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Ask and You Shall Receive: 838 Fifth Avenue Condo Sells for $22.5 M.

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:42:13 -0500

Santa may be bringing an upmarket trend in his sleigh this holiday season. Forte Software founder Martin Sprinzen sold his ninth floor condominium at 838 Fifth Avenue for $22.5 million, according to a city deed filed Tuesday. The technology tycoon, who sold Forte to Sun Microsystems for a little more than half a billion dollars a decade ago, listed the apartment for $24.5 million in May of this year through Brown Harris Stevens’ broker...

Thompson's Options: Senator (Risky), Comptroller (Safer), Mayor (TK)

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 09:36:36 -0500

On Election Night, I called Bill Thompson the Christie Whitman of New York politics, since his startlingly narrow, 4.6-point loss to Mayor Bloomberg represented perhaps the biggest near-miss shocker since a then-unknown Whitman came within two points of unseating Bill Bradley in 1990.

And now he's doing exactly what Whitman did after that election: figuring out how to parlay it into another campaign.

In Whitman's case, that meant waiting for the next statewide contest...

As Times Staff Shrinks, Blogs Will Be 'Pruned'

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:35:49 -0500

Early last month, when Times executive editor Bill Keller hosted a “Throw Stuff at Bill” chat soon after announcing 100 newsroom job cuts, he assured staffers that executives would be proceeding carefully.

“What you can do with less, is less,” said Mr. Keller. “But if you are smart and careful, you can limit the harm.”

In the coming weeks, executives will be looking at various ways to streamline jobs and content production. In...

Watch Out, Times! Murdoch Plans $15 M. N.Y.C. Edition

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:32:18 -0500

"Good journalism is an expensive commodity,” said Rupert Murdoch at a Federal Trade Commission conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Dec. 1.

We’ll say!

Mr. Murdoch is ready to roll out a budget of $15 million for his new New York edition of The Wall Street Journal, an insider familiar with the project told The Observer.

The Journal is creating a section that will cover local politics, culture, news...

Who Knew Del Posto, Purveyor of Lardo, Was So Eco?

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:14:15 -0500

Del Posto, the three-star Italian restaurant co-owned by Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich, has a green side—and we’re not talkin’ about all the dough they’re raking in from the $28 spaghetti!

The 2002 Ford Excursion in which Mr. Bastianich commutes every morning from Greenwich, Conn., has a converted diesel engine. He fills up not at Hess, but on 16th Street, where a long hose extending down a ramp from his 10th Avenue restaurant siphons...

Rrrowl! Beware Cougar's Young Niece, the Cheetah

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:50:59 -0500

It was 2:30 a.m. on a school night about a year ago when Seth, Joel and Dana left the party and headed into the rain. The party had been unremarkable, only this time Seth had allowed the open bar to get the better of him. He knew he was completely wasted. What he didn’t know was that a predator was watching his every move.

“I can barely stand,” Seth said, swaying innocently on the...

Hey, Are Those The Real Yogurt Caps?

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:40:21 -0500

Earlier this fall, Ann Temkin, the chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art’s department of painting and sculpture, was working on the checklist for the upcoming Gabriel Orozco retrospective (opening Dec. 13) when it occurred to her that one of the pieces she wanted to include in the exhibition might no longer exist.

The work in question was Yogurt Caps, which Mr. Orozco, the Mexican conceptual artist, had installed at the Marian Goodman...

With Negotiations Stalled, Broadcast Union Launches Site on 'The Grinch at NBC'; Theatens to Disrupt NBC's Annual Holiday Telecast

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:03:48 -0500

Happy holidays, NBC!

Today, National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET-CWA) Local 11, which represents several thousand employees at NBC Universal, announced that they are celebrating the holidays at NBC by launching a web site, http://NBCStoleChristmas.com, highlighting "the 'Grinch' within NBC" and threatening to disrupt the network's 12th annual "Christmas in Rockefeller Center" telecast, which is set to air on Wednesday night.

The move, according to the press release, reflects the union's growing anger with...

Hachette Moving East

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:49:25 -0500

Good news for the remaining employees of Hachette Filipacchi: your new offices won’t likely alter your commute much.

Magazine publisher Hachette Filipacchi is planning to trade its too-capacious offices at the Paramount Group’s 1633 Broadway for more recession-friendly offices less than half the size at the Time-Life tower two blocks east, according to multiple industry sources.

The publisher of Elle magazine has a sublease out for 120,000 square feet in the space that Lehman Brothers used...

