New York Post, Tuesday, August 27, 2019nypost.com28
VIRGO
(Aug. 24-Sept. 23)
Don't push yourself too hard
today because the approaching
new moon will most likely
present you with a new set of
possibilities and opportunities.
If you cannot finish a task
without exhausting yourself
then drop it and save your
energy for something better.
LIBRA
(Sept. 24-Oct. 23)
No matter how many bad things
may be going on in the world
there is still a great deal of good
and a great many good people,
so don't despair. Focus on what
is going right for a change -
there's plenty of it if you make
an effort to look.
SCORPIO
(Oct. 24-Nov. 22)
You may be finding it hard to get
through to someone that what
they are doing is not only wrong
but doomed to failure but if they
don't want to know then let
them get on with it. And when
they plead for help whendisaster looms? Ignore them.
SAGITTARIUS
(Nov. 23 - Dec. 21)
If you find yourself at odds with
those who set the agenda today
then by all means let them know
that you won't be following
their advice. And if they try to
turn their advice into an order?
Just laugh in their face and walk
quickly away.
CAPRICORN
(Dec. 22 - Jan. 20)
You seem to be thinking of
someone a lot of late and it's
getting to the stage where you
are becoming a bit obsessive
about it. You need to snap out of
it and get things back to normal.
There are other individuals, and
issues, that need your attention.
AQUARIUS
(Jan. 21 - Feb. 19)
Don't waste time arguing with
people who will never agreewith you, not even if you prove
to them in every possible way
that what you say is true. You of
all people should know how
difficult it can be to set aside
deeply held beliefs and
opinions.
PISCES
(Feb. 20-Mar. 20)
The approaching new moon will
bring lots of new challenges and
lots of new opportunities and to
make the most of them you must
be ready and willing to adapt,
maybe at a moment's notice.
Luckily, Pisces is a sign that
likes to move with the times.
ARIES
(March 21-April 20)
There is no reason to feel sorry
for someone who is having a
tougher time of things than you.
The harsh truth is they have
brought whatever difficulties
they are enduring on
themselves, so why on earthshould you feel in the least bit
guilty?
TAURUS
(April 21-May 21)
You may be annoyed with
someone's actions but getting
upset about it won't change a
thing. The best way to deal with
the situation is to let it burn
itself out, which it won't do if
you rise to the bait and get
involved in a shouting match.
GEMINI
(May 22-June 21)
Someone you meet socially
could become very important to
you over the next few months,
so be on the lookout for people
who try to catch your eye - and
don't look away. Romance is
possible but a professional
partnership is much more likely.
CANCER
(June 22-July 23)
If you don't feel entirely happywith what you are expected to
do then let partners and
colleagues know about your
feelings before it goes too far
and you can no longer change
things. There is nothing wrong
in admitting that you have
doubts.
LEO
(July 24-Aug. 23)
If you are typical of your sign
then you have most likely been
pushing yourself to the limit in
recent weeks, and that's great.
But at some point you will need
to slow down and take a break -
and that point may well creep
up on you today.BIRTHDAY TUESDAY
It may seem as if nothing
much of any great
importance happens over
the next six months, but it's
the lull before the storm.
The second half of the
coming year will see you
assailed on all sides by
challenges that bring out
the best in you.Sally Brompton Daily Horoscope
DISCOVER MORE ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS AT
SALLYBROMPTON.COMO
NE of Midtown Madi-
son Avenue’s dowdiest
buildings is about to dress up
and go out on the town.
Aby Rosen, who bought
477 Madison in July for $258
million through his RFR
Holding, knows that the 24-
story office tower’s glazed
white brick facade fades to
black amid the avenue’s
more distinguished older
and newer properties.
But when he’s done with an
inside-and-out moderniza-
tion, “You’ll suddenly see a
building you never saw be-
fore,” the developer chuck-
led.
Rosen had previously
called the 1953-vintage struc-
ture at East 51st Street a “dia-
mond in the rough ready to
be polished.”But he shared the specifics
with Realty Check for the
first time.
Rosen aims to do a Cinder-
ella job on the property as he
has to several other older,
underutilized ones in Mid-
town South.
RFR plans to invest around
$40 million in 477 Madison
Ave. above the purchase
price.
Most visible to the public
will be a new, battleship-gray
exterior.
The white brick won’t be
replaced, but cloaked in a
product called KEIM Min-
eral Stain Coating, which will
look “almost like re-glazing,”
he said.
The material refracts light
for a luminous appearance
and will give 477 Madison a
hipper, slightly downtown
appearance.
