In the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jeffrey Prosserman decided to purchase an electric vehicle to get around the city. At the time he had a 2-year-old son, Max, and wasn’t comfortable bringing him on mass transit. But he still wanted a sustainable way of traveling.
An electric vehicle seemed like a sensible decision until it came to juicing up the car’s battery. Prosserman was living in Carroll Gardens at the time and didn’t have access to a private garage. So he would go on what he called “charging missions” several neighborhoods away, or even to New Jersey, to find chargers.
“It literally made no sense to have an EV back in 2020 in New York City. You could count the amount of charging [stations] on one hand,” said Prosserman. “Now there's a little more, but it’s still very much a charging desert.”
Climate crisis protests at the time had inspired Prosserman to exit his role at Samsung as the director of innovation and enter Columbia University’s sustainability management masters program. He soon began exploring ways to make vehicle charging easier for city dwellers, and the idea for what would become Voltpost was born.
Prosserman co-founded the company with Joern Vicari, Voltpost’s chief product officer, whom he first collaborated with while at Samsung, and with Luke Mairo, Voltpost’s chief operating officer, who served as the president of the Columbia University Environmental Entrepreneurs student group in the masters program Prosserman attended.
Prosserman, who serves as chief executive, and Voltpost's now 20 employees have spent the past three years focused on developing charging technology that repurposes infrastructure already connected to the power grid and that’s plentiful on sidewalks: lampposts.
Cities are historically tough places for drivers to embrace electric vehicles because many residents lack access to a private garage where they can have a charger installed. Building out chargers for the curbside or in parking lots is tricky because they have to tap into the power grid, which often means expensive projects to cut trenches into streets and sidewalks.
Voltpost works around the problem by tapping into power already coursing through lampposts. This means, Prosserman said, that Voltpost can install a charger in one to two hours at a reduced cost by avoiding construction or the lengthy permit process needed for power upgrades. The electricity used for charging is reported to the utility or to public and private organizations that are hosting a charging project.
The concept quickly drew investor interest, with a preseed round of fundraising in 2021 and a seed round that raised a combined $5 million, said Prosserman. Voltpost’s backers include Exelon, the largest utility in the U.S.; German energy giant RWE; and early-stage venture capital firms such as Hillside Ventures, Climate Capital and Twynam Funds Management.
The company’s post-funding valuation is $13.6 million as of May 2023, according to Pitchbook; Voltpost says its valuation is higher but would not share the number.
To date, Voltpost has tested its chargers in small pilot projects in New York City in 2022 and in Detroit in 2023. Just last month the company announced the commercial availability of its sleek, modular system that encases streetlights and retrofits them into at least two and up to four charging ports. Users can access the chargers through an app; they pay Voltpost a charging fee whose rate depends on the region’s utility.
A bonus to the design of Voltpost’s charging hub is that it can accommodate other services a private partner or municipality may want, such as adding wireless internet, traffic or air-quality sensors or even screens for ads, said Aditi Desai, Voltpost’s director of partnerships.
“I like to think of ourselves as more than just a charger but really a platform that we can license to cities and companies to provide them with data that's relevant to them,” said Desai. “That's us also being able to future-proof our product.”
The company is looking to generate revenue both through charging fees and contracts for private and public partnerships (for example, a building's private parking lot or one for a municipal fleet). Prosserman said the startup is in talks with “several dozen” enterprise partners, including real estate developers, private parking lot owners, universities and others. But for the time being the company’s leadership says it’s focused on deploying as many chargers as possible, with plans to deploy in New York, Chicago and Detroit later this year.
“Really the mission is to decarbonize mobility by democratizing EV charging access,” said Desai, “and that means putting these chargers up where people need them most.”
New York office landlords entered 2024 believing interest rates would fall and relieve some of the pressure caused by persistently weak demand for space. Now that rates will evidently stay higher for longer, these owners are facing double-digit increases in borrowing costs while asset managers slash their real estate exposure.
At SL Green, Manhattan’s largest commercial landlord, interest expense is expected to increase by 17% in 2025, Evercore ISI said in a new report. A 15% increase is forecast for Vornado Realty Trust, the city’s second largest office landlord. Higher borrowing costs are expected to take a more than $50 million bite out of earnings at both Manhattan office owners. Evercore anticipates SL Green’s funds from operations will decline by 30% in 2025, and Vornado’s by 8%.
