Jeffrey Ditri

Chinatown and Little Italy need to do a better job of helping tourists navigate their neighborhoods if they want to become more successful tourist destinations and drive up economic growth, a coalition of local business groups announced Tuesday.

A recent survey by the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council, conducted late last year at an informational kiosk at Canal and Baxter streets, showed that the majority of those using the kiosk were confused by a map of the area and weren't able to locate the historic neighborhoods' main shopping corridors.

The survey, which drew the data from 100 interviews, found that visitors often got turned around after viewing the kiosk's large map because it is oriented in a different direction from where the person is standing on the street.

The data also showed that fewer than a quarter of tourists could name Little Italy's main street (Mulberry Street) and that only 12 percent could name Chinatown's main street (Mott Street), where most of the neighborhoods' shops and restaurants are located.

"You're missing a great opportunity to inform people," said Robert Weber, and urban planner who designed the survey.

The effort to educate visitors about both neighborhoods — which were designated as a single historic district by the state in 2009 — comes as part of push to secure funding from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which was established to help revitalize downtown following 9/11.

To make their case, the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council joined with the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation and the Little Italy Merchants Association Tuesday to unveil the survey and press for more recognition of the area as a destination.

"Culturally, we want our children and our grandchildren to have a Little Italy and Chinatown to walk through," said Ralph Tramontana, president of the Little Italy Merchants Association. "This is going to ensure that both neighborhoods survive."

The survey showed that nearly double the number the respondents found their way to the kiosk from SoHo as they did from lower Manhattan, despite Ground Zero's popularity as a tourist destination.

The 9/11 Memorial will likely be one of the most-visited tourist destinations when it opens in September, meaning that nearby Chinatown and Little Italy could stand to capitalize on that traffic, said Chinatown Partnership executive director Wellington Chen.

But encouraging that tourism requires creating better "way-finding" information, advocates noted, starting with the kiosk.

For example, the survey found that about three-quarters of visitors to the kiosk — nearly half of whom hailed from foreign countries — didn't know it was open and staffed with workers.

In response, the group has recommended creating a less-confusing map that is more closely focused in on the neighborhoods, lists more points of interests, and highlights Mulberry and Mott streets.

The group also suggested highlighting the points where both streets intersect with Canal Street by adding signage, lighting, public art and more kiosks.

"Way-finding is not about one point," Chen said. "It's about connecting all the dots."

More than half of city apartment dwellers plan to dish out $500 or less in holiday tips in their buildings, according to an online survey.

That may sound like plenty of cheer, but fully staffed properties have 20 to 30 workers, all of whom count on the extra cash to brighten their holiday seasons.

"People tip the staff they see," said Teri Rogers, of BrickUnderground.com, which did the unscientific poll. "The people who mostly get burned are porters and handymen. They're not as visible to residents, but they do the hardest work."

Doormen on late-night shifts will likely wind up with fewer fat tip envelopes, too.

"You can pay your bills . . . get a little extra cash in your pocket," said Richard Figueroa, 28, of Brooklyn, who's expecting about $2,000 in tips from a 35-unit building in Chelsea. "I don't ask for too much, I don't expect too much."

Doorman Rick Cintron says he's thankful tips keep getting better at his building on Seventh Ave. in Manhattan, despite the economic downturn.

"It hasn't changed that much, even in the bad economy," said Cintron, 48, who lives in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, adding that he doesn't care when people tip. "It doesn't matter as long as they come."

The holidays haven't been so cheery the past two years for Richard Boakye, who works at a building on W. 21st St.

"Sometimes you get presents. Sometimes you don't get anything," said Boakye, 66, of the Bronx. "It doesn't look good, but when it comes, I'll appreciate it."

Rogers did extensive interviews with doormen on the upper West Side, the upper East Side and Greenwich Village to generate a holiday tipping guide.

Most are happy with the tips they're expecting to get this season, except for those in buildings with high vacancy rates or lots of subletters, who are typically low tippers because they feel like transients.

The doormen know not to expect too much from elderly tenants on fixed incomes but may balk at doing extra work in their apartments for free, Rogers said.

Some cheapskates say they resent having to tip, while others are clueless new arrivals to New York City apartment living or are making a statement about poor service.

Photo caption: Joseph Boakye, who works as a doorman, doesn't expect big holiday tips, but appreciates it.

Manhattan rental units in the third quarter moved faster and were less negotiable than last year at the same time, while studios and one-bedrooms outperformed larger apartments, according to quarterly market reports released today.

The listing discount -- the difference between the asking rent and the rent the tenant pays -- shrank to 1.7 percent in the third quarter, the lowest level since 2006, according to a market report from Prudential Douglas Elliman. Meanwhile, the average number of days a listing sat on the market was 38, down from 77 in the third quarter of 2009, the report says.

