The Tastes of Nolita Food Festival, taking place on May 21st and 22nd

Posted by NYC-Now on May 5, 2011 // 0 Comments

The Tastes of Nolita Food Festival, taking place on May 21st & 22nd, will feature a 7 course meal of some of Nolita’s best restaurants. And for just $18, theDealist is offering up a two day ticket to this awesome event. The festival includes 7-courses of tastings and desserts, as well as $1 off and more drink specials at select bars. Your ticket can be used either in one sitting or across the 2-day affair.

Each ticket includes 1 of the following tastings

• MacBar (Prince St.): 4-Cheese Mac-n’-Cheese
• Tacombi @Fonda Nolita: 1 Short Rib Barbicoa Taco or Pollo Locochon
• Saigon Vietnamese: 1 Tasting Roll Bahn Mi (choice of 4, incl. classic pork, chicken or vegetarian)
• L’Asso: Gourmet thin crust margherita pizza
• Asia Dog: 1/2 dog and choice of 7 asian toppings
• Eileen’s Cheesecake: 1 Mini Cheesecake with Strawberry topping
• Billy’s Bakery: 1 Classic Chocolate or Vanilla Buttercream cupcake

Drink specials (for ticket holders) include

• Puck Fair: $2 off house lager
• Sweet & Vicious: $5 drinks and beer
• Gatsby’s: $4 beers

Get the deal here: www.thedealist.com

You might also enjoy:

• New Taste of the Upper West Side: May 20 & 21, 2011
• Queens… A Taste of the World: May 10, 2011
• Taste of Tribeca, an Outdoor Culinary Festival: May 21, 2011

Category : Blog

Community Board No. 2 Manhattan, New York City Calandar Agenda

Posted by NYC-Now on April 20, 2011 // 0 Comments

*PUBLIC HEARINGS are noted with asterisks.  MEETINGS AT THE COMMUNITY BOARD OFFICE ARE AT 3 WASHINGTON SQUARE VILLAGE, AT THE BOARD OFFICE CONFERENCE ROOM ADJACENT TO SUITE 1A.  Calendar is subject to change, so we suggest that individuals visit our website [cb2manhattan.org] regularly for updates.   At all meetings, additional items may be raised as “New Business”.

PARKS, RECREATION & OPEN SPACE Tobi Bergman, Chair

Wed., 4/6 @ 6:45 PM – *Note time* -NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Pl. Room 714

1. High Line Update including Section 2 Opening.
2. *Presentation of proposed design for J. J. Walker Park field renovation.
3. Status of capital projects in CB2 parks: Seravalli Playground; Petrocino Park; Minetta Playground; JJ Walker Field; Bleecker Playground Comfort Station; Bleecker Sitting Area; Washington Square.

Thurs., 4/7 @ 6:30 PM-Judson Memorial Church, 239 Thompson St. Assembly Hall

1a*      Apps. to the SLA for Alteration to sell liquor on-premise:

• The Vault, LLC, d/b/a Bunker Club, 675 Hudson St. NYC 10014

1b.*     Apps. to the State Liquor Authority (SLA) for New License to sell liquor on-premise:

• F&B LLC, d/b/a Westway, 75 Clarkson St. NYC 10014
• The Upper Crust, Inc. d/b/a 91 Event Space, 91 Horatio St., NYC 10014
• Entity to be formed Hayden Felice is Principle, TBD, 615 Hudson St., NYC-(ground floor cellar)(WITHDRAWN)
• MNP Restaurant Company, d/b/a TBD, 47 W. 8^th St., NYC 10014 (LAID OVER)
• Michelangelo-Mamo NYC, LLC, 1-3 Little West 12^th St., NYC 10014
• Spring Bar LIC Inc., d/b/a Spring Bar, 5 Spring St. NYC (WITHDRAWN)
• Apple Restaurant & Bom Bar, d/b/a Apple Restaurant, 17 Waverly Pl., NYC 10013
• Burak Karacam or entity to be formed, 54 Thompson St., NYC 10012
• Entity to be formed by Sergi Benderski & Associates d/b/a Maison Close, 173 Mott St., NYC 10013 (LAID OVER)
• Company to be formed by Theodore Van Buren, Pending, 19 Greenwich Ave., NYC 10014 (will be re-heard on April 12th)

1c.*     Apps. to the SLA for Alteration to sell liquor on-premise:

• Franco American Restaurant Investment Group, Inc. d/b/a The Tea Set, 235 W. 12^th St., NYC 10014
• Naked Lunch, Inc., 17 Thompson St., NYC
• 400 W. 14^th St. Inc. d/b/a Gaslight, 400 W. 14^th St., NYC 10014
• The Vault, LLC, d/b/a Bunker Club, 675 Hudson St. NYC 10014
• SoHo House New York, Inc., 29-35 Ninth Ave. NYC 10014-(extension of roof hours)(WITHDRAWN)

1d.*     Apps. to the State Liquor Authority (SLA) for Renewal License to sell Liquor on-premise:

• Sprbar Inc., d/b/a The Anchor, 310 Spring St., NYC 10013

Mon., 4/11 @ 6:30 PM – NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Pl. Room 408

1a.* App. to  Department of Consumer Affairs for Newsstands at:

• Southwest corner East 14^th St. & 4^th Avenue, DCA# 1383729

1b.*     New App. for revocable consent to operate an Unenclosed sidewalk café for:

• SoHo Garden & Grill, Inc., 224 Lafayette St. ,with 3 tables & 12 seats, DCA# 1384915
• Gans-Mex, 73 Gansevoort St., with 42 tables & 88 seats, DCA# 1384348
• 7^th Ave. Landbrot, LLC, d/b/a Lanbrot, 137 7^th Ave. South, with 14 tables & 28, DCA# 1384829
• Spring Leopard, LLC, d/b/a Giorgione’s, 307 Spring St., with 4 tables & 8 seats, DCA# 1384944
• 64 Greenwich Restaurant, d/b/a The Meatball Shop, 64 Greenwich Ave., with 6 tables & 9 seats, DCA# 1385289
• Grillade, LLC, 28 7^th Ave. South, with 19 tables & 40 seats, DCA# 1385577
• Bistro Shop Downtown, LLC, 118 Greenwich Ave. aka 234 W. 13^th St. with 10 tables & 20 seats, DCA# 1382491
• Joy Burger Bar, Inc., 361 Ave. of the Americas, with 16 tables & 32 seats, DCA#1386368

