Gothamist LLC

• The car parking at Soho's 123 Baxter is "hidden from view and lacks human operators." (Lasers steer the cars into spots, or something like that.) Better yet, it's now open to the public instead of the owners of the 24 condo units. [Metropolis]
• The genius firm Architectural Artifacts is selling off (plus disassembling, shipping, and reassembling) the carved limestone entryway from a Westchester estate. And it only costs $135,000.00! [Luxist]
• The attractively-named Solid Waste Management Plan ("'the swamp' in waste-savvy lingo") aims to get 25 percent of NYC's waste out of landfills/trash-burners this year, and 70 percent by 2015. Luckily for us, recylcing is a hoot. [City Limits]
• An artist (with a lot of time and talent on his hands) drew every fire escape in lovely eastern Soho [above]. Click on all his Web site's little boxes if you really like the fiery rustication between Broadway, West Broadway, Houston and Canal. [The Fireladders of Soho, via Gothamist] - Max Abelson
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• Ian Schrager's old friend Philippe Starck is designing a 207-unit condo on the un-hip stretch of East 23rd Street between First and Second Avenue. And the place will be called Gramercy--even though Starck's condo isn't quite so close to the famous park. [Real Deal]
• Thanks to the picture-perfect Brooklyn brownstones, the "burgeoning dining and nightlife scene," and the handsome celebrity couples, Boerum Hill is officially ritzy. Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope are totally jealous. [N.Y. Mag]
• Who's going to Morandi, the Waverly Inn's hot new neighborhood rival? Jay McInerney, Lorne Michaels, the artist John Alexander, Joe Bastianich, maybe Michael Kors, and "old-time, grayhaired, neighborhood lefty feminist Birkenstock babes." [House + Garden]
• After more than two sad decades in storage, Central Park's grandest ceiling returns. And the Bethesda Terrace Arcade [above] only cost a mere $7 million to renovate. [Gothamist] - Max Abelson
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• Uptown is getting a leafy, "high-end" new condo, and it happens to have $100 million worth of affordable housing. Avalon Morningside Park broke ground this month at 110th Street and Morningside Drive. [Multi-Housing News]
• What do you call it when gorgeous works of graffiti--an art form based upon vandalism--becomes the victim of a vandal? Ironic. But it's also tragic, especially when Soho's quintessential street-art gets covered. [Gothamist]
• Based on some sort of 21st-century hunter-gatherer logic, Apartment Therapy estimates that every family of three deserves 750 square feet of interior home space. In Manhattan, that costs a paltry $600,000! [A.T.]
• Miscellaneous toxicity problems aside, the Gowanus neighborhood has been plagued by a sewage crisis [above]. Thanks to ever-spreading Brooklyn condo development, things have been getting bad during rainstorms. [Curbed] - Max Abelson
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• Catastrophe in West Soho! Moondance Diner is being wiped away to make room for--here it comes--luxury condos. "There are not going to be any more diners," says traitorous owner Sunil "Sunny" Sharma (one of the condo's co-developers). [NY Sun, via Gothamist]
• Is the newly-renovated $320,000 prewar co-op at 478 West 158th Street the cheapest three-bedroom in Manhattan? The neighborhood could be "a colossal headache," but 100 grand (and change) per bedroom is a luscious price. [New York/D.I.]
• Curbed's montage [above] of Andre "Mr. Uma" Balazs' William Beaver House is frightening. And very sexy. And frightening. [Curbed]
• How much does designing a Park Avenue bachelor pad cost? Single-male homeowners spend $250,000 to $500,000 "customizing their pad," according to Forbes. On the other hand, Wynton Marsalis' interior decorator says his client's ear was so good there was no need for high-end stereos. [F.L.]
- Max Abelson
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• Flip of the Week: Courteney and David Cox Arquette bought their house in 2001 for $10 million, and have now put it on the market for $33,500,000. Apparently, Californians will pay anything for four bedrooms that belonged to two semi-stars. [WSJ]
• Prospect Park will have a new $25 million skating rink in three years. (By then, Prospect will officially have become the new Central Park--but with better-dressed ice skaters.) [Gowanus Lounge]
• After reading this morning's Times profile, Gothamist realizes that despite all his "horribly nondescript" architecture, New Yorkers should heartfully thank Costas Kondylis [above] for making sure Trump hasn't built a 90-story gold building in Manhattan. (He's opted for bronze instead.) [Goth]
• After paying a pretty penny for naming rights to Gehry's Atlantic Yards stadium, Barclays defends itself against the accusation (printed by Brooklyn Paper among others) that the company had been built on slavery "blood money." How does the B.P. editor respond? No retraction! [Brooklyn Paper]
• Can the winner of the Super Bowl be predicted via non-football statistics? Maybe. But the real question is: Can real estate be predicted via non-realty statistics? (Nope.) [Matrix]
- Max Abelson
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• Brooklyn Rally of the Weekend: Christine Quinn and "over 1,000 tenants" will protest the impending billion-plus-dollar sale of Starrett City. What do they want? Preservation of affordable housing! When do they want it? This weekend (and, hopefully, beyond). [The Real Deal]
• The MTA is over a decade behind when it comes to the "State of Good Repair" guideline. Why does that matter? It means two out of five subway lines have signals older than Joan Rivers. Really. [Gothamist]
• 225 million square miles of "prime" real estate is essentially untouched--and it's called the ocean. But it might solve all our problems, as long as we "simply surround at-risk cities (like New York) ... with off-shore waterworlds anchored to the sea floor." [CNN/Business 2.0]