That means landlords were less willing to lower their rents, while apartments were rented faster, explained real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller, the president of Miller Samuel and the preparer of the Elliman report.

"You saw the lowest listing discount in four years, and you saw properties moving a lot faster than last year," Miller said, attributing the changes to an improvement in consumer confidence. While both renters and landlords "are still not comfortable with the economic climate, they certainly feel better about it than a year and a half ago," he said.

Meanwhile, it became far less common for landlords to offer concessions, like a month's free rent or payment of a broker's fee. A quarterly report released by real estate brokerage Citi Habitats stated that only 23 percent of the company's rental transactions in the third quarter included a concession, compared to 52 percent in the same period of last year.

"There was very little use of concessions," Miller said. "They're still there, but they weren't as predominant as they were last year."

Gary Malin, the president of Citi Habitats, noted that concessions may start to creep back into the market as it enters the traditionally slow winter season, along with increases in vacancy.

"These months that we're heading into, we historically see the vacancy rate creep up a little," he said. "Pricing becomes more flexible."

According to Citi Habitats' report, the vacancy rate in the third quarter was 0.99 percent, down from 1.71 percent during the same period in 2009.

The reports also show a surge in new rental activity from last year. Elliman's report, which includes all firm's deals, tracked 8,593 new rentals in the third quarter, up from only 2,549 in the same period of last year. Citi Habitats said it did over 4,250 transactions in the third quarter, about 15 percent more than in the prior-year quarter.

But since hiring is still stagnant, experts said this likely wasn't the result of an overall increase in rental activity. Rather, a bevy of tenants decided to leave their current apartments rather than renew their leases, many in search of cheaper rents now that their landlords stopped giving rent breaks and other concessions that became common during the recession.

"People in existing rentals that did not get concessions said, 'I'm going to find something new,'" said Stephen Kotler, director of residential leasing for Prudential Douglas Elliman.

Rents, meanwhile, were generally stable, inching up in some categories and falling slightly in others. Elliman's report found that the average rent for a Manhattan apartment in the third quarter was $3,460, down 8 percent from $3,759 in the same quarter of 2009. The median rental price, however, was $3,000, up 1.7 percent from the prior-year quarter. The average rent per square was $47.22, down 1.3 percent from last year.

Both reports show rent increases for studios and one-bedrooms. According to Citi Habitats, the average rent for a studio jumped 3.9 percent to $1,828 from $1,760 in the prior year quarter, while one-bedrooms increased 3.2 percent to $2,501. Elliman's report found that the median rent for a studio grew 9.8 percent to $2,195, while the average rent for a one-bedroom grew 1.9 percent to $2,950.

Larger apartments did not fare as well. Elliman's report found that the median rent for two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments fell from the same quarter of last year, while Citi Habitats found that rents for larger apartments increased, but not as much as studios and one-bedrooms.

Kotler noted that one reason for the strength in smaller apartments is an increase in relocations to New York City from abroad. He said Elliman, which works with large firms to relocate their employees, is seeing about 25 percent more transfers of international workers to New York City. That's common during a down market, he said, because large companies tend to reshuffle their employees rather than hire new people. "Companies will move people around instead of hiring new people," he said, noting that it's a way for firms to "redeploy the resources they have."

These workers from abroad often rent, rather than buy, since they are often on temporary assignments, he said. They are also more likely to be single people or young married couples rather than families with children, he said, so they are apt to rent studios or one-bedrooms.

Miller also noted that there has been a surge in purchases of larger apartments, causing corresponding weakness in the rental market. "If you have an increase in rental activity you might have a decrease in the same segment on the sales side, and vice versa," he said.

Prospective buyers playing hard-to-get? How about sweetening the deal with an iPad? Some developers and brokers are turning to quirky giveaways, hoping the extra incentives will help fill buildings during this tough economy. The freebies, often tacked on to traditional incentives such as fee eliminations or coverage of certain taxes, are the latest trend in attention-getting promotions.

In one online ad, a broker with Platinum Properties offered to throw in two custom suits worth $2,000 each with the keys to a penthouse apartment. The broker could not be reached to say if the penthouse had been rented.

Last month, Alchemy Properties gave away iPads and 42-inch high-definition televisions to anyone who signed a contract to buy units at the Griffin Court Condominium in Midtown. More than 150 people stopped by the property during the promotion's first two weeks, said the president of Alchemy, Kenneth Horn.

"It's definitely generating enthusiasm and helping people come into the building," Horn said.

In March, brokers with aptsandlofts.com gave out the iPod Touch to renters at 60 Monitor Street in Williamsburg. They also offered free Huffy cruiser bicycles to anyone renting an apartment at 150 Johnson Avenue, also in Williamsburg.

