Professional Documents
Culture Documents
*= Leased Out
** = Rented
Red light, green light
CHAMBER
Continued from page 13
SIBOR/Special to Business Trends
Representatives of the Staten Island Board of Realtors traveled to
Albany recently, joining with 300 other realtors from across the
state to urge lawmakers to approve legislation they believe vital to
the well-being of the housing industry. At the State Assembly in Al-
bany are, from left, Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis; Dil Gillani,
SIBOR president-elect; Claire Besignano, SIBOR secretary-treasur-
er; Assemblyman Michael Cusick; Dawn Carpenter, a SIBOR past-
president; Laird Klein, president of SIBOR; Assemblyman Joe Borel-
li, and Sandy Krueger, SIBOR CEO.
SIBOR hits the road to Albany
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20 BUSINESS TRENDS AUGUST 2014
4TH ANNUAL LIGHT
KEEPERS GALA
FRIDAY, AUGUST 8
Time: 6:30 p.m. 11:00 p.m.
Location: 355 Front Street
For information, call 855-NLM-SINY
SI ARTIST MARKET
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9
Time: 10:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m.
Location: 73 Wave St.
For information, call 347-257-9263
ST. JOHNS
UNIV: GOLF OUTING
MONDAY, AUGUST 11
Location: Richmond County Coun-
try Club
For information, call 718-390-4526
WBCLDC: MKTG. YOUR
BUSINESS ONLINE
MONDAY, AUGUST 11
Time: 6:00 8:00 p.m.
Location: 705 Forest Ave., 2nd Fl.
For information, call 718-816-4775
RICHMOND CNTY.
BANKERS ASSOC.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
Location: Mikes Place, 4677 Hylan
Blvd.
For information, call 718-370-7037
SI CHAMBER: BUS.
AFTER HOURS
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
Time: 5:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m.
Location: Richmond County Coun-
try Club
For information, call 718-727-1900
WBCLDC: MKTG. YOUR
BUSINESS ONLINE
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
Time: 6:00 8:00 p.m.
Location: 705 Forest Ave., 2nd Fl.
For information, call 718-816-4775
NYS WOMEN, INC.
(RICHMOND CNTY.)
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Bella Vita Caf, 1919 Hylan
Blvd.
For information, call 718-816-5991
POWERFUL YOU!
THURSDAY, AUGUST 14
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Giulianas, 4105 Hylan
Blvd.
For information, call 718-608-1640
NYS WOMEN, INC.
(STATEN ISLAND)
TUESDAY, AUGUST 19
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Location: LiGrecis Staaten, 697
Forest Ave.
For information, call 718-226-6462
24-7
NETWORKING SALES
MONDAY, AUGUST 25
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Location: Z-One Restaurant, Rich-
mond Ave.
For information, call 973-697-8872
WORLD OF WOMEN
MONDAY, AUGUST 25
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Mansion Grand, Mansion
Ave.
For information, call 718-948-8175
WBCLDC: BUILD YOUR
BUS. WEB PRESENCE
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26
Time: 10:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.
Location: 705 Forest Ave., 2nd Fl.
For information, call 718-816-4775
NEW DAY
TOASTMASTERS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 28
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: SI Univ. Hosp., Seaview
Ave.
For information, call 347-265-1161.
Business Calendar
AUGUST 2014 BUSINESS TRENDS 21
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MEMBER
2014
Staten Island Ferry Terminal in
what its calling the Culture
Lounge.
We really studied the issue
and did a lot of focus groups with
the community, said Melanie
Cohn, the executive director of
the organization. Having a pres-
ence in St. George, it became ap-
parent pretty earlythat it would
be a good location to take advan-
tage of other things happening in
the community already.
From the first day the Culture
Lounge opened to the public on
June 7, Staten Island Arts hit the
ground running. Even though the
organization didnt finish moving
its offices to the new location
until July 1, Cohn and her staff
have been meeting new commu-
nity members all summer, espe-
cially the riders of the Ferry.
In its former location in Snug
Harbor, Staten Island Arts was lo-
cated in a sub-basement. They
were hard to find, Cohn said, and
hardly anyone would stumble
upon them. Now, there are crowds
of people who stop in to explore
what it has to offer.
In terms of visibility and ac-
cess for our artists, its going to be
an incredible place, she said.
The organizations ongoing
experiment, as Cohn described
it, will be to market to people to
visit the Culture Lounge, and the
way they will do that is through
providing good content. Theyve
been hosting film nights and per-
formances on Tuesday nights,
theyre holding an artists market
where visitors can purchase
goods, and theyre hosting ongo-
ing exhibits that will change
throughout the year to attract
new visitors.
Im really excited to have the
first year of those programs done,
because there will be a culminat-
ing effect of them, because each
of them tells a different story
about Staten Island, Cohn said.
The first exhibit in the series,
Passenger and Vessel, which
opened Aug. 1, is a site-specific,
interactive installation that asks
the viewer to consider the rela-
tionship between passenger and
vessel and how it affects travel.
Other planned exhibitions will
build on this topic to give visitors
different viewpoints about the
world.
At the same time, Staten Island
Arts will continue to fine tune its
new space, including bringing in
an artist to paint their logo and a
mural on the wall and complete
signage out front.
The Cultural Lounge has come
a long way since the signatures
were placed on the paperwork.
The Ferry Terminal location was
not in the cards for Staten Island
Arts at first, Cohn said. She had
gone on a tour of the spaces with
the New York City Economic De-
velopment Corporation, but for a
small nonprofit, Cohn found the
application process difficult and
opaque.
However, then-Borough Presi-
dent James Molinaro and the
EDC helped Staten Island Arts
navigate the process and negoti-
ate to rent the space.
