Latest / The Mark Simone Show / Mark interviews Journalist Steve Cuozzo.

Transcript

Mark interviews Journalist Steve Cuozzo. · The Mark Simone Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Remarks emotion on seoo. Well, Steve Cuzo a great New
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: York Post columnist. Now nobody better on real estate, nobody
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: better on restaurants on New York. You can get all
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: of his columns. They're all up at the New York
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Post website. Steve Cuzoh, how you doing.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Mark, I'm great, Thank you. It's great
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: to be back in New York.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll get to Florida in a second. You wrote
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: about the Mom Donnie grocery stores. You know, we're just saying,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: whenever the government government does anything, they do it badly,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: whether it's housing, apartment, whatever they do, they think at it.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: What makes them think they can run a grocery store?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean they can't. And you know, since this
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: ridiculous thing was announced a couple of weeks ago, my
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: colleagues here at the Post and other writers elsewhere TV
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: have all taken a look at this plan and said
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: it's ridiculous because it cost so much money.
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: There would be one in the East Tarlem under the
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Metro North traps and what used to be called Lawmar
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: kept it when there were any real.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Stores there, and it would cost it's going to cost
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the city out of taxpayer funds thirty million dollars to
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: open a measly nine thousand square foot grocery store and
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: it will take four years to build. This is, you know, hilarious, hysterical,
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: comical on its face, But I took a look at
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: a different aspect of it, which is not the absurdity
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: of the cost and all these issues, but why the
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: hell is it needed in the first place. You know,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the supposed reason that Mamdani and his echo chamber people
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: have always put out, you know, on the on the left,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: is that people who live in under you know, lower
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: income neighborhoods, and East Tarlem does have a lower median
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: income than and most of the rest of the city,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: they suffered because there's no good food available, and when
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: there is, it's the merchants gouge. They overcharge compared to
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: other neighborhoods. So I went up there and I just
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: took a walk around and found out that that's complete
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: below it's hysterically ridiculous. I mean, within one hundred feet
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: of where the new city run market would go along
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: would be on one hundred and sixteenth Street, one hundred
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: feet there's a beautiful supermarket called City City fresh Market,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: which is part of a group's part of a chain,
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: and it's a giant supermarket. It's not a small it's
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: not a buffels beautifully lit. It's well stocked, clean, clean,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And here's the main point. The prices are low. The
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: prices are much lower on lots and lots of basic
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: products like milk and eggs and bread and soda and
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: even beer than they are in supermarkets like Cristiti's and
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Morton Williams and Trader Joe's all these other the kind
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: that you find in more affluent parts of town. And
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: some of the some of the comparisons are hilarious. I mean,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: a quart of milk at this shop or a City
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: fresh Market dollar ninety nine, and I found that I
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: found the same quart of milk as high as dollar
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: at certain other stores on the on the East side
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: of Manhattan and in the Midtown. And so the whole
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: idea that residents of these neighborhoods need low cost, lower
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: cost products than they already can can can get is ridiculous.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: It's false.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: It's a why it just isn't true.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: But even if they had trouble affording growth, why wouldn't
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: you just give them food stamps? Problem solved, You don't
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: have to build a whole.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah maybe, I mean there is a food stamp program.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I don't I'm not an authority on the subject. I
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: don't know what it's called. There's a special name. I
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: don't know how that works. I don't know how many
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: people in the neighborhood can have been themselves of it.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: But yeah, that's another good case to be made against
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: having such a ridiculous market. This, the one on one
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: hundred and sixteenth Street and Park Avenue, would be one
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: of five that the Mamdani administration plans to open around
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: the city.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Did you, guys at the New York Push, did you
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: call Mamdanni's office and say, how come you're building it
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: next to a big supermarket?
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: No?
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: I did not. I mean my colleagues.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: My colleagues have tried to reach out to the Mamdani
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: White City Hall for ever since he was elected, and basically,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: they don't speak to us at all. They don't care
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: what we think, they don't care what we write, they
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: don't care what we say. They're pitching themselves to, you know,
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: their constituency of like minded left, left leaning idiots.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Hey, Steve Cuso just got back from floor. Now, I
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: know a lot of people are thinking of a move
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to Miami. I'll move to Palm Beach and so what's
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: the deal there now, Palm Beach, tell me about West
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: Palm Beach because.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: This is it was fascinating to me. This could be
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the future beach Palm Beach and West Palm Beach. Palm
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Beach locals called the Islands differentiated from West Palm Beach
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: across on the other other side of the intracoastal waterways.