• Or, instead, we can all have our own private islands. The cheap ones cost less than one-bedroom L.E.S. apartments: "A starter island, likely a remote desert-isle fixer-upper, filled with mosquitoes and in need of utilities and a residence, might run about $200,000." [Forbes]
• What happens when a parking lot is turned into a fancy Perry Street condo with a fancy facade? "Another definition of elegance possibly transcending that of the high modernist traditions and minimalist aspirations expressed in the adjacent towers and the quaintness and scale of domesticity that the building is situated in." [Curbed]
- Max Abelson
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• This weekend's Times expose on evil rental agents [above] is a reminder that Manhattan real estate is "akin to the X-Files," and that brokers may or may not be "soulless beasts who [don't] deserve any consideration." [Property Grunt]
• South Harlem has changed "for good," but not necessarily for better. Unless you like your "old-school beauty salons" next to your "designer boutiques, and locally produced T-shirts." [New York]
• There's "a gut rehab" on the way for New York's affordable housing, all thanks to a very big fact-finding survey. [City Limits]
• Each Manhattan neighborhood will get two of those new-fangled public toilets. Where will the UES pair go? "There isn't really an appropriate Upper East Side location," says the local City Councilwoman. That's because all local bathrooms have to be covered in jewels, or maybe Playbills. [Daily Intelligencer/ N.Y., via Gothamist]
- Max Abelson
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• Developer Herb Miller listed his Washington, D.C., home last spring for $28 million--the highest asking price in our nation's fair capital--and now he's sold the place. Is that as good as the Washingtonians can do? Manhattan can beat $28 million with its left arm tied behind its back. [WSJ]
• London is entirely another story. In hip neighborhoods like Knightsbridge, 77-square-foot storage rooms are $335,000 apartments. There's no electricity, which would cost another $59,000--bringing price per square foot to $5,116.88. [AP via Drudge]
• The opulent real estate fans at Luxist admire the Upper East Side's Woolworth Mansion [above], on the market with Sotheby's for $23.45 million. They advise that prospective buyers "look up while eating in the dining room." [Lux]
• Staring at photographs of "every ad in Times Square all on one page" proves that even Renzo Piano's NYT headquarters can't save the neighborhood from eternal damnation. [Ironic Sans, via Gothamist]
- Max Abelson
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• How do starving artists pay for Manhattan rent? With the Artist Help Network, and the city's affordable housing administration, and non-sketchy Craigslist posts. Or by getting a real job. [Gothamist]
• The South Bronx is so hot right now--just like it's been since the dawn of the expression "so hot right now." [NY Mag]
• Scandal! Intrigue! Mortgage! "According to several sources," Preferred Empire CEO Marcia Kaufman "is rumored to have left the company because of a strained relationship with residential brokerage Prudential Douglas Elliman, which owns the mortgage company." Brokers are used to interpersonal strains, naturally. [Real Deal]
• Horrifying interior-design obsessiveness has new unofficial headquarters at Michael Mitchell Interior Murals on East 116th Street. Mr. Mitchell paints "custom interior murals," like the three doozies up above. [Apartment Therapy]
- Max Abelson
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• Down in DUMBO and Vinegar Hill, there's a bunch of "brash adolescents swaggering around a yard of surly and sober old-timers." Those adolescents are condos, of course, and they've "emerged from hardcore puberty growth spurts." [Gothamist]
• Scandal! Bribery! Cat-fights! A pair of huge local hotel developers (and ex-partners) John Lam and Sam Chang are "battling over a subcontractor that one claims the other tried to lure away illegally." Manhattan is the new LA. [The Real Deal]
• The American Society of Interior Designers has released a five-part series of "sustainable design white papers." Question #716c: is gold lame recycleable? [I.D.]
• Today's pedestrian death in Brooklyn Heights "is not an isolated event," and, in fact, six people have been killed at Henry and Montague streets since the mid-90s. There's even a scary homemade map with little statistics/illustrations. [Streetsblog]
- Max Abelson
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• Last night, the Upper East Side's resident badboy Jeff Koons tenderly defended Lord Norman Foster's plans for a shiny new Madison Ave. skyscraper. "I think we have an important chance here," said Mr. Koons, "to add to our legacy as New Yorkers with this very, very special building." Then the community board promptly voted against it. (NYT)
• Mayor Giuliani once wished it would be "blown up," and Bloomberg called it the "notorious Kremlin" (and "rinkydink candy store"). But 110 Livingston is headed for 335,000 square feet of bamboo-floored glory. (Sun)
• Gertel's, the Lower East Side's "last kosher bakery," is moving away from its 92-year home on Hester Street. The condo that's taking its place will not be serving challah. (NewYorkology, via Gothamist)
• Williamsburg just got 3% hipper, 18% uglier, and 39% more annoying. And it's all thanks to something called Kiska. (Curbed)
• Peter Marino's tower of "interlocking apartments" on Central Park has received a big award--even though the prize is handed out in Boston, and even though the tower hasn't been built yet. Mr. Marino is a lucky man: his plot on 57th Street doesn't even have height restrictions. (Interior Design)
• Also: those late-night real estate infomercials are probably not a good idea. (Sun)
- Max Abelson
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From Forgotten NY.