So Ahmadinejad's Your Client …

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:01:01 -0500

What’s a broker to do when he finds himself in the pay of Tehran?

That’s the question now facing real estate brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle, following the revelation that a skyscraper in New York’s most exclusive office market belongs to a shell company that, in turn, belongs to the Iranian regime, according to a Nov. 12 complaint filed by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District.

Jones Lang LaSalle, you see, handles the leasing for the...

Flux Libertas

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:29:32 -0500

Lower Manhattan wants more liberty.

The $8 billion Liberty Bond program, an incentive created in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is scheduled to sunset on Dec. 31, ending the availability of tax-free bonds that would save hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to rebuild at the World Trade Center site. But, of course, the narrative of the 16-acre site has been one of multiyear delays and battles between developer Larry...

Make Sure You Don't Miss The Last Station!

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:21:56 -0500

The Last Station
Running time 112 minutes
Written and directed by Michael Hoffman
Starring James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti, Helen Mirren

Let the drums roll. The arrival of a movie with as much intelligence and artistry as The Last Station should also be accompanied by the sound of trumpets. For the legions of movie lovers who lament the passing of great filmmaking, don’t give up yet. This one is for you.

A...

Print Is Not Dead

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:40:22 -0500

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Nets Arena Wins Needed Bond Rating, Mostly [Updated]

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:35:30 -0500

In a major boost to the proposed new Nets arena for Brooklyn, credit ratings agency Moody's gave the proposed financing for the project an investment-grade rating, a large hurdle that developer and team owner Bruce Ratner had been struggling to overcome in recent weeks.

Moody's sent out a press release Tuesday afternoon announcing that it had assigned a rating of Baa3, the lowest notch above "junk" grade bonds, to $500 million in tax-free bonds...

Who Put the Senators in Charge?

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:38:18 -0500

ALBANY—There is a small sign on the wall of the cramped, third-floor Capitol office that state senators walk by on their way to closed-door sessions. It proclaims the “theme of the week,” a mix of sarcasm and inspiration set by the Senate president Malcolm Smith. On Monday, it read, “Divine Intervention.”

“I’m a man of faith, so I always pray,” Senator John Sampson, the leader of the Democratic conference, said just after noon as...

Holiday Rift Guide

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:52:59 -0500

This is typically the time of year when I, Mr. Retail, embark upon the laborious task of writing a holiday gift guide for you, the ordinary woman in the street. Not this year. After a casual poll of friends and colleagues, I recently ascertained some important information: People HATE gift guides, universally. I was, in point of fact, unable to find one single person who liked them, is prompted to shop by them, looked...

A Crushing Legacy of Bush

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:44:59 -0500

From now on, the headlines about Afghanistan will be slugged “Obama’s War,” and perhaps that is fair enough given the president’s many endorsements of what he has called a war of necessity. It would be much less fair, however, to ignore the events that led us to this moment, when whatever choice he makes will offer no great guarantee of progress and no small prospect of trouble.

Those events began with the inexplicable decision...

Jackson Bucks Quinn on Commercial Rent-Regs Bill, Files Rare Motion for Vote [Updated]

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:57:42 -0500

Fighting to force movement on a bill that would newly regulate commercial rents for small businesses, Councilman Robert Jackson has filed a rare motion to bring the legislation up for a vote before the City Council, according to three people with knowledge of the action.

The bill, the Small Business Survival Act, would inject a major set of new regulations into the rental process for small businesses, giving retailers and small office tenants a broad...

Don't Blink: It's Rick Lazio's Moment

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:36:02 -0500

Before he became famous for donning ridiculous mascot headgear to make his weekly picks on ESPN, Lee Corso coached the Indiana Hoosiers football team for ten mostly forgettable seasons.

One year, one of his overmatched squads managed to score an early touchdown against mighty Ohio State, grabbing a 7-0 lead - at which point Mr. Corso called a time-out so his team could pose for a picture in front of the scoreboard. Then...

New BusinessWeek Hires Old Broadcaster

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:40:51 -0500

Tomorrow, Bloomberg officially takes over BusinessWeek, and, having cleaned house for Josh Tyrangiel—its young new editor—one might expect him to fill his stable of columnists with all sorts of fresh young faces.

One would be wrong. Today, on the even of the big transfer, Bloomberg's BusinessWeek announced its newest columnist: sexagenarian Charlie Rose.