Rosen said 477 Madison’s
5,000- to 18,100-square-foot
floors are ideal for an “eclec-
tic” mix of tenants — such as
smaller legal and financial
firms and nonprofits — whowill pay from $90 to $100 per
square foot, “a great bargain”
for a location across from the
back of St. Patrick’s Cathe-
dral, and a short stroll to
Rockefeller Center.
“I’ve always made a good
living from B properties in A
locations,” Rosen said. “Gi-
ant, monster floor plates
aren’t my game.”
The building is half-empty
and several tenants are soon
leaving, Rosen said. “The
previous owners” — mem-
bers of the famously squab-
bling Slifka family — “did
no new leasing for the past
few years.
“They did a new lobby, but
we’ll take it to a new level,”
he said — including installa-
tion of a Jeff Koons Bicycle
Rack sculpture and Kather-
ine Bernhardt paintings.
Improvements are also to
include all-new windows,
handsome landscaping on
setback terraces and new
mechanical systems.
New storefronts will add
luster to about 10,000 squarefeet of retail space, where
RFR will mostly ask for a rea-
sonable $250 per square foot
“and possibly $300 a foot on
the corner,” Rosen said.
Rosen’s company owns or
controls three large land-
marks — the Chrysler Build-
ing, the Seagram Building
and Lever House — as well
as smaller ones such as 281
Park Avenue South, which
has been entirely leased to
Sweden’s Fotografiska pho-
tography museum to open
this fall.
The Department of
City Planning’s re-
cent Storefront Va-
cancy Report
brought rare clar-
ity to the city’s re-
tail leasing picture
— a situation which
many, Realty Check in-
cluded, has called a crisis.
As DCP Director Marisa
Lago put it, the research
shows that “the reasons for
storefront vacancies are
complex and varied.”In not allocating blame
solely to greedy landlords
demanding unaffordable
rents, her report was a dra-
matic break with the views of
many elected officials and
city agency heads.
The study of 24 areas com-
prising 10,000 storefronts
found that the city’s average
retail vacancy rate jumped to
9 percent from 7.6 percent in
2008 to 2009.
If 9 percent seems low, it’s
important to note that the
DCP survey included data
from all five boroughs — in-
cluding in neighbor-
hoods where empty
stores are relatively
scarce.
Vacancies in
bustling Jackson
Heights, for exam-
ple, were a scant 5.1
percent.
Such strong retail districts
offset the highly visible dark
storefronts on, for example,
parts of Canal Street and
Broadway in the West 50s.
[email protected]Madison Ave. fairy tale
STEVE
CUOZZOREALTYCHECK
The Department of
City Planning’s recluding in neighbor
hoods where empty
Get more
Realty Check at— a situation which ple, were a scant 5.1NYPOST. COM
OI
RIESIN EORIARTHURM. SCHWARZ,age 92, diedof
naturalcauses on May 21, 2019, in Suffolk,
NY.Arthur is survived by his daughter,
LucySchwarz, of Derry, NH; his daughter,
PatriciaVenendaal of Babylon, NY; hisson,
Richard Schwarz, of Warrington, PA;
grandchildren Abram Girling Ryan
Dodson, Kevin Venendaal, Keith
Venendaal, Scott Venendaal, Dawn
Venendaal,Jen Carelli, Marissa Walter,
Mark Schwarz; and 18 great-
grandchildren.He is preceded in deathby
hiswife May, and his sister, Jean Esposito.
Arthurwas born on February 13, 1927,in
RichmondHeights, Queens, to parents
ArthurJ. Schwarz and Violet O. Schwarz
(neeHanft). He married Zita May Lokkein
1950,honeymooning in Asbury Park,NJ.
Herserved in the US Coast Guard during
WWII.He graduated from New York
Universitywithadegree in Business
Administration,acceptingapositionas
AccountingClerk at Texaco, wherehe
workedfor more than 30 years, becoming
theBudget Supervisor for Texaco’s North-
EastDivision. He enjoyed politics and
currentaffairs and hadadeep interestin
history.His family fondly rememberhim
asstraightforward, someone who always
sharedhis honest, well-informed opin-
ions.Amemorial was held on June6,
2019 at Long Island National Cemetery
wherehe was reunited in death withhis
wife,May.Death Notices and In Memoriam Messages
Notices may be submitted via telephone, fax or email,
Monday thruFriday, 8:30A.M. to 4:00P.M., toappear
in the following day’s edition. Sunday and Monday
notices must be received by 4:00p.m. onFriday.
Call: 212-930-5847Fax: 212-930-8034
Email: [email protected]