The Herald-News from Passaic, New Jersey • D8

PAGE D8 HERALDNEWS Tuesday, December 10, 2013 Money business edge Good times developing Retail representatives, including American Dream's builder, are encouraged by growth in leasing activity developments in Newark and Bloomfield. The firm and its partners broke ground on a retail and residential project in Bloom-field on Monday. Jacobs and more than 7,500 retail real estate professionals gathered at the Hilton New York hotel Monday for the two-day conference hosted by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Attendance at the conference increased about 15 per By JOAN VERDON STAFF WRITER Retail real estate brokers and leasing agents including representatives of the American Dream project in the Meadowlands sounded optimistic about filling empty and prospective store spaces Monday as the industry gathered in New York City for an annual dealmaking conference. Brokers said they are seeing pre-recession levels of leasing activity, and developers of North Jersey properties said they are encouraged by the amount of interest they are seeing in their available retail spaces.

"Things are certainly better than they were a few years ago," said George Jacobs, president of development firm Jacobs Enterprises of Clifton. Jacobs said the firm's Clifton and Ridgewood retail properties are 100 percent leased and he is seeing strong interest in new urban mixed-use JOAN VERD0NSTAFF Chuck Lanyard, president of The Goldstein Group in Paramus, talking deals at Monday's conference. the developer of American Dream, said during a break in meetings that the mall is attracting a lot of leasing interest, although the company is not yet able to announce tenants. "We have eight or nine leasing agents talking to us right now" he said, gesturing toward the crowded Please see FUTURE, D9 cent this year, compared with 2012. Agents for one of the rare mega-malls under way, the American Dream, were at the conference to meet with prospective tenants.

The project's leasing team was conducting meetings throughout the day Monday in a room at an adjacent hotel. Don Ghermezian, president of Triple Five, For victims, Madoff fraud still hurts 5 years later Housing report shows jobs up The November employment report showed an optimistic picture for the economy as a whole and for the housing market, which is climbing out of its deepest hole since the Great Depression. The real estate website Trulia dug into the jobs data and pointed out that residential construction employment was up by 8,400 in November versus one month earlier, and 20,300 compared with three months earlier. The one-month increase in November was the biggest since July. Year over year, residential construction jobs were up 5 percent, well ahead of the overall jobs increase of 1.7 percent.

However, residential construction jobs are still 37 percent below the peak during the housing bubble. Another hopeful sign for the real estate market: More young adults went to work. Employment among 25- to 34-year-olds, the prime age group for housing demand, rose to 75.2 percent in November, above the 75 percent level in September. And every 26-year-old who gets a job is another person looking to move out of Mom's basement into his or her own place. Kathleen Lynn Better to give than receive All I want for Christmas is a talking fly swatter? A survey by Harris Interactive asked workers and managers about their holiday plans at work.

About 45 percent of employers plan to give out bonuses, and 59 percent plan holiday parties. About 22 percent of workers plan to exchange gifts with co-workers, with a large majority planning to spend $25 or less, according to CareerBuilder.com, which reported on the survey. The survey also asked about the most unusual gifts people had ever been given by colleagues. The answers included 50 pounds of Louisiana shrimp, a unicorn calendar, homemade laundry detergent, a porcelain clown, a painted concrete chicken and stamps. (We kind of like the idea of stamps at least they're more practical than the chicken or the clown.) And some lucky soul got the talking fly swatter no word on what it says.

If you get any of these gifts, you have our permission to re-gift. Kathleen Lynn Chobani buys Super Bowl spot During Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in February, you'll see commercials for cars, beer, chips, fast food -and yogurt. Chobani says it will air its first Super Bowl ad this February, a move intended to make the Greek yogurt company more of a household name. The debut on advertising's biggest stage comes as Greek yogurt continues its surge in popularity. Known for its thick texture and tart taste, Greek yogurt now accounts for more than a third of the U.S.

yogurt market, up from just 1 percent in 2007, according to a report by Bernstein Research. And the figure is expected to top more than 50 percent in coming years. Chobani is the market leader, but says only about a third of Americans are familiar with its brand. To boost awareness, the company hired Peter McGuin-ness as its first chief marketing officer four months ago. McGuinness declined to provide details on the Super Bowl spot, but said it would be more than 30 seconds and mark the start of a more aggressive marketing strategy.

According to Kantar Media, a 30-second spot during last season's Super Bowl cost $3.5 million. The Associated Press Temp agency to pay $27,800 settlement Staffing firm failed to register to hire workers in Sandy's aftermath By KATHLEEN LYNN STAFF WRITER An Idaho-based temporary staffing agency has agreed to pay $27,800 to settle complaints that it failed to properly register a New Jersey temp agency that it set up for cleanup workers after Superstorm Sandy. The settlement includes a $10,000 payment to the American Red Cross for Sandy relief efforts. According to acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman, the company, Command Center operated offices in Paterson and Newark from November 2012 until mid-March 2013.

