Real Estate

After almost three decades of hyperbole, Bon Jovi finally got the Parks Department to admit that the capacity of the Great Lawn is not as great as they thought. [NY Times]

Here's a guide to the best black-and-white cookies in the city. [Gridskipper]

In another sign that the Village is not what it once was, President Bush's cousin paid almost $14 million for a townhouse on East 10th Street. [TRD]

"Strong anti-Hispanic and anti-Latino sentiment" pulses through the town of Southampton, the owners of the Hampton Bays Diner charge in a suit. We'd probably classify it as latent.  read more »

Mort Zuckerman and company provided their now typical dose of depressing market predictions this morning during Boston Properties' second quarter earnings call.

Our favorite bleak comment came from President Doug Linde, who, in speaking about the challenges facing the average American consumer, said, "We don't see any immediate catalyst for optimism."

Such artful use of business-speak!

Clearly someone's been spending too much time with Mr. Zuckerman, who has taken to using his public appearances to intone about the dire straits of the American economy (not that his statements are without merit. But sometimes, it's just so damned depressing!).

Anyway, there were some silver linings to the clouds darkening the economic horizon.  read more »

Are skyrocketing gas prices nixing your vacation plans? Here's a cheap getaway: Stay home.

NYC & Company is launching a new campaign this week called "Go Local."

"We're somewhat bored with the word 'staycation,'" noted George Fertitta, CEO of the city's tourism agency.

Beginning Thursday, NYC & Company street crews will be hitting up all the major transit hubs, passing out pamphlets about all the events, activities, and attractions happening right here in the five boroughs -- things like the Governors Island Folk Music Festival, Latino Film Fest, and, yes, those makeshift waterfalls that everyone seems to be talking about.

"This isn't a consolation prize -- this is as good as it gets," said Mr.  read more »

The M.T.A. did not seem to notice the chorus of boos that erupted across the city from public officials and subway riders alike upon hearing news of a potential 8 percent fare hike next year, because today the agency went even further.

City Room reports that the M.T.A. will also request at its Friday board meeting an additional 5 percent increase to take effect by January 2011 — for a cumulative increase of 13.4 percent over 18 months.

The M.T.A. argues that raising fares is the only way to deal with a projected $900 million budget gap. Though dissenters at the "contentious" meeting today claimed that there's more fat to trim on the M.T.A.'s budget.

Stayed tuned for the outcome on Friday.

Funny lady Amy Sedaris appears to have an ambivalent relationship with New York City.

On the one hand, she seems to appreciate the little urban conveniences that you can't find anyplace else--for instance, last October, she told The Observer about her "good memories" of getting pot delivered to her house--but will just as quickly complain about the noise pollution from the West Village Halloween Parade.

Back in October, she complained to New York magazine “that the people who we moved [to the city] to get away from are coming here and changing it — and not for the best.  read more »

It's a divorce that may soon dwarf the Brinkley-Cook debacle in ugliness.

The banking industry, pressured by regulators to reduce its exposure to the collapsing real estate market, has been squirming out of its loan obligations to developers, killing projects midstream, according to developers quoted in an article in today's Wall Street Journal:

"As lenders rush to curtail their real-estate exposure and preserve sorely needed capital, they are triggering lawsuits from builders that say the banks have unfairly cut off their construction financing, stopped their projects midstream and forced their companies to the brink of bankruptcy.

'Lender-liability lawsuits are coming. It's only just beginning,' says Michael Hackard, a lawyer in Sacramento, Calif.  read more »

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Developers like Donald Trump and chocolatiers like Alison Nelson aren't the only ones eyeballing real estate in Dubai.

New York magazine reports that at least two Manhattan nightlife impressarios, Pink Elephant owner Josh Kaiser and Star Lounge proprietor Charles Ferri, are both planning to open new posh boites in the emirate.

In fact, I spoke with Mr. Ferri back in May about his Middle Eastern aspirations:

"Dubai is super important right now," he said. "We're looking to do a big, big club out there. They're basically flying me out there for a month."

The new venue would be located in a hotel, he added -- one of the few types of places the emirate permits booze.

The co-op 740 Park, which is so obsessed over that a death in the building automatically becomes a hot topic among Upper East Side brokers (who want the listing), finally has a new apartment on the market.

Corcoran's Web site just put up a $38 million listing for a 16-room, five-bedroom, seven-and-a-half-bathroom duplex. Apparently there are another three bedrooms and two bathrooms in the servants quarters off a "seperate [sic] staircase," according to the listing.  read more »

Oddly, the apartment is being handled by a Corcoran broker named Julie Gordon, who's a mere salesperson with the firm--lowlier than the Rolls Royce-driving

On Tuesday afternoon, City Councilman Dan Garodnick called on Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village landlord Tishman Speyer to pay the legal fees of tenants who are proven to be legitimately occupying rent-stabilized apartments in the complex after contesting non-lease renewal notices from the landlord.

Under the proposal, which was endorsed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and State Senator Tom Duane at a press conference, Tishman would also agree to a set of ground rules for attempting to evict tenants for allegedly breaking rent-stabilization rules.

“Over the last two years, we have seen an aggressive pursuit of tenants by Tishman Speyer, claiming that people are not using their apartments as their primary residence,” Mr.  read more »

Explaining the voodoo economics of 15 Central Park West.

Freddie Mac's ex-president buys a West Side condo, sans mortgage.

Why won't Manhattan rents come down this summer?

Anthony Fodera, a business owner at Willets Point, lays into Mayor Bloomberg.

The last big landowner in Columbia's West Harlem way readies for a showdown.

Obama and McCain get little love from New York real estate--so far.

A former Carter adviser plans a new Bryant Park hotel.

The Hotel Pennsylvania inexplicably shoulders on, hackers rejoice!