“We expect heightened attention across the board towards managing against [rate exposures],” Evercore analyst Steve Sakwa wrote, “as they are largely impacting the earnings potential.”
Borrowing costs are typically a landlord’s biggest cash expense. They are rising when demand for office space remains muted while vacancy rates in many Midtown and Financial District buildings continue to slowly rise.
In light of deteriorating fundamentals, money managers are heading for the exits, a Bank of America report Tuesday showed.
Among asset managers, 28% are net underweight the real estate sector this month, a stark decline from April’s figure of 15%, according to BofA’s global fund manager survey released Tuesday
“Real estate collapsed…[to] the lowest allocation since June ‘09,” said the bank, which between May 3 and 9 surveyed 245 investors who manage $642 billion in client assets.
Years ago, sensing that rates could increase, SL Green and Vornado both made arrangements with lenders to mitigate their exposure. Unfortunately, some of those arrangements are winding down.
This year caps expire that limit $745 million worth of rate exposure for SL Green and the loans will move to a higher rate. Interest-rate swaps that help Vornado hedge $840 million worth of rate exposure also burn off this year, Evercore said, putting more pressure on interest expenses.
Park Slope will soon see the addition of two high-rise rentals, bringing more than 300 new apartments to the neighborhood. The City Council last month approved a rezoning application from Stellar Management to construct two new buildings at 341 10th Street, in addition to the existing apartment building on the site the developer already owns. [...]
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Billionaire real estate mogul Charles Cohen is looking to convert one of his ailing Midtown office buildings into a residential property, according to an application filed with the city this week.
Cohen Bros. Realty has struggled to retain tenants across its portfolio, including at 623 Fifth Ave. — a 38-story tower that connects to the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship at 611 Fifth Ave. — where it now wants to take advantage of a push by city and state officials to relieve the worsening housing crisis and resuscitate struggling business districts by turning largely vacant office spaces into apartments.
Cohen Bros., which owns nine Midtown office towers and is reportedly delinquent on more than $600 million worth of loans across a handful of its buildings, is proposing to convert the upper floors of the roughly 499,100-square-foot tower, between 49th and 50th streets, into about 172 2,000-square-foot units.
The application has the support of the Department of City Planning, which is in the midst of its own rezoning initiative, called the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity, that would allow for speedier and more seamless transitions like the one pitched for 623 Fifth Ave.
Saks, a posh department store chain, occupies both the entirety of 611 Fifth Ave. — a 10-story building that was erected in the early 1920s and designated a landmark in 1984 — as well as the lower 10 floors of the adjoining tower, which was completed in 1988. The tower's original tenant was Swiss Bank, until it vacated in 2006, and currently only 12% of the roughly 499,100-square-foot building is occupied, according to the application.
As part of the conversion, there would be no changes to the landmarked Saks Fifth Avenue building — on top of which Hudson's Bay Co. had proposed putting a casino. It's unclear where that idea now stands, and Hudson's Bay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Saks would also continue to occupy the lower 10 floors of the tower, which sits across the street from Rockefeller Center and next to St. Patrick's Cathedral. After the conversion, however, it would contain about 344,300 square feet of residential space; a total of 578,500 square feet across both buildings would remain department store space, according to the application.
And if all goes according to plan, construction would take about 18 months and wrap in 2026. Tenants with current leases that don't expire until at least 2027 would be relocated elsewhere. David Fogel, executive vice president of the prominent, family-run Cohen Bros., could not provide a cost estimate for the conversion and said the units would be condos. He declined to comment further on the application.
A new report from the New York State Insurance Fund highlights the dramatic increase to the risk of injury workers face with high temperatures — a burgeoning threat to workplace safety as heat waves become more frequent and intense due to the climate crisis.
The insurance fund, which is the state’s largest workers’ compensation insurer, said analysis of roughly 95,000 claims filed by season between 2017 and 2021 found “a significant correlation of both the number and severity of injuries” on days with temperatures that are classified as extreme heat by the National Weather Service.
On such days, when the temperature is at or above 80 degrees, injuries on average were 45% more likely and 20% more costly in terms of medical expenses compared to days with lower temperatures, according to the insurance fund’s analysis.
A variety of workers are at risk, but those who work outdoors in construction, transportation, farming, manufacturing, emergency response and health care are particularly vulnerable, according to the insurance fund.
The data points are particularly worrying as New York has broken weather records with each passing year. In 2023, New York City logged its hottest year on record, according to National Weather Service data. The summer of 2023, in fact, was hotter than any other in the Northern Hemisphere for the past 2,000 years, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature.