The legendary public broadcaster has reportedly worked in the Bloomberg building for years, so at the very least it's convenient. But having shed...

Drawing Gender Lines on the Web

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:20:56 -0500

Women are more likely to be chatting it up on Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites you've probably never heard of, like "Bebo." According to data taken from Google's U.S. Ad Planner, a site that tracks popular Web sites' traffic, 84 percent (or 16 out of 19) of the sites they studied have more female than male users. However, social news sites, which rank news stories across the Web, were ruled by the...

The Week in DVR: Ron Howard's Best, a Heavenly Father Goes Bad and Chefs Head to Napa!

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:36:55 -0500

Monday: Home for the Holidays

Is anyone out there suffering from a little post traumatic thanksgiving stress disorder? We understand! And, we suggest you check out 1995’s Home for the Holidays. Holly Hunter stars as a single parent (her daughter is played by Claire Danes, who mainly just chatters about wanting to lose her virginity!) who was recently fired after having an affair with her boss and slinks home for Thanksgiving. Her...

Following Ugly Lawsuit, Senegal Closes on Site for New Mission

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 09:02:40 -0500

An East 44th Street landlord has dropped a strongly worded lawsuit against the government of Senegal in which he claimed breach of contract and warned that his experience "should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone thinking about doing business with Senegal," and has instead moved ahead with the sale of 227 and 235 East 44th Street for $24 million, according to city deeds.

The transaction for the development site, between Second and Third avenues, closed...

Box Office Breakdown: New Moon Narrowly Avoids Blind Side Hit

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:37:47 -0500

In between bouts of leftovers and naps, Americans found time to head to movie theaters in droves over Thanksgiving, as the top-ten films grossed a record-setting $278 million over the long weekend. Unsurprisingly, The Twilight Saga: New Moon paced the field, amassing a ridiculous $65.9 million over the 5-day frame, $42.5 million of which came from Friday-to-Sunday. But the big story was the continued success of The Blind Side: Sandra Bullock's football drama ran up...

The Cubicle Queue: Escape on Hulu, Learn to Cook a Turkey, and More

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 11:58:01 -0500

Tired of clicking around YouTube and iTunes for online videos of substance? Search no more! The Observer has your weekly handy guide to what's worth watching on the Web.

A Thanksgiving survival guide on Hulu - Admit it: You'll probably be spending at least some of your Thanksgiving vacation hiding away from family members in your bedroom or at least firing up the laptop to watch some movies on the plane. Let Hulu...

Rudy Giuliani, Serial Rumor Monger

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:08:20 -0500

Rudy Giuliani, the big scoop went, had decided to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for her U.S. Senate seat next year and would announce his candidacy "in the next 48 hours."

120 hours later (and counting), the world is still waiting to hear from Rudy. And as the minutes, hours and days pass, the scoop is feeling more and more like a red herring.

All we know, for now, is that there was a Daily News...

Atlantic Yards Decision Drama! More Lawsuits as Financing Questions Remain

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:38:18 -0500

There's a question that's been coming up a good deal lately: Is Atlantic Yards ever going to happen?

Time will soon tell.

The planned $4.9 billion development--home to a new Nets basketball arena, 15 residential towers, and an office building--is now in a make-or-break few weeks, particularly after a big day of activity Tuesday.

The project, developed by the Brooklyn firm Forest City Ratner, received a key victory early Tuesday morning with a decision...

Harper's Bazaar's Valerie Salembier Gets a Bargain at UN Plaza

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:16:08 -0500

As the magazine industry dies a very slow death, its leaders continue to buy up lovely little Manhattan homes. Condé Nast heir Samuel I. Newhouse IV just bought a $2.5 million Tribeca loft (with "a sensual zen-like" master bedroom), while Vice magazine co-founder Suroosh Alvi paid a tad less for an East Village place (with modern kitchen, backyard and in-floor heating).

And, according to a deed filed Monday, Harper's Bazaar publisher Valerie Salembier bought an...

Atlantic Yards Passes State’s Top Court [Updated]

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:04:26 -0500

More than three years after a legal battle over property takings in Brooklyn began, it's now come to a close.

New York's highest court issued a ruling Tuesday morning that upholds the state's use of eminent domain in the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project, planned home of 15 apartment towers and a new basketball arena for the Nets.

Now the state, at the request of the project's developer, Forest City Ratner, is likely to...