1c.*     Renewal App. for revocable consent to operate an Unenclosed sidewalk cafe for:

• Caliente Cab Rest. Co. Inc. d/b/a Caliente Cab Co., 61 7 Ave. South, with 42 tables & 84 seats, DCA# 0670525
• Cowgirl, Inc., d/b/a Cowgirl and Bark, 519 Hudson St., with 11 tables & 22 seats, DCA# 0919917
• Da Silvano Corp. 260 6^th Ave., with 27 tables & 57 seats, DCA# 1187717
• Red Mulberry, Ltd. d/b/a Sambuca’s, 105 Mulberry St., with 8 tables & 16 seats, DCA# 1158751
• Gadberry Pizza Inc. d/b/a Bleecker Street Pizza, 69-71 7 Ave. South, with 3 tables & 6 seats, DCA#1183527
• Nilo Inc. & Viola Consulting LLC, d/b/a Mezzogiorno Assoc. 195 Spring St., with 11 tables & 22 seats, DCA# 0832737 (addition)
• Greenwich Village Bistro LTD, d/b/a Greenwich Village Bistro, 13 Carmine St. with 9 tables & 18 seats, DCA# 1030835 (addition)
• 164 Mulberry St. Corp. d/b/a Da Nico, Restaurant, 164 Mulberry St. with 4 tables & 8 seats, DCA# 0949447 (addition)

1e.*     Re-apply App. for revocable consent to operate an Unenclosed sidewalk café for:

• Jec II LLC, d/b/a One Little West 12, 1-3 Little West 12^th St., with 31 tables & 62 seats, DCA# 1161856

Mon., 4/11 @ 6:45 PM–*Note Time* NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Pl. Room 405

1. Update by the GVSHP on the Status of the South Village landmarking effort.
2. *50 Howard St. – Application is to install flagpoles.
3. *560 Broadway-Application is to remove fire escapes.
4. *103 Prince St.- Application is to alter the Greene Street façade (LAID OVER).
5. *240 Mercer St. aka 667-681 Broadway & 2-6 W. 3^rd St.-Application is to install a flagpole.
6. *69 Washington Pl.-Application is to construct a rear yard addition and replace a window.
7. *16 Jane St.-Application is to replace the areaway fence, and install a garbage enclosure, and install expansion joints and planters on the façade.
8. *West 4^th St. at Jane St. & 8^th Ave.- Application is to extend the curb line  and install plantings, paving and seating
9. *15 Little West 12^th St.-Proposal is to install signage. (LAID OVER)
10. *410 W. 13^th St.-Proposal is to install signage. (LAID OVER)
11. *803-807 Washington St.-Application is to install storefront infill and signage.

The Certificate of Appropriateness agenda is not yet available.  Committee members will be notified by mail; others should call the Board office. TO VIEW CERTIFICATE of APPROPRIATENESS – ITEMS THAT WILL BE ON OUR AGENDA FOR THIS MONTH, GO TO LPC’S WEBSITE WWW.NYC.GOV\LANDMARKS

Tues., 4/12 @ 6:00 PM-NYU Casa Italiana, 24 West 12^th St.

Tues., 4/12 @ 6:30 PM— St. Patrick’s Youth Center, 268 Mulberry Street (bet. Houston & Prince Sts.)

1a.*    Apps. to the State Liquor Authority (SLA) for New License to sell liquor on-premise:

• Il Buco Alimentaria/Vineria  53 Great Jones St. NYC
• Corkbuzz, LLC, d/b/a Corkbuzz, 13 E. 13^th St., NYC 10003
• Parm Restaurant, LLC, d/b/a TBD, 248 Mulberry St., NYC 10012
• Stefan Dorian or Corp. to be formed, 173 Mott St., NYC 10013 (WITHDRAWN)
• International Culinary Center, LLC d/b/a L’Ecole, 462 Broadway NYC 10013-(catering)
• 120 U Rest. LLC, 94 University Pl., NYC 10003
• Ci-q Restaurant LLC, d/b/a Ci-q, 265 Elizabeth St., NYC 10012
• Luke Fryer, LLC, 384 Broome St., NYC 10013-(WITHDRAWN)
• Entity to be formed by Starr Restaurants, TBD, 295 Lafayette St., NYC 10012 (LAID OVER)
• Entity to be formed by Evan Cohen & Joseph Cirillo d/b/a Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 192 Mercer St. NYC 10012-(transfer)
• Mtown Inc. d/b/a Pending, 17 Cleveland Pl. NYC 10012
• Company to be formed by Theodore Van Buren, Pending, 19 Greenwich Ave., NYC 10014 (ADDITION)

1b.*     Apps. to the SLA for Alteration to sell liquor on-premise:

• GMT New York, LLC, 142 Bleecker St., NYC 10012
• Garden Café Associates, 40 East 4^th St., NYC 10003
• ALN Restaurant Inc. d/b/a Giovanna’s, 128 Mulberry St., NYC
• Akram Restaurant Management, Inc. d/b/a Da Gennaro, 129 Mulberry St. NYC 10013
• Ark Sub One Corp. d/b/a Gonzalez y Gonzalez, 625 Broadway NYC

1c.*     Apps. to the State Liquor Authority (SLA) for New License to sell Beer and/or Wine on-premise:

• Forcella Eatery Inc. 334 Bowery, NYC 10012
• 8617 Northen Blvd. Corp. d/b/a Despana, 199 Lafayette St. Store H, aka 408 Broome St. NYC 10013-(tavern wine) (ADDITION)

FYI: New Beer and/or Wine Licenses:

**Renewals: SoHo House New York, 29-35 Ninth Ave. (on-premise); Ara Wine Bar, 24 9^th Ave. (on-premise); Asian 289, 289 Bleecker St. (on-premise); Sammy’s Noodle Shop & Grill, 453-461 6^th Ave. (b&w); Jean Claude Restaurant, 137 Sullivan St. (b&w); Hotel Griffou, 21 W. 9^th St. (on-premise); Bee Desserts, 94 Greenwich Ave. (on-premise); Pravda, 281 Lafayette St. (on-premise); Min ok, Inc., 145 Bleecker St. (on-premise); Bleecker Street Pizza, 69 7^th Ave. South, (b&w); SoHo House, 29-35 Ninth Ave. (on-premise); Gusto, 60 Greenwich Ave. (on-premise); Amelia’s Food Shop, 110 Varick St. (b&w); Lydia & Lydia, 30 Cornelia St. (b&w); Lafayette Smoke Shop, 63 Spring St. aka 236 Lafayette St. (b); Indochine, 430 Lafayette St. (on-premise); Shebeen, 202 Mott St. (on-premise); Panca, 52 Grove St. (on-premise); Kettle of Fish, 57-59 Christopher St. (on-premise); Emilia, 182 Spring St. (b&w); Shipwrecked Bar & Grill Inc. 149 Bleecker St. (on-premise); L’Artusi, 228 W. 10^th St. (on-premise); Rockmeisha, 11 Barrow St. (b&w); Washington Place Crow, 85 Washington Pl. (on-premise); Café Henri, 27 Bedford, (b&w); Perry Street Project, 176 Perry St. (on-premise); Café Asean, 117 W. 10^th St. (b&w); L’Ecole, 462 Broadway (on-premise); Tea Spot, 127 Macdougal St. (b&w); Masamoto Sushi, Inc., 88 W. 3^rd St. (b&w); Silver Spurs, 490-494 LaGuardia Pl. (on-premise); Silver Spurs, 771 Broadway (b&w); 87^th Pizzeria, 67 University Pl. (b&w); Joseph Leonard, 170 Waverly Pl. (on-premise); 395 Restaurant LLC, 395 West St. (on-premise); Pan Asian Bistro, 26A Carmine St. (b&w); Westville, 210 W. 10^th St. (b&w); Nanoosh, 111 University Pl. (w); Soy & Sake Village Vegetarian Café, 47-49 7^th Ave. South, (on-premise); Manhattan Bistro, Inc., 129 Spring St. (on-premise);

COMMUNITY BOARD 2 FORUM/DISCUSSION

Wed., 4/13 @ 6:30 PM- Grace Church School, 86 Fourth Ave. Auditorium

LAND USE AND BUILDING DEVELOPMENT David Reck, Chair

Thurs., 4/14 @ 6:30 PM – SEIU Local 32BJ, 101 Avenue of the Americas, 22^ND Floor (Pre-conference Room)

1. *246 Spring St., Trump SoHo Hotel development (Block 491, Lots 1201-1594) Application for two certifications by the Chair of the City Planning Commission to allow an open air café of approximately 760.5square foot to be located within the existing urban plaza in an M1-6 zoning district.

Thurs., 4/14 @ 6:30 PM-CB#2-Man. Conference Room, 3 Washington Square Village, ground floor

1. *5/14/11-West 11^th Street Block Party, W. 11^th St. bet. 5^th & 6^th Ave. (ADDITION)
2. *5/21/11- (Date Tentative)-PS3 Spring Fling-2011, 490 Grove St. bet. Hudson St. & Bedford St.
3. *6/3/-6/5/11-World Science Festival Street Festival, West 4^th St. bet. Sullivan & Mercer & LaGuardia St. bet. W. 3^rd & Washington Square South (ADDITION)
4. *6/4/11-Jane St. Block Assn. Street Sale, Jane St. bet. 8^th Ave. & Hudson St.
5. *6/5/11-Open Air Street Air, Crosby St. bet. Prince St. & East Houston St.
6. *6/18/11-Anniversay of the Order Sons of Italy, 203 Grand St. bet. Mulberry St. & Mott St.
7. *6/21/11-Make Music New York on Cornelia St. 29 Cornelia St. bet. Bleecker St. & West 4^th St.
8. *6/21/11-Make Music New York on Astor Pl. Astor Pl. bet. Broadway & Lafayette St.
9. *7/9/11-9^th Annual Arab-American Block Party, Great Jones St. bet. Broadway & Lafayette St.

Wed., 4/20 @ 6:30 PM- Cooper Union’s Great Hall, 7 Cooper Square, 8^th Floor (Peter Cooper Suite)

1. Update by the Public Theater on its renovation and the impact on traffic during construction.

Thurs., 4/21 @ 6:0 0 PM- P.S. 41, 116 West 11^th Street, Auditorium

Mon., 4/25 @ 6:30 PM– NYU Silver Building, 32 Waverly Pl. Room 206

Tues., 4/26 @ 6:30 PM-Judson Memorial Church, 239 Thompson St. Garden Room

• Update on Senior Centers, and our Senior list of organizations to contact (we advocated restoration of funds, one month ago)
• Update on budget cuts that affect LGBTQ, especially homeless youth (we advocated restoration of funds, three months ago)
• Update on Bellevue Homeless outreach (we protested this closing two years ago)
• Major Discussion: New Schools: What should we say for ULURP about NYU school proposal in their Superblock? What is happening with our Need Assessment?

1^st Thurs., 4/28 @  6:30 PM  First Precinct (16 Ericsson Pl.)

NOTE:  Executive Committee, Waterfront Committee and Environment, Public Safety and Public Health Committee will not be meeting for the month of April.

May  4^th: Parks, Recreation & Open Space Committee

May  5^th: Street Activities & Film Permits Committee

Category : Blog

identifying City’s Worst Landlords via Craigslist, and trying to penalize them..

Posted by NYC-Now on April 11, 2011 // 0 Comments

Identifying City’s Worst Landlords via Craigslist, and Trying to Penalize Them

By DAVID W. CHEN

Published: April 3, 2011

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It is almost second nature for some New York City tenants to suspect their landlords of cutting corners when it comes to fixing a balky heater or securing dangling light fixtures.

Enlarge This Image

Yana Paskova for The New York Times

Bill de Blasio, the New York City public advocate, is trying to make landlords with housing violations accountable.

Related

• Times Topics: Landlords and Tenants | Craigslist

But now tenants can find out a lot more about any landlord’s portfolio by clicking a link, “NYC’s worst landlords,” on the apartment search pages on Craigslist. It provides information that highlights, with the help of Google Maps, landlords with the worst inspection records.

The agreement with Craigslist is part of an eight-point package that Bill de Blasio, the city’s public advocate, is proposing on Monday to empower tenants and compel landlords to act more responsibly.

And with the support of the Bloomberg administration, the package would deprive landlords with dubious records of certain taxpayer subsidies; they would not, for example, be permitted to accept rental vouchers, and they would be denied new leases or lease renewals from city agencies.

“We need a more aggressive and creative approach,” Mr. de Blasio said. “And when landlords know that there will be financial ramifications to inappropriate behavior, that is the best way to induce change.”

Mr. de Blasio’s package arrives at a time when the issue of affordable housing for low-income families has become a more prominent concern. In Albany, tenant and landlord advocates are girding for a major battle over state rent regulations that are due to expire in June.