Climate-related hazards, such as extreme temperatures, poor air quality and increased allergens, can cause or worsen respiratory and cardiovascular illness, food- and water-borne diseases and mental health conditions.
For instance, dehydration can injure the kidneys and impact blood pressure, and heat exhaustion if left untreated can lead to heat stroke and brain injury. Heat stress can also worsen heart and lung conditions and even result in death.
New York currently lacks heat safety standards for workers. A handful of states including California, Colorado and Washington have such worker protections in place.
But a bill introduced in Albany last year by Queens state Senator Jessica Ramos proposes mandatory protections for employers in construction, shipping, agriculture and other industries when the mercury rises to 80 degrees or higher.
Under the legislation, employers would have to provide water, breaks, protective gear and shade. The bill mandates comparable measures for cooler conditions at or below 60 degrees.
To date, the bill has stalled. Ramos and worker safety advocates have acknowledged that the legislation faces an uphill battle with employer pushback, particularly over temperature thresholds and the potential inclusion of independent contractors.
A builder known for smaller-scale projects has something larger in mind in Downtown Brooklyn.
Joel Schwartz is seeking to develop a 14-story, 117-unit mixed-use project at 236 Gold St., a longtime parking lot near Flatbush Avenue, according to a filing that appeared Tuesday at the Department of City Planning. Thirty of the units at the presumably rental project, near Concord Street and a Brooklyn-Queens Expressway overpass, would be income-restricted apartments offered at below-market rents, the filing says.
To move forward, Schwartz wants the city to rezone the weedy site, which currently is part of a district that allows only low-slung residential buildings, to allow for a taller structure that has apartments and retail space, the filing indicates.
The developer also wants planning officials to waive a parking requirement for the narrow 20-by-54-foot lot.
Schwartz, who did not return a phone message left at his Williamsburg-based company, Southside Units, is the latest developer to attempt a transformation of Gold Street, a thoroughfare near the Brooklyn Navy Yard that was once checkered with parking lots.
Opening in 2021 on the same side of the block was 260 Gold St., a gray-toned 13-story offering from developer Solomon Feder that has 286 studios to three-bedrooms. Similarly, about a decade ago, Lalezarian Properties put the finishing touches on Bklyn Gold, a massive two-building rental complex across the street. The complex’s 14-story No. 257 portion features 372 apartments, while the 12-story No. 277 side has 133 homes. (A self-storage facility separates the two sections.)
A Bklyn Gold studio was available on May 15 for around $3,400 per month.
In 2022, Schwartz picked up 236 Gold, which appears to have been vacant since the street was widened in the urban-renewal-centric 1960s, for $3.7 million, according to the city register.
Schwartz, an active developer for at least two decades, is no stranger to boutique-style, mid-block projects. In 2023, he unveiled 596 Metropolitan Ave., a 6-story, 12-unit rental in Williamsburg with a mix of market-rate and affordable units. And he’s currently at work on nearby 352 Meeker Ave., a 7-story, 27-unit mid-rise on a property that once contained a kitchen-supply store, building permits show.
The developer has been known to sell apartment buildings within a few years of completing them. Two years ago, Schwartz unloaded a portfolio of sites in Bushwick and Williamsburg, including, 99 N. Fourth St., a slender 7-story, 8-unit offering, to the firm Corner Street Capital.
Leases
Investment bank takes space in renovated tower near Grand Central
Address: 22 Vanderbilt Ave., Manhattan
Landlord: Milstein Properties
Tenant: TD Securities
Lease size: 80,000 square feet
Asset type: Office
Brokers: CBRE's Ryan Alexander, Matthew Saker and Nicole Marshall represented the tenant. CBRE's Paul Amrich, Neil King, Jeffrey Fischer, Sacha Zarba and Meghan Allen represented the landlord, along with leasing manager Brookfield Properties' Duncan McCuaig, David Caperna and PJ Massey.
Asset management firm leases office in Midtown
Address: 22 Vanderbilt Ave., Manhattan
Landlord: Milstein Properties
Tenant: Alti Tiedemann Global
Lease size: 40,000 square feet
Asset type: Office
Brokers: CBRE's Ryan Alexander, Matthew Saker and Nicole Marshall represented the tenant. CBRE's Paul Amrich, Neil King, Jeffrey Fischer, Sacha Zarba and Meghan Allen represented the landlord, along with leasing manager Brookfield Properties' Duncan McCuaig, David Caperna and PJ Massey.