The Bed-Stuy Bronfman

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:04:51 -0500

On a cold, miserable afternoon in mid-November, Ben Bronfman stepped out of a cab in front of the United Nations and walked through the security checkpoint, past the clusters of tourists in the lobby, and up to the Delegates Dining Room on the third floor, where there was a fancy luncheon to ramp things up for the big U.N. climate showdown that’s taking place in Copenhagen Dec. 7 through Dec. 18.

A few minutes...

Is This Wise? Scandal-Kissed Publicist Greets Her Public

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:40:28 -0500

“A lot more attention is placed on me and not in a good way,” publicist Ali Wise told the Transom when we asked what it’s like to go out since her arrest back in July on charges of computer tampering and eavesdropping. “I still have all my close friends and nothing is different in that respect. But I’m dealing with it seriously and I’m taking it day by day.”

Ms. Wise was...

Time Inc.'s Squires Assembles Team of Rivals to Harness Digital Media

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:31:18 -0500

Some of the magazine industry’s biggest names are on the verge of forming a new company that would allow them to take the digital future into their own hands.

The company would make up one of the biggest alliances among rival publishers ever formed in print media, with Time Inc., Condé Nast and Hearst all expected to join, houses that together publish more than 50 magazines, including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Vogue, Time,...

Copy That! Wait, Don't. Whitney Ponders Problem of Replication in Modern Art

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:31:00 -0500

Earlier this year, the conservation department at the Whitney Museum of American Art was given the task of preparing Claes Oldenburg’s Ice Bag-Scale C for exhibition in a retrospective. The work, a massive, fan-powered contraption 12 feet in diameter made of nylon cloth and polyester resin, was first created in 1971 and had fallen into disrepair while in storage. When functioning properly, the bag was meant to subtly inflate and deflate, evoking something like...

Paterson Teeters, and Cuomo Shoves

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:28:16 -0500

ALBANY—After lunch with some lobbyists, the chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Jay Jacobs, visited the party’s offices on South Swan for a session with the leaders of several local county organizations.

It was two weeks after Election Day, and Mr. Jacobs was contending with something of a black eye. Republicans had won back the Legislature in Mr. Jacobs’ home county, Nassau, and County Executive Tom Suozzi, a Democrat who was thought...

Get Ready for The Road

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:19:11 -0500

The Road
Running time 119 minutes
Written by Joe Penhall
Directed by John Hillcoat
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce

Welcome to the apocalypse. In The Road, the eagerly awaited movie version of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, the end of the world is no longer on its way. It’s already here, bringing misery, desperation, death and no hope for the future. Adapted by Joe Penhall and...

Despite Troubles at Gramps’ Condé, Si Newhouse IV Gets ‘Sensual’

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:54:05 -0500

On Nov. 5, Condé Nast mogul Si Newhouse auctioned his spectacular Giacometti sculpture, L’Homme Qui Chavire, for $17.2 million, though he reportedly paid around $20 million for it. Still, the piece—which translates to “the falling man” or “the man who capsizes”—sold for a lot more than its $8 million to $12 million estimate, meaning that Mr. Newhouse knowingly risked losing many millions. His leap of faith left gossip types wondering if Condé Nast’s capsizing...

After Rowdy Atlantic Yards Hearings, a Senate Bill to Punish Heckling

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:21:16 -0500

Back in May, at a state Senate hearing on the $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project planned for Brooklyn, State Senator Velmanette Montgomery started to launch into criticism of a fellow senator, Marty Golden.

Mr. Golden, a Republican and Atlantic Yards supporter (unlike Ms. Montgomery on both counts), had arrived late at the hearing at a Pratt Institute auditorium, and caused a commotion as he arrived, with scores of union workers applauding and drowning out the...

Office Market Martin Luthers

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:50:01 -0500

There’s a prevailing narrative in New York real estate, and it goes something like this: Lehman Brothers’ collapse sent the Manhattan office market into a horrifying and precipitous tailspin. Commercial tenants, fearing for their survival, fled in droves. Months of deathly inactivity followed. Then the fright passed. And the waiting game ensued. Tenants, their brush with the unknown having scared them from profligacy into prudence, waited patiently for the market to bottom. That happened...

Mom and Pop Go to City Hall

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:32:08 -0500

On Friday, Nov. 20, Councilman Robert Jackson was exasperated.

The Harlem Democrat had put in a call to the chair of the Council’s Small Business Committee, David Yassky, asking for a vote on the Small Business Survival Act, a bill of Mr. Jackson’s that would regulate commercial rents.

