offers about 30 units across 14 stories. It currently has three apartments for sale, including a five-bedroom listed in October at $9.5 million.
The buyers of the Greenbergs’ former 4,500-square-apartment were Joe Benavides, the managing partner of private equity firm OceanSound Partners, and his wife, Stephanie, records show.
Jeffrey Greenberg's sale appears to put the finishing touches on a relocation plan launched years ago. In 2022 Greenberg, a son of former AIG Chief Executive Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, snapped up a four-bedroom duplex at the co-op 88 Central Park West for $9 million. That unit, too, took a long time and sharp discounting to find a taker, as it was originally listed for $18 million in 2016.
Still, not all the units in the Central Park-facing No. 88 have sat for years. Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz sold her four-bedroom duplex in February after just a few months of marketing. It went for nearly $11 million, about $2 million more than Leibovitz was seeking.
Founded in 2005, Aquiline acquires tech companies that support the insurance industry. Recent success stories include the sale of seven-year-old Corvus Insurance Holdings, which offers protection against cyber attacks. The Travelers Cos. paid $435 million for Corvus earlier this year. Aquiline has 76 companies in its portfolio, according to PitchBook.
Greenberg founded the firm after abruptly stepping down from Marsh McLennan in the face of an investigation by then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who sued March for allegedly rigging insurance prices. Previously, Greenberg spent 17 years at AIG.
A former managing director at asset manager Blackstone, Joe Benavides is today the managing partner of OceanSound Partners, a five-year-old entity that invests in software companies supporting government agencies, according to its website. It has $2.7 billion in assets under management.
Spokesmen for Aquiline and OceanSound declined to comment by press time. Sabrina Saltiel, the Douglas Elliman agent who listed the property, also had no comment. And Russell Miller, the Brown Harris Stevens agent who represented the Benavideses in the deal, did not respond to an email.
Leases
Bain takes more than 200K square feet in Midtown
Address: 22 Vanderbilt Ave., Manhattan
Landlord: Milstein Properties
Tenant: Bain & Co.
Lease size: Approx. 235,200 square feet
Asset type: Office
Brokers: CBRE's John Maher, Chris Corrinet, and Paul Myers represented the tenant. CBRE's Paul Amrich, Neil King, Jeffrey Fischer, Sacha Zarba and Meghan Allen represented the landlord, along with Brookfield Properties' Duncan McCuaig, David Caperna and PJ Massey.
Read more about the deal here.
Education firm inks lease with Rudin
Address: 355 Lexington Ave., Manhattan
Landlord: Rudin
Tenant: Lindamood-Bell
Lease size: 5,521 square feet
Lease length: Seven years and four months
Asset type: Education
Brokers: CBRE's Lauren Schott and Gary Kamenetsky represented the tenant. Robert Steinman represented the landlord in-house.
Financings
EMP Capital secures loan for mixed-used development
Address: 870-888 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn
Owner: Elie Pariente
Lender: QR Real Estate Capital
Loan amount: $102.4 million
Asset type: Commercial