Murray Hill
The Local: Murray Hell, Fratastic As Ever
It’s that time of year when thousands of recent college graduates descend upon Manhattan for their obligatory, pre-suburban stint in the city.
Manhattan’s rental market is traditionally the tightest from May to August and early September—apartment-hunting season for newly christened young professionals.
After their hopes of living below 23rd Street in quasi-bohemian squalor are dashed by a broker, the Manhattan newbie has just a few neighborhoods to choose from.
The first place they look is Manhattan’s unofficial frat district Murray Hill—er, "Murray Hell," that "mini-Manhattan theme park" full of "coddled post-collegians, armed with marketing jobs and U. Penn diplomas," which The Observer's Lizzy Ratner examined in a 2005 profile.
A decade ago, when the Real Estate Group COO Daniel Baum first noticed the trend, the neighborhood’s main draw was affordability.
Yet, even steadily rising rents have not diminished prepsters' love for the East Side nabe. read more »
Six Buildings Evacuated After Midtown Manhole Explosion
WNBC.com is reporting that a manhole explosion on East 39th Street prompted the evacuation of six nearby buildings early this morning.
No injuries have been reported.
The blast occured just a few blocks from the scene of last July's steampipe explosion near Grand Central Terminal, which injured 41 people and caused one woman to die from a heart attack.
As Solow Scales Back East River Ambitions, Garodnick Vows 'Conversations' Over Traffic
Sheldon Solow has made a lot of concessions to get the City Council to green-light his massive mixed-use development covering almost 10 acres along the East River, but it looks like he will have to overcome a few more hurdles before the plans are approved.
At a public hearing before a City Council zoning subcommittee this afternooon in City Hall, Mr. Solow's representatives defended their application to build six residential buildings and a commercial office tower, while public officials stressed repeatedly that the project had yet to be approved. (Mr. Solow did not attend the hearing.)
Nonetheless, Mr. Solow's revised proposal seemed to address some, if not all, of the Murray Hill residents' concerns. He has offered to scale back the sizes of some of the buildings, and he has tried to allay fears that the towers would overshadow the United Nations Secretariat to the north. His representatives displayed renderings that showed the buildings not interfering with the UN building. read more »
Garodnick, Others Keep Up the Heat for East River Park
With the City Council preparing a vote in coming weeks on Sheldon Solow’s plans for the Con Edison site; the UN expanding its campus into the nearby Marcus Garvey Park; and the reconstruction of the midtown portions of the FDR Drive set to kick off, Murray Hill residents are reminding city and state officials to prioritize the development of a waterside park in the area. read more »
Showdown in Murray Hill
On the far East Side site of the former Con Edison plant, patience appears to be a virtue for Sheldon Solow, the billionaire developer and owner of the land. For the seven-plus years since he agreed to buy the 9.2-acre site, Mr. Solow has slowly planned for a mostly residential development defined by seven modernist, skinny, Skidmore Owings & Merrill-designed towers to rise along the East River, just south of the United Nations, on the border of Turtle Bay and Murray Hill.
Now, five months into the city’s review and approval process, the clash over Manhattan’s largest privately owned development site is finally reaching a crescendo, as Mr. Solow’s plans for the $4 billion project will soon fall into the hands of the City Council, a body that seems poised to greet the proposal coolly, at least as currently presented. read more »
Younger Renters Priced Out of Murray Hill's Better Buildings
Rents in doorman buildings in Murray Hill went up across the board in 2007 according to a report released today by the Real Estate Group New York.
Through 2007, average rents in doorman buildings rose by 11.5 percent for studios to $2,578; by 9.6 percent for one-bedrooms to $3,514; and by 10.3 percent for two-bedrooms to $5,190. read more »
Shott On Location: Phallic Jokes Abound At Second Avenue Deli Salami-Cutting
"This is some bris," wisecracked one reporter, as Jack Lebewohl unleashed yards of linked nickel schtickel sausages from a brown box along the 33rd Street sidewalk.
His son, Jeremy Lebewohl, meanwhile, brandished a foot-long pair of scissors.
At least 20 members of the press corps, ranging from Reuters to Jewish Week, were on hand as the Lebewohls' cut the ceremonial salami and officially reopened the clan's hallowed Second Avenue Deli on Monday.
Slice The Salami! Second Avenue Deli Opens Monday
A ceremonial salami-cutting is scheduled for Monday morning, when the hallowed Second Avenue Deli reopens in Murray Hill.
A spokesperson for the Lebewohl family said Tuesday that the grand-opening festivities will commence at 11 a.m. at the new deli, located at 162 East 33rd Street near Third Avenue.
She added that the ceremonial meat would be "nickel shtikle."
Further details on the long-awaited opening after the jump. read more »
Second Avenue Deli Not Opening Next Week--Maybe Next Month
A spokesperson for the Lebewohl family called The Observer this morning to clarify that -- contrary to yesterday's Real Deal article -- the Second Avenue Deli is not opening next week on 33rd Street near Third Avenue.
NY1 follows up today with some additional details about the hallowed eatery's new digs: read more »
Second Avenue Deli Opens Next Week Closer To Third Avenue (UPDATED)
The Real Deal is reporting that the Lebewohl family has finalized its purchase of 162 East 33rd Street -- the new site of the clan's hallowed Second Avenue Deli, which will now be closer to Third Avenue.