• Brown Harris Stevens pushes a new neighborhood in the New York Post: Greenwood Heights. Uh, isn't that Sunset Park?
• The cops are allowed to openly tape public events, like protests. "Political events are the ideal venue for terrorists, whether it's to kill people, monitor civilians, or even study police tactics." What's the difference from the thousands of hidden cameras they have all over the city? (The Village Voice)
• Now, people get arrested for chalking public space. You hear that? No more hop scotch! (Gothamist)
• The New York Times coins another neighborhood name and Upper West Siders revolt. Oh wait, Yorktowners... (via Curbed)
• Sheepshead Bay was named after a fish! (Forgotten NY)
• The East Side of Midtown is the last frontier of development ... in Midtown. (New York Daily News)
• New Yorkers are now buying their Florida condos in the Northeast suburbs. (The New York Times)
• Nina Lalli reports: "Staten Island—from the Godfather mansions to the Wu Tang Clan shout outs—is New York's randomest borough by a long shot." She learns about horny, riotous students on the NYC public bus system and the subsequent need for a car. Sounds about right. (The Village Voice)
• The National Association of Realtors has ruled that secrets are no fun. Now, realtors can gossip your bidding price to everyone. (Los Angeles Times)
• Can a Park Slope hotel be successful? Maybe if there's a stadium nearby. (New York Daily News)
• Will there be lines for $3 wine too? The wrath of Trader Joe's continues. (Gothamist)

