Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:19:44 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Candace Taylor :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Candace+Taylor istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/the-default-phenomenon-comes-to-ny/86556/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Manhattan is getting an unwanted taste of South Florida. Developers of new condominiums are finding that apartments they thought had sold are unexpectedly coming back into their hands as buyers — not just layoff victims, but some who are wealthy and employed — default on contracts. In some cases, these supposed buyers are having to walk away from five- and six-figure deposits. This phenomenon, common in Florida and other real estate markets decimated by the housing slump, was virtually unheard... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/boutique-broker-explosion-goes-into-reverse/86572/ Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:18:48 EST When Debra Kameros in June merged her 12-employee real estate company with one of the city's biggest firms, Prudential Douglas Elliman, she said she was relieved that the cost and hassle of phone bills, support staff, and photocopy machines were no longer her concern. "I'm loving my ability to focus on being a broker and not on the running of an office," Ms. Kameros, who founded her company 25 years ago, said. "I've thought about that a lot over the years — the prospect of not having to worry... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/at-street-level/86138/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Manhattan's commercial real estate market may soon be flooded with millions of square feet of available office space as a result of this week's Wall Street shakeout. The takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and the federal bailout of insurance giant American International Group could throw into play 10 million square feet of office space. That figure would be equivalent to 2.2% of the total 450 million square feet of Manhattan office... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/a-real-estate-site-stirs-up-the-industry/86103/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST When Internet entrepreneur Michael Smith founded the real estate Web site StreetEasy.com in 2006, he took an unorthodox approach to staffing. "For the first year, we had no one from the real estate industry working here," Mr. Smith said, adding that many of the site's most popular features, such as apartment price changes and days on the market, might never have become part of the site if an industry insider had helped to sculpt it. "We didn't want any of the assumptions that come from being in... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/style/patricia-field-sells-directly/85711/ Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST As the costume designer for the hit HBO series "Sex and the City," Patricia Field created a vibrant on-screen world of fashion. Though some outfits were over the top, accessories and brands that Carrie Bradshaw wore became hits — from oversize flowers to Manolo Blahnik stilettos. Now her creativity is going mainstream: Ms. Field has created a 50-piece limited collection, "Patricia Field's Destination Style New York," that is currently available for pre-sale on the Home Shopping Network. Every... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/townhouses-offering-condo-style-services/85611/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The occupants of a newly renovated Greek Revival townhouse in the West Village will enjoy something few New York City homeowners have: the benefits of owning a house without giving up the luxury of condominium-style services. A new company, Aberdeen Townhomes, is buying up historic townhouses in the city and outfitting them with virtual doormen, concierge services, and air-conditioned storage units for grocery deliveries. Because the homes are coming on line during one of the worst nationwide... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/week-in-review/85613/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. Safety Concerns Halt School Visits to United Nations The city of New York is suspending all public school visits to the United Nations due to safety concerns, The New York Sun reported. In a September 8 letter to top U.N. officials, the city's liaison to the world body, Marjorie Tiven, expressed "profound disappointment" over the U.N.'s failure to make good on pledges to secure the building, and said the city has "no choice" but to suspend all school trips. The letter to the U.N... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/popular-soho-diner-to-reopen-in-tribeca/84820/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST A diner that was a fixture in SoHo before closing last year, Jerry's Cafe, will reopen at 90 Chambers St. in early September, the owner, Jerry Joseph, said. Mr. Joseph said he's in the process of interviewing chefs for the new Jerry's, which will reopen with many of the menu items and the homey décor that earned the diner a loyal SoHo following for 20 years, including the red-leather booths, neon-blue "Jerry's" sign, and much-loved french fries. "We will attempt to re-create what we had for 20... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/eateries-opening-where-banks-once-stood/85185/ Thu, 4 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Many New Yorkers likely haven't entered a Bruegger's bagel shop since the late nineties, when the chain closed all of its Manhattan locations as the low-carb Atkins diet swept the country. They'll have another chance starting this fall, when Bruegger's will open its first New York City location in a decade. The Burlington, Vt.-based company signed an agreement recently with Queens-based Hart Street to open 20 Manhattan restaurants over the next seven years. Bruegger's isn't the only low-cost... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/the-week-in-review/85186/ Thu, 4 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. Apartment Prices Plummet in City Apartments in prime Manhattan neighborhoods are selling for less than their purchase prices, The New York Sun reported, despite repeated assertions from industry insiders over the past several months that the Manhattan real estate market is impervious to the nationwide housing slowdown. Among the apartments selling for a loss is a unit at 80 John St., in the financial district, which recently sold for $590,000 after a $720,000 selling price was listed in... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/mortgage-rates-plunge-after-federal-takeover/85459/ Tue, 9 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST The drop in mortgage rates by as much as half a percentage point following news of the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will provide a boost to the New York City housing market. The national average interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage dropped to 6.08% yesterday, from 6.26% last week, according to Florida-based research firm Bankrate Inc. In New York, mortgage brokers were offering a rate of 6.125% on a 30-year $600,000 mortgage, down from 6.625% Friday. The drop-off in... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/unthinkable-happens-manhattan-apartment-prices/84900/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The old adage that one can't lose money on Manhattan real estate doesn't seem to be holding up. Recently released city records indicate that apartments in prime Manhattan neighborhoods are selling for less than their purchase prices — a phenomenon that until now was virtually unheard of in the seemingly invincible New York City real estate market. Among the apartments selling for a loss is a unit at 80 John St., in the financial district, which recently sold for $590,000, much lower than the... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/the-week-in-review/84816/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. Contractor Sues the Plaza A Long Island contractor claims in a lawsuit that the developers of the Plaza Hotel failed to pay $3.71 million for work done at the newly restored building, the Real Deal reported. A heating and air-conditioning firm, S.W. Sims, filed a complaint in New York State Supreme Court on August 22. The Plaza Hotel, at 768 Fifth Ave. at Central Park South, reopened this spring after a $400 million renovation that converted the century-old hotel into a hotel-condominium... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/doctors-replace-wall-street-bankers-as-go/84817/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST When sales launched at East Harlem's Observatory Place, the developer was surprised to discover that instead of the young Wall Street bankers the company had targeted with its advertising and fliers, doctors and nurses from nearby hospitals were flooding in to buy the luxury condominiums. "We've had absolutely no sales or contracts with people from financial institutions," said Albert Marengo, the chief financial officer at the developer of Observatory Place, Gary Silver Architects. "It was a... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/housing-values-may-be-viewed-as-golden/84727/ Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The gold value of residential real estate in New York State is rising for the first time in nearly two years, indicating that the prolonged housing slump may be coming to an end. Beginning in March, the gold value of homes began to rise and it has held to its upward trajectory through June, according to calculations by The New York Sun. Using the latest numbers from the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for June, released yesterday, and adjusting for the changes in the dollar-gold price, the... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/new-york/jerrys-cafe-to-reopen-in-tribeca/84649/ Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:13:23 EST Jerry's Cafe, the legendary SoHo diner that closed last year, will reopen at 90 Chambers St. in early September, according to owner Jerry Joseph. Mr. Joseph said he's in the process of interviewing chefs for the new Jerry's, which will reopen with many of the same menu items and homey décor that earned a loyal SoHo following for 20 years. That includes red leather booths, neon-blue "Jerry's" sign, and much-loved french fries. "We will attempt to recreate what we had for 20 years over in SoHo,"... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/gottlieb-estate-hews-to-its-property-philosophy/84397/ Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST William Gottlieb was famous for his strict philosophy of buying up dilapidated buildings and never getting rid of them, and the late billionaire would likely be pleased with the result of an auction of a five-story apartment building in the meatpacking district that has been the subject of much dispute. This week, 79 Horatio St. sold in a public auction for $7.4 million to Neil Bender, executor of the roughly $1 billion in property acquired by Gottlieb. The auction was closely watched because... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/dollar-may-boomerang-on-the-city/84341/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST A rapidly rising dollar is threatening to boomerang on New York City's real estate and tourism industries, economists and real estate officials say. Over the past month, the greenback has surged against gold and foreign currencies, including the euro, and economists predict it will continue its upward trajectory throughout next year. This trend, along with a weakening European economy, could herald a tapering off of the flurry of European buyers who have so far insulated the city from the... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/tenants-sue-landlord-in-attempt-to-force-repairs/84325/ Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Tenants in a Pinnacle Group building on Riverside Drive and 144th Street are suing their landlord, claiming that the six-story rental building is in need of extensive repairs. The building, at 668 Riverside Dr., is set to undergo a conversion into condominiums, but the tenants are claiming that "mold, constantly leaking pipes, rotting wood, fallen ceilings, and dangerous electrical environments" must be fixed before the conversion can begin. The Pinnacle Group is a large landlord, with an... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/homeless-center-roils-a-brooklyn-neighborhood/83831/ Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The city is planning to relocate its intake center for homeless men to a residential area of Brooklyn from Manhattan as early as next month, a move that residents say would depress the values of sought-after nearby townhouses. The Bloomberg administration is seeking to move the intake center, which processes all of the city's single homeless men before assigning them to shelters, to the 350-bed Bedford-Atlantic Armory Shelter in Crown Heights from the Bellevue Men's Shelter on East 30th Street... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/first-time-renters-are-leaving-uptown-in-droves/83333/ Thu, 7 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Move over, Normandie Court. The new go-to building for recent college graduates is in the financial district, at the three-year-old luxury rental tower at 2 Gold St. The Upper East Side, once the location of choice for many newly minted New Yorkers, now has the highest vacancy rate for rentals of any area in Manhattan. While the neighborhood's hipness has long since been eclipsed by downtown, until recently it managed to draw young people with its cheap rent and easily convertible apartments... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/commercial-rental-rates-plummet-in-manhattan/83300/ Wed, 6 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST The slowdown in the real estate market is finally hitting New York office space: After years of surging upward, commercial rental rates in Manhattan decreased in the second quarter, a new report shows. Asking rent declined 2.2%, to $69.29 a square foot, while Class A rents plummeted 4.4%, to $90.65, according to Studley's second-quarter market report, released yesterday. Meanwhile, the availability rate jumped half of a percentage point, to 8.2% — nearly a full percentage point higher than a... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/second-homes-beckon-as-real-estate-prices-drift/82978/ Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST It may be the best time in more than a decade to buy a country house. While some homebuyers are waiting for Manhattan real estate prices to decline, others are finding deals in the exclusive second-home markets outside New York City. In Litchfield County, the North Fork of Long Island, and Dutchess and Columbia counties in upstate New York, which have been more affected by the national housing slump than New York City, listing prices are falling while inventory is increasing. As mortgage rates... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/developer-battling-tenants-offers-new-amenity/82963/ Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST A condominium conversion in Midtown that is embroiled in a legal fight with tenants is banking on a luxurious new amenity to help attract wealthy buyers. The developer of Sheffield57, Kent Swig, is battling a request from the building's rent-stabilized tenants for a city administrator to take control of the property, at 322 W. 57th St. The 47 tenants are accusing Mr. Swig of trying to force them to leave by failing to address collapsed ceilings, flooding, and asbestos contamination. Despite the... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/westward-ho/82555/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST When Dore Hammond, a film producer, and her husband, James Normile, a lawyer, began spending summers at Long Island's East End, they gravitated to the exclusive hamlet of Bridgehampton, where they would be close to friends. "We thought, 'This is where all the action is,'" Ms. Hammond said. After three summers in Bridgehampton, the couple got fed up with the traffic and began renting a rambling Victorian 20 miles west, across the Shinnecock Canal, in Quiogue, a hamlet between Westhampton and... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/odd-shaped-apartment-play-it-up/82515/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Nicholas Turner and his wife, Theresa Trzaskoma, looked for an apartment for six months, but nothing seemed right. When they entered a triangle-shaped apartment at 90 St. Marks Ave. in the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, however, they knew immediately that they were home. "It was totally bright and spacious," Mr. Turner said of his first look at Apartment 3. Other buyers might have disliked the wedge-like shape, but to the Turners, the layout made the space special. "It's shaped like... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/drop-in-offering-plans-less-severe-than/82514/ Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST For the first time in nearly a decade, the number of offering plans for new apartments in New York City is slowing, according to data obtained by The New York Sun. While the decline serves as confirmation of the housing slowdown, officials said it is far less dramatic than what they had originally feared, after a 46% drop in city building permits in the first quarter of this year. Offering plans and building permits "go hand in hand to some extent," the chief economist at Terra Holdings... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/new-york/lower-east-side-is-at-a-crossroads/82072/ Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST When Laurie Tobias Cohen was a young girl in New Jersey, her family often visited the Lower East Side on Sunday afternoons to shop for clothing and tableware on bustling Orchard Street. Afterward, she recalls, crowds would flock to the 1,200-seat Orthodox synagogue Beth Hamedrash Hagadol to hear lectures by the rabbi, Ephraim Oshry, a world-renowned scholar. "It was so packed, they'd sit in the stairwell to hear him," Ms. Cohen, who is executive director of the Lower East Side Jewish... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/in-the-dark-about-rent/81573/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST When Josh Lowensohn moved into a new two-bedroom apartment recently, he was nervous that he might be paying too much for it. Then he went to Rentometer.com, where he typed in his rent, address, and the number of units in his building, and found he was paying a reasonable market rate. The Rentometer "made me feel a little better, because we're definitely paying more than my last place," Mr. Lowensohn said. RELATED: Check Your Rent on 'Rentometer'. The Web site, which provides users with colorful... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/gourmet-markets-opening-signals-shift-in-east/81576/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST A gourmet market and café slated to open in East Harlem next month is the first in a wave of new restaurants and stores expected to move into the neighborhood in the coming years, real estate experts said. An Ottomanelli Brothers New York Grill will open soon at 1325 Fifth Ave. at 111th Street, according to the owners of the family-owned, 100-year-old New York chain, best known for its prime cuts of meat. Brokers said more high-profile eateries will follow now that retail in the area has begun... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/big-changes-afoot-on-fire-island-except-for-one/81575/ Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Charles Guthrie has the same summer job his father once held — managing the youth sailing program at the Point O'Woods Yacht Club. In the balconied wooden yacht club building that has stood since 1899, the sunburned 22-year-old explained that little else has changed since his father's youth in Point O'Woods, the secluded Fire Island enclave where he's spent nearly every summer of his life. "It's really safe," Mr. Guthrie said of the family-oriented community, where childhood days are spent... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/new-big-box-store-may-make-east-harlem-a-target/81238/ Thu, 3 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST Ikea isn't the only new "big-box" store in New York City that may have a significant impact on the neighborhood around it. Manhattan's first Target is scheduled to open next year at a shopping plaza at 116th Street and the FDR Drive, and experts say it may be just the ticket to kick-start real estate prices in East Harlem. East Harlem lags behind West Harlem in terms of home prices, according to a vice president at the Corcoran Group, Jessica Armstead, in part because of a perception that the... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/city-housing-slump-may-hit-in-2009/81127/ Wed, 2 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EST New York City apartments, long immune to the national housing slump, could see their first price declines in a decade, quarterly reports scheduled for release today suggest. If the credit crunch does not improve and Wall Street layoffs continue, experts say plummeting sales activity and rising inventory may lead to falling prices in segments of the market. The Corcoran Group's quarterly report shows a steep 38% drop in sales, to 3,351 properties, in the first quarter of 2008, down from 5,404 in... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/by-sharing-co-ops-compete-with-condos/80716/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Cedric Bernard and his wife, Sandrine, were two months from the end of the lease on their two-bedroom apartment at 63rd Street and West End, and with a toddler in the house and another child on the way, they needed more space badly. The condos they'd seen in Manhattan were too expensive, and they dreaded the idea of commuting from a house in Westchester. Then the Bernards came across a three-bedroom apartment at 55 W. 95th St. At $876,000, the unit was cheaper than most of the condos they had... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/inventory-spike-signals-cash-out-mentality/80712/ Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST A recent spike in real estate inventory is a sign that a growing number of New York City homeowners are seeking to cash out before prices fall, brokers said. The number of condos, co-ops, and lofts for sale in Manhattan jumped more than 12%, to 7,320 in May from 6,526 in March, according to the latest data available from the appraisal firm Miller Samuel. Inventory has increased 23.5% since January. "The market has been flooded with properties," a managing director and executive vice president... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/business/us-real-estate-prices-fall-to-2004-levels/80612/ Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST While the New York City real estate market has managed to avoid price cuts, the nationwide market has dropped to pre-boom 2004 levels, a closely watched housing index shows. "We've erased the last four years of gains," a vice president of index analysis at Standard & Poor's, Maureen Maitland, said. "Home prices are still falling, and the pace of the decline does not seem to be abating." The 20-city S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for April was 169.85, compared with 167.43 in August 2004... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/apartment-customization-goes-beyond-choosing/80316/ Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST When executives at Plaza LLC Development Group sat down to discuss the final phase of construction at their 67-unit development in Crown Heights, the conversation took an unexpected turn. By the end of the recent meeting, they had scrapped their floor plans in favor of offering raw space, even though the shell of the building is nearly complete. "Whatever buyers want, we will provide," Max Ribitzky, a vice president at HQ Marketing Partners, which is marketing the building at 1040 East New York... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/sex-and-the-brokers/79856/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST When Elaine Clayman was starting out as a real estate broker, she sold a four-bedroom luxury condominium for $1 million to a couple who had planned to spend $480,000. "I said, 'I have another apartment I can you show you, but it's more money,'" Ms. Clayman, who is now a top broker at Brown Harris Stevens, said. "You hope they walk in and fall in love." That's exactly what happens in "Sex and the City: The Movie," the hit film based on the HBO series. Ms. Clayman said the scene in which Mr. Big... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/week-in-review/79860/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST 1. Former Britney Spears Condo Moving Again An apartment once owned by the pop singer Britney Spears is now on the market for $6.595 million, the New York Times reported. Just before her 2004 marriage to Kevin Federline, Ms. Spears put the four-level condominium in the Silk Building at Broadway and East 4th Street on the market, dropping the price to $4 million from $6 million by the time it was finally sold in 2006. The current owners, Jessica Klein and Isaac Levenbrown, have restored and... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/credit-crunch-turns-condos-into-rentals/79861/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST A coming wave of developments originally envisioned as condominiums will instead be rented, observers say, due to lenders' reluctance to finance condominiums in the midst of a credit crunch. On the crest of the wave is an 18-unit condominium development in East Harlem, the Bridges NYC North, which is being repositioned as a commercial and residential rental property with Wachovia bank and a government agency as anchor retail tenants, the developer will announce today. "There's been an enormous... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/a-church-grows-where-billiards-once-drew-crowds/79857/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST The onetime largest pool hall in the country closed this winter because business had slowed to a trickle since the city's smoking ban was enacted in 2003, the owner says, but thanks to a local church, the space at 5905 Broadway in the Bronx is bustling once again. The 20,000-square-foot former garage where Fieldston Billiards thrived for 27 years has been leased to Words of Life Church, which has seen its membership leap by nearly 45% since moving this spring into the large space — a rare find... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/an-interior-designer-finds-plenty-of-room-for-ikea/79859/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Think interior designers would disapprove of a $22 ready-to-assemble bookshelf? Think again. A New York-based designer, Elaine Griffin, said nearly everything in her kitchen is from Ikea, the Swedish furniture chain that will open its first New York City location June 18. "I am crazy about Ikea," Ms. Griffin, who is a contributing editor of Elle Decor and is ranked as one of House Beautiful's Top 100 American Designers, said. She said she's not alone among interior designers, either. "Almost... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/roosevelt-island-tram-disruption-coincides-with/79320/ Thu, 5 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EST Roosevelt Islanders who rely on the aerial tramway connecting the island to Manhattan will soon have to find an alternative route. The tramway is expected to be closed between June 10 and June 18, which will give residents a taste of the transportation woes they will face next year, when it is scheduled to be taken out of service for at least six months. Next year's timing is inconvenient: The tram's closure will come at a time when several hundred new residents are expected to move into two... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/priced-out-of-brooklyn-nonprofit-takes-manhattan/78868/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST When the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions began looking for a new home because its lease at 120 Wall St. was expiring, Brooklyn seemed like the top option for a nonprofit aiming to cut costs. There was one problem — the group couldn't afford the rent. "Everyone thinks you get these dirt-cheap prices in the outer boroughs, but Brooklyn was more expensive," the president of the federation, Clifford Rosenthal, said. It eventually signed a lease for the 33rd floor of 116... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/developers-turning-to-new-generation-of-amenities/78839/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST With New Yorkers tired of buildings laden with expensive features like meditation rooms and volleyball courts, developers are offering a new generation of amenities to make their products stand out from the pack. Focusing on one-of-a-kind experiences rather than physical objects, they've made it possible for residents to experience a bevy of cultural and social events, from private opera performances to sushi nights, without leaving their homes. "There's only so much that you can offer within... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/office-space-leased-as-two-year-census-process/78840/ Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 EST When classes start this fall at Berkeley College, students at the business school's 130 William St. campus may notice an unusual flurry of activity in their building, as the U.S. General Services Administration has leased 8,000 feet of space on the fourth floor in preparation for the 2010 U.S. Census. Over the next two years, hundreds of government employees and volunteers will pour in and out each day as they gather demographic data about New York City residents. The office building at 130... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/developers-move-away-from-outlandish-residential/76875/ Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Manhattan's halcyon days of over-the-top residential amenities — from pet spas to putting greens to bowling alleys — appear to be coming to a close. Development projects beginning to hit the market and in the pipeline show a paradigm shift to scaled-back amenities, with builders scrapping costly features to appease value-hungry buyers who are balking at shelling out higher prices in exchange for elaborate items they don't consider necessities. While high construction costs, an economic... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/preservationists-scuttle-brooklyn-heights-garage/76877/ Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 EST After a two-year battle, preservationists this week dealt a decisive blow to a landlord seeking to build a parking garage at his historic Brooklyn Heights development. The Landmarks Preservation Commission indicated Tuesday it would turn down the proposal, effectively tabling the application. The landlord, the Pinnacle Group, can return with a redesigned proposal for an underground parking garage. The company had planned to construct a two-level parking garage in the courtyard of the Riverside... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/stood-up-jilted-and-abandoned-100-church-st/76488/ Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Renovations are set to begin on the façade at 100 Church St. in the next two weeks, a face-lift the landlord aims to use to attract tenants to a 21-story office building that has sat almost half-empty since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. After losing a widely publicized lease 10 days ago when Newsweek magazine balked, choosing to move to SoHo instead, the landlord, the Sapir Organization, is sitting on some 400,000 square feet of space that has been vacant for almost seven years... CANDACE TAYLOR http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/building-sales-report-may-be-bad-news-for-city/76489/ Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EST In what likely portends to a tough year for real estate sales, a new report shows the number of apartment buildings sold citywide plunged during the second half of 2007, though sales prices increased slightly. The report to be released today by the brokerage firm Massey Knakal Realty Services is one of the first to look at the pace of building sales during the second half of last year. It found that the number of apartment buildings sold fell 16.9% compared with the first half of 2007, to...