How NYC Developers Are Giving Back COVID-19

While the city is dealing with COVID-19 we are seeing a number of developers across NYC giving back to their local neighborhoods and assisting in the relief effort throughout the City, helping out healthcare workers, local residents and businesses and their own employees who continue to work.

Some, like CIM Group, have donated hundreds of N95 masks from their closed construction site to hospitals, others like F&T Group and Rockefeller Group are supporting local restaurants and donating meals to nearby residents, and still others like the LeFrak Organization have taken a unique position and contributed thousands of dollars to a fund created in appreciation for their building staff who continue to work and keep their residents safe during this time.

LeFrak Organization

The LeFrak, Fisher and Olnick families, who make up the ownership of Gateway, are matching contributions to a Go Fund Me page organized in appreciation for building staff at Gateway, the Battery Park City residential complex. Created by residents of the development, the Go Fund Me will provide e-gift cards to express thanks and support for Gateway staff who continue to work during the pandemic. Residents have currently raised over $15,000 for the fund to support Gateway staff—including doormen, security personnel, maintenance workers and porters—and Gateway Residential Management will match donations dollar for dollar, up to $50,000.

The Towers of the Waldorf Astoria

Since opening its doors in 1931 in the midst of the Great Depression, Waldorf Astoria New York has stood the test of time as a coveted New York institution. Some of New York’s most famous recipes were also created, or rumored to have been created, at the Waldorf, including the namesake Waldorf Salad, Red Velvet Cake, Eggs Benedict and Thousand Island Dressing.

Waldorf Astoria New York touched on that food history to create an Instagram campaign to support God’s Love We Deliver, partnering with social media food influencers to create a traditional take on three of the Waldorf Astoria’s most famous dishes - the Waldorf salad, a Rob Roy cocktail, (a direct descendant of the famous Manhattan cocktail,) and the red velvet cake. Check out the campaign on Instagram. Waldorf Astoria New York has pledged $25,000 toward matching donations to God’s Love We Deliver—Please use this link for your donation to count twice.

River Park Brooklyn

River Park Brooklyn partnered with Operation Feed Brooklyn, an organization providing regular meal deliveries from local restaurants to those who need it. With hospital cafeterias closed, healthcare workers are struggling to find resources to feed themselves while working hard all day. At the same time, restaurants are also struggling: to stay in business and to support relieved or furloughed staff.

River Park's first meal donation was prepared by Mile End Deli and delivered to the Maimonides Medical Center. Their second meal donation came from Cobble Hill's Henry Public Saloon to the NYU/Bellevue Juvenile Justice Mental Health Team at Crossroads Juvenile Center.

75 Kenmare

Proudly perched at the intersections of four distinct cultural epicenters - SoHo, NoHo, the Lower East Side, and Little Italy - 75 Kenmare has always admired the spirit of their beloved neighborhood NoLita. Uniquely charismatic, artistically charged, and an enigmatic destination they're lucky to call home.

To support their neighbors during these difficult times, every two weeks, the team at 75 Kenmare will be partnering with different local eateries and donate those meals to the heroic doctors and nurses helping fight COVID-19 throughout the different downtown hospital. For the first dropoff, 75 Kenmare partnered with Slice Out Hunger to donate pizzas from their local favorite Lombardi's to the incredible team at NYU Langone.

F&T Group

F&T Group — the prestigious Flushing developer behind game-changing mixed-use projects One Fulton Square, Queens Crossing and Tangram that have redefined the neighborhood — has teamed up with Asians in America (AiA), a charitable organization dedicated to increasing social services and community activism among Asian Americans founded by Democratic Assembly candidate Steven Lee, to purchase and deliver over 1,200 meals from Flushing’s most beloved restaurants to those on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. F&T Group is proud to have found an opportunity to support their restaurant tenants while also giving back to their community. The real estate firm paid for the first 1,200 meals all prepared and delivered from the restaurants at the company’s mixed-use properties One Fulton Square and Queens Crossing, including eats from TKK Fried Chicken, Spot Dessert Bar, Nanxiang Xiao Long Bao, Guan Fu Sichuan, Hope to See You, PappaRich Flushing, and Szechuan Mountain House. The food was sent to workers at the 109th Precinct, Flushing Hospital Medical Center, New York-Presbyterian Queens and the local fire departments. F&T is working with AiA in an effort to continue delivering meals to first responders and expanding their outreach to serve individuals and families who cannot afford or are unable to access fresh food at this time.

CIM Group

New Line Structures and CIM Group donated 350 N95 masks from their Front & York development in DUMBO to Mount Sinai West hospital to assist in the relief effort and provide health care workers with personal protective equipment. CIM Group is exploring additional initiatives to support residents and businesses in DUMBO and New York City.

Rockefeller Group

NoMad’s new Rose Hill tower was quickly up and running with virtual tours and demonstrations and has been conducting regular “virtual open houses” for large groups of real estate brokers. Rose Hill’s developer — the historic Rockefeller Group of Rockefeller Center fame — is using the funds that would typically be allocated for “regular" open houses and is supporting first responders and neighborhood retailers. For example, most recently Rose Hill partnered with NoMad's Bourke Street Bakery, and instead of feeding 60 hungry real estate brokers at an open house, Rockefeller took the event budget and had the shop bake and deliver 60 care treat packages to the heroes at nearby Bellevue Hospital. Rockefeller Group and Rose Hill will continue to help other neighborhood businesses and first responders at least twice a week.

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