• Let's talk about sprawl again. "Thanks to the megalomania of our traffic engineers, for example, American cities are among the least pedestrian-friendly in the world." It's tough to be a columnist. (Inman News)
• Seventy-one percent of people age 60 and over who have relocated move to other metropolitan counties. Is Boca metropolitan?(The Wall Street Journal)
• Fine, live outside the main city, as long as you keep your priorities straight. "We are close enough that we can go over for shopping ..." Good to see you, guys! (The New York Times)
• The new Jacob K. Javits Center will be twice the size of the current one, and, yes, there will be much glass, which is so four years ago. (Curbed)
• The Amalgamated Bank is selling its 80,000-square-foot headquarters at 15 Union Square. Maybe a supermarket chain will buy it. We coud use one of those in the area. Afterall, there are still lines just down the street. (The New York Sun)
• ESPN and the law firm Dechert may work beside Timers whenever that Ratner project finishes. (New York Post)
• Williamsburg rezoning has produced "The Edge." It is a 1,300-unit apartment complex that will span over one million square feet. The residence will offer 300 units of "affordable housing," set at $1,100 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. By modern standards, the price is dandy. But, the traditional, working class neighborhood mainstays are not satisfied. (Queens Ledger)
• We love the new Zoning Handbook. But over at the The Real Deal , they think it's still too jargony.
• Adrian Grenier lives near a crack house, which suits the Entourage actor just fine. (Brownstoner)
• The Prada store will reopen after January's fire on April 18. Intermix will figure things out one season later. (NewYorkology)
• Opening Day at Prospect Park is this Saturday! (Gothamist)
• New York takes fourth in the 15 Best Sklylines in the world. (Diserio via Tropolism)
• Brooklyn: "universe of two-bit deals and three-time losers, of gangster bars and catering halls and auto-body shops." (The New York Times)
• Zum Schneider has been given the boot from Avenue C. The owner "feels he is becoming the unwitting victim of his own success in turning the street around." (The Villager)
• NYU has backed off on negotiations for another Third Avue dorm. In other news The Villager uses the school's Washington Square News as a source.
• onNYturf dissects the Yankee proposal and how the plan affects the surrounding neighborhood in great detail.

• "In a society where store clerks chat about their social lives in front of customers and college students survive co-ed bathrooms, privacy just isn't the concern it used to be." Which means that kinky, cutting-edge architects are designing see-through bathrooms that make their children uncomfortable, not to mention guests. (The New York Times)
• Celebrities are just like the regular people. We all want more when it comes to our houses. They can just afford it. (Forbes)
• "I was never one of those bitches who actually came back from spring break with a tan." But, Nina Lalli does know the cheapest place to get drunk--Times Square! (The Village Voice)
• Speaking of, Dave & Buster’s completed a survey of the neighborhood and found that people, not tourists, are stationed there too. So, they're opening a restaurant in early April. (Crain's)
• Not only does Larry Silverstein look like a P.I.M.P., but his business style is slow and calculated. (The New York Times)
• Now, you can hedge or speculate on housing prices in ten major U.S. cities--whatever that means... (Business Week)
• About 56 percent of single women own their own home, compared to 11 percent of single men. Do the men hold out more hope for their prospects than the women? (Inman News)
• Now that New York is officially the dirtiest city, the Department of Sanitation is taking sweeping initiative--an anti-litter campaign. (Gothamist)
• The Skate Key roller rink in the Bronx is closing and the Gotham Girls Roller Derby has lost its home. (Newsday)
• New luxury condos in Kew Gardens, Queens are selling fast. (The Real Deal)

• New Yorkers are officially dirty. Whether that's how you like it or not, the EPA found that 68 out of every million of us are at risk for getting cancer just from breathing the air. (Gothamist)
• Queens is the new Jersey City, with three "hot patches" of development. This heat wave can be traced back to 1984. (Architect's Newspaper)
• Giuliani talks nation-building, leadership and mobsters at a real-estate conference in Las Vegas: "We were letting him [Yasser Arafat] out-negotiate us. We kept making concessions and he never kept his word. It was like buying a house from someone who didn't own the house - over and over and over again." (Inman News)
• As the line still stretches across 14th street outside the doors of Trader Joe's, The New York Times asks about the dearth of supermarkets.
• Okay, Harlem ain't that cheap anymore, but it's better than the rest of the borough. (The Real Deal)
• Now that the the Williamsburg population has risen an income bracket, the MTA is investing in the L line. (Gothamist)
• When the property is large and has a view, homeowners ignore the important stuff--broken pipes, termites and foundation cracks--that they end up paying for later. (The New York Times)
• Food critic Steve Cuozzo bites the hand that feeds him. (New York Post)
• Zum Schneider may be evicted, and is asking for your help. (Petition)
• Project Runway loser opens a shop in the Lower East Side. "...simple, elegant halter dresses in silk and linen are cut in a kind, universally flattering fit, emphasizing what's up top while gliding mercifully over our adorable guts. This is what you should expect from a $340 gown, yet don't always receive." (The Village Voice)