“I told David today on the phone, I said, ‘David, everyone who testified spoke in favor of the bill,’” Mr. Jackson said. “I asked him to just vote...

Yassky's Bargain: A Departing Councilman in Search of a Quo for His Quid

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:58:55 -0500

Though he has only a few weeks left in office, City Councilman David Yassky has lost none of his enthusiasm. On a recent Wednesday afternoon, he parked a blue minivan on Kent Street in Williamsburg and bounded out, wearing a black suit and a black tie with green flowers, and no coat, although it was cold and damp and the suit jacket flapped in the unyielding wind.

Yassky,...

Burning Questions

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:34:24 -0500

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Rudy's Unkillable Dream

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:03:26 -0500

In 1980, former Texas Governor John Connally spent $11 million—the equivalent of $29 million in today’s money—to run for the Republican presidential nomination. He won no primaries, earned just one delegate and spent the rest of his life clawing his way out of debt.

This made him a punch line, the standard by which disastrous White House bids are measured, and no one—least of all Connally himself—ever talked about him running for president again.

...

Box Office Breakdown: New Moon Eclipses Records on Way to $140.7 Million Weekend

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:15:53 -0500

And you thought only fanboys could help set box office records. Thanks to an audience that was comprised of 80 percent women, The Twilight Saga: New Moon sunk its teeth into a ridiculous and record-setting $140.7 million to pace the field during what was the second most lucrative weekend in Hollywood history. The opening for New Moon ranks third all-time behind only Spider-man 3 ($151.1 million) and The Dark Knight ($158.3 million), but those...

The Week in DVR: Thanksgiving Week Means Putting the Fun in Dysfunction: Squid and the Whale, Doubt, and Jason Schwartzman!

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:02:51 -0500

Monday: Heroes
When the dust settles and Heroes gets rightfully canceled (expect this to happen in the spring), it will be remembered as the Creed to Lost's Pearl Jam; this is a show that has degenerated so quickly into tedium, we find it hard to imagine Heroes was ever taken seriously by the geek sect. We've stopped watching—for those who care: apparently, this episode, titled "Thanksgiving," will feature H.R.G. hosting an "unconventional family...

City Plans To Rezone Far West Village

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:51:06 -0500

The city is moving to rezone a six-block area in the far West Village, a victory for local preservation groups and a potential obstacle for developers in the area.

The rezoning would affect buildings between Washington and Greenwich streets, from 10th to 12th streets. The effort is expected to take six months to a year to complete.

The area currently has no height limits and allows bonuses, or greater sizes, for "commercial developments," such as hotels,...

Gehry Gets Topped Out in Lower Manhattan

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:20:06 -0500

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Oprah's Exit: Milepost on the Road to the End of Broadcast TV

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:08:53 -0500

Last night WABC (ABC's owned-and-operated station in New York) broke the story that Oprah Winfrey will be ending her broadcast talk show in 2011. She's decamping to cable, where she will run OWN, a cable network, jointly owned by her and Discovery Communications.

The Oprah Winfrey Show is the most successful syndicated daytime talk show in history. And the news that its days are now numbered sent...

More Litigation, Questions Hurled at Atlantic Yards as Finance Deadline Nears

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:11:29 -0500

During its six years in the court of public opinion, this much has been certain about the planned Atlantic Yards project: It's not without drama.

Racing to meet an I.R.S.-imposed Dec. 31 deadline to secure financing, developer Bruce Ratner is scrambling to tie down all of the loose balloons that are trying to float away (he's been having trouble getting some $700 million in tax-free bonds rated, for one) and cobble together a completed...

Study: Subprime Loans Went to Minority-Heavy Neighborhoods

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:27:43 -0500

Residents of largely non-white neighborhoods in New York City were far more likely to receive a subprime loan than those in largely white neighborhoods, regardless of the borrower's race, according to a new study from NYU's Furman Center.

The study, which controlled for differences in income and loan amounts, found that African-American borrowers living in neighborhoods with the lowest share of non-white residents had a 24 percent chance of receiving a subprime loan. That...

The Cubicle Queue: The New Yorker's Funny People, Everyday New Yorkers, and More!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:54:01 -0500

Tired of clicking around YouTube and iTunes for online videos of substance? Search no more! The Observer has your weekly handy guide to what's worth watching on the Web.

One in 8 Million series on NYTimes.com - How many times have you walked around the city streets wondering about the people who pass you by every day--the pretty girl who sits next to you on the subway or the scruffy guy who orders...