With the help of funding from
Molinaros office, the Richmond
County Savings Foundation, the
Northfield Foundation, $12,000
from a Kickstarter fundraising
campaign and other foundation
grants, Staten Island Arts was
able to lease the office and pay for
build-out of what was a complete-
ly raw space.
It was just basically a shell
and we had to go do everything to
get it ready, Cohn said.
Now that build-out is complete
and only minor cosmetic details
remain, the organization can help
take one of its major projects to
the next level.
Over the last year, Staten Is-
land Arts has been working to
help artists learn how to be small
businesses.
Through a grant from New
York Community Trust, Staten Is-
land Arts developed its Cultural
Entrepreneurs Program to help
small to mid-sized cultural organ-
izations and community-led
groups involved in traditional
cultural practices on Staten Is-
land achieve stronger business
practices.
Because art is a persons pas-
sion, its often difficult for them to
think about how they can mone-
tize their work.
The Cultural Entrepreneurs
Program aims to help artists
break through their barriers and
think about making money off
what they are doing. Through
one-on-one meetings, educational
workshops and the artists mar-
ket, the artists can learn how to
market their products, test the
business ideas they have and
start thinking about pricing their
products on the wholesale and re-
tail markets.
If we have our local artists
that are able to do that, then
theyre going to spend their
money locally, Cohn said. It re-
ally ends up helping all of Staten
Island.
Were still a start-up. Im real-
ly excited to see what it looks like
as we enter the holiday season. I
really think the kind of goods
that theyre selling are really
unique, one-of-a-kind gifts that
would be great for the holiday
season.
The Culture Lounge is open
seven days a week, and Cohn said
Staten Island Arts wants people
to come explore the space and see
whats going on. In addition to
being passive visitors to the site,
there is a rental program where
people or community groups can
rent the space for their own
events, and they even offer two
slots each month where the
spaces can be used for free on a
first-come, first-served basis.
We want Staten Island to feel
like this is a community space,
Cohn said. Were a non-profit.
Its not our space; its the commu-
nitys space.
SI Arts opens Culture Lounge
ARTS
Continued from page 1
FOUNDATION FINANCIAL
ADVI5OR5
RNALD I. CITRNL
|incncic| A!tiscr / Pcrincr
Circc 1985
718-727-5100
year 2014, organizations that re-
ceived Avenue NYC funding at-
tracted 53 new businesses to its
corridors, recruited 355 new mer-
chants to new and existing mer-
chants associations, and im-
proved 12 storefront facades.
Northfield Community Local
Development Corporation will
use the funding to attract new
businesses to the Port Richmond
commercial corridor and to host
two events to showcase vacancies
to potential business owners. His-
toric Tappen Park Community
Partnership will use the grant to
build the capacity of the Staple-
ton merchants associations.
Microsoft opens
retail store in mall
Technology company Mi-
crosoft has opened a retail store
in the Staten Island Mall, the first
of its kind on Staten Island and
only the second such location in
New York.
Consumers can visit the site to
purchase devices, for technical
assistance, and for business solu-
tions. Staff is also available to
visit local businesses. It is located
in the center court, lower level of
the mall.
TD foundation provides
$327,989 to charity
The TD Charitable Foundation
has provided $327,989 to non-prof-
it organizations in New York
from February through April to
support community programs
and improve the lives of local
neighborhood residents.
Organizations focusing on
housing issues, the environment
and education have been provid-
ed grants to help improve their
cause and make a difference in
the community.
Among the recipients was the
Staten Island Children's Museum
for its Cool School Holidays pro-
gram.
CJs Boardwalk opens
McLean Ave. location
CJs Boardwalk announced its
grand opening on McLean Av-
enue, featuring seaside-themed,
unique private parties for chil-
dren with re-creations of classic
boardwalk games made out of re-
cycled materials. Kids and adults
can enjoy unlimited play on the
many hand-made games avail-
able. Open play and "Mommy &
Me" art classes are offered during
the week. All the games are also
available for rent.
Forest Avenue property
sells for $5.25M
Eastern Consolidated arranged
the sale of a two-story retail strip
center located at 1257-1267 Forest
Ave. for $5.25 million at $200 per
square foot with an eight percent
cap rate. The 25,860-square-foot
property is comprised of 12 fully-
leased retail spaces and includes
a 41-car parking lot.
Retail tenants at the building,
formerly housing Blockbuster, in-
clude Avon, Papa Johns Pizza,
Payless Uniforms, and several in-
dependent neighborhood retail-
ers such as CKO Kickboxing.
Signature Bank among
Forbes most trusted
Signature Bank announced
that it was the only large cap
bank to be named on the Forbes
list of Americas 50 Most Trust-
worthy Financial Companies.
Forbes recently released its 2014
list, which is based on data from
proprietary ratings provider and
investment advisor, GMI Ratings.
GMI Ratings reviews the ac-
counting and governance behav-
iors of more than 8,000 publicly
traded companies in North Amer-
ica to measure a companys credi-
bility.
The list of Americas 50 Most
Trustworthy Financial Compa-
nies was created as a sub-set of
Forbes Americas 100 Most
Trustworthy Companies list.
Additionally, Signature Bank
ranked fifth nationally in the
ABA Banking Journals listing of
Top Performing Big Banks, mov-
ing up from its seventh place posi-
tion last year.
The 22nd annual performance
rankings reviewed the financial
results and strategies of federally
insured public banks and thrifts
with total assets of more than $10
billion.
22 BUSINESS TRENDS AUGUST 2014
Bill Bergman, Vice President, Leasing
(718) 263-3800 x 307
bbergmanmuss.com
118-35 Queens Blvd.,
Forest Hills, NY 11375
www.muss.com
Monthly Update
BRIEFS
Continued from page 1