• The Brooklyn House of Detention in Boerum Hill isn't very attractive. People are typically sent to prison rather than voluntarily go. So, the Correction Department has decided to convert a portion of the site into retail space. (The New York Times)
• America's obsession with its own little pasture: "A researcher investigating the psychology of suburbanites in 1948 observed shrewdly that the American work ethic coexisted uneasily with free time, and that 'intense care of the lawn is an excellent resolution of this tension.'" (The New York Times)
• In her final days on the real estate beat, Motoko Rich chooses to torture readers. (The Walk-Through)
• On a similar note, here are some spots where you can drool over that lighting fixture you've been pining for. (Apartment Therapy)
• Avenue C goes upscale. (Curbed)
• New Jersey is more "liveable" than New York. We respectfully disagree. (Gothamist)
• A NYT reporter takes notes: "In reference to the Freedom Tower, [Nicolai] Ouroussoff said, 'If this is a symbol of what our country has become, it's the worst thing I've ever seen.'" (Polis)
• The Night Hotel is welcoming guests. (Hotel Chatter)
• Zillow and the Justice Department have placed real estate commissions under siege. (Inman News)
• The Palmyra, a new Jamaica "Co-tel" with an Italian sibling, is waiting for your money. (Luxist)
• A new photography show at the Hasted Hunt Gallery focuses on the details of design through the lenses of two artists. (Metropolis)

• Israelis inspired by images of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center devised escape pods to build along the outside of buildings. The Office of Emergency Management says its unnecessary. (CNN)
• Steven Wynn is selling his Beverly Hills pad for classier digs in Vegas. (Forbes)
• Forbes finds that "members of the 55-and-over club can choose to live in age-restricted settings that most Americans would envy, complete with elegant dining rooms, groomed golf courses, pre-dinner cocktails on the veranda, day spas and stretch limousines for trips to the grocery store." At least, some people can choose it.
• Fannie Mae has an $11 billion accounting scandal, but a 2,652-page report says that management didn't "knowingly" participate. (Inman News)
• Two Mitchell-Lama buildings in the Bronx are going co-op--this time, the tenants are behind it, and the plan is for them to buy back the apartments an affordable prices. (The New York Times)
• Architecture for Humanity (AFH) founder Cameron Sinclair doesn't want to be Frank Gehry. He's looking for low-cost housing solutions to help people suffering around the world. (Christian Science Monitor)
• Doctors Without Borders wants to teach New Yorkers what it's like to live in a refugee camp, so they'll be recreating them in Central and Prospect parks. (New York Sun)
• The Homeless Outreach Population Estimate is on Monday. (Gothamist)
• For shoppers, Rivington Street is a "smorgasbord of strange treasures."(The Village Voice)

• A number of cities are suffering from an increase in foreclosures on houses among minorities and the poor. (The New York Times)
• Steve Cuozzo tell us to stop torturing ourselves trying to scrounge a cool invitation, and just go to guzzling meathouse Churrascaria Plataforma. (New York Post)
• Herald Square Development bought seven properties at once on a single block for $117.5 million, and may build up to 335,000 square feet of space, including 247,000 square feet of residential space. (Crain's)
• The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to demolish the 1936 Purchase Building underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. (Brownstoner)
• A young boy helps his mother write a book about a 32-room Scottish mansion, and tiny wisdoms emerge: "In my experience, cleaning ladies don't do much. It's a case of tokenism, I'm afraid." (The New York Times)
• Thomas Jefferson--intellectual, founding father and anti-urbanist, led this country to become the sprawling suburb it is. Ah, lawns. (Planetizen via Matrix)
• Two new streets: Peter Jennings Way on West 66th Street passed and Bob Marley Avenue passes onto the next hurdle. (Gothamist)
• Big chains take over Midtown's Fifth Avenue from no-name tourist shops. (The New York Times)
• Silvercup Studios takes steps to expand its Hollywood West in Long Island City. (The New York Times)
• For fears of "clear-cutting the whole neighborhood," the Preservation League of New York placed Greenpoint and Williamsburg on its annual "7 to Save" list. (New York Daily News)
• NYC Councilmen criticized Bush for cutting the Army Corps of Engineers funding towards the Rockaways, Coney Island and Staten Island beaches, comparing the shores to New Orleans. (New York Daily News)
• Cynthia Rowley is trying to kick out a resident of her townhouse with a lawsuit for $1 million. (Page Six)
• The Shvo Report: Brokers push condo sales with star performances. For instance Grammy winner John Legend to perform at 20 Pine. (The New York Times)

