Friday Morning Round-Up

The New York Times reports that a judge failed to block the sale of 2 Columbus Circle yesterday to the Museum of Arts and Design. Preservation group Landmark West has been fighting the sale and trying to get landmark status for the Edward Durell Stone-designed building for some time now. We've got a feeling that this won't be the end of it. The Sun reports that the new owners of Diane von Furstenburg's two Greenwich Village buildings will meet next week with neighborhood groups to try to get their support for a variance to new zoning laws. Russian heiress and former model Anna Anisimova purchased the buildings on West 12th Street last year on behalf of Coalco International, a company owned by Vasily Anismov, her millionaire father. Reps are set to meet with Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, and members of Community Board 2 to discuss the possibility of support for an upzoning to the property. Under the new zoning, which is due to go into effect later this year, a building can't be over 80 feet; currently, a building can be up to 15 stories tall. The GVSHP has been fighting for this rezoning tooth and nail, so Ms. Anisimova's reps better have silver tongues. Newsday picks up an AP wire story that belies the real-estate-bubble-burst talk we've been hearing so much of lately. Toll Brothers Inc., a national luxury-home builder, had earnings double in the third quarter of 2005. - Matthew Grace