Daily News from New York, New York • 99

"It's a sign of the times that practically no brokers left who know the business of loft and industrial real estate in this city." -Alvin Schwartz OH Jit yiscnel Monday, January 15, 1990 23 llll "PHI.) I H'Ml Al Building has lofty ambition By ROXANNE DONOVAN Daily News Business Writer nittaiJi INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH: "It's become a hard business," said Alvin Schwartz (left), executive vice president of Helmsley-Spear, which owns the Starrett Lehigh Building (above) that covers the block from 26th to 27th between 11th and 12th Aves. Bo knows PR Baseball and football superstar Bo Jackson is scheduled to appear at a sneak preview of a new Nike commercial this afternoon at the Sporting Club downtown. Sportscasters Marv Albert, Pat Summerall and Dick Enberg are also in the commercial and reportedly may show with Bo. The drill is gone The number of oil and gas wells drilled in the United States last year was probably the lowest for any year in the decade, accord ing to an annual survey by Petroleum Information. Clutter's way Today is National Clear-Your-Desk Day.

Vancouver-based Priority Management Systems which trains 5,000 executives monthly in 11 countries, said studies done in the last two years show cluttered desks lead to cluttered minds. Desk-clearing every day will help you sleep better too, says the company. Kung some people A national watchdog organization in the martial arts the United States Martial Arts Bureau Agency (USMAB) has been created in Washington, D.C., to protect the public from fraudulent instructors and schools by certifying qualified martial arts instructors. Tea fettle Booming tea prices are helping Sri Lanka's tea industry survive attacks from rebels that have killed workers and torched tea factories. Deadbeat goes on Companies in Latin America and Africa are among the worst deadbeats when it comes to paying bills, says Mid-Continent Agencies an international collection agency.

The 10 worst, alphabetically: Argentina, Brazil, Greece, India, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe. Procter Gorby Consumers in the Soviet Union are snapping up Crest toothpaste, Camay soap and other Procter Gamble Co. products at a rate that will make them the company's largest export market in the year ending June 30, 1990. The Soviet biz will account for of export sales, says the company. Bride puts on weight Tipping the scales at 3.8 pounds, the FebruaryMarch issue of Bride's magazine totals 1,040 pages, making it the largest consumer mag in history.

Publisher Elliot Marion has even applied to have it listed in the Guinness book of world records. Silver bully Coors Light passed the 10 million barrel mark for annual sales in '89, making it America's fastest growing premium light beer and the third best-selling brand, boast company officials. Bud and Miller Lite are -No. 1 and No. 2.

"The company's goal is to make Coors Light the alcohol beverage of the 1990s," said Bob McBride, Coors Light brand When you drive along the West Side Highway near Chelsea, you can't miss it In fact, the mammoth Star-rett Lehigh Building is visible from just about everywhere in Manhattan and all along the Hudson River in New Jersey. But even though most New Yorkers have seen it, they probably don't know what it is real estate brokers included. That's why the owners recently hosted a luncheon for real estate professionals inside the building, a luncheon that attracted more than 300 brokers with the promise of a gold coin raffle. "I wanted people to know that a building like this exists," said Alvin Schwartz, executive vice president of Helmsley-Spear, which owns the 17-story building that covers the square block from 26th to 27th between 11th and 12th Aves. "It's a sign of the times that there are practically no brokers left who know the business of loft and industrial real estate in this city.

It's become a hard business." Empire of the sum The fact that the 2 million-square-foot building (a little larger than the Empire State Building) is about 30 vacant, Schwartz said, is another sign of hard times for industrial real estate. "Taxes and electricity costs are higher in Manhattan than New Jersey or other areas, and there are also traffic and safety problems here," he explained. "It's hard to attract manufacturing and industrial businesses to this site." Industrial space was in demand when the landmark glass and brick structure was built in 1929 by the Lehigh Valley Rail Road and the Starrett brothers, to PlliBlplllBwilli Mj space, since it would take a major zoning change to allow for conversion to office or residential use. "Rent is not always the determining factor in a real estate decision," Schwartz said. "It has to be accessible to the boss and have good facilities." The Starrett Lehigh Building's rents, at $6 to $8 per square foot, are higher than rents in the other boroughs or New Jersey, where the Archie Schwartz real estate company tracks industrial rents from $3 to $6.50.

But Helmsley-Spear's Schwartz said he thinks the building has a good future, even in a tough market. "Instead of going to New Jersey, the financial services firms should come here to set up their computers and operations facilities," he said. "There are still a lot of companies that would fit in here. They just have to know it exists." dealer," Schwartz said. "But so many businesses are moving out of the city these days." "I used to canvass all the buildings in Manhattan, and learned the names of most of the companies located from Canal to 34th he said.

"Now, I see those same company names when I drive out through New Jersey." Schwartz said that because the building is so huge, it has never been "completely" occupied. Today, Federal Express and a handful of other firms are operating out of the 26th St. facility. And Schwartz hopes that when brokers start showing the building where most floors equal about three acres of space and boast elevators that carry 28-foot-high trucks to individual loading docks the Starrett Lehigh Building will lease. And it would have to lease as industrial warehouse goods shipped along the railway.

Helmsley-Spear started managing the building in 1946, and acquired the property when it took over the mortgage in vthe mid-1970s. i i "There was a real hodgepodge of businesses in here, from a fabric-cutting business to a Chevrolet DIoomin' Iuclc Banlts give Campeau a week's reprieve banking industry source said. The banks, led by Citibank, earlier granted a two-week extension, ended today, for the Toronto-based company to prove that it would be able to repay the loan. A group of banks agreed yesterday to give Campeau which controls Bloomingdale's, Abraham Straus and Stern's, a five-day extension before deciding whether it is in default on a $2.34 billion loan, a The extension until Friday gives Campeau time to try to come up with a plan to avoid a bankruptcy filing for its retailing operations, Federated Department Stores Inc. and Allied Stores Corp.

The Associated Press tl 1 iMIit.