The Week in Review

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. Sims was a subcontractor on that project. The suit names the construction manager for the project, Tishman Construction, Plaza Residential Owner LP — controlled by the developer of the Plaza, Elad Properties — and several others, including individual apartment owners such as the former chief executive of Bear Stearns, James Cayne. "We have contracts with F.W. Sims and yet, instead of abiding by the terms of those contracts, F.W. Sims has improperly walked off the job and brought their outlandish claims in court," the vice president of development for Elad Properties, Victor Sigoura, said in a statement.

2.Push Is on To Close Prospect Park to Cars

After a three-week experiment that shut streets to car traffic on the East Side of Manhattan, bicycle activists are pressing Mayor Bloomberg to rid Prospect Park of such traffic. These activists are arguing that a car-free park would become part of his lasting legacy, The New York Sun reported. Advocates of a car-free Prospect Park are asking for a three-month, car-free summer in 2009, which they say would give the city the opportunity to study the effects of the street closures on traffic patterns and park usage. Mr. Bloomberg recently reduced the number of hours that cars can drive in Prospect Park to two hours in the morning and two hours at night between Monday and Friday.

3. Critic Calls Trade Center Redevelopment 'Fiasco'

The Wall Street Journal's architecture critic, Ada Louise Huxtable, called the World Trade Center's redevelopment the "greatest planning fiasco in the history of the world." The project has been "purged by political pandering and economic pragmatism," she wrote, and lacks a leader who can maintain its vision while dealing with its politics and practical problems.

4.Chanos Buys Penthouse

Billionaire hedge fund manager James Chanos paid $20 million for an Upper East Side penthouse condominium, the Real Deal reported. The 7,800-square-foot triplex at 3 E. 75th St., with seven rooms and a 3,609-square-foot outdoor area, sold August 14 for $4.85 million, less than the listing price. Mr. Chanos is founder and president of Manhattan-based Kynikos Associates.

5. Developer Sells Apartment Building to Columbia

A developer has agreed to sell The Arbor, a 127-unit condominium project in Riverdale, to Columbia University rather than try to sell the apartments individually, Crain's reported. Columbia paid L&M Equity Partners $69 million, or roughly $400 a square foot, for the building at 3260 Henry Hudson Parkway, which it plans to use to house faculty and graduate students. The developer was selling the individual apartments for roughly $500 a square foot.