• President Bush learns about color and optimism on his first day of the job. Oh, and delegation. (Design Observer)
• Steer clear of Times Square today as the tween-set gather, cheer and sing for the cameras at the 4th Annual Total Request Live Awards. (Gothamist)
• Flushing, Queens gets recognized: "And now for the first time, the city neighborhood with perhaps the largest number of dumpling houses and phone-card stands per square mile is on the path to becoming a historic district." (The New York Times)
• "America's largest home buyer" likes the ugly ones; they buy them fast and they buy them cheap.(The New York Times)
• Some miles beyond Ascoli Piceno in Marche, Italy lies Villa Piediprato, an estate that dates back to 1435. It is surrounded by stone fortress-walls carved with the motto, "Here is quietness, peace and true joy"--all yours for about $26 million. (Forbes)
• Sex advice from urban planners--seriously. (Nerve)
• Coney Island is sad in the winter, but at least there's room for parking. (The New York Times)
• Thirty percent of residents in north and central Brooklyn are obese. Step up, Marty!(via Gotham Gazette)
• A bar room so secretive and new in the East Village's Blue Owl is actually, well, boring. (Eater)

Today's stroll kicks up a lot of posts on Mike's recent win in the Court of Appeals--the subject over at Gothamist.

Gothamist also links to a Intelligencer clip from New York Magazine about Jonathan Tisch as the next billionaire mayoral candidate.

Freshman council member Darlene Mealy talks to City Limits about crippling the Boyland legacy and the difficulties of City Hall politics.

And finally, The Neighborhood Retail Alliance picks up the latest on Roger Toussaint.

Photo via Curbed

• With the slew of retailers and condos popping up in Hudson Square, it's time to coin a new name for the neighborhood. We recognize some of the candidates from before "Hudson Square" was coined. (Curbed)
• An MTA survey of service shows that the W line isn't working well. Duh. (Gothamist)
• Now, people are listing their homes on Ebay! Oh, it's in New Jersey. (Brownstoner)
• Trader Joe's is upon us. (Curbed)
• The Atomium in Belgium, a huge replica of an iron molecule, gets a complete overhaul. (The New York Times)
• Ian Schrager is getting "harder to notice," but 40 Bond can't be ignored. (The New York Times)
• Hundreds of thousands of people visited Zillow yesterday, but the Web site suffered from many outages. (Inman News)
• Chicago Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights Under Law has sued Craigslist for "publishing discriminatory advertisements," claiming that it posted more than 100 ads in Chicago against the federal Fair Housing Act. (Inman News)
• Big news: "Demand for townhouses is incredibly high." New York is so on top of their game.
• So, this woman was riding a horse on private property and hurt herself. What do you think comes next? The law suit. (Inman News)
• The Art Students League of New York sold 135,000 square feet of air rights to Extell, which will develop a high-rise residential tower. (The Real Deal)
• Now that The New York Times has reported that fatty foods aren't that bad for you, Junior's is opening its cheescake chain in Times Square near their offices . (New York Post)
• A new construction is embracing its surroundings, quite literally. A house is being built around a tree because it crosses over onto a neighbors property and they don't want it cut down. (Gothamist)
• In a profile of a Staten Island neighborhood, The Village Voice calls it the "quietest borough." We'd like to direct your attention to an article published two days earlier.

