Vice President Joe Biden’s Former Deputy Chief of Staff Takes the Pepsi Challenge; Westchester County Pens Cultural and Economic Alliance with the Italian Province of Bari; Open Door Family Medical Centers Earns Award

REVOLVING DOOR

PEOPLE

Schenley D. Vital

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Schenley D. Vital joined Dorf & Nelson LLP as an associate in the Litigation Department working closely with Denise Singh-Skeete, head of the Creditors’ Rights and Financial Services Litigation Group.

Senior business writer Frank Pagani, who for the last eight years served as a member of the Westchester-based PR firm Thompson & Bender (T&B), has become an independent communications consultant, providing strategic corporate and marketing communications, public relations consulting, and business copywriting services.

HSBC Bank USA, National Association (HSBC) has appointed David Lee senior vice president and area manager for Westchester County. In this role, he is responsible for 18 branches and will report directly to Mayra DiRico, HSBC’s head of network for the Northeast region. Lee has more than 18 years of banking industry experience with GreenPoint Bank and Fleet Boston.

 

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), the official trade association of the word of mouth marketing and social media marketing industries, has announced that Peter Storck, SVP, Research & Analytics for House Party, Inc., is one of five new members elected to its 2013 Board of Directors. 

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Alan Hoffman has joined PepsiCo, Inc., as senior vice president, Global Public Policy and Government Affairs. In this role, he will lead PepsiCo’s public policy and government affairs activities worldwide. Hoffman most recently served as deputy chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and deputy assistant to the president, in which role he was responsible for the long-term planning and day-to-day operations of the Vice President’s Office.

 

NEW BUSINESSES, RELOCATIONS, OPERATIONS

An aging complex of buildings in Ardsley was recently transformed by BAM Architecture Studio. The 140,000-square-foot office and research complex of Acorda Therapeutics, a biotech firm, includes the renovation of four stand-alone buildings on a 20-acre campus along Sawmill River Road. BAM’s mandate, from both the tenant and the landlord, BioMed Realty Trust Inc. (BMR), was to re-envision the 1960s campus as an interconnected group of buildings, including a connector building that links two existing structures and serves as a year-round meeting and gathering space.

County Executive Robert P. Astorino and President of the Province of Bari Francesco Schittulli recently signed an agreement designed to boost the economic, social, and cultural ties between the two municipalities. The agreement, called a Joint Declaration of Intended Programs, was facilitated by the Puglia Center of America, which is located in New Rochelle. It establishes a commitment to developing common initiatives and projects aimed at promoting comparable interests in the fields of culture, art, tourism, ecology, youth, trade, and commerce.

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The Department of Consumer Protection has moved to the Michaelian County Office Building at 148 Martine Avenue in White Plains. According to the County, the move is part of Astorino’s ongoing effort to save taxpayer money by better utilizing the County’s existing office space. In September, Astorino claimed that the Department of Health would save approximately $2 million in rent over the next five years by relocating several health programs into county-owned buildings.

For the second time in the past month, NAI Friedland has brokered a deal that both gives another boost to Westchester’s Blueprint Initiative and could also potentially serve as the largest industrial transaction in the County this year. The 67,000-square-foot lease of distribution space at 4 Warehouse Lane in Elmsford will be occupied by Barrie House Coffee Company, which is relocating from a 32,500-square-foot building on Nepperhan Avenue in Yonkers. NAI Friedland now seeks to sell the Yonkers space and bring new business into the County.

Mount Vernon’s Wartburg Adult Care Community will construct 61 affordable senior housing units, as well as a new adult day care and rehabilitation home next year. The $42 million construction project will build out the Wartburg’s 34-acre property and is intended to make the community a full-service campus for the 360 older adults who already live there in assisted- and independent-living housing or in a nursing center. According to Wartburg executives, The Friedrichs Residence has received about 100 applications for 10 studio and 51 one-bedroom apartments. Monthly rent for the units will range from $725 to $1,010 for seniors earning less than $52,000 annually.