In the last two weeks, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has tapped a new commissioner for the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and a new board member for the New York City Housing Authority. Housing could also be a major issue in the next mayor’s race, in 2013, which seems likely to feature a crowded field of Democratic candidates.

And Mr. de Blasio, a former housing official in the Clinton administration, is burnishing his housing résumé with the kind of pro-tenant talking points favored by the powerful unions that often dominate a Democratic primary.

Mr. de Blasio is not the only potential candidate with extensive housing credentials: Christine C. Quinn, the City Council speaker, is a former tenant organizer who has worked closely with developers and housing groups; she has recently been promoting a proposal to allow developers to use stalled condominium sites for moderate-income housing.

Asked about Mr. de Blasio’s package, Jamie McShane, a spokesman for Ms. Quinn, said: “Protecting tenants is a top priority for the Council. We welcome any ideas on this issue and look forward to reviewing these proposals.”

The Craigslist link, to “NYC’s Worst Landlords Watchlist,” is part of an initiative Mr. de Blasio began last year. It identifies landlords and maps buildings that have been cited for repeated housing code violations. More than 400 buildings owned by 320 landlords have been listed so far.

Several of Mr. de Blasio’s proposals were welcomed by the Bloomberg administration.

“We like this because with the public advocate’s help we can quickly learn more about the people we’re preparing to do business with,” said Mark Daly, a spokesman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, which handles leases for city agencies. “It will send a message to our vendors that we’re working as one city on this issue.”

Under one proposal, Mr. de Blasio, with the help of South Brooklyn Legal Services, would recruit private lawyers to assist tenants, pro bono, in housing court. Under another, State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat, would sponsor a bill imposing mandatory minimum fines on landlords for the most egregious housing violations.

Not all the proposals are intended to punish landlords. One would help landlords gain access to capital to help them repair shoddy buildings more quickly. Another would cut red tape in the certification and inspection process — much to the satisfaction of landlord groups like the Rent Stabilization Association of New York, said Frank P. Ricci, the group’s director of government affairs.

But Mr. Ricci also voiced concern about the provision preventing a landlord with repeated housing code violations from renewing a lease with the city in a separate office building with an unblemished record. He noted that the lines between ownership and management are often blurred, and that, sometimes, personal grudges or unsubstantiated claims can seep into a tenant’s complaints about an owner.

“We always support the carrot versus the stick approach,” Mr. Ricci said.

It is not clear how much impact these proposals will have, and some may duplicate other initiatives. In January, for example, Mr. Bloomberg announced a program in which city and state agencies would collate data, including foreclosures and outstanding tax and water bill arrears, to identify deteriorating multi-family buildings before they endangered the safety and health of residents and the neighborhood.

Some city and housing officials wonder whether apartment seekers, locked in on price and neighborhood, will notice, or care about, the Web site listing the worst landlords; the site now gets about 500 hits a day.

Still, Gary L. Malin, president of CitiHabitats, a leading real estate brokerage firm, welcomed the Craigslist link, in particular.

“I believe,” he said, “that anything that can provide consumers information that they deem valuable before they make a financial decision is obviously helpful.”

Category : Blog

Average apartment rents jump 8% in year

Posted by NYC-Now on March 1, 2011 // 0 Comments

Average apartment rents jump 8% in year

Manhattan’s biggest gains logged by studios in doorman properties where rents are up 10.3% in a year; corporate hiring, influx of grad students help fuel demand.

Share Print Email Comment By Amanda Fung

Category : Blog

Predictions and Trends for 2011

Posted by NYC-Now on February 3, 2011 // 0 Comments

PREDICTIONS
As the first issue of the year, we thought we would compile a list of 2011 predictions of what’s to come in the year ahead.  While no one has a crystal ball, we always love digging into others’ outlooks.  Without further ado, below please find the links to banking, consulting and industry perspectives on the new year, along with some snippets from each we found interesting. Enjoy!

Goldman Sachs

Our revised forecasts for 2011 and our first forecasts for 2012 tell a story of continued global recovery. Most striking, given our long-standing downbeat view on the US, we now show a substantial acceleration in our US growth view.

Underneath this robust story is a gradual shift in the mix of growth. We expect a pick-up in GDP growth in the advanced economies through the year and even more clearly into 2012, led by the US. And, while we expect emerging markets (EM) and BRICs growth to remain solid, we see a mild deceleration in growth through 2011 and stable but high growth in 2012.

Morgan Stanley

First Fed rate hike pushed out to 1Q12, then 75bp in 2Q and 3Q, with a target of 2.50 for end-2012

Downside risk: Spillover from the sovereign crisis, and housing imbalances that threaten home prices and credit availability. Upside risks: The just-proposed tax deal could add a percentage point to growth over 2011, as the policy mix shifts from monetary accommodation to fiscal stimulus.

UBS

New rules: No major currency should be considered safe.  “It’s the economy stupid” was once a popular slogan during the US presidential campaign in 1992, and is the economic reality for currency investors. The traditional Big Four currencies (USD, EUR, GBP and JPY) will be challenged in 2011. We think that the US is trying to solve their current trilemma – pursuing a balanced budget, buoyant consumer activity and a trade surplus all at the same time – by downplaying the value of the dollar.

RBC

US gains speed making the likelihood of a double dip remote Consumers emerge from hibernation  Waiting for a turnaround in housing  Fed taking out all the stops trying to support economy  Slow and winding road back to full employment

RSQE

Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics  – We expect the Fed to wait until 2012 before it starts gradually reducing the size of its balance sheet, and as long as a year beyond that until it begins to increase short-term interest rates. Residential building picks up, and gains in exports begin to outpace rising imports, but government purchases continue to shrink.

Scotia Capital

The upgrading of the U.S. economic outlook is attributable to the expanded contribution to growth of both consumer expenditures and business investment. We now expect that consumer spending will grow by an average of roughly 3% this year and next, almost double the gain in 2010. Confidence and purchasing power have been bolstered by the renewed Fed commitment to low interest rates, sustained and enhanced tax relief, slowly improving job markets, in addition to sharply lower debt-servicing costs.

Korn Ferry Institute

Estimated bonuses will be flat to down 5 percent on average for the largest global financial services firms compared with 2009. Asset management, hedge fund, and private equity firms will receive slightly higher bonuses (10 to 15 percent), while fixed income and equity personnel will see the largest declines across the globe.

ING

Much of the ‘developed’ world has made only 30% – 40% of the adjustments needed to adapt to the new environment and challenges.  The depreciation of the US dollar against major currencies has led to many investors shifting into gold. Central banks have also become net buyers of gold. We expect to see this continue in 2011, especially as gold mine supplies remain constrained.

