CHASING GIANTS No-frills dental practice becoming one of city’s hottest startups PAGE 3
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JULY 10, 2023
CRAIN’S COMPOSITE, GETTY IMAGES/COUNCILNYC.GOV
CRAINSNEWYORK.COM
MAYOR ERIC ADAMS with council members (from left) Diana Ayala, Sandy Nurse, Bob Holden, Speaker Adrienne Adams, Shahana Hanif and Justin Brannan.
Relationship between mayor, City Council reaches a low point Insiders say budget, migrant crisis, clashing personalities have contributed to the rift BY NICK GARBER
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BUCK ENNIS
VISITORS WALK THROUGH the colorful Yayoi Kusama exhibit at Chelsea’s David Zwirner gallery.
New York City’s next big immersive attractions Innovative retail concepts, from the Friends Experience to the Malibu Barbie Café, are reshaping how storefronts are being used BY MARIO MARROQUIN
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ew York City is one of the fashion capitals of the world, but shoppers these days have much more to buy than clothes. On East 23rd Street, fans of the TV show “Friends” can pose as though they’re having coffee at Central Perk. On West 19th Street, at the David Zwirner gallery, art enthusiasts can meander through VOL. 39, NO. 26
larger-than-life sculptures and installations by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama. And near Union Square, history buffs can explore Titanic: The Exhibition. There are also opportunities to dine like Barbie, immerse oneself in hip-hop history and maybe even play pickleball. The city’s retail landlords know that storefronts have been a harder sell since e-commerce became the norm, and the post-pandemic de-
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crease in foot traffic along certain corridors has not helped matters. So some have filled their spaces with so-called experiential retail concepts, or businesses that let visitors participate in an exhibit rather than sell goods. Naturally, the experiences also yield eye-catching social media posts. The glut of open storefronts has pushed asking rents down in many See RETAIL on page 26
BY THE NUMBERS
46%
GOTHAM GIG
The founder of St. Ann’s Corner needle exchange is ready to step back after a long career PAGE 27 P001_CN_20230710.indd 1
council bills to expand rental aid. The mayor vetoed the bills, the hen Mayor Eric Adams council threatened an override, strode into the City Hall and both sides issued bitter rerotunda in late June to criminations. The mayor’s apannounce a deal on the new city proval rating fell from 49% in May budget, he credited the “hard to 46% in June, according to a Siework and good faith of our part- na College poll. What’s more, compiling this ners in the City Council.” But the steely expression on the year’s budget, despite all its mutual animosity, may be a face of Council Speaker cakewalk compared to Adrienne Adams, and next year, when a $5 bilthe brusque handshake lion deficit looms. The shared by the two lead“handshake” aners, hinted at the benouncement, typically a hind-the-scenes tencelebratory affair, was sions that had marred clouded by Speaker Admonths of budget talks. MAYOR ERIC ams’ prediction that Indeed, the mayor’s ADAMS’ June tougher times are in relationship with the approval rating, store, requiring “better council has never been according to a governance.” shakier, and his dealSiena College poll Several council memings with the speaker bers lay blame for the have grown noticeably strained, according to interviews fraying relationship on Mayor Adwith 13 council members and ams, who they say views the counpublic statements from both City cil as an annoyance rather than a coequal branch of government. Hall and the council. Those tensions, which began His open antipathy toward prowell before the latest budget cycle, gressives and struggles to commuthreaten the city’s efforts to ad- nicate the administration’s moves dress the linked crises of placing have alienated even previously migrants, homelessness and un- friendly lawmakers, they said. “It’s pretty clear that this mayor affordable housing. The dysfunction grew clear in recent weeks when negotiations broke down on See TENSION on page 24
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