Tuesday: Chinatown Sinks, East New York Rises, and Silvercup Goes Green

Another green world? [Metrop.]

• Few New York neighborhoods have suffered so distinctly--and so quietly--as Chinatown. Has lower Manhattan's most densely populated locale dealt with the "social, environmental and psychological problems" that arose after 9/11? CUNY has chronicled first-person accounts of local pollution, the "crippled" restaurant business, and a widespread identity crisis.(City Limits)
• Remember Silvercup Studios? Among other things, it's the billion-dollar development in Long Island City, a place Metropolis calls "one of those up-and-coming neighborhoods for more than a quarter-century." It also has 26 million square feet for "green-roof technology," so 20 years from now there will be a pseudo-Central Park streched over Queens. (Metropolis)
• It's horrifying that there's a sub-1% vacancy rate throughout the entire island of Manhattan (except for those unliked wastelands called Midtown East and the Upper West Side). And it's horrifying that a sub-1% vacancy rate is barely newsworthy anymore. (The Real Deal)
• How do we know East New York is gentrifying? Because Apollo Real Estate and Taconic Investment Partners have paid $90 million for about 1,000 residential condos in the Brooklyn neighborhood, and is pumping nearly half that number into improvements--but mostly because a Taconic prinpal says: "We do not envision this as a gentrification project, but rather as the revitalization of a community." Of course. (Crain's, via R.D.)
• Though Mr. Bloomberg's office swears he's never heard Jerusalem of Gold, the tastefully-titled luxury condo development in Israel boasts that "the Jewish mayor" is about to sign a contract for a penthouse apartment. Is there a contract? Not so much. Is there worldwide love for Mayor Mike? Yessir. (NY Sun)
• - Max Abelson