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: They're not far apart. You can walk across from one
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: to the other on one of several bridges pedestrian bridges.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: But what's going on in West Palm is really fascinating.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Stephen Ross. Stephen m Ross, the New York City developer
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: who was the head, the chairman, the CEO of Related
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: Companies for decades. He created Related Companies. This is the
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: guy who created what we know as Time Warner Center
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: at Columbus Circle, even even though it's now technically Deutsche
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Bank Center. He creates Hudson Yards, you know, twenty six
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: acre complex on the far west side that's home to
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: great office buildings of millions, stores and restaurants, public spaces,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: the vessel, the performing arts center, all these things. He
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: moved to West Palm about four or five years ago.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Stephen is eighty five eighty five, okay, and he is
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: as active and energetic as ever. And he has a
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: vision for West Palm Beach that he is implementing through
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: a ten billion dollar investment through his company. Product Companies
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: no longer part of Related Companies. He has a company
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: called Related Ross and they've invested ten billion dollars in
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: West Palm Beach. And what they're doing, they're not creating,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: you know, a complex or a single project like a
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Hudson Yards. Rather, they have over the years quietly brought
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: up a whole bunch of existing older buildings and properties
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: in West Palm Beach. The best part of West Palm
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: is the area that faces near the intracoastal. And in
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: the space of a few years, Ross has built three
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: new office buildings, building a fourth, several new beautiful apartment buildings,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: public spaces. And it is a remarkable thing to behold
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: because West Palm Beach was perfectly okay, it was kind
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: of sleepy until not long ago, and now it's pulsing
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: with energy on the streets, the sidewalks. They brought in
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Not only have they lured tenants, office tenants, but they
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: have brought in leased space to all kinds of stores,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: New York style restaurants. There are a lot of New
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: York restaurants. They are like Harry's, the Steakhouse, Felice, and
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: there are many more coming. And the whole place is
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: alive again. And this reflects Ross's vision that West Palm
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Beach can be the new Silicon Valley, very appealing to
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: tech industry. Tenants, very appealing to new residents. They haven't
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: brought they haven't gotten that many. They haven't lured anybody
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: from New York.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Not really.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: And I asked. I asked him, I said, Oh, are
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: you benefiting from big New York City exitus haha? And
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: he laughed and he said no. Most of their tenants
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: are coming from other parts of the country, residential tenants,
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: most of their office tenants, and they've got some fairly
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: good sized tenants, and a few more in the wings
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: are from California. In the Midwest, Yes, there are some.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: One notable tenants is Wells Fargo. Now Wells Fargo moved
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: their Personal Wealth Management division to hit one of Ross's
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: West Palm Beach buildings. And it's only about fifty thousand
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: square feet, and it comes from both New York and
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: believe it or not, Saint Louis, which is where Wells
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Fargo originated, I think. And it's a drop in the
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: bucket compared with their holdings in New York, where they
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: have a million square feet their huts and yards and elsewhere.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: But it's significant. It's meaningful because it's a significant unit
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: of Wells Fargo, one of the great banks financial institutions,
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: and they chose to make their home in one of
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Ross's West Palm Beach buildings.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: All right, but here's the problem. I mean, he's great,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: but they did this in Austin, Texas to other places.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: You turn this little sleepy thing into a booming metropolis.
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: But now the airport's not big enough. Now you don't
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: have enough roads. Have they thought about that?
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think that it's a good point.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I don't think there's any risk of West Plump Beach
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: turning into you know, our traffic congested, impassable nightmare, which is,
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: by the way, what much of Miami is. Anybody who's
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: been to Miami. City of Miami, I don't mean Miami Beach,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: but Miami. In the last ten years, it's become one
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: of the worst, most unpleasant traffid nightmares in the country
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: because of all this. You know, they've got all these
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: great new businesses in a lot of great new buildings,
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: so that's not likely to happen now. The funny thing
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: is West Palm Beach Airport. I'm always hearing and reading
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: about how great it is convenience, which it is, but
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: there's you know, there are all these capital improvements, and
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: personally I don't see it. Every time my wife and
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I go through the West Palm Airport, I think this
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: is the best they can do. It's not particularly gracious,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: but I think that there are some improvements coming. One
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: of the great advantages that Ross has in West Palm Beach,
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: this is very meaningful, is that government in South Florida,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: for the most part, is much more welcoming to business
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: than New York City is. And the various successive mayors
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: in West Palm Beach I think the current guy's name
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: is Keith Jones, have invested in infrastructure to support business.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: They have helped with zoning issues, This has been very
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: important to Ross's company, where they needed tweaks in the
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: zoning laws to you know, to be able to put
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: up what they wanted. And whereas in New York, you know,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: you've got to go to eighteen thousand community boards and
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: public review processes. We all see this all the time,
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: and it's a wonder that that anything ever gets built
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: in New York. But anyway, for the West Palm Beach,
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: it's really not a problem.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: It's the opposite of a problem. We only got a
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: few seconds left. Steve Cuzo. If you were forced to,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: if you had to move to Florida, where would you
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: live in Florida?
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: I don't know. I think probably parts of Miami Beach
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: that aren't too overruns Miami North, not Ultra North, but
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: Bow Harbor, the area called North Beach, I think, which
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: are family friendly. They are close to the beach, but
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: not on the beach necessarily. I don't want to be
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: able to no. It's there are a lot of stores
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: and restaurants, and if you want to, you know, explore
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: the rest of Miami Beach or even the city of Miami.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: It's easy.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Ubers are fantastic down there.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Well, we're out of time, but great stuff. If you
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: want to read more, go to Steve Cuso's section on
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: just go to the New York Post website and all
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: of Steve Cuso's columns are up there, the one on
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Palm Beach. Everything is up there and you can read
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: it there. And great stuff. Steve Cuzo, Thanks for being
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Mark, always great to be on your show.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: All right, take care. Hey, don't forget. If you can't
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: listen to the show live, you just get the podcast.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: You can listen to show anytime you want. Dare Night,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: get the podcast any place you get podcasts. And if
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: you're a podcast listener, there's an extra show every week
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: on the weekends, there's a bonus show, so check that out. Hey,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: and no forget. Curtis is here every weekday morning six
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: to ten. It's Curtis Leewa and Larry Minti on seven
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: ten woor