Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:32:51 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Bradley Hope :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Bradley+Hope istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/more-developers-tracking-projects-progress-with/73764/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Developer Robert Levine once traveled every 10 days to construction sites across the country, lugging his bags and racking up thousands of frequent flier miles. These days he monitors all of his projects from the comfort of his office, using a computer that continuously receives high-resolution images of the construction sites. "I'm constantly watching the screen to keep an eye on developments," Mr. Levine, the president of RAL Companies, said. "Sometimes I pick up my BlackBerry and am on the... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/analysts-advise-against-waiting-for-real-estate/73754/ Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Buyers who have stayed on the sidelines, expecting to scoop up apartments at bargain prices, may be waiting in vain, real estate experts say. Price cuts are a last resort for developers, and come only after all other options — including paying a buyer's taxes and lawyer fees — are exhausted. "A price cut at a new development is the kiss of death," the developer of such projects as Sheffield 57 and 25 Broad Street, Kent Swig, told a room full of brokers during a recent speech at the Real Estate... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/bank-cautions-on-commercial-real-estate/73267/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Adopting a far bleaker view of New York City's commercial real estate market than those of major brokerages, Deutsche Bank is predicting a drop in occupancy rates of as much as 6% this year and next, as well as 0% rent growth. Based on this outlook, the bank's analysts downgraded the stocks of two of the city's largest commercial landlords, Vornado Realty Trust and SL Green Realty, to hold from buy. "We believe the sale of Bear Stearns, as well as potential layoffs and shrinkage from other... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/park-slope-residents-head-to-fourth-avenue/73282/ Thu, 20 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Fourth Avenue is on the verge of becoming one of the densest new residential areas in Brooklyn, experts say, with close to 1,000 apartments under construction on a 1.4-mile stretch of six-lane road known for its car repair shops, gas stations, and big box stores. Half of the first buyers in the 20 new buildings come from just up the way in Park Slope, according to sales directors. "When I first moved in Park Slope in 1996, I wouldn't even consider living on Fifth Avenue, much less Fourth... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/buyers-wait-to-saddle-up-converted-stable-in-soho/72894/ Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST When a pair of Florida developers in 2006 acquired a 19th-century stable and carriage house in SoHo, they celebrated with great fanfare, even hosting a week-long art exhibit featuring the graffiti that covered the facade and inside walls. The developers, Caroline Cummings and William Elias, spent $12 million to buy the building at 11 Spring St., which had long been vacant, from a former publisher of the New York Post, Lachlan Murdoch. They then invested $10 million to convert it into three... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/perfect-setting-for-a-thriller/72390/ Thu, 6 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST After more than a decade struggling to write thrillers, Adam Gittlin realized the setting he needed was right in front of him: commercial real estate. "My first book, a psychological thriller, was difficult to write," Mr. Gittlin, a principal at his family-owned real estate firm, Gittlin Companies Inc., said. "Then one night it struck me: This is what I'm looking for. I know this. It's a fast-paced industry with egos as big as the buildings." That was five years ago. In the early mornings and... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/gm-building-sale-price-fees-are-exceptional/72436/ Thu, 6 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST As the second round of bids for the sale of the iconic General Motors Building came in yesterday, tongues were wagging in real estate circles over the hundreds of millions of dollars in fees that will be associated with the sale. Deals of this size — the skyscraper is expected to fetch more than $3 billion, the highest sale price for a single building in American history — come with streams of paperwork, intense analysis, and complicated legal maneuvering. In the end, the owner of the building... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/with-sales-sluggish-building-gets-aggressive/72044/ Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST A 23-story building on the Lower East Side is taking aggressive steps to woo potential residents, offering incentives of nearly $19,000 for a top-floor unit, including a month of free rent, no brokerage fee, free moving services, and a year of free storage space. "We've seen lots of amenities over the years, but nothing this outrageous," the chief operating officer of the Real Estate Group, Daniel Baum, said. The Ludlow, at the corner of Ludlow and Houston streets, has been on the market for... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/tax-abatement-debate-to-be-revived/72017/ Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST Developers and real estate lobbyists who fought hard to prevent changes to a lucrative tax abatement are looking forward to December, which is when the City Council will review the impact of new restrictions to the tax break, known as 421a. Real estate professionals hope to convince them that, with the slowing real estate market, these changes have stymied development. "In a market like this, the legislation fails in every respect," the vice president for development at Toll Brothers, David Von... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/luxury-units-set-to-rise-where-horses-once-trotted/71989/ Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST Final approvals have been granted to begin the transformation of a historic horse stable on the Upper West Side, the Claremont Riding Academy, into high-end condominiums. According to the plans, which the Landmark Preservation Commission approved on Tuesday, the carriage lift will become an elevator to transport vehicles to a subterranean parking garage, while the wooden hay chutes, riding arena, and stalls will be gutted to make way for nine luxury units. "It's a building with character and... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/arts/country-pickers-city-slickers/71684/ Fri, 22 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST Three years ago, the Brooklyn country musician and festival organizer Alexander Battles decided to don a cowboy hat while walking the streets of Manhattan. "I was walking around New York and I might as well have been wearing a pink tutu," he said. "People stared at me like, 'What is this weirdo doing?' I kind of got into it." PODCAST: A Conversation With Alexander Battles It was part of the gradual invention of a stage personality — a Johnny Cash-inspired, Brylcreem-slicked entertainer who is... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/condos-at-former-tiffany-headquarters-hit/71609/ Thu, 21 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST The buzz over the redevelopment of the former headquarters for Tiffany & Co. is reaching a fevered pitch as the new condominiums finally hit the market. The white brick building at 15 Union Square West will be covered in a black shroud until its façade is completed later this year, but the marketing of its 36 apartments began this week. "This building is hot right now," a broker and principal at A Fine Company who viewed the building recently, Andrew Fine, said. The model apartment "is my dream... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/business/silverstein-bids-above-3-billion-for-gm-building/71500/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST The bids are in for the highly coveted General Motors Building, and it looks like it may be anointed the priciest property in America. The developer of ground zero, Larry Silverstein, who is thought to be partnering with the California State Teachers' Retirement System, has offered more than $3 billion for the property, according to sources with knowledge of the proposals. The news confirms what was first reported in The New York Sun in December 2006, that the building's value could reach more... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/week-in-review-2008-02-14/71269/ Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. Retail Space Planned for Brooklyn Jail: The city may add retail space to the ground floor of a revamped jail in downtown Brooklyn, the Daily News reported. Renderings from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill show a Trader Joe's supermarket filling the space, but officials at the city's Department of Correction said the plans were preliminary and that more meetings are planned with the community before a final decision will be made on the future of the Brooklyn House of Detention. 2. Macklowe Faces... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/living-the-highest-life/71293/ Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST While New Yorkers who inhabit the penthouses atop the tallest residential buildings in Manhattan are members of an exclusive group, an even loftier rank exists: the owner of the top-floor penthouse in the city's tallest apartment building. The two men who now share this title are a managing director at the Blackstone Group, Chinh Chu, and a real estate investor, Dominick D'Alleva. Each owns a half-floor penthouse on the 90th floor of Trump World Tower. But like so much in the world of real... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/business/vornados-roth-in-classic-fight-with-macklowe/71248/ Wed, 13 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST It was a classic move for Vornado Realty Trust's chairman, Steven Roth: Just months after one of his chief competitors, Harry Macklowe, scooped up seven high-end office buildings in Midtown that Mr. Roth had lost in an earlier bidding war, Mr. Roth bought a chunk of the loans that Mr. Macklowe had secured to acquire the properties. If Mr. Macklowe paid off the loans, Vornado could rake in a return on its investment of as much as 10%; if not, the company would better position itself to buy the... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/brooklyn-family-sitting-on-100m-in-property-air/70892/ Thu, 7 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST Brooklyn residents know Pintchik's Hardware, which has been on the corner of Flatbush Avenue and Bergen Street since 1940, for the quirky messages on its scrolling digital sign, its free cappuccinos, and the life-size fiberglass cow outside its entrance. What they don't know is the Pintchik family is sitting on as much as $100 million of developable property and air rights, according to some brokers' estimates. Nathan Pintchik, the grandfather of the current president of Pintchik Inc., began... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/amenity-that-even-the-neighbors-can-enjoy/70912/ Thu, 7 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST When a prospective buyer of condominiums sees the word "amenity" in a brochure, he or she usually thinks of a 24-hour concierge, outdoor space, or even a spa service. But the developer of a condominium tower rising in the West Village may top all those offerings. Hines, which is developing the project with RFR Realty, last week installed a wireless broadcaster at the construction site that allows free Internet access for anyone in Jackson Square Park, which is in front of the building. Many of... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/snapshot-foreign-buyers-take-bigger-role/70550/ Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST Foreign buyers aren't just holding up residential real estate sales in the city. Data from Cushman & Wakefield show that about one-third of all commercial deals that are under contract and expected to close were from foreign buyers, up from about 12% in 2007. The percentage of institutions buying commercial real estate has also surged, the data show... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/ny-residents-now-able-to-monitor-blocks-online/70530/ Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST A new Web site allows New Yorkers to monitor everything happening on their block, from restaurant inspections and building violations to missed connections posted on Craigslist and news mentions. The site, Everyblock.com, is the creation of Adrian Holovaty, who won a $1.1 million, two-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. His proposal was to create a simple way to answer the question "What's happening around me?" according to the foundation's Web site. Everyblock.com... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/first-residents-arrive-for-downtown-brooklyn/70102/ Thu, 24 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST The "incredible renaissance" in the Brooklyn residential real estate market is transforming the traditionally commercial area of downtown Brooklyn. Amid the low-end retail outlets, dentists' offices, and courthouses that dot the neighborhood, 11 new condominiums and rental buildings — a total of 1,480 units — are welcoming their first residents. The newcomers are a mix of Wall Street bankers attracted by the short commute to Lower Manhattan, families trading in their Brooklyn brownstones for... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/bush-sets-windfall-for-co-ops-in-city/69657/ Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST A little-noticed provision in President Bush's plan to alleviate homeowners' mortgage debt will provide a windfall for cooperatives across the city. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 will allow co-ops to raise the rents for retail tenants — equaling hundreds of millions of dollars across the city — enabling the buildings to hire doormen, complete capital projects, and even stop charging apartment owners monthly maintenance fees, according to lawyers, managing agents, and co-op... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/week-in-review-2008-01-17/69695/ Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. City Mulls Property Tax Hike: Faced with a $3.1 billion budget gap, the Bloomberg administration is mulling whether to roll back a 7% property tax cut and end a $400 million property tax rebate. The restoration of the tax would add an extra $1 billion in revenue to the city, and the rebate would save another $256 million. 2. Bank of America To Buy Countrywide: Bank of America has agreed to pay about $4 billion in stock to acquire a lending company that foundered during this summer's subprime... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/family-firm-sells-off-nine-manhattan-buildings/69711/ Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST A company formed by a co-owner of the Apthorp has acquired nine buildings on the Upper West Side and the West Village from a family firm that owned them for more than six decades. Northbrook Partners LLC paid more than $300 million for the properties, the company's founder, Maurice Mann, who is also president of Mann Realty Associates, said. Papers transferring ownership of the buildings were signed last Friday, he said. Mr. Mann formed Northbrook Partners in 2006 as a partnership between Mann... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/restaurants-experiment-with-new-ingredients/69678/ Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST As retail rents in the city skyrocket, restaurants are increasingly using their upstairs and downstairs space for patrons, as well as opening extra bars within their venues to boost revenues and seeking new forms of financing, brokers and restaurateurs said. "I can't remember a more competitive restaurant environment in New York in the last 20 years," an industry veteran who owns an eponymous restaurant in TriBeCa, Dennis Foy, said. "More people are having to do other things to supplement their... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/turning-the-page-on-a-newspapers-former/69717/ Thu, 17 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST The owners of the former headquarters of the New York Times are planning to transform garages that many years ago housed printing presses into cafés and clothing stores, and to revive the façade with signs, a new five-story clock, and a series of mirrors to reflect the lights of Times Square. Africa Israel USA bought the 18-story building at 229 W. 43rd St. last year for $525 million from Tishman Speyer, which had purchased it from the New York Times in 2004 for $175 million. The newspaper... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/heres-a-classic-new-york-story-of-no-view-being/69241/ Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST In New York, the saying goes, no view is permanent. The plight of multimillionaire Edward Bazinet proves the universality of this maxim: Even if you own one of the most expensive and unusual penthouses in Lower Manhattan, your view can still be blocked. The north side of Mr. Bazinet's five-story, modern-art-filled penthouse at 60 Warren St. has a sweeping 24-foot window with views of the Empire State Building, as well as a small greenhouse attached to the kitchen. But the sound of hammering and... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/recession-could-lead-to-spike-in-office-vacancy/69132/ Tue, 8 Jan 2008 11:37:06 EST A recession could lead to large increases in office vacancy rates, Cushman & Wakefield executives said at a breakfast press conference today. The firm's chief economist, Kenneth McCarthy, said Manhattan's market is in an "uncertain place," but he predicted a recovery as long as there are not significant job cuts in the financial industry. "So far we've seen the write-downs, but not the lay offs," he said. "It could be that we get through this without a major problem." If there is a... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/developer-cries-foul-as-landmarks-panel-delays/68867/ Thu, 3 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST In an unusual move, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission is refusing to give clearance to a developer seeking to build an as-of-right apartment building in NoHo. Adam Gordon is planning to tear down 41 and 43 Bond St. to make way for a seven-unit condominium building, but he has been waiting since August for the commission to hand over a letter to the Department of Buildings declaring that the site is not landmarked. The commission, Mr. Gordon said, wants to hold off on sending... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/business/lower-east-side-matzo-fixture-plans-a-move/68452/ Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Streit's Matzo Bakery, after calling the Lower East Side home for more than 80 years, has put its four-building factory on the market for $25 million. It is planning to move its operations to another borough, a broker representing the building said. The company has casually marketed its 47,000 square feet of above-grade space for years, but three weeks ago executives put it on sale in earnest, the broker from Massey Knakal, Michael DeCheser, said. "It's not going out of business," he said... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/forgotten-haring-is-found-by-contractors/68386/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Contractors working to develop a $17 million triplex in a historic TriBeCa building have brought to light a forgotten work by the artist Keith Haring. The triplex, in the American Thread Building, served as an art exhibition space in 1979, when Haring painted a piece of the ceiling and wall with a pattern of black-and-white line figures and designs. As the years passed and the space became a restaurant and then a dusty storage area, the painting was forgotten. A senior managing director at... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/developers-envisions-a-bit-of-florida-in-south/68435/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Stephen Jemal has been buying up small parcels on the South Brooklyn waterfront for the last decade with an eye toward building housing that echoes the beachfront properties of Florida. Now, with a large new loan in hand, he can finally start construction. Mr. Jemal's company, SSJ Development, which received a $100 million construction loan from Amalgamated Bank earlier this year, will break ground on two projects next month and a third next year in a distant part of Brooklyn dotted with... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/hotel-riverview-could-regain-its-sea-legs/68284/ Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST The businessmen behind the Bowery Hotel are planning a new luxury boutique hotel in the West Village, according to documents filed with the city and people briefed on the project. Hoteliers Sean MacPherson and Eric Goode, who run the Waverly Inn and Gemma restaurants, and the Maritime Hotel on West 16th Street, presented their plans to transform the Hotel Riverview at 113 Jane St. to Community Board 2's business committee last week. The committee unanimously approved their application for a... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/cuomo-breathes-new-life-into-real-estate-bureau/68079/ Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST After more than two years of dormancy, the enforcement arm of Attorney General Cuomo's real estate bureau is being revived, Mr. Cuomo said in an interview yesterday. The attorney general's office has put forward a bill that would raise the maximum fee for reviewing offering plans to $30,000, a 50% increase. If the bill, which would affect only larger developers, passes next year, the new revenue will be used to add staff to the Real Estate Finance Bureau. Real estate attorneys say that, since... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/glass-penthouse-rises-for-a-second-time/67981/ Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST In 2005, the Landmarks Preservation Commission told a TriBeCa developer he would have to tear down a pair of glass, duplex penthouses he had constructed atop a historic building because they rose seven feet higher than the permit allowed. Now, a new penthouse is nearly finished, but for brokers who lost commissions and were unable to move their buyers into their apartments for more than three years because of the reconstruction, old wounds have been opened. The reason? The new structure is also... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/new-supermarket-signals-change-in-south-park-slope/68000/ Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST With the arrival next week of South Park Slope's first high-end supermarket, the neighborhood is taking a significant step toward shaking off its reputation as second fiddle to the more recognized area to the north, local business owners and real estate brokers say. Union Market, which has operated a store on Union Street since 2005, is opening a new location on Seventh Avenue between 13th and 14th streets as early as next week. The outpost will include a full produce department, cheese... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/latest-hot-co-op-topic-secondhand-smoke/67569/ Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Benjamin Zitomer lived happily with his family in a two-bedroom apartment at 99 Jane St. in the West Village for six years before a new tenant moved in next door and brought an unexpected menace: It wasn't rats or cockroaches or even noise; it was secondhand smoke. "It came in through the bedroom wall and permeated in through the front door," Mr. Zitomer, 49, a database administrator, said. "Our apartment was filled with smoke almost every night. We had to have the windows open in the middle of... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/rentals-cede-space-to-condominiums-on-john-street/67617/ Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST John Street, once home to the headquarters of insurance companies such as Travelers and AIG, and later to rental apartments for Wall Street employees, is undergoing another transformation, this time to condominiums. "The lifestyle downtown is getting easier," the director of leasing and sales at Rockrose Development Corp., Kathleen Scott, said. "People are viewing it as a longer term commitment, as opposed to renters, who will go into any neighborhood and try it out. Now it's about home... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/sales-of-mixed-use-developments-rise/67640/ Thu, 6 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST Mixed-use developments in Brooklyn are on the rise, as more builders view them as a safe investment option in uncertain economic times, according to a recent study and interviews with brokers. "Across all market types, mixed use is excelling" in the borough, a senior partner at Massey Knakal, Timothy King, said. The number of mixed-use buildings, which includes developments with both residential and retail usages or a hotel component, increased by 7.5% in Brooklyn during the first half of 2007... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/signaling-cooling-market-prices-cut-at-new/67221/ Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Roughly a dozen new developments have slashed their prices by as much as 13% over the last several weeks, one sign the slowing housing market is reaching New York City. Developments in areas that began gentrifying in the latest real estate boom cycle, including Central Harlem, Chinatown, DUMBO, and Prospect Heights, are now cutting their prices to compete better, according to brokers representing the developments and statistics from the real estate site Streeteasy.com. "We are obviously... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/echoes-of-village-bohemia/67228/ Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST It was at a gallery in the East Village in 1985 that the real estate developer Tony Goldman first saw the work of a young Japanese artist whose name would stay with him through the years. The artist was Kenichi Hiratsuka, then a 26-year-old art school graduate three years into what has become a lifelong project of carving sidewalks and stone around the world. The piece Mr. Goldman saw and bought was a stone floor tile that Mr. Hiratsuka had salvaged from the Cathedral Church of St. John the... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/trophy-building-asking-rents-climb-higher/67236/ Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Despite increasing vacancies and a decrease in leasing activity, asking rents in Manhattan's premier office buildings rose significantly versus last year, according to a report from Jones Lang La-Salle. Average asking rents for downtown "trophy buildings"— which the firm defines as those in high-profile locations built or significantly renovated since 1985 and housing a prominent tenant — rose to $68.94 a square foot from $52.10 in the fall of 2006, a 32.3% increase, according to the brokerage... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/proposals-for-hudson-yards-reach-high-green/66692/ Mon, 19 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Standout features among the grand proposals for the development of the 26-acre rail yards on the far West Side of Manhattan include two buildings connected at the 25th floor by a glass running track, six towers designed to angle light into a 19-acre park, and an elevated pedestrian walkway described as the "21st century version of the High Line." Detailed renderings and architectural models from the developers that have made bids to redevelop the Hudson rail yards will be on view starting today... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/new-york/parlor-serving-25000-dessert-is-closed-due/66545/ Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A restaurant that charges $25,000 for a dessert is dealing with a problem common to greasy spoons. A week after Serendipity 3 announced it had achieved the world record for the most expensive dessert, the famed Upper East Side ice-cream parlor and restaurant has been closed by the health department for a rodent and insect infestation. Two laminated "Closed For Renovation" signs were turning away customers yesterday at 225 E. 60th St., but down a set of stairs and behind a metal grating, health... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/business/fifth-avenue-reigns-as-priciest-shopping-stretch/66596/ Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST The combination of a weak dollar and a strong tourism industry has created a healthy retail environment in New York, and landlords have responded by making a 10-block stretch along Fifth Avenue the priciest shopping blocks in the world, according to a new report by Cushman & Wakefield. The Big Apple has held this title since the brokerage firm began publishing its report "Main Streets Around the World" in 2000. At $1,500 a square foot, the likes of Bergdorf Goodman, Versace, and Gucci top the... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/triathletes-lured-to-upper-east-side-development/66518/ Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Athletically inclined residents at the Laurel, a 31-story development opening next year on the Upper East Side, will be able to train for triathlons in the building's high-tech gym, where residents can circulate among treadmills, stationary bikes, and a nearby resistance pool. The designers of the building's two-story workout space, at First Avenue between 66th and 67th streets, are taking advantage of a rapidly growing niche of New Yorkers who are passionate about triathlons. "It's a really... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/citys-brokers-build-relationships-in-europe/66478/ Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST With international buyers helping to buoy the New York market and isolate it from the nationwide drop in prices, the city's real estate brokerage firms are joining international broker networks, exhibiting properties at property shows abroad, and advertising in publications in other countries to lure even more foreign money. "America is on sale for now," the chief executive of Coldwell Banker Hunt Kennedy, David Michonski, said. "It doesn't look like that's changing for at least another year."... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/business/cultural-districts-pull-customers-from-suburbs/66395/ Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Cultural districts around the city that have large retail presences are increasingly drawing customers from the suburbs, helping to strengthen the city's economy, the director of the Center for an Urban Future, Jonathan Bowles, said yesterday. As many as half of the weekend customers who visit retail strips in places like Flushing and Jackson Heights, Queens, are from out of town, Mr. Bowles said. "This is a relatively untapped asset for the New York economy," Mr. Bowles said. "We need to start... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/condo-fee-defaults-surge-in-manhattan/66066/ Thu, 8 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST A precipitous rise in the number of condominium owners who are defaulting on their common payments, an important indicator of future foreclosures, is being reported. Much has been said about Manhattan's perceived real estate invincibility in the aftermath of the subprime meltdown, but lawyers representing dozens of condominium boards in some of the city's wealthiest neighborhoods say they are seeing these default cases increase as much as 25% this year. "There has been a very substantial... BRADLEY HOPE http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/downtown-hotel-condos-at-2000-a-foot/65641/ Thu, 1 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST When the new W Hotel & Residences on Washington Street kicks off sales starting next week, potential buyers will be able to bid on condominiums costing $2,000 a square foot — or $800 more a square foot than the average downtown condominium. "I just can't see that for downtown or the financial district; I think that's an overly aggressive shot," a managing director at Prudential Douglas Elliman, Andrew Gerringer, said. Demand for these high-priced condominiums will be determined soon enough...