PIMCO

Unlike Euroland or the United Kingdom, which appear to have gone on an extreme fiscal diet, the American answer to a bulging waistline is always “mañana.”   Blame it on poor education, blame it on globalization, but an ongoing rebalancing of rich country/poor country wages inevitably will keep U.S. wages compressed as deficit spending serves to reflate commodity and end product prices in future years but not paychecks.

The fact is that annual budget deficits in the trillions of dollars add a like amount to the stock of outstanding dollars, resulting in currency depreciation, higher import inflation, and a degradation of dollar based assets in global financial markets.

Price Waterhouse Coopers

Apartments easily outrank all other property sectors: favorable demographics and the housing bust should increase renter demand, and some interviewees forecast rent spikes by 2012 in some infill markets where development activity has ground to a halt.

Eventually population growth will absorb the overhang in housing supply, but location preferences show signs of shifting away from bigger homes on the suburban fringe to infill locations closer to 24-hour markets. Reversing decades of moving away from city centers, “more people will regroup in areas where life is easier, more efficient, and less car dependent”— that is, closer to shopping districts and workplaces.

Northern Trust

We are more optimistic about 2011 real GDP growth primarily because QE2 implies that the Fed will be purchasing all of the additional Treasury debt issued in conjunction with the Obama-McConnell tax and unemployment insurance compromise. We currently see more upside risk to our 2011 real GDP growth forecast than downside risk.

Although U.S. money market interest rates are expected to remain steady and low as a result of the Fed delaying any policy interest rate increases until early 2012, longer-maturity interest rates are likely to drift higher because of stronger credit demand, a mild increase in the actual inflation rate and the expectation of Fed interest rate hikes in 2012.

TRENDS

Top 5 Trends for 2011: Straight from the apple tree

1.  Mom and pop landlords or those of established, larger buildings will have to renovate their inventory to keep up with the market.  With the rental market rebounding with gusto, landlords are realizing that they need to have their inventory be fresh and updated enough to warrant charging today’s rising rents.  Couple this with the high number of condo-quality rental properties (think $4.5k+ for one bedrooms) and you have a re-setting of renter expectations for what they demand from their rental abode.

2.  New development sales will pick up, particularly those with amenities and tax abatements.  We all know that new construction permits in the city ground to a halt during the city’s real estate downturn, meaning that brand new supply is not likely to come online for at least 2-3 years.  Buyers are going to have to settle for the existing inventory of new developments, many of which are unfreezing as we write this.  This means that anyone looking for ready-to-move-in property, the appeal of tax abatements and lots of amenities will need to look to the remaining inventory of new developments to satisfy their appetites.

3.  Investors (foreign and domestic) will make up the new wave of buyers due to the strength of the rental market. Investors are already wooed by the prospect of $60k/year in rental income they could be making off the strength of the rental market; we only expect this trend to continue.  Particularly when it comes to condo inventory, we are expecting both foreign and domestic buyers to purchase and rent out these properties, purchase at a relative market bottom and ride the appreciation wave back up over the next few years.

4.  Buyers will once again consider fixer-uppers as viable purchase options. Whereas 2010 was the year of the plug-and-play property, ready to move into on Day 1, we predict that 2011 will see a return to buyers seeking out good bones.  This is no surprise, of course, as renovation costs are still attractive versus where they were at the peak of the market.  Well-priced properties that have multiple possible layouts available for prospective buyers, that market themselves as value plays, could make a significant dent in the sales volume of this coming year.

5.  Credit markets will continue to thaw for both the conforming and jumbo markets.  Yes, we’ve heard it all before, that credit markets are loosening up with each passing month. We expect this trend to not only continue, but get increasingly tangible.  We are in a new era of credit worthiness, to be sure, but banks are finally beginning to get serious about writing off their bad debt and putting more money to work.  Banks are bolstering their staff and preparing themselves to handle additional loan volume, all of which should be great news for buyers needing to finance their purchase.  We further expect this to kick in during a time when rates continue to be attractive by any historical standards.

Category : Blog

The Post Declares Mulbbery St. a Hot New Dining Destination

Posted by NYC-Now on January 29, 2011 // 0 Comments

We knew that NoLita was coming up, but today the Post declares that Mulberry St. is actually “the hottest restaurant row” in the entire city, right now. Sure, it’s home to buzzy new eateries like Torrisi, Balaboosta, Rubirosa, and the recently opened Scoarrat Paella Bar. But the thing that really seals the deal are all the trendy, exclusive clubs and bars that have replaced all the tourist traps and old man hangouts. As they put it, it’s like “the Meatpacking District in its early days— a sceney spot once celebrated for its sordid past.”

And those buzzy clubs are: Le Baron, which hasn’t opened yet, the bar at The Mondrian, which also hasn’t opened yet, and the Mulberry Project, which opened three weeks ago.

Category : Blog

The Mulberry Project Already Drawing Neighbor’s Ire

Posted by NYC-Now on January 28, 2011 // 0 Comments

Well this certainly didn’t take long. In what should be a surprise to no one, the late night traffic trying to find the Mulberry Project is already drawing serious complaints from the neighbors. The cocktail bar/lounge, which replaced the easily identifiable My Little Secret, has apparently been drawing crowds of revelers all night long, causing neighbors to file numerous 311 complaints. Now management is asking, via PxThis, that “if it’s very late at night (or rather, early in the morning) and you don’t see the doorman poised at the basement entrance of 149 Mulberry St, do the place a favor and just keep walking“, because “you are not getting in”. Noted.

Category : Blog

Nolitans is Over the San Gennaro This Year~

Posted by NYC-Now on January 28, 2011 // 0 Comments

Nolitans Want to Fuhgeddabout San Gennaro This Year

As Nolita has become more hip, trendy and expensive in recent years, gripes about the annual Feast of San Gennaro street fair have been getting louder. The once-authentic Italian festival, which takes over Mulberry Street and its environs for two sausage-cooking, pashmina-selling, noise-creating and garbage-producing weeks each September, is traditionally not something you want to mess with, but these gentrifiers are fearless, we tell ya. The protests normally don’t make it beyond the community board hearing level, but this year things may be different. Cross your cannolis?