Tiltan Pharma Ltd. today announced that it has enrolled the first US patient at White Plains Hospital in a Phase 2 clinical trial of its anti-angiogenic product, TL-118, for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic cancer. The study is already ongoing in four major oncology centers in Israel: The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Hadassah Medical Center, Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center, and the Rambam Medical Center. The trial will enroll 80 patients with newly diagnosed metastatic pancreatic cancer who have not yet been treated with chemotherapy. The control group will receive standard chemotherapy for pancreatic cancer, and the treatment group will receive TL-118 in addition to standard-of-care chemotherapy.

 

KUDOS

At the annual HBRA-CT (Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Connecticut) Awards Dinner, Murphy Brothers Contracting was presented with a prestigious 2012 HOBI (Home Builders Industry Award) Award for Best Commercial Rehab, for Westchester Magazine/Today Media Headquarters in Rye. This winning team, selected by Publisher Ralph Martinelli, included Murphy Brothers Contracting, architect Jeffrey J. Wyszynski, and Tecton Architects. This award is one of four presented to Murphy Brothers at the annual ceremony attended by more than 600 building-industry professionals. The other awards were for Best 10,000-12,000-Square-Foot Custom Home, “Best Energy-Efficient Green Remodel, and Best Promotional Event for a Home (LEED for Homes Project Tours).

At a November 15 ceremony in New York City, Open Door Family Medical Centers was the first nonprofit in Westchester County to be a winner of the 2012 New York Community Trust-New York Magazine Nonprofit Excellence Award. Lindsay Farrell, president and CEO, and David K. Sherman, chair of the Center’s Foundation Board and treasurer of its Operating Board, accepted the Bronze Award and a $5,000 cash prize.

Teatown Lake Reservation recently recognized the 13-year effort, led by Geoffrey Thompson of Croton-on-Hudson, that resulted in the permanent protection of a 58-acre wilderness property that lies near the center of the environmental education center’s open space preserve. Known as The Croft, the property had long been identified by Teatown as its single most important property in need of permanent preservation.

 

BIZ BUZZ: OUR BUSINESS BLOG

Con Edison Issues an Apology; Governor Cuomo Calls for an Investigation; Tax Rates Will Remain Steady, Says Astorino; And Tough Times for Snack Food Lovers

On November 13, Governor Andrew Cuomo moved to establish a commission to investigate the response, preparation, and management of New York’s utility companies in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The commission will review all actions taken by the power companies before and after the storm and will make specific recommendations to reform and modernize oversight, regulation, and management of power delivery throughout the state. Con Edison had apologized five days earlier at a November 8 press conference at the Westchester County Center.

Kevin Burke, chairman and CEO of Con Edison, apologized for the outages and poor communication to residents and elected officials and said that the company was simply unprepared for the storm that left an unprecedented 975,000 customers without power.

On November 14, County Executive Robert P. Astorino released a proposed $1.7 billion budget for 2013 that does not raise taxes, marking the third consecutive year that Astorino’s budgets have reduced or kept flat the County’s tax levy on property owners. No layoffs are planned to the Departments of Public Safety and Health and no service cuts are planned for the Bee-Line Bus System despite the fact that the County is facing $97 million in automatic cost hikes from unfunded state mandates and pre-existing labor contracts from various sectors. Additional programs will be funded for legal services, veterans, seniors, and victims of domestic violence. The proposed budget now goes to the Board of Legislators, which has until December 27 to adopt a final spending plan.

The historic Nathan’s Famous hot dog eatery at 2290 Central Avenue is closing November 25 and will be demolished to make way for a new retail development with a CVS Pharmacy and a smaller Nathan’s. Fans of the restaurant, which opened in 1965, held a “One Last Frank, One Last Fry Goodbye Nathan’s Reunion” there on November 17.