The new deli, which opens next week, will seat at least 75 people in a renovated space that was the site of a tapas restaurant. ...The old deli, which closed on Jan. 1, 2006, had 128 seats.
Ed Levine of SeriousEats.com last week called the deli's forthcoming resurrection "the most eagerly anticipated new restaurant opening of the year in New York."
But he wondered, "which Second Avenue Deli will it be: the deli that served the best all-around deli food, which is what it was when the late, beloved Abe Lebewohl was around, or the very good but not great deli it became after Abe was senselessly gunned down while making a bank deposit and his lawyer brother, Jack, took over?"
Perhaps neither. The new deli reportedly will be run by Abe's twenty-something nephews, Jeremy and Joshua Lebewohl. "The restaurant will operate 24/7," according to a recent Times Magazine story, "serving its same enormous menu."
UPDATE: A deli spokesperson has informed The Observer that, contrary to the Real Deal article, the hallowed eatery will not open next week.
Murray Hill Corned-Beef Clash Could Go On All Night
The reincarnated Second Avenue Deli -- soon to open on 33rd Street near Third Avenue -- will be open 24/7, according to yesterday's New York Times magazine.
And so the battle for bragging rights as Murray Hill's top matzo-ball-soup maker heats up!
As The Observer reported last week, the new Second Avenue Deli is moving in just four blocks south of another historic (albeit less storied) Jewish deli, Sarge's, at 548 Third Avenue between 36th and 37th streets, which already operates around the clock.
"It will be interesting," one Sarge's server told this reporter last week, noting that the old Second Avenue served kosher fare, whereas Sarge's does not. "That doesn't bode well," she said.
Nosh In My Backyard! Veteran Deli Eyes Newcomer
Is Murray Hill hungry enough for mainstay Sarge’s and new Second Avenue Deli? read more »
One Park Avenue to Sell for $550 Million
The 920,000-square-foot building will sell for about $585 a foot. That trumps the $526 a foot that 2 Park Avenue, directly across the street, got two months ago when L & L Holding Company bought it for $450 million.
One Park Avenue
One Park Avenue's tenants include American Media--Star, The National Enquirer--and Equinox, which has office space in the building and a brand-new gym coming soon. read more »
The building will be the largest in Murray Hill's portfolio, which includes four Manhattan buildings, including 417 Fifth Avenue and the Brill Building, according to the firm's Web site. Representatives from Murray Hill and SL Green declined to comment. CB Richard Ellis' Darcy Stacom and Bill Shanahan--who have had a busy week--represented SL Green. They were not available for comment.
- John KoblinNews Flash: Manhattan Rents Highest In Expensive Neighborhoods
Meanwhile, forget about finding a decent apartment, apparently. The report says the vacancy rate for Manhattan's rental market stayed below 1 percent in October, and, in some nabes, it stayed very well below (West Village, we're looking at you). read more »
Vacancy and rent charts for October after the jump.
- Tom AcitelliAtlantic Still High and Dry
The application, from Peter Fine's Atlantic Development Group, was tabled at two previous meetings of the Public Authorities Control Board. At a meeting earlier this week, it was not even considered, according to a spokesman.
"There was no attempt to put the issue on the agenda because the Assembly was still not ready to act," said Scott Reif, spokesman for the state Division of the Budget. "There will be a decision next week on whether to put it on the agenda for June 21."
There are three votes on the PACB, one each controlled by the Speaker of the Assembly, the Majority Leader of the Senate, and the Governor, and any single nay vote kills the issue.
State Assemblymember Sylvia Friedman and state Senator Liz Krueger have voiced concerns about the buildings--one in Murray Hill and the other on the Upper East Side--that Fine wants to build, saying that they are too costly. Pratt's report today gives the argument against Atlantic (PDF--see p. 27). For the pro-Atlantic argument, check out the response to our previous post on this story by the President of the Doe Fund, which would collaborate on one of the apartment buildings.
We have calls out to Atlantic and are waiting to hear back.
-Matthew SchuermanTaxis for the New
All up and down the East Village stretch of First Avenue this Friday morning of Memorial Day Weekend, bitches are frantically hailing cabs, their multiple tote bags swinging like gloppy fat tentacles. There is an observable tendency among this younger set to plonk their petulant feet down about eight feet downstream from someone who actually lives here who already has an arm or a leg extended to feed from the thin thin cab population.
Back in the day, this would have resulted in a funsy screaming match. But the new folk are so soft, all it takes is a gentle "Excuse me...." from the person behind, and off they scamper. So The Transom supposes its real tip is this: if you jump into a line at the coffee shop or in front of a fellow cab-desirer on a corner, don't back down, youngster. Consider profanity, and the cabs will be yours.
Also? When just those little numbers on top of the cab are lit up? That means it's actually for hire. Don't you pay attention to details while you consume your nightly educational Dick Wolf shows in your crappy Murray Hill sheetrocked shoeboxes?
Sloane Penelope Kaplan
Abuse Me! I Like It! The Weirdness of Hiring A Personal Organizer
Abuse Me! I Like It! The Weirdness of Hiring A Personal Organizer
Countdown to Bliss