DNAinfo reports that Community Board 2 voted to approve this year’s festival permit, but urged the mayor’s Street Activity Permit Office, which has final say, to consider cutting the festival off at Kenmare Street, leaving Nolita untouched by the shitshow that is San Gennaro. As usual, what San Gennaro backers are left in the neighborhood formerly known as Little Italy think opposition to the festival is rooted in bigotry, tossing out quotes like, “They want to turn Mulberry Street into Madison Avenue — it’s a war on our culture.” He has a point. If San Gennaro sleeps with the fishes, we’d hate to have to fly to Naples to get our fix of authentic fried Oreos and virgin Piña Coladas.

Category : Blog

Top 7 Lessons learned for buyers, sellers, and renters in 2010

Posted by NYC-Now on December 23, 2010 // 0 Comments

BUYERS

Top 7 Lessons Learned from 2010
Bears will always be bears: Many bearish voices in 2009 were calling for the NY Real Estate market to fall off a cliff … at the very least for prices to drop another 20%.  In 2010, feverish discussions continued on StreetEasy and Urban Digs, making the case that the downturn seen to date was only the beginning.  And yet few could argue that things have not at least stabilized, if not improved, as compared to 2009 – some may even call it having formed a bottom.

Deep discounts are so 2009:  No longer could buyers negotiate 10-15% off asking prices.  No longer would new development concessions include everything and the kitchen sink.  Buyers felt a sense of disbelief in having to often pay full ask, sometimes even engaging in bidding wars in what they thought was a buyer’s market.  This was the result of too many would-be-buyers chasing too few properties.  Good inventory was hard to find in 2010.

A deal is not a deal until a signed contract’s in place:  Although a very questionable strategy, to be sure, this year was the year of multiple contracts being sent out by sellers to hedge their bets after hearing of so many deals that fell apart due to financing issues.

Parallel offers help avoid attachment: Frustration rose for many buyers who had accepted offers on the table, only to then find out the seller reneged and sold the apartment to someone else.  In turn, buyers began negotiating in parallel to avoid putting all of their eggs in one basket.

New developments come with their own headaches: It used to be that buying new meant buying better quality than an older building would offer, saving you money by not having to fix the apartment’s infrastructure or renovate its looks.  Yet many new buildings drew a flurry of lawsuits due to shoddy construction and cut corners.  It paid to do your own due diligence about the developer and the building’s reputation.

Easy money is dead:  Getting qualified for a loan became the biggest obstacle to getting a deal done in 2010.  Buyers had to have great credit, great debt-to-income ratios and click their heels three times while repeating “there’s no place like home” to get a mortgage.  (Even then, signing a contract without a mortgage contingency was akin so Russian Roulette.) If they looked to get a Jumbo mortgage, then they had to throw in a sacrifice to the mortgage gods to make the mortgage go through.

Technology rules (to a point): So many buyers leveraged the internet and its real estate advances this year.  They became expert at finding the right properties, researching them, comparing them, and using the information at their fingertips to fuel their negotiation strategies.  The frustration kicked in when sellers budged no more and buyers realized that real estate is not such an efficient market, neither on the buy nor sell side of the equation.

SELLERS

Top 7 Lessons Learned from 2010

New York is not Miami: We’ve all heard it so many times, perhaps it’s even escaped your own lips at some point: “But New York is different!”.  The country underwent the most significant downturn in our generation, middle-America is suffering, housing prices are down north of 50% in some areas of the country and unemployment hovers around the double digit barrier … and the worst that the NY Real Estate market could do was down 20-25% on average from its 2006 peak?  Yes, the higher the pricepoint, the more significant the down-turn, but … one must admit, it’s still damn impressive!

Renovations sell, fixer uppers don’t:  2010 was the year of the first-time home buyer and of the turn-key purchaser.  This means that newly renovated properties sold faster than ever before, particularly now that buyers no longer had access to home equity lines of credit to use towards fixing an older property.  Those who chose to buy wanted to a prêt-a-vivre home, ready to live in from the start.

Proper pricing is so now:  Sellers who tried to “test the market”, hoping for that one special buyer who would happen to give them their high asking price saw themselves on the market for a loooooong time.  Then the enemy became time on market, with buyers neglecting price-improved properties out of the skepticism that comes along considering a stale listing.

Renting is a real option:  With the rental market making a real comeback this year, many sellers on the fence of parting with their properties found it lucrative to rent.  Inventory was slim and having a tenant in place for 1-2 years to ride out the storm paid off.

Cash is still king:  With the turbulence felt in the credit markets, sellers had to contend with the very real tradeoff between accepting an ok all-cash offer and a higher, mortgage contingent one.  Many chose cash over bearing the risk of the deal falling through after months of buyers slugging it out with their bank.

Appraisals matter:  Just because you were lucky enough to get the price you wanted for your apartment, it didn’t mean the negotiations were done.  Appraisals became the Achilles’ heel of the industry as they seemed to consistently come in below the contract-signed price, throwing a wrench in the whole process.  Appraisals became commoditized and many began criticizing the process, now driven by volume versus quality and experience.

Your building has its own credit rating:  Many sellers felt stranded by the inability of their buildings to get approved for financing, an issue that often popped up at the tail end of the entire process.  After going through the motions of putting the property up for sale, negotiating the price, and moving towards a close, many owners in land-lease buildings, or those with too great a concentration of rental units or owners found themselves having to rationalize staying in their home.

RENTERS

Top 7 Lessons Learned from 2010

Yes, the market has rebounded:  Unlike 2009, most of this past year found brokers sounding like a broken record: “no, really, it is no longer a renter’s market.”  With so many stories from friends and co-workers of the phenomenal deals grabbed in the previous year, it came as quite a blow for many tenants looking to make a switch in 2010.  Landlords negotiated less and concessions diminished.

Inventory talks:  Inventory was quite slim throughout the year, despite talks of shadow condo inventory filling up rental demand.  Good apartments flew off the shelves within a week of hitting the market, with time-sensitive renters feeling the pressure of having to quickly find other options and foregoing their dreams of negotiating to the bone.

Luxury costs, baby: Many potential buyers, looking for the quality and lifestyle that usually comes with owning, had many places from which to choose, but for a pretty penny.  Luxury rental developments seemed to pop up in every which neighborhood, at price-points that made many skeptics balk.  Yet, lo and behold, with a few strategic concessions here and there, they filled up quite nicely, thank you very much.

Easy shares are a thing of the past: At least the walls between roommates are, as an old law prohibiting easy-to-put-up walls became heavily enforced.  Convertible two and three bedrooms lost their power of attraction to many who now would rely on bookshelves and curtains to create the iota of privacy that would insult most in other cities.

