Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:34:53 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss David Lombino :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/David+Lombino istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/food-drink/hold-the-new-york-eulogies-artichoke-is-a-hit/78767/ Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 EST Many New Yorkers mourn the passing of independent shops, music venues, retailers, and, especially, restaurants. When the legendary Second Avenue Deli relocated to a side street near Third Avenue and was replaced by a Chase bank, it incited a barrage of "New York is dying" eulogies. It is of no small significance, then, that the city's latest food sensation, Artichoke Basille's Pizza & Brewery, a family-run pizza restaurant, opened recently in a storefront at 328 E. 14th St. that formerly housed... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/travel/city-of-song-and-sizzling-sausage/72791/ Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is the Big Easy's annual celebration of its best features: music and food. Whether you head down for the first weekend (April 25 to 27), the second (May 1 to 4), or both, you can catch Kermit Ruffins — a one-man combination of song, food, and good times. For 15 years, Mr. Ruffins and his Barbecue Swingers have performed on Thursday nights at Vaughan's Lounge, a low-lit dive with sawdusty floors in the section of town called Bywater. There, Mr. Ruffins... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/grand-expansion-plans-for-javits-look-to-have/68406/ Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 EST State officials are expected to testify today that the once-grand plans to expand the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center are going to amount to little more than a renovation. The end of the expansion plans is likely to raise questions about whether the city and state should build a new convention center outside Manhattan, or abandon the fierce competition between cities to attract top convention shows. Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat of Westchester who is a longtime critic of the... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/seated-together-at-game-mayors-seem-far-apart/64172/ Tue, 9 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST At the Yankees playoff game last night, one seat spoke 1,000 words, and it's the reason why political consultants get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg displayed a growing political divide and rapidly increasing animosity during the game. For several awkward and long innings, the two lawmakers — one a presidential candidate and the other a potential presidential candidate — sat a single seat apart in the same high-priced box, barely speaking or interacting... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/business/big-developers-covet-piece-of-ground-zero/51009/ Fri, 23 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST With the real estate market soaring in Lower Manhattan, experts say the time is right for some of the city's biggest developers to take a stake in the future of ground zero. The chairman of the publicly traded Vornado Realty Trust, billionaire Steven Roth, an aggressive real estate player who controls 19 office buildings in New York, met with developer Larry Silverstein late last year, according to a source involved with downtown development. The source said the preliminary discussion... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/durst-and-malkin-could-lose-big-if-tower-is-built/49625/ Fri, 2 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST The pair of major landlords waging a campaign against the Freedom Tower have been arguing publicly against the project without disclosing that they personally could lose millions of dollars a year if it is built. Last week, developers Douglas Durst and Anthony Malkin put their names at the bottom of full-page advertisements in several New York City newspapers by a group they are co-chairmen of called The Continuing Committee for a Reasonable World Trade Center. The advertisements said the... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/national/wal-mart-edges-toward-settlement-of-biggest-sex/48127/ Wed, 7 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Wal-Mart is closer to paying out the largest sex-discrimination settlement in history, a move that would cost the nation's largest retailer and private employer billions of dollars. A federal appeals court in San Francisco yesterday ruled in favor of upholding an earlier judgment that allowed as many as 2 million current and former female employees of Wal-Mart from across the country to join together in a class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs' lawyers said Wal-Mart was paying female hourly workers... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/business/starrett-city-draws-1b-bid-from-developer/48201/ Wed, 7 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Berkshire LLC submitted by far the highest bid — more than $1 billion — for the 5,881-unit Brooklyn housing complex Starrett City, according to two sources familiar the deal. Last night, work on finalizing the deal extended late into the evening. Billionaire developer Lev Leviev controls Berkshire LLC. Also a diamond trader, Mr. Leviev is a former partner of active New York developer Shaya Boymelgreen and the owner of Africa Israel Investments, a publicly traded company. Bids were due Monday... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/spitzer-may-find-big-new-hurdle-at-ground-zero/47933/ Fri, 2 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Governor Spitzer's steamroller may run into a wall at ground zero when it comes to the Port Authority's planned PATH Station, for which cost estimates are skyrocketing and a redesign is under way. The soaring, skeletal transportation hub was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to invoke a flying dove and to act as the Grand Central Terminal of Lower Manhattan. It could face significant modifications in coming months, according to several sources familiar with the plans. Mr... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/bush-warns-wall-street-on-pay/47824/ Thu, 1 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST President Bush did more than upset traffic during his visit to Lower Manhattan yesterday. During a speech delivered in the heart of the financial district, where compensation packages routinely reach into the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Bush announced that he would ask corporations to curb excessive executive pay. "America's corporate boardrooms must step up to their responsibilities," he told an elite corporate crowd gathered for the event. "You need to pay attention to... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/mark-green-move-over-al-franken/47619/ Tue, 30 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Mark Green has lost campaigns for U.S. Senate (twice), mayor (once), Congress (once), and, just last year, state attorney general (once). Each time, he has bounced back. And now he seems poised for another comeback, courtesy of his older brother, multimillionaire landlord Stephen Green, who is poised to buy Air America Radio in a deal that would save the left-wing network from bankruptcy and catapult Mark Green back into the political fray. Comedian and author Al Franken, the name and... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/pfizer-job-cuts-may-mean-loss-of-tax-breaks/47175/ Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Pfizer's decision to close the Brooklyn facility where the company was founded in 1849 could cost the pharmaceuticals giant the remainder of the $46 million in tax breaks it received from the Bloomberg administration in 2003. As part of cuts announced yesterday that would reduce Pfizer's global workforce by about 10,000 employees, or 10%, the drugmaker said it would shut its packaging facility in South Williamsburg and eliminate about 600 manufacturing jobs there. The cuts are part of a plan... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/drama-resumes-on-east-side-over-aby-rosens/46651/ Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST The drama surrounding a developer's proposal to build a 22-story elliptical glass tower on top of the limestone Parke-Bernet Gallery building on Madison Avenue between East 76th and East 77th streets will resume tomorrow in front of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. In a telephone interview yesterday, the developer, Aby Rosen, said he is willing to modify the design of the proposed apartment building, including the use of more masonry and changing the color of the building to "champagne"... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/business/oil-prices-plunging-amid-warm-winter/46568/ Fri, 12 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST The price of oil has dropped about 34% since summertime, a reflection, analysts say, of abnormally warm winter weather and the growing improbability of a wider war in the Middle East. The price of crude oil, which was below $11 a barrel in 1998, soared to a record-high in mid-July of $78.40 a barrel. Over the summer, rising oil prices caused concerns about inflation and the economy, sending stocks tumbling and gasoline prices soaring. At the time, some analysts predicted the price would surpass... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/business/city-office-market-to-reach-high-in-2007/46369/ Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST The Manhattan office market will reach record heights early this year, following soaring rents and declining vacancy rates in 2006, real estate analysts say. Along with a strong residential real estate market, a construction boom across the five boroughs, and billions in public funds committed to regional infrastructure and transportation projects, the city's robust office market is another sign of New York's dynamic local economy. Last year, average asking rents for office space in Manhattan... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/foreign/ny-man-may-sell-childhood-home-draculas-castle/46343/ Tue, 9 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST A Westchester County man who is a descendant of the royal family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Dominic von Habsburg, could soon sell Dracula's Castle — the 13th-century palace where he grew up before the property was seized by communists — to the local Romanian government for more than $78 million. Sitting on a rocky hilltop in Transylvania, Bran Castle, widely known as Dracula's Castle, was built as a fortress by Teutonic knights in 1212. In the late 15th century, it was home to a prince... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/reports-contradict-predictions-of-apartment/45996/ Wed, 3 Jan 2007 00:00:00 EST Predictions of a significant slump in the Manhattan apartment market in 2006 appear to have been wrong, according to separate reports to be released today by three of the city's largest real estate brokerages. Real estate analysts say 2006 represented a downshift in price appreciation from 2004 and 2005, but they characterize it as a "soft landing," far more tame than the downturn faced by the national housing market, or the "bubble burst" that some feared for New York City. Overall, the three... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/citys-building-boom-enters-a-new-phase/45919/ Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Real estate experts expect 2007 to exceed this year's record-setting mark of about $21 billion in construction spending in New York City. While a spike in residential construction drove recent record-setting years, real estate experts say the next wave of the building boom will be driven by office projects and unprecedented public spending on infrastructure and transportation. It is the next phase in a historic building boom — spurred by low interest rates, a healthy economy, low crime, reduced... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/moves-afoot-to-revive-plans-to-build-moynihan/45838/ Thu, 28 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Setting the stage for a quick revival of plans to build the Moynihan Station transit hub near Penn Station, the Pataki administration is moving to extend the state's option to buy the Farley Post Office building from the federal government for $230 million. The option expires at the end of the year. The landmarked Farley Post Office building, with its monumental Corinthian colonnade, covers two city blocks just west of Penn Station. Reconfiguring the building was at the heart of Senator Daniel... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/silverstein-says-farewell-pataki-hello-2007/45651/ Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST As Governor Pataki watches steel rise at the site of the Freedom Tower and ponders a presidential run, the ground zero developer derided as "greedy" by a Pataki aide is looking forward to working with the incoming Spitzer administration, which he says is likely to be far more competent. In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Sun, the developer, Larry Silverstein, sat in his corner office on the 38th floor of Seven World Trade Center, overlooking busy construction crews at the former... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/court-is-next-for-atlantic-yards-plan/45534/ Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST The battle over Brooklyn's biggest development project is heading for a showdown in court after the $4 billion project received final political approval yesterday from an Albany board. A handful of lawsuits are now the last line of defense for opponents of developer Forest City Ratner's plan to build a basketball arena and 16 mostly residential towers on 22 acres in Prospect Heights. The plans would remake the low-rise neighborhood with 8 million square feet of development, including more than... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/shift-in-atlantic-yards-financials-puts-pressure/45385/ Tue, 19 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Pressure is mounting on the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, to postpone final approval of the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. After reviewing financial information about developer Forest City Ratner's plan to build a basketball arena and 16 mostly residential towers on 22 acres in Prospect Heights, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Democrat of Westchester who heads the Assembly committee that oversees public authorities, said yesterday the figures on the project's costs and... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/owners-of-one-two-family-homes-may-get-tax-help/45341/ Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST As the City Council moves this week toward a vote to extend the 421-a tax incentive for housing developers, legislators in Albany and the City Council are seeking to revive a smaller tax abatement program for one- and two-family homes, 421-b. Although glass condominium towers are the most visible product of today's construction boom, thousands of one- and two-family homes are built every year in New York, the vast majority in Staten Island, Queens, and Brooklyn. The 421-b program was created in... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/spitzer-may-have-to-referee-battle-over-south/45258/ Fri, 15 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Another development conflict facing Governor-elect Spitzer is shaping up regarding the competing visions for the future of the south Brooklyn waterfront. At a City Council committee hearing yesterday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler criticized the Bloomberg administration for its plans to redevelop Piers 7-12 in Red Hook and shift a fraction of the 42-acre container port now located there to a planned facility in Sunset Park. The city is planning to buy the piers from the Port Authority and redevelop them... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/city-in-talks-on-future-of-big-site-for-building/45147/ Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST While the city's master plan for downtown Brooklyn was originally spawned to create soaring commercial towers, the city is now negotiating with two private developers to build a $500 million project that would be predominantly residential and retail. It would be the first major site developed in the area since the city rezoned downtown Brooklyn for increased commercial development two and a half years ago. The project would contain a cavernous retail base that could accommodate a large big-box... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/salvo-fired-in-atlantic-yards-eminent-domain/45047/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST The state of New York has issued what lawyers call the legal maneuver required to begin condemnation of private property inside the footprint of the proposed Atlantic Yards project in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn. In a letter dated December 8, the Empire State Development Corporation sent a letter to property owners inside the 22-acre project footprint stating that based on its findings, the state had determined it should exercise its power of condemnation to clear the way for developer Forest... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/trump-soho-project-is-on-hold-after-discovery/45102/ Wed, 13 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST The city yesterday ordered developer Donald Trump to stop work on the SoHo lot where he plans to build a 45-story condo hotel after contractors uncovered human remains believed to be more than a century old. Since the 1960s, the underdeveloped stretch along Varick Street between Spring and Dominick streets has been the site of a fallow parking lot. Demolition and excavation work began recently on the site to make room for the 413-unit project, a collaboration between Mr. Trump and Bayrock... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/booming-real-estate-market-gives-harry-macklowe/44894/ Mon, 11 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST "They all laughed at Rockefeller Center, now they're fighting to get in / They all laughed at Whitney and his cotton gin" (Frank Sinatra — "They All Laughed," lyrics, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin) When Harry Macklowe, the scion of one of New York's most prominent real estate families, paid $1.4 billion in September 2003 for the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue between 58th and 59th streets, people laughed at what seemed like an outrageous price. While just three years ago the idea... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/trump-is-chided-over-project-in-soho-stringer/44740/ Thu, 7 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST Local politicians are lining up against Donald Trump's 45-story hotel condo in SoHo after a Web site for the project indicated that primary residences would be for sale, an alleged sidestep of zoning laws. The former parking lot on which the building could soon rise lies in a manufacturing district, an area in which residential development is prohibited, with only transient hotels allowed. The president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, in a letter signed by Rep. Jerrold Nadler, state Senator Tom... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/2b-bond-sale-strong-signal-for-hudson-yards/44721/ Thu, 7 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST The city issued $2 billion of municipal bonds to private investors yesterday, the strongest signal to date that the Bloomberg administration's vision for dense residential and commercial development on the far West Side is finally moving forward. The proceeds would fund a western extension of the no. 7 subway line from its terminus near the Port Authority bus terminal to a site close to the Javits Convention Center on 34th Street and Eleventh Avenue. They also would pay for infrastructure... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/large-share-of-property-taxes-borne-by-rentals/44589/ Tue, 5 Dec 2006 00:00:00 EST New York City's arcane property tax system is increasingly favoring homeowners over the owners of rental apartment and commercial buildings, according to a report to be released today by the city's Independent Budget Office, which says the system could hurt the city's competitiveness. Measuring the "effective tax rate," or the tax paid on every $100 of market value, the report says one-, two-, and three-family homes make up 41% of the market value of property in the city, but only generate 14%... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/real-estate/ross-predicts-a-2008-start-for-new-msg/44350/ Thu, 30 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST A developer involved in the recently scuttled Moynihan Station project said he is confident that construction will soon begin on an even larger alternative plan that involves building a new Madison Square Garden inside the Farley Post Office building, renovating Penn Station, and erecting office towers in the surrounding area. At a real estate conference yesterday, billionaire developer Stephen Ross of the Related Companies said strong support from Mayor Bloomberg's office and the incoming... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/scramble-is-on-for-real-estate-of-hospitals/44275/ Wed, 29 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The potential closure of several city hospitals is setting off a scramble by real estate developers hoping to convert the medical facilities into new condominiums and rental apartment buildings. The report released yesterday by Governor Pataki's Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century recommended that real estate assets held by Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital on the Upper East Side, St. Vincent's Midtown Hospital in Hell's Kitchen, and Cabrini Medical Center near... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/chambers-street-bursting-with-luxury-residential/44146/ Mon, 27 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Chambers Street, the bustling downtown commercial and civic thoroughfare, is exploding with luxury residential projects, as developers hunt for the last opportunities to capitalize on the edges of TriBeCa. Currently, nearly a dozen residential projects in the form of new construction, conversions or gut renovations and rooftop additions are sprouting up along a two-block stretch of Chambers between Broadway and Greenwich Street. A senior director for Massey Knakal Realty Services, who... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/speculation-buzzes-on-possible-sale-of-municipal/44009/ Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Speculation is heating up that the Municipal Building, the soaring limestone landmark that overlooks City Hall, could be among the government real estate assets to be sold off and converted to residential buildings as municipal employees prepare to move into a new, privately managed office building planned for ground zero. The Municipal Building at One Centre St., the home of the Department of City Planning at 22 Reade St., and another large office building overlooking Foley Square at 2... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/after-compromise-at-ground-zero-silverstein-is/43907/ Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Developer Larry Silverstein, who earlier this year agreed to surrender some of the 10 million square feet he controlled at or around ground zero, is back in acquisition mode in Lower Manhattan. The 75-year old developer, who will build and control much of the former World Trade Center site, is close to finalizing a deal worth more than $150 million to buy an 11-story office building at 99 Church St. from Moody's Investor Services, The New York Sun has learned. The deal would be a partnership... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/trump-set-to-gain-permits-to-build-in-soho/43760/ Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The city is set to grant building permits to developer Donald Trump to construct a 45-story condominium hotel in SoHo, which would be the tallest building in the low-rise neighborhood between Midtown South and the top of the Financial District, and some area residents are steaming. Preservationists are worried that the decision will set off a wave of condo hotel development in the city's shrinking manufacturing areas. Although the Trump project would be built on a former parking lot in an... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/culture-group-gains-control-of-park-ave-armory-as/43653/ Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Control of the Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue was quietly transferred to a nonprofit organization Tuesday, a crucial step in its transformation from a neglected neighborhood eyesore into a renovated cultural center. The changeover came just as some prominent Upper East Siders joined a group of opponents in protesting some of the changes associated with the organization's plan for the facility. The opponents included the financier Henry Kravis and the filmmaker Woody Allen. The Seventh... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/ratner-project-could-soon-face-its-final-showdown/43680/ Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Before the end of the year, the fate of Atlantic Yards could fall into the hands of the Public Authorities Control Board, a once a little-known Albany bureaucratic backwater that has become something of a graveyard for large projects. Yesterday, the state's Empire State Development Corporation released the final environmental impact statement for developer Bruce Ratner's $4.2 billion project to build a basketball arena and 16 mostly residential towers on 22 acres near downtown Brooklyn. The... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/15-billion-vision-for-coney-island/43372/ Mon, 13 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Even on a bright fall day, the streets that make up Coney Island's amusement district seem worn and tired, more tumbleweeds than tourists. While the area boasts an original circus-like charm, born of colorful characters who congregate there, even old-timers agree it needs a major facelift. The founder of the nonprofit Coney Island USA, Richard Zigun, blames the area's decay on a handful of property owners who "were wealthy enough to sit on their property for 20 or 30 years and wait." "They did... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/council-member-building-owner-at-odds-over/43262/ Fri, 10 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST A building owner and a City Council member are squaring off over an upcoming landmarking battle on the Upper East Side. Most of the buildings in the City and Suburban Homes complex, which takes up an entire block between York and First avenues and 64th and 65th streets, were designated as landmarks in 1990. Two buildings that were excluded from the designation could yet be redeveloped, and neighbors fear the building's owner, Stahl Real Estate, is moving toward constructing two soaring glass... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/groundbreaking-imminent-for-new-mets-ballpark/43153/ Wed, 8 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Mets fans, some of whom likely have yet to fully dry their eyes after a heartbreaking loss in the seventh game of the National League Championship Series, will get to celebrate on Monday, at a ceremonial groundbreaking for their new 45,000-seat ballpark. In April, the Mets announced details of plans to build an $800 million stadium in a parking lot adjacent to their current home in Flushing. Preliminary construction has already begun, and the Mets hope to complete it in time for the 2009... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/maverick-developer-plays-ball-with-city/43171/ Wed, 8 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Developer Gary Barnett of the Extell Development Company is seeking final approval for the city's plan to help pay for a facelift to the sagging Diamond District in Midtown. Tomorrow, the public is invited to testify about the plan to offer Extell up to $37.5 million in tax breaks over 10 years to build a 40-story commercial office building that the city and developer say will draw additional diamond businesses to the Diamond District on 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. The board of... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/gleaming-urban-glass-house-astonishes-spring/42921/ Mon, 6 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST Thirty years ago, there was a permanent fire burning in an old oil drum on the corner of Washington and Spring streets, a stone's throw from the Hudson River in Lower Manhattan. Longshoremen fueled the fire with wood slats they brought from the docks as they made their way to the local bar for a drink. The bar — the Ear Inn — is still standing, housed in the James Brown House, erected in 1817. The fire has gone out. In its place is a gleaming 11-story condominium tower called the Urban Glass... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-will-soon-get-open-internet-listings-of-real/42716/ Thu, 2 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST In a step toward opening up New York's real estate marketplace, the Real Estate Board of New York announced yesterday that it plans to launch a public Internet portal containing all the exclusive apartment sales and rental listings of its 319 members, including the city's biggest brokerages. While similar systems exist in many real estate markets around the country, establishing a comprehensive, shared, and free listing system on the Web has been a long, hard slog in New York City. Earlier... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-set-to-present-plan-for-lower-east-side/42702/ Wed, 1 Nov 2006 00:00:00 EST The renaissance of the East Village and Lower East Side during the past decade is one of the city's great success stories. But recently the area's growth has bumped head on into a lively spirit of community activism, and residents are fighting to preserve some local flavor. On Monday, the city will present its plan to guide future development of the neighborhoods, a step toward finalizing the area's first rezoning since 1961. Groups are already lining up both in support and opposition of the... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/greening-of-sorts-begins-for-the-brooklyn-navy/42475/ Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST After losing its anchor tenant in the mid-1980s, the Brooklyn Navy Yard struggled to be a viable center for manufacturing and industrial jobs. The number of tenants dwindled, and the physical plant declined. In the late 1990s, after years of neglect, one of the piers collapsed into the East River, a rare loss of waterfront property in a city where space is typically added, not subtracted. Like many of the Brooklyn neighborhoods surrounding the facility, the Navy Yard is experiencing a... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/foster-lauds-east-sides-tradition-of-radicalism/42217/ Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST Upper East Side residents who have been arguing over a proposed 22-story apartment building on Madison Avenue in a historic district brought their fight downtown yesterday for a fourhour public hearing before the Landmarks Preservation Commission. A renowned British architect, Sir Norman Foster, presented his designs yesterday in front of more than 200 people at the Surrogate's Courthouse near City Hall. Several chauffeured cars and SUVs idled out front as about 65 people testified for and... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-seeks-designers-for-park-on-governors-island/42097/ Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The city is moving to select a design team for a 40-acre public park, a two-mile waterfront promenade, and open space on Governors Island. Yesterday, a city-state agency, Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, issued a request for qualifications from architects to build parks that would transform the island into "a significant, attractive and unique destination with authentic New York character." Visitors would reach the island by ferry or gondola, the documents said, and "the... DAVID LOMBINO http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-modifies-harlem-project-to-include-more/42182/ Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 EST The city is modifying a real estate proposal in East Harlem, a few months after community opposition killed a $1 billion deal to redevelop about two city blocks with apartments, offices, stores, and a parking lot. The city's plan, called Uptown New York, was first launched in 1999 as a retail project. It evolved over time, along with the fortunes of Harlem real estate, to encompass about 2 million square feet of development and four apartment towers on six acres between 125th and 127th Streets...