Sales
Wendy's restaurant site near Cross Bronx Expressway changes hands
Address: 4040 Third Ave., Bronx
Seller: Ronald Rettner
Buyer: Bert Baradarian
Sale price: $13 million
Asset type: Retail
Financings
El Hogar Residence in Fordham gets big loan
Address: 2444 Tiebout Ave., Bronx
Owner: Comunilife
Lender: Webster Bank
Loan amount: $50.9 million
Asset type: Supportive housing
The Upper West Side has a new tallest tower. This week the residential skyscraper 50 West 66th Street reached its pinnacle height of 775 feet, officially taking the title from its 52-story tower neighbor 200 Amsterdam. Developed by Extell Development Company, the building includes 127 condominium units and 50,000 square feet of amenities. Designed by [...]
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In many cases telehealth has quickened and improved the delivery of healthcare services, such as consultation, patient triage, treatment, and education. But depending on where you live, conflicts between federal and state telehealth regulations can add complexity and slow the process considerably.
Think of it like a highway system. Federal laws set the speed limits and basic safety standards. States can then set their own speed limits within the federal guidelines, or add specific rules like mandatory rest stops within their borders. Some state regulations are stricter than federal guidelines, such as with privacy protections and differing reimbursement structures and rates.
Currently, telehealth regulations are a patchwork across states, causing confusion for both patients and providers. This limits patient choice and access to qualified care.
These are all reasons why we need uniform national telehealth standards to ensure the health and safety of patients and consistent, equitable telehealth services across all states.
Key differences in telehealth laws across states
These can be quite significant, affecting how telehealth services are implemented, accessed, and reimbursed. These differences can complicate matters for providers serving patients in multiple states and highlight the need for a standardized approach to telehealth regulation. Every state has different rules, and they change constantly.
● Licensing requirements: Some states require healthcare providers to be licensed in the state where the patient is located at the time of the telehealth service. Others participate in interstate compacts like the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact, which facilitates the licensing process across state lines but does not uniformly cover all states.
● Reimbursement policies: There is variability in how telehealth services are reimbursed by Medicaid and private insurers. Because Medicaid programs are state-specific, each state can determine what type of telehealth services are reimbursed, and for what amounts. Some states have parity laws that require insurers to reimburse telehealth services at the same rates as in-person services,
while others may not mandate such parity, leading to different reimbursement rates and coverage limitations.
● Types of services covered: States differ in the types of telehealth services they cover. For example, some may allow a broad range of services, including mental health treatments, while others might restrict telehealth to certain types of medical consultations or follow-up visits.
● Consent requirements: The requirements for obtaining patient consent for telehealth services can vary. Some states require written consent, while others are satisfied with verbal consent or have specific guidelines on how consent must be documented.
● Patient privacy and data security: States have their own regulations concerning patient data privacy and security during telehealth sessions, which can influence the technology platforms that providers can use.
Benefits of national telehealth standards
National uniformity in telehealth standards would help in streamlining regulations, simplifying the licensing process for providers, and ensuring that all patients receive the same standard of care regardless of their location. Here are some of the main benefits:
● Breaking down barriers – Streamlined national standards would remove unnecessary barriers for patients seeking telehealth services. This could be particularly beneficial for those in rural areas or with limited mobility.
● Increased provider pool – With clear, consistent rules, providers would be more comfortable offering telehealth services across state lines. This would expand the pool of qualified healthcare professionals available to patients. Given the shortage of qualified professionals in many parts of the country, states would be wise to increase access to qualified healthcare professionals within their borders.
● Maintaining safety – National standards can help ensure consistent quality and safety of care for all telehealth patients. This could involve establishing baseline requirements for technology, provider qualifications, and patient data security.
● Standardizing best practices – Nationally-recognized best practices for telehealth would raise the bar for quality of care across the board. This benefits patients by ensuring they receive safe and effective telehealth services.
● Improved outcomes – Standardized telehealth regulations can lead to better patient outcomes by promoting wider access to qualified healthcare professionals and fostering a culture of quality and safety.
For patients to be successful with telemedicine, it needs to be used to overcome the many systemic, geographic, and social barriers that limit access to healthcare. National standards for telehealth would help improve the experience for patients all over the U.S. The same would be true for clinicians.
Brandon M. Welch is the founder and CEO of Doxy.me, a telemedicine software company.