Bed bugs don’t discriminate:  Those little vampires seemed to be showing their fangs just about everywhere in the city this year, from Bloomie’s to high-end apartments.  Landlords, co-op boards and owners, alike, were quite hush-hush about their encounters with bed-bugs due to their potential to suck away at apartment values … until a new law kicked into effect mandating their disclosure.

You CAN avoid Craigslist scams:  With apartment hunting having now become an official sport of New Yorkers far and wide, it only makes sense that scammers flooded Craigslist with faux apartments to capitalize on this interest.  Savvy renters quickly learned the ways to spot them and avoid the bait and switch tactics that lead so many to give up using a broker altogether.

Count your blessings: If you happen to have signed a lease in 2008 or 2009 for an apartment you love, thank your lucky stars.  Your base rent is likely lower than its equivalent for a new tenant.  While this may not be rocket science, it does buck the trend we’ve seen over the last few years of rents being the same or lower year on year.

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Category : Blog

Answers to Frequently Asked questions

Posted by NYC-Now on December 17, 2010 // 0 Comments

• Can international buyers purchase a co-op property?
• Can you explain the concept of condo living?
• Can you rent in NYC if you don’t meet income requirements?
• How much of the maintenance in a co-op is tax deductible?
• How much rent can I afford? How much rent can I afford?
• I live outside the US – Can I buy in NYC?
• I live outside the US. Can I get a mortgage in NYC?
• If I purchase an apartment, how much of a mortgage can I get
• Is there a fee to buy an apartment?
• What income do NYC landlords commonly require from tenants?
• What is a “flex” or “convertible” apartment?
• What is a Guarantor?
• What is a loft building?
• What is a Tax Abatement?
• What is a townhouse?
• What is the difference between a condo and a co-op?
• What paperwork do I need to rent a NYC apartment?
• What qualifies an apartment as Pre-War?
• Where are the cheapest apartments in downtown Manhattan?

Category : Blog

You have rights- Facts facts and more facts about Rent Control and Rent Stabilization FAQ’s

Posted by NYC-Now on December 2, 2010 // 0 Comments

• Is there a difference between RENT CONTROL and RENT STABILIZATION?
• What is the status of rent control?
• When will we see the last rent controlled apartment?
• We have continuously occupied our apartment since 1962 – how do I know if it’s rent controlled and if I have the right to stay?
• My mother passed away – can I continue to live in her controlled apartment?
• The prior tenant was rent controlled. How much can the rent be increased?
• How does the Landlord legally increase the rent to over $2,000 and thereby deregulate a formerly rent controlled apartment?

www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/faq/rentcontrol.html

www.housingnyc.com/html/resources/dhcr/dhcr1.html

spony.org/factsheets.pdf

www.nysdhcr.gov/Forms/Rent/ra89.pdf

www.dhcr.state.ny.us/rent/factsheets/orafac1.pdf

www.housingnyc.com/downloads/resources/sta_bldngs/2009ManhattanBldgs.pdf

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Category : Blog

Heath Ledger’s Old Loft Now a 5 Million Condo

Posted by NYC-Now on November 21, 2010 // 0 Comments

Heath Ledger’s Old Loft Now a $5 Million Condo

[Exterior photo via PropertyShark; interior photo via NYTimes]

We’ve been wondering what’s next for 419-421 Broome Street, the Soho loft building Heath Ledger where Heath Ledger died in his $23,000/month apartment, ever since the building sold for $15 million in a foreclosure auction last year. Now we know! The Griffith Thomas building has been converted into condos, the Times reports. The four full-floor apartments have allegedly hit the market, though we see no listings online just yet. Prices range from $3.9 million to $20 million for the triplex penthouse, with Ledger’s former apartment asking $5 million.
· SoHo Building Where Heath Ledger Died Is Turned Into Condo [

Category : Blog

De Niro Wins Over Landmarks Commission with Talk of Geometry

Posted by NYC-Now on November 17, 2010 // 0 Comments

Tuesday, November 16, 2010, by Sara Polsky

Category : Blog

High Atop Noho at 53 Bond’s Three Story Penthouse

Posted by NYC-Now on November 4, 2010 // 0 Comments

High Atop Noho at 54 Bond’s Three-Story Penthouse

The weekend retreat, aka the third floor.

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

Event: Penthouse Preview at 54 Bond Street, aka the old Bouwerie Lane Theater, Tuesday, October 26
Notable Guests: Owner and bon vivant Adam Gordon (who, sadly, arrived after we’d departed; attending to other business?); Prudential Douglas Elliman brokers Leonard Steinberg and Herve Senrequier, both nattily attired to celebrate the seventh anniversary of their monthly Luxury Letter, which you immediately should sign up to receive if you have an email account and you do not receive it already.
Dresscode: Broker chic.
Soundtrack: A mix of popular music songs including one by Jack Johnson.

Menu: The event was catered by The Bowery’s preeminent failing colonialist regime restaurant, Double Crown. The best of a very tasty lot proved to be the small takeout containers filled with some sort of coconut-chicken deliciousness.
Awkward Moment: When a party attendee, spotting us with takeout container in hand, asked why we’d brought our own food to the event.
Decor: Holy hell, this place is gorgeous. How much south-facing, giant-window frontage are we talking? One hundred and six feet of it, according to Mr. Steinberg. Also not every day you find a kitchen with a wine tasting room off it, but there you go. Second floor: giant master bedroom with a flastscreen TV mounted on an easel. Three smaller bedrooms. Killer Noho views.
Flooring Material: On the first floor, a soft Belgian wood, about which virtually every conversation seemed to circle. On the second floor, dark, wide-planked reclaimed wood from a farmhouse in (if memory serves) Vermont. Slight edge: first floor.
Third Floor: Third floor? Yes, third floor. The “country house.” We are not making it up, or making that name up. A rooftop perch with dining space and a wetbar opens to rooftop on both sides. To the west: a smaller patio with grill, and views down Bond Street to all its architectural glory. To the east: a grassy (fake grass, but still) knoll with views across Lower Manhattan and a feeling more bucolic than we’ve found in certain East Village parks.
Price: It is being “given away,” per Mr. Steinberg, for $14.95 million. (The two smaller 54 Bond apartments are in contract.) Have them throw in some coconut chicken takeout, yes?

Category : Blog

Unsolved Mysteries at 150 Bowery

Posted by NYC-Now on November 2, 2010 // 0 Comments

Click the image above to view the full photogallery.