"The idea was simply to touch base with our market, to give them something different, something interesting but specific to them," said David Maundrell, the brokerage firm's president. "We didn't just want to give things away for the sake of it."

Innovative incentives can also cut costs for developers with bare-bones advertising budgets, thanks to the word-of-mouth response they generate.

"We paid about $4,000 for the bikes, a fraction of what we might have paid for a one-shot print ad in the major papers," Maundrell said. "We were able to catch people's attention without blowing our budget."

Renters and buyers aren't the only ones taking note -- brokers are also scoring giveaways, a practice that has become an industry norm.

Brokers who brought the buyers to the Griffin Court Condominiums were rewarded with gadgets; one broker went home with three flat-screen TVs, Horn said.

Looking to generate interest in Harlem's 5th on the Park condo, the Griffin Real Estate Group raffled five iPads to brokers during two parties last month. The developer was looking to attract brokers as part of the building's latest marketing push.

But the latest hot item can be tomorrow's cold throwaway, meaning the hunt is on for novel incentives to offer buyers in upcoming promotions.

"I wouldn't offer an iPad in six months," said Carole Griffin, Griffin Real Estate Group's director of sales. "But I'm sure there'll be something that's appealing, that'll give us a little extra 'oomph.'"

~Originally posted by TRD (The Real Deal NY MAG)

It has been nearly two decades since New Yorkers faced their last doorman strike, but as the deadline for a new contract for building workers approached, the questions being posed throughout the city remained largely unchanged on Sunday.

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As the possibility of a strike loomed, a doorman on Park Avenue helped with packages on Sunday.

Who will safeguard my apartment as I sleep? Greet my children when they come home from school? Accept deliveries? Clean the hallways? Sort the mail? Operate the elevator? And who, for goodness sake, will let the cleaning lady in?

Residents, co-op boards and building management companies have been busy planning for the sudden complications that could come at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday with the possible departure of the building workers who, among many other things, hold open the city’s doors.

The Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations has distributed a preparedness manual with recommendations for keeping buildings in operation in case of a strike. “A strike is not pleasant, nor should it be taken lightly,” according to the 45-page document. “During a period of work stoppage, pressures and problems develop which make building management very difficult.”

Throughout the city, security guards have already been alerted to arrive at buildings an hour before the negotiating deadline so they can take over for the first overnight shift in the event of a walkout. Many buildings would then adopt a more restrictive policy, with residents being required to use building keys, display identification to the security guards and pick up visitors or deliveries themselves. Some buildings are planning to take service elevators, storage rooms and garages out of operation if there is a strike.

“The whole operation of the building would basically be shut down and we’d rely on residents to pitch in just to get by,” said Dan Wurtzel, president of Cooper Square Realty, one of the largest residential management companies in the New York. “There’s a tremendous amount of preparation we have to undertake. Then, if it doesn’t happen, we can breathe a sign of relief. If it does happen, then we’re prepared to deal with it.”

Many buildings have also posted sign-up sheets for residents to volunteer to watch the front doors, clean hallways and take out garbage, though the forms in the lobbies of a handful of Upper East Side buildings remained mostly blank on Sunday afternoon.

Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums, has signed up for volunteer work in her own co-op.

“If there is a positive thing to be pulled out of this, it’s that it is an opportunity to get to know your neighbors,” she said, “and to come together to combat a little bit of adversity, because this is not the end of the world, though it may appear that way if the strike goes on.”

Arriving on Park Avenue on Sunday, Robert Neis, a marketing executive, immediately asked his doorman for assistance with the luggage from a family getaway to Shelter Island, N.Y. “It would be a bummer if they strike,” Mr. Neis said. “It’s a lot nicer when they help with the work.”

Harold Gerber, who runs a real estate business and has lived in his co-op on East 75th Street for more than two decades, said he was already worried about security, and grumbled at the prospect of hauling his own trash. “It will affect us tremendously,” he said.

Some doormen were skeptical that contract workers or volunteers would be able to take up their duties. Salvador Gonzalez, a doorman at a building on the Upper East Side, said that as the deadline approached, he has even added a new responsibility to his usual assortment of tasks: giving inquiring residents tips on how to do his job.

Though many residents on Sunday said they believed that a deal would be reached before the deadline, little progress was made during contract negotiations over the weekend, said Matt Nerzig, chief spokesman for Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union.

The 30,000 residential doormen, porters, superintendents, elevator operators and handymen now earn an average of $40,500 a year, with benefits raising the total to nearly $70,000, according to the Realty Advisory Board, which represents building owners. The workers are seeking wage increases, while building owners are pushing to reduce benefit costs.

“We’re working hard, we’re talking,” Ms. Rothman said. “There’s a lot of good will on both sides and very different feelings about the current economic situation.”

“I don’t think anyone wants a strike,” she added.