• The Real Estate Board of New York released the first Brooklyn housing market report , which reports that the average price per square foot for apartments has increased each consecutive quarter since 2004. (The Real Deal)
• The City Planning Commission voted to change zoning regulations in northern Tribeca, making way for Jack Parker Corporation's plan for a residential building. (The New York Post)
• Puff away on cigarettes with brandy in hand at these Manhattan bars that have bypassed the ban. (NewYorkology)
• Governor Pataki promises that the women's museum will go up--just not this decade. (The Tribeca Trib)
• Barnard's new Nexus building in Morningside Heights, scheduled for completion in 2009, is big, modern and ugly. (Gothamist)
• The Related Companies seem to have a close relationship with the city. Perhaps with their new Second Avenue project, The Veneto, East Siders will finally get a long-awaited subway line. (Curbed)


• Is the new Federal Reserve Board chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, having a bad day because of Goldman, Sachs & Company's economist Jan Hatzius? Hatzius predicts that "softness in housing will be such a drag on the economy that the Federal Reserve, which has been steadily cranking short-term interest rates higher, is going to have to turn around and start cutting them to keep the economy from tanking." (Business Week)
• Million dollar penthouse with a view for sale--in Long Island City. (OuterB)
• Environmentalists take on property rights proponents in a Supreme Court battle over a wetland-cum-shopping center. (Inman News)

The Young Ones, via Toni.

• So, these arty crazy British people are getting "fucking ripped off" by their East Village landlord; name-drop J.P. Donleavy; and have a V.I.P. Room they call the 121 Club. A.D.H.D. or Free Association? Hate to love, or love to hate? Toni Schlesinger seems non-committal, too. (The Village Voice)
• Mike Davis is back with a new book on slums, in which he replaces his typical “vivid prose” with data. But Joy Press thinks that’s bad. (">The Village Voice)
• Jonathan Miller, our sherpa in the land of broker euphemism for the current state of the housing market, introduces us to the latest. (Matrix)
• Connect the Dots: After a $60 million restoration, the Battery Maritime Building is almost ready to open and the city wants to turn it into an upscale food marketplace. Moreover, in the summer ferries leave from the site to Governors Island, which the city also has plans for. (Downtown Express)
• New York City apartment space saver: a canopy-bed unit with a built-in bathroom. (Apartment Therapy)
• Trash Bar is the Bermuda Triangle of band equipment. (Gothamist)
• The most expensive home in Franklin Lakes, N.J. is on the market at $10 million, and it is hooked-up, technologically speaking. (Forbes)
• Christopher Bonanos asks the ultimate question: “Why aren’t more New York plays about apartments, rather than set in them?” Enter: The Right Kind of People. (New York )
• Discount prices are welcome, but chain stores are not. What a conundrum. At least the Dunkin’ Donuts has a “brownstone look.” (New York Daily News)
• A Google Earth depiction of Ratner’s downtown Brooklyn plan. Oh, yeah, it fits right in. (Brownstoner)
• Deep-pocketed flyers will be able to take a 9 minute ride to JFK, and bypass airport security, from the Downtown Heliport now that it’s "federalized.” (Gothamist)

The Château des Thons.

• Many New Yorkers choose a commute over a closer location to save money. The Brookings Institute has created the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index, which "prices the trade-offs that households make between housing and transportation costs." (Matrix)
• The MTA recycles. (Gothamist)
• The city wants a plan for Governors Island. Really, this time they really do! (The New York Times)
• Love ain't getting any, and the West Village might soon see its share of noise-level activists. (The Villager)
• Where to complain and who to nag about your local problems. (Manhattan User's Guide)
• A new campaign aims to revive the Tompkins Square Park band shell. (The Villager)
• For sale: The Château des Thons, listed at $6.995 million, was part of an 18th-century French mansion that was taken apart in the late 1920's and reassembled in Upper Brookville, Long Island. (The New York Times)
• The lastest effort to find a new peg on the Harlem real-estate story: For Harlem aspirants who can't afford a whole townhouse, a condo and coop market emerges. (The New York Times)
• The war in Iraq has become a selling point. (Curbed)
• As Cindy Adams might say, "Only in New York." Ahem ... Are your sofa cushions taking up too much room? (Apartment Therapy)
• A family was forced to evacuate its home of five generations in the middle of the night when construction on a luxury unit next door damaged an adjacent building so much that they feared it would knock down their house. Welcome to Williamsburg and Greenpoint. (The Village Voice)
• Inman News Publisher Bradley Inman has become a filmmaker with TurnHere.com, a new Web site that captures neighborhoods in the United States with short videos that feature the businesses and people who really live there. (Inman News)
• Purportedly, Eliot Spitzer prefers the Four Seasons and Andrew Cuomo likes Bergdorf’s while on the campaign trail. (New York)