150 Bowery, a one-story taxpayer that for the past quarter-century was home to a lighting store at the NW corner of Bowery and Broome, has been gutted, but what’s to come of the site remains a mystery. A few months back, the plan was for a new outpost of Billyburg’s Zenkichi restaurant, complete with greenery up top, but that scheme was scuttled when the nightlife commandos at CB2 pushed back. The irregularly-shaped 7,000 square foot lot, covering 150-154 Bowery and 342-244 Broome across from the colorful Sohotel, is owned by the heirs of the late Sol Goldman, once the largest private landlord in NYC. DOB records show that the current work is being performed under the auspices of his daughter and heir to his empire Jane Goldman. But that’s just what’s happening right now—the site has a long history, sitting as it does along the Bowery, the original road heading north out of town since the Dutch first arrived a few hundred years ago.

Back in 1942, famed crime photog Weegee grabbed one his most noted shots here, when he snapped the dead body of Andrew Izzo after he robbed a pool hall and made a run for it before the cops shot him in the face. A hundred years earlier this stretch of Broome between Elizabeth and the Bowery was home to a row of three-story flats and the big Broome Street Baptist Church (demo’d circa 1928 and replaced with a big ice storage building, now the Ice House Condominium). The corner back then was home to purveyors of diamonds and fashionable men’s duds, but that began to change in the 1870s when the Third Avenue elevated train went up along the Bowery.

In the 1920s noted banjo maker G. F. Puntolillo had his shop at 344 Broome. During the Depression 154 Bowery was home to the Modern Barber College, where a shave and a trim, plus a tattoo or two, could be had.

150 Bowery has since been chopped down to a single story, the low brick walls and surroundings lately tagged and wheat pasted. Now the Bowery, from north to south, is undergoing a sea of changes, and down here at the remotest edges of Nolita, ultra-mod hotels, from Mondrian to Nolitan, are going in and restaurants and bars are as plentiful as spent syringes used to be. What’s next for 150 Bowery? Gallery? Boutique? Cupcake Bar? Tipsters in the know: shoot us the info.

Category : Blog

244 Elizabeth Stalled Rehab

Posted by NYC-Now on October 23, 2010 // 0 Comments

Nolita Building’s Stalled Rehab is Killing Off Its Tenants

The old tenement building at 244 Elizabeth Street has been waiting on a renovation by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and a conversion into a low-income cooperative for its longtime residents. During that wait, which shows no signs of ending, the building has become a neighborhood eyesore, boarded up and covered with graffiti. But the process has been even harder on 244 Elizabeth’s relocated residents, who have been moved to “unfriendly and unsafe” areas, in some cases never to return. So says the horribly depressing letter taped up to the building.

Category : Blog

The Nolitan Goes Full Frontal on Kenmare Street

Posted by NYC-Now on October 15, 2010 // 0 Comments

The Nolitan Goes Full Frontal on Kenmare Street

Kenmare getting a whole new look.

Often stalled but now nearly complete, The Nolitan, the boutique hotel down at the edge of Chitaly and Nolita, is finally showing off its two faces. The sidewalk is laid and big slabs of glass, punctuated by frameworks in exposed concrete with major stainless steel hardware to hold it all together, rise over Kenmare Street. The entire perimeter is lined with matte black tile, creating a moat of darkness where the building hits the street. Fritted glass wraps around the corner at Elizabeth, and clapboards in black ceramic stack up nine stories towards the glass-rimmed terrace up top. One thing’s for sure: The gang at Grzywinski+Pons have brought some wonky glitz to the nabe.

The Nolitan’s own website still claims “Opening late summer 2010″ but that’s clearly not the case. Some websters recently claimed the new opening date is November 1. But HotelChatter, which got a sneak peek of a nearly ready model room up top, says the real date is “after Thanksgiving.” Given what’s been going on with this site, including some ticked-off neighbors, that window could stretch to infinity.
· The Nolitan [nolitanhotel.com]

Category : Blog

Lady Gaga Reminds Us That Tribeca’s V33 Still Exists

Posted by NYC-Now on October 12, 2010 // 0 Comments

Lady Gaga Reminds Us That Tribeca’s V33 Still Exists

Ms. Meat Dress’s downtown housing hunt, chronicled weekly by Post columnist Jennifer Gould Keil and others, is now becoming a public service. If not for the news today that Gaga checked out the $14.95 million penthouse at 33 Vestry Street, aka V33, we would have gone on neglecting the crazy stone/glass/metal building designed by black-clad minimalist Winka Dubbeldam. Construction has dragged on for years, and five of the seven units have been listed in contract forever. But surely this Gaga sighting means the building is nearly done, right? Er, not so fast.

Category : Blog

Ian Schrager Shows Off Noho’s Best Manicured Lawn 40 Bond

Posted by NYC-Now on October 12, 2010 // 0 Comments

Ian Schrager Shows Off Noho’s Best Manicured Lawn

[Photos by Todd Eberle for Vanity Fair.]

We’ve seen it under wraps and we’ve seen it in rough draft form, and now Ian Schrager is finally ready to show off his finished penthouse atop 40 Bond, the beloved Noho building he developed. In a big Vanity Fair coming-out party, Schrager talks about shunning the building’s designers Herzog and de Meuron and hiring minimalist architect John Pawson (who did Schrager’s 50 Gramercy Park North building) to design his penthouse—then adding an interior designer and landscape architect to mess with Pawson’s vision. “I went to a minimalist architect, but I said, ‘I don’t want a minimal apartment,’ ” he explains. Why did the build-out take so long? Here’s one reason: He tore out the flooring because the color was off, then approved it plank-by-plank on the second installation. Hey, we all handle stress in different ways. Click through to VF for more penthouse porn.
· A Life on the Skyline [Vanity Fair]
· 40 Bond coverage [Curbed]

Category : Blog

Picasso’s Grandson Buys $7.2 Million Lafayette street Penthouse

Posted by NYC-Now on October 8, 2010 // 0 Comments

Picasso’s Grandson Buys $7.2 Million Lafayette Street Penthouse

The sixth-floor apartment at 439 Lafayette Street has come up in the world since it was purchased, partially demolished, for $3 million in 2007. One year and one fairly epic renovation later—the apartment now has a dog shower and outdoor kitchen—it returned to market asking $8.466 million. Now, the unit appears to have found a buyer in Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, the artist’s grandson, and Almine Picasso, who paid $7.19 million for the place. Which doesn’t seem like much compared to the value of what will probably end up on the walls.

Category : Blog