Command Center hired local residents to perform post-Sandy cleanup jobs for other employers. The state said the company failed to properly register with the Division of Consumer Affairs and obtain a $1,000 bond, as required. Command Center earlier reached a separate settlement with the Department of Labor and Workforce Development, paying a total of more than $2,844 in back wages to 13 temporary employees in New Jersey. Command Center said Monday that it inadvertently failed to immediately register and pay the required bond. However, the company said it registered and paid the bond within a week of being contacted by state authorities last year.

The company said it paid more than $1.1 million in wages to a total of 1,774 people working on the Superstorm Sandy cleanup. As for the alleged non-payment of wages, the company said it disputes nearly all those claims. "In an effort to resolve the matter, the company agreed to the payment of $2,844.75 as compensation for those 13 individuals," company counsel Brendan Simaytis said in a statement. As part of settlement negotiations with the Office of the Attorney General, Command Center offered to pay $10,000 to the American Red Cross of Northern New Jersey. ASSOCIATED PRESS Morton Chalek, 90, and Fran Reiss, 79, lost their savings to Bernard Madoff's scheme.

The wounds haven't healed for those who were burned in a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions GAS PRICES Bergen-Passaic average price, regular gasoline: Monday Sunday $3.285 $3.286 Month ago Year ago $3.124 $3.432 Source: AAA Fuel Gauge MARKETS "It's frustrating as hell, believe me," the 90-year-old great-grandfather and native New Yorker said in a recent interview at his Manhattan apartment. The man Chalek sarcastically refers to as "good old Bernie" revealed to the FBI that his firm was a Ponzi scheme of epic proportions. Account statements for thousands of clients showing $60 billion in assets Chalek's account stood at $2.3 million were fiction. Of the roughly 1 7 .5 billion in principal that was real, most of it was gone. Authorities say it was paid out as fake profits or raided by Madoffs family and cronies.

A court-appointed trustee has so far recovered more than $9.5 billion to redistribute to burned clients through an ongoing claims process. Victims who invested through third-party "feeder funds" recently became eligible to make claims for an ad-Please see MADOFF, D9 By TOM HAYS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK The last time Morton Chalek visited Bernard Madoff office, the then-trusted investment adviser gave him the customary warm welcome. "Hey, Mort, come on over," Chalek recalled Madoff saying before giving him more good news about his portfolio. The World War II veteran saw no risk investing with the affable Madoff. But two months after that meeting, on Dec.

11, 2008, the headlines told him he'd been had. With the fifth anniversary of the exposure of Madoffs massive Ponzi scheme approaching, Chalek lives with a disdain for Madoff that gnaws at him daily. He's among a legion of former investors still struggling to move on after seeing their life savings go up in flames. Dec. 9, 2013 Dow Jones industrials 5.33 17,000 16,000 15,000 14,000 16.025.53 -i i i i i i MJ ASOND Pet.

change from previous: 0.03 High 16,058.40 Low 16,015.29 4,200 3,300 nnn Dec. 9, 2013 Nasdaq composite 6.23 A flfiR 75 Real estate brokerage names N.J. leader IVI MOW Pet. change from previous: 0.15 High 4,081.78 Low 4,063.50 Brennan becomes highest-ranking woman in state among industry's bigger commercial firms By LINDA MOSS STAFF WRITER 1,900 jipr- 1,800 1.500 Dec. 9, 2013 Standard Poor's 500 3.28 1 RDR 37 A Pet.

change from previous: 0.18 High 1,811.52 Low 1 ,806.21 AP The Rockaway resident said she is essentially filling the vacancy left when Gil Medina, executive managing director at Cushman Wakefield, left the firm in June to join rival CBRE Inc. in Saddle Brook as an executive vice president. "Next year, one of my main priorities is to make sure that I'm out there recruiting, to make sure that we're expanding our market share," Brennan said. She plans to put together a five-year strategic plan for the firm in New Jersey. And initially, Brennan Please see BRENNAN, D9 Cushman Wakefield Inc.

promoted Kimberly Brennan to New Jersey market leader, making her the highest-ranking woman official at a major commercial real estate brokerage in the state. Brennan, 44, becomes the top manager at Cushman Wakefield's three-office Garden State branch, the company said Monday. Since joining the firm in 2005, Brennan has served as senior managing director for its offices in East Rutherford, where she is based, and Morristown and Edison. FOLLOW THE NEWS Commerce Department releases wholesale trade inventories for October, 10 a.m. Eastern; Labor Department releases job openings and labor turnover survey for October, 10 a.m.

www.northjersey.com DON SMITHSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Kim Brennan of Cushman Wakefield has been named New Jersey market leader for the company..