In other sad snacking news, Hostess Brands Inc. and its second-largest union failed to resolve their differences following a mediation attempt to prevent the iconic baking company from going out of business. Earlier this month, Hostess moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court, citing a crippling strike as part of its problem. The Wonder Bread and Hostess Bakery and Thrift Shop have been a fixture on Route 9A in Elmsford for decades. The 82-year-old company had battled labor costs and an increasingly competitive snack market, as well as increasing health consciousness among American consumers.

 

HOT PROPERTIES – 914INC.’S COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SHOWCASE

Property: 45 N Broadway, Tarrytown
Brokered by: Jessica Curtis, Cushman & Wakefield (203) 326-5827
Availability: 11,850 square feet of retail space priced at $35 per square foot per year. Basement space totals 5,546 square feet, or $194,110 per year, while the ground floor space totals 6,304 square feet, or $220,640 per year.
Selling points: The property offers a centralized retail location on the main thoroughfare of a historic, upscale rivertown. The space is located adjacent to CVS and across from the post office and Chase Bank.
Downside: Parking can be a challenge.

 

914 DATEBOOK – UPCOMING BUSINESS EVENTS

WEDNESDAY, 11/28/12

Road to Certification MWBE

Business of Your Business, 333 Westchester Ave, South Building, White Plains, (914) 948-2110; 8 am – noon, $15. Don’t miss this opportunity to grow your business. Are you a minority and/or female whose enterprise has not yet completed its certification? Experts will walk you through applications from New York State, New York City, the Port Authority, and WBENC, and answer your questions.

THURSDAY, 11/29/12

914INC.’s Second Annual Women in Business Luncheon

DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel, Tarrytown; 11:30 am – 2 pm. Join the editors of 914INC. as they honor the most influential women in Westchester, as featured in the cover story of the magazine’s Q4 issue. Single tickets are $85; tables of 10 are $800. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit westchestermagazine.com/womeninbusiness

FRIDAY, 11/30/2012

World Trade Council on Free Trade Agreements

The Gateway Center at Westchester Community College, 75 Grasslands Rd, Valhalla; 8:30 – 11 am. Recent Free Trade Agreements signed between the US and Korea, Colombia, and Panama offer new opportunities for businesses. Learn how to leverage these agreements from a panel of experts. Register at westchester.org.

THURSDAY, 12/6/12

Business Council of Westchester Holiday Blast

Westchester Marriott, 670 White Plains Road, Tarrytown; 5 – 7 pm.. Join The Business Council of Westchester for a spirited opportunity to make connections, meet new people, and celebrate the holiday season. Members, friends, and guests are welcome! Register at westchesterny.org.

WEDNESDAY, 12/19/12   

A Winning Business Plan

120 Bloomingdale Rd, White Plains; 1 – 3 pm. Presented by Score Westchester, the workshop covers the establishment of goals, directions, and professional development. It will also help attendees inform employees, suppliers, and others of their goals. Call (914) 948 3907 or visit scorewestchester.com for details.

THURSDAY, 1/24/13

County Executive Breakfast

Westchester Marriott Hotel, 670 White Plains Rd, Tarrytown; 8 – 10 am. County Executive Robert P. Astorino will address the economic challenges facing Westchester and his plans for reducing taxes and fostering economic development. Members of the audience will have an opportunity to participate in a Q&A session with Astorino. Register at westchester.org.

 

Do you have tips, scoop, or gossip concerning business in Westchester? If so, our INComing blogger, Lisa Cesarano, is all ears. Please e-mail her with a short pitch to 914incoming@gmail.com.

Upcoming events should be submitted no later than Sunday, December 2, to be considered for the December 11 edition. Please submit business-related events only; no fundraisers or consumer events.

Our Westchester Home Builders Awards take place on April 4!

Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Forum is March 14!

Unveiled: A Boutique Bridal Brunch is February 25!

Our Best of Westchester Elimination Ballot is open through March 6!

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