• Sell properties fast with upgraded light fixtures and new room configurations. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Scandal! Secretly obtained e-mails from Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison's inbox sent by his personal financial adviser reveal that Larry, one of the world's richest men, needs to stay on a budget. (San Francisco Chronicle)
• The McCondo profile: "Buyers of jumbo condos are like the wealthy people who choose to live in gated communities rather than on private estates." (The New York Times)
• When people live in area prone to natural disaster, who is responsibile for funding repairs? The state? (The Wall Street Journal)
• Rising property taxes are costing homeowners their future plans, and some are doing something about it. (The Wall Street Journal)
• It's true: Craigslist rental listings in NYC will cost $10 each come March 1st. (Curbed)
• The 10-acre Caribbean island that sheltered James Bond author Ian Fleming has just come on the market for $8 million. (Forbes)
• Two of the Bahamas Tourism Board's new subway advertisements will be removed by CBS Outdoor because they promote poor behavior. Such as, "How to turn a seat into a hammock." (Gothamist)
• The community board battling noise in the East Village and Lower East Side is automatically refusing to recommend that restaurants and bars on certain blocks are approved for their liquor license. (The New York Times)
• Bloomberg continues to predict a slower housing market "with a 10 percent decline in home prices, a 14 percent decline in home sales." (The Real Deal)
• An album of named buildings with prominent displays. (Forgotten NY)
• The Russian Tea Room closed its doors in 2002, but now there are plans to build a luxury residential high-rise above the space where members of the Russian Imperial Ballet passed the vodka. (New York Post)

• The Duke estate signed a contract yesterday to sell the Duke Semans mansion at 82nd Street and Fifth Avenue, to Tamir Sapir, the real-estate collector who started out as a cabby 30 years ago. At $40 million, it's a townhouse record breaker, but it's still not the highest price for a residence in New York.(The New York Times)
• Due to the loss of manufacturing space in the Garment District, some proceeds from Heidi Klum's reality show, Project Runway, will support the Garment Industry Development Corporation (GIDC). Furthermore, the mayor apportioned $244,000 towards educating workers on new production techniques. All this to prevent the possible conversion of the work spaces to residential buildings that would fetch much more on the real estate market, but affect over 1500 workers. (City Limits)
• Henry Kravis invested $50 million for a mansion in Palm Beach that isn't quite on the beach. (Page Six)
• Heavy pockets may find it easier to find their "humble" home--as long as they don't mind the smell. (The New York Times)
• Wylie Dufresne of WD-50 faced off against Mario Batali on Iron Chef America last Sunday. The judges, including Vogue's Jeffrey Steingarten and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy’s Ted Allen, found that Dufresne's originality wasn’t enough to beat out Batali’s taste. (The Village Voice)
• Filmmaker Chris Chambers wants to document a neighborhood in transition. He's looking for Cobble Hill residents to interview for his documentary--right before they can sell their quaint homes for a 90 percent profit. (Brownstoner)
• Harlem has yet to see its Marriott, causing other community projects to stall. (Crain's)
• Let's be clear. Staten Islanders are concerned about the traffic a NASCAR racetrack might cause--not the racetrack itself. (Staten Island Advance)
• If only tourists were this trendy. (via Gothamist)
• You worked so hard to find that perfect lamp that sits on your mahogany table with those flying buttresses, beside the antique wine rack. Show it off and win some swag. (Apartment Therapy)
• Queens residents hope to protect Waldheim, "one of the oldest estate subdivisions in the city," with a rezoning plan before developers can replace the century-old Victorian houses with multi-family buildings. (The New York Times)
• Five railroad cars crammed with cocoa beans overturned at a Brooklyn pier. An environmental threat is unlikely, according to investigators, but, oh, what a waste of chocolate. (Newsday)
• Fire scorched the Louis Sullivan-designed Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, reducing the landmark to nothing. (Architecture Magazine)
• The State Supreme Court ruled that the city could boot merchants at The Bronx Terminal Market and lease the site to a private developer, which is, yes, Related Companies. There was no competition. (City Limits)
• Red-padded bars, Al Capone and Fendi--oh my! (The Village Voice)
• Historic Richmond Town in Staten Island--a mere 12 minutes from The Mall--will acquire a new Greek Revival-style cottage to join the museum of buildings. (NewYorkology)